Making a film about Roger Stone very nearly killed [Christoffer Guldbrandsen](https://twitter.com/cguld?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) and that, for once, is not a bit of Stone or Trump-style hyperbole. Guldbrandsen’s 91-minute documentary [A Storm Foretold](https://vimeo.com/ondemand/astormforetold2) takes a shocking swerve when CCTV footage shows him suffering a heart attack, losing consciousness and collapsing on the floor of a gym, where people rush to his aid. A heart surgeon who happened to be working out saved the Danish film-maker’s life. He was only 49 but suffering a personal crisis after Stone had abruptly ceased cooperating. “It was because of the stress of this project,” Guldbrandsen says over Zoom from his home in Copenhagen. “When we came back and Roger had cut us off, our funding was cut off as well and that was a catastrophe. “When I’m walking around in the gym and have a heart attack, I have headphones on because I’m on the phone trying to raise funds for the film. When I have the heart attack, I literally drop the phone while I’m talking with an American financier.” But the heart attack was also an “enormous present”, says Guldbrandsen, now 52, because Stone took pity and agreed to resume filming. It was a rare moment of compassion from the subject of A Storm Foretold, who is seen receiving a get-out-of-jail card from then president [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) and spreading poisonous ideas all the way to the January 6 insurrection. Stone, 71, who claims in the film to have been smoking cigars since he was seven, earned his spurs [on a Richard Nixon election campaign](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/27/how-did-roger-stone-survive-watergate/). He regularly gives Nixon’s trademark salute and has a tattoo of the 37th president on his back. The self-proclaimed dirty trickster has been a friend and ally of Trump for 30 years. Guldbrandsen, who had travelled from Denmark to make a film about the 2020 election, settled on Stone as a gateway into Trump’s “Make America great again” movement and a worrying shift in contemporary politics. “What astonished me was that the loudest liar wins,” he explains. “We’re all used to, in politics, a contract that you can lie to a certain extent; there was a change in this which I found extremely interesting. I started out looking into all these fascinating false narratives and I came across Roger, looking with the perspective of the 2020 election how that would escalate_._” At first Stone was very cooperative. Like many people in or near politics, his ego was flattered by the camera’s attention. “I’ve made this type of film in Europe as well, especially in European politics, and I’ve made it with the secretary general of Nato,” Guldbrandsen continues. “They are very controlled and professional politicians but the main traits are the same and the motivations are the same. It’s a mixture of vanity combined with hubris. They always think these stupid journalists, documentarians, it’s not going to be an issue, we can handle that. “In Roger’s case, he’s unique in the sense that he revels in his notoriety to an extent I’ve never experienced in anyone else … The bottom line was he said if the film came out and it was 60% negative, he would be very happy. That’s an unusual approach and an approach I kind of respect.” Stone could be nasty and wilfully provocative. Early in the film, as he operates an ice maker on a fridge door, he asks about Guldbrandsen’s last name and remarks: “I won’t give you away but you’ve got to admit that’s got, like, [Third Reich](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/aug/10/the-meaning-of-hitler-nazism-documentary-netflix) written all over it, right? It really does.” Stone then adopts a faux German accent and goes on: “So, commander Guldbrandsen, good evening, have you brought the list of Jews? Ah, thank you very much.” Rattling an ice shaker and making a martini, he grins and adds in his own voice: “I mean, this is incredible. Do the people in Denmark even know the maker of this film comes from a long line of Danish Nazis? It’s unreal! Of course, I won’t reveal that if I like the final cut of the film but hey, it’s politics, right?” What did Guldbrandsen make of this performance? “It tells us that he really enjoys to shock people. That was the intention: to see if he could put me off. That plays into a whole discussion about mutual exploitation: making observational films, making documentaries, you need a certain level of cynicism involved and of course his outrageousness communicates the story and also is a very accurate description, in my perspective at least, of that whole movement. “That’s why I included it. What I enjoy about it is that it’s so outrageous. It has this antisemitic connotation to it and at the same time he then says he will not tell anybody if he likes the final cut of the film. It’s an opening scene that encapsulates the whole approach to politics and political communication, I hope.” Stone talks about Trump’s fascination with the Billy Wilder film [Sunset Boulevard](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/12/30/sunset-blvd-trump-norma-desmond/) but proved wary of allowing Guldbrandsen to film his communications with the then president. There were signs of cracks in the relationship. Guldbrandsen says: “When the camera wasn’t rolling, right from the outset, he would refer to President Trump as ‘Mr Ungrateful’, referring to all that Stone had done for him to get to the White House. Stone sees himself as an avid reader, an analytical mind and well-versed in American political history and Trump basically as illiterate, although intuitively a very strong politician. He definitely does not hold him in awe.” Like Trump, Stone was capricious and could change the terms of the documentary on a whim. “It was very much a process of day by day trying to hang on to the access, accepting his impulsivity. It was a tremendous high-risk project to do because he was free to leave and to kick me out anytime he wanted because there was no transactionality in the work.” Three months after filming began, [Stone was arrested in Florida](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/25/us-special-counsels-office-trump-ally-roger-stone-arrested-in-florida.html) on seven counts, including witness tampering, obstruction of justice and making false statements to Congress, as part of the special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into election interference in 2016. He was also under an escalating series of gag orders. Access became much more difficult, so Guldbrandsen began turning up at fundraisers and filming him there.  Roger Stone leaves federal court in 2019. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Then Stone pulled the plug without warning, apparently because he had a better offer from a rival documentary team. Guldbrandsen’s project appeared dead and he returned to Denmark empty-handed. He recalls: “It was extremely devastating but it’s his right and it’s not unusual when you do these long-process observational documentaries that access becomes a challenge in the process. “It’s more the rule than the exception but I have never experienced that anyone sold the rights to the film I was making to someone else. That was taking it to a next level and it was a catastrophe. But I would say it’s on me. The catastrophe was double because it was also my professional failure that I had run this risk and apparently miscalculated.” (Stone later tells Guldbrandsen that the rival documentary never happened because that team had been working on the premise that he would go to prison, which he ultimately avoided thanks to Trump commuting his sentence then [giving him a full pardon](https://www.npr.org/2020/12/23/949820820/trump-pardons-roger-stone-paul-manafort-and-charles-kushner).) The cumulative stress climaxed with Guldbrandsen’s heart attack. “It was very unpleasant but I was very fortunate that there was actually a heart surgeon working out in the gym next to me that saved my life. “When you’re not that old, and you have never been sick, it takes a while just to get your head around that it’s a tremendous stroke of luck that your life didn’t end that day, and I’m still struggling to understand that was the time I had, and it was only by a slim margin that I’m still here.” Including this scene in the documentary was a difficult decision for a director who prefers to remain behind the camera. “The films I made beforehand, it has not been my style at all but it was an enormous present to get in the sense of getting Stone to become a more whole character. Obviously he comes across as rather cynical in most of the scenes but what happened in this process was that he actually showed empathy and that’s why I found it important to take it in the film.” Stone is seen giving Guldbrandsen a warm greeting after the heart attack and filming is allowed to resume. It proved a fateful decision as Trump headed towards defeat by Joe Biden in November 2020, then incited a mob of his supporters to storm the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. Stone was close to the extremist rightwing group the Proud Boys, including its leader, Enrique Tarrio, who would eventually be [sentenced to 22 years in prison](https://apnews.com/article/enrique-tarrio-capitol-riot-seditious-conspiracy-sentencing-da60222b3e1e54902db2bbbb219dc3fb) for his part in the failed coup attempt. Guldbrandsen says: “It’s an established fact that Roger’s role in the eyes of many Proud Boys members is as an ideological figurehead for them. “Roger was agitating very strongly for an aggressive reaction in case of an election defeat and he did this to these people and they were extremely close all the way until January 6 and afterwards also. Even though [Roger Stone](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/roger-stone) has not participated in any of the violent acts himself, he has encouraged and inspired the most violent groups that were at the forefront of the attack on January 6. “I don’t think there’s been enough attention to what a key role he actually played in terms of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, how instigating he was. It’s still an open question, the level of coordination and planning that went ahead of the attacks, but he was definitely ideologically the inspiration for particularly the Proud Boys.” How did Stone react to January 6? “When he returned to Florida he was terrified. He was absolutely certain that his arrest was imminent and I could see when I was with him that he was texting with [Stewart Rhodes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Rhodes), leader of the Oath Keepers, who was on the run with Joshua James, who was head of Stone’s so-called security detail of Oath Keepers. It was a frenzy driven by a serious concern that he would be arrested. There was a paranoid and weird atmosphere.” Rhodes was eventually [sentenced to 18 years in prison](https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/court-sentences-two-oath-keepers-leaders-18-years-prison-seditious-conspiracy-and-other) for seditious conspiracy and other charges. James pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and, as part of the plea agreement, agreed to cooperate with the government’s ongoing investigation. As for Stone, A Storm Foretold shows him in the back of a car swearing profusely into a phone and describing Trump’s daughter Ivanka as an “abortionist bitch” after the president refused to pardon him for a second time. He then warns Guldbrandsen: “Obviously if you use any of that, I’ll murder you.”  Roger Stone in 2022. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP Three years later, as America barrels [towards another election](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/27/politics-2024-trump-biden-election-democracy-authoritarian), Guldbrandsen believes that the consequences of “stop the steal” are still being felt. “This inspired a movement that got a hold of the Republican leadership as well, where they convinced millions of Americans not to trust the democratic elections. That is far more dangerous than the tragic violence on January 6 and much more outrageous. His responsibility in a historical perspective is tremendous in that sense.” He adds: “What happened in those months from November to January, how will you ever be able to put that paste back in the tube again? Especially since they have only enforced it since and it’s not going to be isolated to America. It’s horrific.” Guldbrandsen is still paying a personal price for his relationship with Stone. Making the film was so costly that he is being forced to sell his house. When Guldbrandsen attended the [final congressional January 6 committee hearing](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/13/january-6-hearing-trump-state-of-mind-capitol-attack), where some of his footage was shown, Stone posted on social media that he looked forward to the film-maker dying from a second heart attack when [Stone sues him for $25m](https://x.com/cguld/status/1743485750069416380?s=20). Despite it all, Guldbrandsen glimpsed complexity in a villain of American politics whom many find irredeemable. “He can be a very charming person and he’s extremely knowledgable and interesting. I learned a lot – and Americans will pull out their hair – about American politics from him. He’s been an eyewitness to presidential politics for decades. “That’s one of the points of the film: to insist on the conversation with people you disagree very much with and go to your greatest length not to exclude others from the conversation. If there’s any philosophical idea in the film, that’s it. It’s so banal to say so but obviously the things that are problematic about him, the things that he’s doing that are controversial, are elements of his personality, but there are also a lot of other sides to him.” He adds: “One of the challenges that has come with social media, which has pressured journalism and documentary film-making, is that it is so extremely unforgiving and dehumanising. I’m constantly tempted to do the same when I promote the film. “When I go on social media I can see the mechanisms pulling but it’s extremely important to insist on not dehumanising each other even despite what happened on January 6. Roger Stone’s role in it is dangerous and destructive but I still don’t want to take that step.” * A Storm Foretold is now playing in select US cinemas and will be released digitally soon with a UK date to be announced

An American company that paid the now indicted [FBI](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/fbi) informant Alexander Smirnov in 2020 is connected to a UK company owned by Trump business associates in Dubai, according to business filings and court documents. Smirnov is now accused of lying to the FBI about [Hunter Biden](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/hunter-biden) and his father, President Joe Biden, alleging that they engaged in a bribery scheme with executives at Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Smirnov’s accounts to the FBI, beginning in 2020, that federal prosecutors now say are impossible fabrications, served as a major justification of the House impeachment investigation into the Bidens. Republican lawmakers have repeatedly touted Smirnov as a reliable informant, and the chairman of the House oversight committee, James Comer, even threatened to [hold FBI director Christopher Wray in contempt](https://apnews.com/article/biden-fbi-oversight-comer-congress-0c647e00b2559f59e4a898ee264d8753) unless he “handed over” a June 2020 FBI form with Smirnov’s claims to the committee. Back in 2020, Smirnov was paid $600,000 by a company called Educational Transformation Technologies (ETT), prosecutors said. That same year, Smirnov began lying to the FBI about the Bidens, according to his indictment. [flow chart](https://interactive.guim.co.uk/uploader/embed/2024/03/archive-zip/giv-13425k8dqdVX0vRfY/) ETT’s CEO is the American Christopher Condon, who is also one of three shareholders in ETT Investment Holding Limited in London. Other shareholders in the UK include Pakistani American investor Shah Khan and Farooq Arjomand, a former chairman and current board member of Damac Properties in Dubai and listed as an adviser on ETT’s American website. Last month, Smirnov was charged with lying to the FBI, and is being held without bail. Prosecutors argued he posed a flight risk because of his contacts with Russian officials in the Middle East and access to millions of dollars. Smirnov’s indictment alleged that the facts in the 1023 form, and other statements made to his FBI handler beginning in 2020 and continuing until December 2023, were factually impossible. The exact business model of Texas-based ETT is murky. Their mission statement reads in part: “ETT set up the chess board to bring in top notch executives from those sectors to help implement its vision of love and social impact to improve the quality of human existence through the application of ‘new age’ technologies.” The current CEO, Condon, is a California man who has been involved in several civil lawsuits, including a civil Rico case in 2010 that he won on appeal. Condon’s official biography says he is “a former professional tennis player, financial advisor, and currently is an [entrepreneur focused on social-impact projects, public-private partnerships,](https://www.chriscondon.com/) and creating smart communities that benefit both individuals and governments”. Condon, Arjomand and Khan registered ETT Investment Holding Limited in the UK on 6 March 2020. Khan, an investor who purchased the Plaza Hotel in 2018, and Arjomand have ties to Donald Trump through Trump associates and Damac, a major Middle East developer that has partnered with Trump for a decade. Arjomand, Khan and Condon owned 34, 33 and 33% of ETT Investment Holding Limited respectively, according to UK business filings. No other information on the UK company is readily available. Former Damac chairman Hussain Sajwani is also close to Trump and has been described as his friend in multiple news reports. Trump has called the billionaire a “friend” and a “great man”, and his family “[the most beautiful people](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2017/01/03/who-is-trumps-new-years-eve-guest-and-billionaire-pal-from-dubai/?sh=17412b6d1c09)”. [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/14/company-paying-fbi-informant-trump-connections#img-2) Hussain Sajwani, far right, with Eric Trump, second left, and Donald Trump Jr, second right, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in February 2017. Photograph: AP Sajwani attended Trump’s 2016 inauguration, and Trump’s sons [Donald Jr and Eric Trump attended the 2017 ribbon-cutting](https://apnews.com/general-news-7f19f9500a0f4c0796e5ded47bc2c3ac) of Trump International golf club in Dubai, licensed by Damac in 2014. Sajwani and his family also attended a party in 2017 at Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s sons would go on to attend Sajwani’s daughter’s wedding in 2018. In 2017 FEC filings, Trump disclosed making up to $5m from the Damac licensing deal, but said he would no longer do personal business deals when he became president. The two continued at least talking business into his presidency, however, according to multiple reports. “Hussein, Damac, a friend of mine, a great guy. I was [offered $2bn to do a deal in Dubai](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-says-he-turned-down-2-billion-deal-in-dubai-but-didnt-have-to/2017/01/11/f9092f56-d82f-11e6-9f9f-5cdb4b7f8dd7_story.html), a number of deals, and I turned it down,” Trump said in 2017. Arjomand was the vice-chairman of Damac when Trump International golf club, along with adjoining Trump-branded luxury homes, opened, and he replaced Sajwani as chair in 2021 when Sajwani stepped down to privatize the company. Khan, who owns Dubai-based Trinity White City Ventures, is a New York native who partnered with New York City developer Kamran Hakim to buy the Plaza in 2018 for $600m. He was a board member of ETT from 2019 to June 2020, according to his LinkedIn page, appearing in event photographs with Condon in Miami that year. Khan is involved in a range of business from AI to mining to cybersecurity, according to his official biographies. In 2019, he was one of a dozen Pakistani American business owners invited to meet the then Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan the day before Imran [met with Trump](https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/22/politics/donald-trump-imran-khan-pakistan-prime-minister-white-house/index.html) and Mike Pompeo, then the secretary of state, in Washington DC. The group was there to discuss the [expansion of business in Pakistan](https://www.dawn.com/news/1495516). In 2017, Khan reportedly approached Brad Zackson, dubbed Paul Manafort’s “real-estate fixer”, to help him [broker a deal to buy the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan](https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2017/08/31/meet-paul-manaforts-real-estate-fixer/), owned by the Pakistani government via its national airline, for $500m, according to the Real Deal. When the real-estate publication asked Khan about the reports, he denied that Zackson and Manafort, a former Trump campaign chairman, were involved. Khan purchased the Pakistani embassy building in DC in 2022 for $6.8m. Khan is also CEO of BurTech Acquisition Group, a “blank check company”, or public shell company. Patrick Orlando, listed as a “special adviser” and shareholder of BurTech in 2021, was the CEO and chair of Digital World, another blank check company, from September 2021 to March 2023 when it began a merger with Trump Media & Technology Group in 2021, held up by an SEC investigation until given the green light last month. The finalization of the merger may garner [Trump as much as $4bn in shares](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/26/business/trump-media-digital-world-acquisition-cash.html), and help bolster his finances after his recent civil litigation losses. Orlando has known Trump since at least 2021, according to news reports. Arjomand and Khan’s relationship is unclear. Arjomand, a former HSBC banker from the United Arab Emirates, also invests in hospitality businesses, including the celebrity Wahlberg brothers’ restaurant chain Wahlburgers, and owns a coffee company called Reborn Coffee. ETT Investment Holding Limited was dissolved in 2021. Condon and Arjomand also registered a company called Atlas UK Group Limited the same day they registered the UK ETT, now dissolved. The American ETT, then called Pandora Venture Capital Corp, was first registered in Florida in 2014 by Wisconsin resident Boris Nayflish, according to Florida business filings. [Ukrainian American Nayflish is the ex-husband of Smirnov’s current partner](https://www.wsj.com/us-news/informant-charged-with-lying-about-bidens-flaunted-fbi-ties-for-financial-gain-fcf86af2), according to a Wall Street Journal report, which also claimed Nayflish stayed close to his ex, Diana Lavrenyuk, and Smirnov after the divorce. Smirnov, born in [Ukraine](https://www.theguardian.com/world/ukraine), lived in Israel before coming to the US in 2006. Pandora changed its name to Skylab in 2017, then in 2018 Skylab seemed to split from what is now ETT, according to a lawsuit, when Condon first registered ETT websites and appeared on ETT’s Florida filings. An unnamed former business associate told the Wall Street Journal that the $600,000 payment from ETT to Smirnov was “in exchange for a stake in an Israel-based crypto trading platform, called Bitoftrade, \[that\] Smirnov was working on launching”. Calls and emails to Condon, Arjomand, Sajwani and Smirnov’s lawyer, and to Trump’s team, were not returned. Khan told the Guardian: “I was on the board for a very short period, \[and\] there was no connection on my part.” Smirnov is scheduled for a jury trial in April, according to court filings.

_You’re reading Guardian US’s free Trump on Trial newsletter. To get the latest court developments delivered to your inbox, [sign up here](https://ablink.editorial.theguardian.com/ss/c/u001.Yw_JkLMEmFuifc_XG18IRyTNtZQ7fIEMgszcCSneHEAZBG5ERaJluPLutNzKGPK-9IqvQJ_lSl1c6FvERPP_xQiOyEyY-3elc-e0CCHHy_jF4AJwdFnXcoeLwO2P7VQ8r7kbqEBsuZr5iPEniGxjIG87a-6WYVH812HiEoclIGE2PSZeaBOCjhZf_McF9PkwxaclbOLOaXhp4RwrY5eN4TbUutg7wqEYzAg9r59V_qP0pXgI83RkvMwjpvlh-SCoqkUAGpJzmyDTw4yPc-5b_tm3EZunYZT8AziAWM0uOms/44g/6gohQ-1_QSSpKrkaEVMA7w/h13/h001.Y8R9A9z6jfcVEQuEYHoTFYE_wmzWVIenGhnTppVm4c8)._ _**Programming note**: starting next week, Trump on Trial will be sent weekly on Wednesdays._ It’s been a chaotic week in Trump’s criminal trials – and a lot of the mayhem has been caused by self-owns and missteps by the legal figures involved in his various cases. When **Judge Aileen Cannon**, a federal judge with only three years of experience on the bench, issued her latest order in the criminal classified documents case on Monday, legal observers were dumbfounded. The national security attorney Bradley Moss [posted](https://twitter.com/BradMossEsq/status/1769859451496919066) on X that her instructions were “legally insane”. Attorney George Conway, a leading #NeverTrump conservative, responded by calling it “utterly nuts”. The former US attorney Joyce Vance [called it](https://joycevance.substack.com/p/four-corners?r=5n3e&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true) “two pages of crazy” and wrote that she had to read the order multiple times to try to figure out what it means. “Not only should Aileen Cannon not be sitting on this case, but she should not be sitting on the federal bench at all,” Conway [posted](https://twitter.com/gtconway3d/status/1769865638787326310). Cannon’s Monday order told Trump’s attorneys and the justice department’s special counsel’s office to prepare potential jury instructions for legal scenarios that, as Guardian US reporter **Hugo Lowell** [writes](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/21/implications-trump-classified-documents-trial), “gave extraordinary credit to Trump’s defense theories” and “were so beneficial to Trump and so potentially incorrect on the law of the Espionage Act that it would bring into serious doubt whether it made sense for prosecutors to take the case to trial”. The order came as Cannon dragged her feet on ruling on various other provisions – and after the 11th circuit court [had to step in](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/01/court-reverses-trump-special-master-review-records) to unanimously overturn an earlier decision from Cannon to appoint a special master to review the classified documents in the case in late 2022, writing “the law is clear” and she was wrong. It’s an open question whether Cannon’s stumbles are down to incompetence, favoritism towards Trump, or both. But although she’s been the most egregious legal figure in all of Trump’s criminal trials in terms of her questionable actions, Cannon shares something with some of the main characters in Trump’s other criminal cases that might help explain why things keep going sideways: inexperience. Cannon, age 43, became a federal judge in late 2020 after being appointed to the federal bench by **Donald Trump**, then the president. That’s not much time to actually learn the job, as she’s showing day after day after day. She took her spot on the bench around the same time as the **Fulton** **county** **district** **attorney Fani Willis**, who’s leading the prosecution of the criminal case against Trump for his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss, was elected to office. They’re old hands compared with Georgia judge **Scott McAfee,** a 34-year-old who’s overseeing the case Willis has been working on and was appointed to the bench just over a year ago. Last Friday, [McAfee ruled that Willis](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/15/fani-willis-hearing-decision-trump-georgia) could remain on the case – so long as special prosecutor **Nathan Wade** was removed (Wade [resigned](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/15/nathan-wade-resigns-fani-willis-trump-georgia-case) later that day). McAfee wrote in his order that Willis’s decision to start a financial and romantic relationship with someone she was supervising was a “tremendous lapse in judgment”. That was another win for Trump, as Guardian US reporter **Sam Levine** [unpacks](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/15/fani-willis-case-analysis-trump-georgia). Willis and Wade’s romantic relationship dominated headlines, raised questions about impropriety, bruised her reputation and delayed the trial for two months as Trump and his co-defendants sought to get them removed. And [McAfee’s Wednesday decision](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/20/trump-fani-willis-georgia-appeal) to let Trump appeal his order means that Georgia’s court of appeals now has 45 days to consider the appeal – another delay. If the court agrees to overrule McAfee and force Willis off the case, it could be stalled indefinitely. The one trial that had looked like a sure bet to conclude before election day hit a major bump as well – though it’s not yet clear exactly who’s at fault. [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/21/trump-on-trial-comedy-of-errors#img-2) In this courtroom sketch, Judge Juan Merchan responds to Donald Trump’s attorney. Photograph: Elizabeth Williams/AP In New York, **Judge Juan Merchan** granted a delay until at least 15 April in Trump’s hush-money criminal trial last Thursday after Trump’s lawyers asked for more time to sift through tens of thousands of pages of evidence from the US attorney’s office in Manhattan that they hadn’t received until recent weeks. Trump’s team had asked for a three-month delay, part of their public strategy of delaying all of his trials as long as possible; the **Manhattan** **district** **attorney Alvin Bragg** had acceded to a one-month delay. Merchan is holding a hearing on 25 March, the day the trial was originally supposed to kick off, where he’ll investigate why Trump’s team didn’t receive this information earlier – and whether the Manhattan DA or the US attorney’s office for the southern district of New York is to blame, and what, if anything, should be done to remedy the situation. He could also determine a new trial date. It’s notable that Bragg has only been in his job since early 2022. We’ll know more in the coming days about whether the first-term DA made a major misstep in this case. Trump’s criminal trials may be plodding along – but penalties for his civil trials are coming due. Lawyers for Trump [said on Monday](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/18/trump-cant-post-bond-fraud-case) he could not post a bond covering the full amount of the $454m civil fraud [judgment](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/28/trump-appeal-bond-fraud-case) against him, asking the courts to delay the deadline while he appeals the New York ruling from his business fraud civil trial that concluded earlier this year. Posting the bond, lawyers said, was “a practical impossibility” after 30 surety companies turned him down. Trump and co-defendants, including his company and top executives, owe $467m including interest. To obtain a bond, Trump’s lawyers said, they would be required to post collateral worth $557m. “A bond requirement of this enormous magnitude – effectively requiring cash reserves approaching $1bn – is unprecedented for a private company,” the Monday filing said. Trump is clearly upset – he posted seven times in two hours on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday railing against the ruling and the judge who oversaw the case. “I would be forced to mortgage or sell Great Assets, perhaps at Fire Sale prices, and if and when I win the Appeal, they would be gone. Does that make sense? WITCH HUNT. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!” he [posted](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112122244109975568) in one screed. [skip past newsletter promotion](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/21/trump-on-trial-comedy-of-errors#EmailSignup-skip-link-26) Sign up to Trump on Trial Stay up to date on all of Donald Trump’s trials. Guardian staff will send weekly updates each Thursday – as well as bonus editions on major trial days. **Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our [Privacy Policy](https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy). We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https://policies.google.com/terms) apply. after newsletter promotion Briefs ------ [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/21/trump-on-trial-comedy-of-errors#img-3) Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump in this composite image. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Joshua Roberts/Reuters Trump’s attorneys [filed a brief on Tuesday](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/19/trump-lawyers-us-supreme-court-immunity#:~:text=Lawyers%20for%20Donald%20Trump%20urged,results%20of%20the%202020%20election.) urging the US supreme court to find that presidents have absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts they take in office and, therefore, dismiss the DC criminal case against Trump over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump [lost a bid](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/judge-denies-trump-request-exclude-michael-cohens-testimony-hush-money-trial-2024-03-18/) to block testimony from **Stormy Daniels** and **Michael Cohen** in his New York hush-money trial. Trump [sued](https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/19/media/trump-sues-abc-news-george-stephanopoulos/index.html) ABC News and host George Stephanopoulos for defamation for asserting multiple times in an interview that Trump had “raped” **E** **Jean Carroll**. Cronies and casualties ---------------------- [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/21/trump-on-trial-comedy-of-errors#img-4) Peter Navarro. Photograph: The Guardian The former Trump trade adviser **Peter Navarro** [went to jail on Tuesday](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/19/trump-adviser-peter-navarro-prison) to begin serving a four-month sentence for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House January 6 select committee, making him the first Trump White House official to face jail time for actions related to January 6 and the first former White House official ever jailed for contempt of Congress. Navarro reported to prison in Miami shortly after **Chief Justice John Roberts** of the US supreme court denied a last-minute plea for his sentence to be delayed while he appeals. [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/21/trump-on-trial-comedy-of-errors#img-5) Stefanie Lambert. Photograph: Stefanie Lambert/The Guardian **Stefanie Lambert**, a lawyer who has crusaded to try to prove Trump’s claims of voter fraud in Michigan, [was arrested in federal court](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/19/stefanie-lambert-arrested-michigan-voter-fraud-trump) and released on bond after refusing to comply with court orders in a separate Michigan case alleging she tampered with voting machines after the 2020 election. [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/21/trump-on-trial-comedy-of-errors#img-6) Paul Manafort. Photograph: Paul Manafort/The Guardian **Paul Manafort**, Trump’s 2016 campaign manager who [went to jail](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/13/paul-manafort-second-sentencing-hearing-donald-trump) for tax and bank fraud before eventually being [pardoned](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/23/donald-trumps-latest-wave-of-pardons-includes-paul-manafort-and-charles-kunsher) by Trump, is in talks to rejoin the Trump campaign in a role working on the Republican national convention, according to the Washington Post. A bipartisan 2020 report from the Senate intelligence committee [described](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/18/donald-trump-us-senate-report-russia-campaign?page=with%3Aimg-2) Manafort’s willingness to pass on confidential material to alleged Moscow agents when he worked for Trump’s 2016 campaign as a “grave counter-intelligence threat”. What’s next ----------- **25 March** A crucial hearing to see when – and whether – Trump’s hush-money trial will take place. Judge Merchan is looking to find out why Trump’s team only received tens of thousands of pages of documents of evidence in recent weeks, and potentially determine a new trial date. **25 March** The deadline for when Trump’s $454m civil bond (plus interest) is due. **2 April** The deadline Judge Cannon gave lawyers for Trump and the special counsel’s office to submit proposed jury instructions for a potential trial in Trump’s criminal classified documents case in Florida. **25 April** The US supreme court will hold oral arguments on Trump’s claims that presidential immunity shields him from prosecution in his DC federal criminal case relating to his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. **4 May** The deadline for the Georgia court of appeals to rule on whether it will overturn the decision to let Fani Willis stay on the case and allow Trump’s Georgia trial to move forward.

/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73259968/2018509941.0.jpg) Donald Trump introducing his shoe line at SneakerCon in Philadelphia on February 17, 2024. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images During his time atop the Republican Party, [Donald Trump](https://www.vox.com/donald-trump)’s lifetime habits of [fraud](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/01/nyregion/trump-bond-deal.html) and [grifting](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/federal-court-approves-25-million-trump-university-settlement-n845181) have fused seamlessly with conservative politics. In 2024 alone, Trump debuted [$399 gold sneakers](https://apnews.com/article/trump-sneakers-sneaker-con-philadelphia-4de093eda6f8d1c68baf8fe8095f777b) emblazoned with the American flag, sold a [$60 “God Bless the USA” Bible](https://www.npr.org/2024/03/27/1241186975/donald-trump-bible-god-bless-usa) endorsed by singer Lee Greenwood, and convinced [millions to purchase stock](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/trumps-social-media-potemkin-village) in Truth Social’s unprofitable parent company. Trump is often treated as a political hijacker who rerouted the Republican Party to his own self-interested ends. Surely that’s part of the truth. But at the same time, there’s a decent case that, when it comes to grifting, his hijacking attempt could only succeed due to the conservative movement’s ingrained scammy tendencies. From [paranoid anti-Communist lecture series](https://www.proquest.com/openview/874d79c6e042f1acd361b33fffc48057/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750) in the 1950s to [crowdfunded birther investigations](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2012/02/the-birther-scam-continued.html) to [Alex Jones peddling fake coronavirus cures](https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2020/attorney-general-james-orders-alex-jones-stop-selling-fake-coronavirus-treatments), there’s a [long and storied history](https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-long-con) of elites peddling fear and paranoia to make a buck. The problem has gotten so bad that, in the past several years, many [prominent conservatives](https://www.joemygod.com/2023/09/erickson-cpac-is-a-grift-operation-with-gay-cruising/) have [publicly bemoaned](https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/the-real-problem-conservatism-faces-today/) the omnipresence of grifts in the conservative ranks. But where did this culture come from, and how important was it to Trump’s rise? These questions are at the heart of _The Longest Con_, a forthcoming book on the history of right-wing scams and frauds. The book’s author, Joe Conason, is a veteran New York journalist; he personally knew some of the key figures in the scammy right’s history, like [mobbed-up lawyer and Trump mentor Roy Cohn](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/09/19/roy-cohn-donald-trump-documentary-228144/). Conason locates the origins of the grift tradition with Joe McCarthy, whose anti-Communist campaign proved that paranoid lies could be a ticket to popularity on the grassroots right. Cohn, who worked for McCarthy, figured out a way to transmute that popularity into profit: exploiting fears of Communism to, among other things, finance a lavish trip to Europe. :no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25375319/962171754.jpg) Donald Trump, right, with Roy Cohn at the Trump Tower opening in 1983. Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images “The template for right-wing grift ... followed in McCarthy’s wake,” Conason writes. “By creating such an atmosphere of utter dread — and then promising that they alone could prevent America’s doom — \[hucksters\] induced thousands of suckers to hand over large wads of cash.” As the conservative movement grew, the grifts grew with it. Conason pinpoints Barry Goldwater’s 1964 presidential run as a key turning point. The campaign produced a massive mailing list that scammers could solicit for donations to alleged political causes that mostly lined their own pockets. When these “direct mail” scams proved immensely profitable, they expanded, normalizing an ethos of grifting on the right that, ultimately, would reach its apogee in Donald Trump. I spoke to Conason about this fascinating, hidden-in-plain-sight history: about how it started, why it succeeded, how it paved the way for Trump’s rise, and whether there’s any equivalent grifting culture on the American left. What follows is a transcript of that conversation, edited for length and clarity. #### Zack Beauchamp So Roy Cohn. He starts his career as this corrupt New York lawyer, bridging the worlds of Democratic politics, high society, and mafiosos. When does he make the jump to the right, and how important is he in the rise of conservative grift culture? #### Joe Conason I think pretty important. The people who tolerated him for the longest time — William Safire, very respectable, Bill Buckley, very respectable. These people, they knew what Roy was. They knew he was a crook and a con man and a liar and a cheater, and yet, that was okay. To me, that was a sign of something very wrong in conservative culture, looking back, that that guy would be not only tolerated but celebrated. As I say in the book, they would have big parties to celebrate him. Ronald Reagan had Roy to the White House, and when Roy was sick, they bent the rules to get him treatment that nobody knew about, even though he was pretending not to have AIDS. Roger Stone, who became very powerful in the conservative movement, was a protégé of Roy’s. He had some kind of charm or attraction or something for these conservatives, who otherwise I think would’ve told you that they themselves would never contemplate doing the kinds of things that Roy did, which is basically stiffing the IRS for 20 years or 30 years or however long it was, and not paying his creditors, which is a thing that Trump seems to have picked up from him. He was a rogue, and I think \[they thought\] “Oh, he was a roguish fellow. Wasn’t he fun?” But at some point, you catch a little of the disease yourself. And I think the willingness to overlook Roy’s deep, deep corruption was — let’s just say it was a bad sign. I can’t tell you that that caused anything, but it was not a good sign about the moral character of that movement in its earliest days. #### Zack Beauchamp Let’s talk about the expansion of this, because obviously, grifting in the conservative movement isn’t just a Roy Cohn story — though he was a pioneer in some of the earliest versions of these ways of grifting, about selling fear of communism. #### Joe Conason In the aftermath of McCarthy, the impulse and the marketability of anti-communism as an ideology did not go away. To turn it into a business, you would sell lectures. There were a series of them that I profiled in the book that had different ways of marketing a hysterical version of anti-communism to middle-class and upper-middle-class people who were terrified. They would pay a lot to go to a lecture, they’d buy lecture tapes, they would buy books. It could cost them hundreds of dollars, which in 2024 dollars is thousands of dollars. This got so bad that J. Edgar Hoover — who was considered the greatest authority on communism on the right, had a whole apparatus to root out communism in the country — was appalled by these people. I found communications between Hoover and his deputies about some of these individuals they thought of as grifters and con men and crooks, and they investigated them. That’s how bad it was: J. Edgar Hoover thought “these guys are crooks and they’re giving anti-communism a bad name.” #### Zack Beauchamp During the Cold War period, how central was the grifting and con man stuff to the conservative movement? The standard history is that, sure, maybe there were some cranks on the side, but Ronald Reagan and William F. Buckley defined a new and principled way of thinking about American politics. Your book offers an alternative history, positioning the profiteering and swindling as something that grew with the post-war conservative movement. Just how deeply intertwined is the grift with the more committed side of the movement? #### Joe Conason What I would say is that the grifting side — the side that doesn’t really believe in anything very much except its own enrichment — has grown. It wasn’t necessarily the dominant portion in the beginning at all. But there’s a point in the book where Richard Viguerie discovers direct mail and how he can use the Goldwater movement \[in 1964\] to build a huge direct mail industry. I’d say that was a turning point. Richard Viguerie was a guy who had been brought into the direct mail business with the Buckley crowd — Young Americans for Freedom, which was their central organization, aside from the National Review, for raising money. He realized that you could just ask people for money and they would give it to you. #### Zack Beauchamp You don’t even need to be selling them anything physical, right? That’s the innovation here, you just send them a mailer promising to fight for what they believed in. #### Joe Conason Yes. But the problem was that in order for that to be really effective on a national level, you needed lists of names. And lists of names of conservatives just didn’t exist until the Goldwater campaign in 1964. Viguerie realized that the donors to the Goldwater campaign comprised a national list of conservatives who would donate money. He said \[it\] was like a key to Fort Knox. It turned out he was right: Those people would give money. And it built from there. People who are giving you money don’t really know what you’re doing with the money. You’re telling them you’re doing this and that, and maybe you are and maybe you’re not. In many cases not, and they don’t have any way of knowing. What they know is that they have grievances and concerns that you’re addressing, or you’re telling them you’re addressing. They’re willing to give money to make themselves, I guess, feel better about that. Now, it took a while for it to take over. But once that starts, it was impossible to stop. It takes over a larger and larger portion of the conservative movement, to the point where we now have Trump. One of the reasons I wrote the book is you can see how, over time, this impulse to swindle and grift became a bigger and bigger part of conservatism. And the honest conservatism — the ideological and philosophical \[principles\], what they considered moral virtue — has been stripped away. #### Zack Beauchamp So you just jumped from Viguerie in the ’60s all the way forward to Trump in 2016. There’s a wealth of time during which this spreading happens. What are some of the key events in between, the ones that fueled the rise of right-wing grift culture? #### Joe Conason It takes different forms over time. One is the religious right: Jerry Falwell, the Moral Majority, Pat Robertson, the Christian Coalition. Now the Prosperity Gospel types who are around Trump, who are just straight-up grifters. That becomes a big element in it. Then you have the Reagan administration, which I describe as the most corrupt in history — up until Trump at least — in terms of the number of prosecutions and scandals. There were quite a few people who found ways to profit from government programs that they were supposedly going in there to end or reduce. One of the most interesting is Paul Manafort, who turns up much later as Trump’s campaign manager. James Watt was another. A Western conservative who supposedly was against big government, he was just finding ways to get paid off and [almost went to prison for it](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/01/03/watt-pleads-to-misdemeanor-in-hud-case/9a977277-e65c-4507-99b3-35628b4fd640/). Then we come to the period just before Trump arises: the Tea Party and the birther movement. That too was a grift: There were certainly grifters getting people to give them money to prove that Obama shouldn’t be president or was not qualified to be president, but the lead figure in that was Trump. And so, logically, Trump becomes a force within the Republican Party, and meanwhile, the Republican Party is kind of losing its way in general and becomes very vulnerable to someone like him. #### Zack Beauchamp What I think is novel here in your book is seeing this history as laying a unique kind of pathway for Trump. You had these generations of people who built an expanding empire of profit grafted onto conservative ideology, and then Donald Trump comes along and he’s like, “Wait, I can just make the movement fully into that — an extension of my efforts at brand-building.” That’s a core part of what allows him to succeed in Republican politics: that brand-building and profiteering have already been built into it over the course of decades. #### Joe Conason I would point out that the creator of Trump, in a lot of ways, is Roger Stone, who’s been in the grifting business of conservatism for a really long time. Stone saw that Trump was a really outstanding possibility for the kind of politics that Roger represented, which was a hollow politics of demagoguery with more than a touch of racial paranoia and hate, and that could be perfectly flexible in terms of positions and issues and viewpoints and rhetoric. Roger got to know Trump during the first Reagan campaign through Roy Cohn. And he figured out this was a guy who had real potential. They had a model, a way of conducting themselves politically that was both effective on a certain segment of the public and highly profitable. They had thought about it for many years before Trump finally agreed to run for president. Trump was a perfect candidate \[because\] he had shown he would get involved in any kind of grift. He’d gotten involved in multilevel marketing. Trump University was a type of scam: the fake real estate investment seminar, which would get people to pay big money and promise them that they would make a lot of profit on real estate themselves. Trump had a perfect brand to get into, and so he did. Roger Stone and others around him realized, “Hey, this is our guy. We can capitalize all of this that’s been built in the past and discard anything that’s inconvenient about conservatism because who cares?” #### Zack Beauchamp So now, we get the leading Republican presidential candidate hawking multi-hundred-dollar sneakers and an America-themed Bible as a means of making money — a full integration of political party with scam ventures. There’s nothing like this level of mainstream hucksterism on the Democratic side, as far as I can tell. #### Joe Conason In writing the book, I went out and looked for examples of this on the blue side. I think people get swindled by all kinds of things all the time, whatever their politics are. #### Zack Beauchamp I think you have some pretty solid examples of people on the left in your introduction who have grifted liberals. We can also talk about the Democratic machines in cities that are less ideological and more focused on maintaining power. #### Joe Conason Look, we have a Democratic senator right now who’s \[been indicted for\] [hiding gold bars](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/gold-bars-featured-bob-menendez-bribery-case-linked-2013-robbery-recor-rcna128006). #### Zack Beauchamp Right. #### Joe Conason I would never pretend that corruption or mendacity or greed is confined to the right, and I hope I didn’t give that impression in the book. But there are certain themes on the right that seem to lend themselves to these kinds of crooked schemes. Roger Stone said long ago that one of his rules of politics is that [hate triumphs over love](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/01/25/roger-stone-last-dirty-trick-224217/) in politics, that hate is the most saleable thing in politics. All of his campaigns have been based on that rather curdled insight, and a lot of the merchandising comes down to that as well. It’s what they now call “own the libs,” but it’s been the same emotion for decades and decades now.

Donald Trump decries the proverbial Washington swamp. Congress does next to nothing. The band plays on: lobbying remains big business. In 2023, [the industry](https://thehill.com/lobbying/4621934-several-k-street-giants-kick-off-2024-with-record-revenues/) hit a [$4.3bn](https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/summary?inflate=N) payday. This year shows [no end in sight to the trend](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/23/progressives-stare-down-primary-challengers/). As the US gallops toward another election, The Wolves of K Street befits the season. [ New Cold Wars review: China, Russia and Biden’s daunting task ](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/21/new-cold-wars-review-david-sanger) [Brody Mullins](https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Brody-Mullins/156463980), a Wall Street Journal investigative reporter and Pulitzer prize winner, and his brother, [Luke Mullins](https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Luke-Mullins/156463997), a contributor at Politico, deliver a graduate seminar on how lobbying emerged and became a behemoth, an adjunct of government itself, taking its collective name from the street north of the White House where many of its biggest earners sit. Smoothly written, meticulously researched, The Wolves of K Street informs and mesmerizes. “This is a book about men – for they were almost exclusively men – who built K Street,” Brody and Luke Mullins write. They have produced a tightly stitched, 600-plus-page tome that begins as a true-crime story. [The suicide of Evan Morris](https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-rise-and-fall-of-a-k-street-renegade-1487001918), a lobbyist for big pharma, takes center stage. In the opening scene of the book, at a posh Virginia golf club on a balmy evening in July 2015, Morris, 38, turns a gun on himself. The seemingly almost idyllic backdrop to his death is actually a tableau of excess, complete with $150,000 initiation fees, an abandoned Porsche, an emptied bottle of $1,500 bordeaux and a scenic sunset. Millions of corporate dollars were missing and untaxed. An anonymous letter and an FBI investigation helped ignite Morris’s untimely and violent end. “The allegations would touch off [a years-long case](https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-rise-and-fall-of-a-k-street-renegade-1487001918),” the brothers Mullins write. Morris’s wife and estate settled with Genentech, his employer, the Internal Revenue Service and the commonwealth of Virginia. The government never charged anyone with a crime. Death had taken its toll. The Wolves of K Street is about way more than just one man. It is an engrossing lesson in how lunch-bucket sensibilities and the accommodation between big business and the New Deal gave way to neoliberalism, corporate activism and the decline of industrial unions. The Democratic party, to name just one major part of American life, would never be the same again. The Mullins brothers are keenly aware of the social forces that buffet and drive [US politics](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/us-politics). They recall how Jimmy Carter’s defeat by Ronald Reagan in 1980 left the party of FDR, Truman and JFK to wonder how it was no longer the political home of working-class America. Democrats wonder to this day. The Wolves of K Street traces how the US reached this point, and lobbying attained its present stature, by following “three lobbying dynasties – one Republican, two Democratic – over the critical period from the 1970s to today, when the modern lobbying industry was created, corporate interests came to power in Washington, and the nature of our economy was fundamentally changed”. The late Tommy Boggs, son of Hale Boggs, once a Democratic House majority leader, stands out as the patriarch and pioneer of Democratic lobbying. His name came to grace Patton, Boggs and Blow, a storied DC law firm now subsumed in Squire Patton Boggs, a sprawling global entity nominally based in Ohio. Evan Morris stood out as Boggs’s “prized pupil” – or apostle. Next came the Republicans: Charlie Black, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and the late Lee Atwater, who would manage the 1988 presidential campaign of George HW Bush. “\[They\] used their links to the Reagan revolution to erect Washington’s signature GOP house of lobbying,” the Mullins write. “Each member of the partnership had his own distinct role.” Together, they bridged the gap between corner offices and the universe of conservative activists. Furthermore, Donald Trump was a client of Black, Manafort and Stone. Stone helped boost Maryanne Trump Barry, the property magnate’s late sister, on to the federal bench. That history is why Manafort and Stone emerged as part of Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016; why the pair were caught in the special counsel’s net when it came time to investigate Russia’s attempts to help Trump; why they received presidential pardons before Trump left office; and why they stand to be back for one more rodeo as Trump runs for the White House again. Tony Podesta, brother of the Democratic White House veteran John Podesta, is the keystone of the third lobbying dynasty examined by Brody and Luke Mullins, an “avant-garde political fixer \[who\] used his experience as a brass-knuckled liberal activist to advance the interests of Wall Street and Silicon Valley”. The paths taken by Manafort and Podesta would eventually entwine. Out of the limelight, Manafort came to represent the interests of Ukraine’s anti-Nato Party of Regions and its head, Viktor Yanukovych. In 2012, seeking to stave off sanctions, Manafort enlisted Podesta to his cause. “I used to call them the dynamic duo,” Rick Gates, Manafort’s [convicted](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/24/wicked-game-review-rick-gates-trump-republicans-russia) acolyte, tells the Mullins brothers. The Wolves of K Street is also newsy, disclosing for the first time Manafort’s attempt to have Yanukovych congratulate Joe Biden in summer 2012. “I am thinking of recommending a call from VY to Biden to congratulate Biden on his \[re-\]nomination” as vice-president to Barack Obama, Manafort emailed Gates, who forwarded the note to Podesta. The brother of Bill Clinton’s chief of staff cum Obama counselor approved. “‘Only downside is \[if\] biden \[sic\] presses him personally on politics of criminal prosecutions of his political’ opponents, Podesta responded. ‘I would say worth the risk.’” The Wolves of K Street ends on a weary note: “No matter what new obstacles have emerged, K Street has always managed to invent new ways to exercise its power over Washington,” the Mullins brothers conclude. “New fortunes to be made, new rules to be broken. New stories to be told.” One might well reach for Ecclesiastes, son of David: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” * _The Wolves of K Street is_ _[published in the US](https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-wolves-of-k-street-the-secret-history-of-how-big-money-took-over-big-government-luke-mullins/20712498?ean=9781982120597)_ _by Simon & Schuster_

Paul Manafort, the longtime Republican strategist and chairman of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 campaign, who had assumed an unpaid role advising party officials on the nominating convention, stepped aside on Saturday after questions arose about his involvement in the convention’s planning process. Mr. Manafort’s move came after The New York Times reported that he had been on the ground in Milwaukee last week for planning meetings for the convention, as well as a [Washington Post story](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/10/paul-manafort-pardon-donald-trump-china/) that said he was involved in work connected to foreign officials and businesses. “As a longtime, staunch supporter of President Trump and given my nearly 50 years experience in managing presidential conventions, I was offering my advice and suggestions to the Trump campaign on the upcoming convention in a volunteer capacity,” Mr. Manafort told The Times, in a statement provided by the Trump campaign. “However, it is clear that the media wants to use me as a distraction to try and harm President Trump and his campaign by recycling old news,” he said. “And I won’t let the media do that. So, I will stick to the sidelines and support President Trump every other way I can” to help defeat President Biden, the statement said. Trump campaign officials declined to comment. Mr. Manafort, who helped stave off efforts to thwart Mr. Trump’s nomination at the 2016 convention, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for various financial crimes, including tax evasion, bank fraud, and money laundering — unrelated to the 2016 campaign — before being pardoned by Mr. Trump before he left office. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F05%2F11%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Ftrump-manafort-republican-convention.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F05%2F11%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Ftrump-manafort-republican-convention.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F05%2F11%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Ftrump-manafort-republican-convention.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F05%2F11%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Ftrump-manafort-republican-convention.html).

Have you all noticed the Republican stars and wannabes showing up at Donald Trump’s trial? Speaker Mike Johnson; Senators J.D. Vance and Rick Scott; Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota; Texas’ attorney general, Ken Paxton; the professional irritant Vivek Ramaswamy … the G.O.P. is clearly eager to show it is standing by its man. For its part, Team Trump may just be happy to have _some_ respectable, unindicted players on Mr. Trump’s side. OK, [Mr. Paxton](https://apnews.com/article/politics-district-of-columbia-ken-paxton-texas-crime-e3cbc749a3e5ee1f75957df8a77401f4) doesn’t [strictly meet](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/26/us/politics/texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-texas-plea-deal-securities-fraud.html) those [criteria](https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/25/texas-bar-ken-paxton-2020-election/#:~:text=A%20disciplinary%20committee%20for%20the%20State%20Bar%20of,four%20battleground%20states%20won%20by%20President%20Joe%20Biden.), but you get my point. A man is known by the company he keeps. And of the many sordid ways Mr. Trump sets himself apart, his crew of henchmen is a doozy. Several have been slouching back into the limelight of late, underscoring just what kind of ethics-’n-integrity we’d get in Trump II. Michael Cohen deserves top billing with his [juicy court appearances](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/05/13/nyregion/trump-trial-michael-cohen#michael-cohen-trump-trial) this week, as Mr. Trump’s former fixer shared the nitty-gritty of how to keep your boss’s alleged extramarital encounters from blowing up a presidential campaign. But then there’s Steve Bannon, who just suffered another setback in his ongoing legal drama. Rudy Giuliani lost a gig. And Paul Manafort — talk about a blast from the past! — hit a snag while trying to wriggle his way back into the political arena. Revisiting these guys and their antics is like stumbling across a hinky septic tank. You want to get clear of the stench as swiftly as possible. But it is important to stop and smell the sewage. With Mr. Trump having been out of office for a few years, it is all too easy for people to [lapse into nostalgia](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/08/opinion/biden-trump-poll.html) and forget the degree to which he surrounds himself with grifters, thugs and skeezeballs. This is hardly surprising when you consider Mr. Trump’s own moral fiber, or lack thereof. (Game recognizes game!) But voters used to judge candidates partly by the people they hired and hung around with. Mr. Trump’s ability to escape serious guilt by association, including when the associates are misbehaving explicitly at his behest or to save his backside, is among his most … impressive talents. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F05%2F15%2Fopinion%2Fmichael-cohen-donald-trump.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F05%2F15%2Fopinion%2Fmichael-cohen-donald-trump.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F05%2F15%2Fopinion%2Fmichael-cohen-donald-trump.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F05%2F15%2Fopinion%2Fmichael-cohen-donald-trump.html).

There’s no justifying it, but I have a sneaky soft spot for Michael Cohen, the former lawyer, fixer and – as Fox News is keen to remind us – “ex-con” testifying against Donald Trump in the Stormy Daniels hush-money trial. Coming hard on the heels of Daniels’ [explosive appearance](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/11/trump-voters-stormy-daniels-testimony-republican-democrat) last week, Cohen’s testimony could have been anticlimactic. Not so! The 57-year-old, navigating a tricky line between languid, affable and sheepish, met tough questioning by Trump’s lawyers with the calmness of a man with nothing to lose and a lot of unfinished business to get through. Cohen, you’ll remember, literally [did time](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/24/who-is-michael-cohen-former-trump-lawyer-fraud-trial-witness) for those hush-money payments (among other things), so it’s fair to say he might have a few scores to settle. If Cohen’s return to court felt inevitable, it is in line with so many members of Trump’s former inner circle, all of whom, given time, seem to revolve back into view like the fish at Yo! Sushi. Cohen is one of an effective Marvel Universe of characters unleashed by the Trump administration who, eight years after Trump entered the White House, are serious contenders as our era’s lasting, historical villains. Among these Cohen, much like [Anthony Scaramucci](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jul/17/the-guy-stinks-and-hes-a-racist-anthony-scaramucci-on-donald-trump), the banker and Trump’s former press secretary, and – I’ll stick my neck out here – Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former lawyer who is facing his own indictments plus a [$148m defamation judgment](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/15/rudy-giuliani-pay-damages-election-workers-defamation-trial) against him, occupy the role of second-tier villains to main players such as Roger Stone, Steve Bannon and Paul Manafort (also [back in the news](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/11/us/politics/trump-manafort-republican-convention.html) this week, four years after being released from prison). As slapstick as they are rogueish, these guys could be extras in Bugsy Malone, or the great American novel Dickens never wrote. And if they are as opportunistic as everyone else in Trump’s world, you have to admit they are highly entertaining. In court this week Cohen, looking like the Fonz and sounding like the former personal injury lawyer from Long Island he is, somehow survived the [defence team’s attempts](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/14/cohen-cross-examination-trump-lawyer-todd) to discredit him, and managed to land a series of blows on his former employer. It should not, in all honesty, have been so. Cohen, who in 2018 pleaded guilty to a combination of federal campaign violations he says he undertook on Trump’s behalf and tax evasion crimes all of his own, nonetheless presented in unruffled form a jaw-dropping account of how Trump got him to pay off Stormy Daniels, then covered up the payments. This is the crux of the case, and Cohen, assuming a mild air that somehow made his testimony all the more devastating, didn’t mince words. It reminded me of that bit in A Fish Called Wanda when Jamie Lee Curtis, in the witness box at the Old Bailey, says casually that, yes, she could be absolutely sure of what time her boyfriend had left the house because, “I was saying to myself, ‘It’s five to seven, where could he be going with that sawed-off shotgun?’” The shotgun in this case was a series of repayments allegedly made by Trump to Cohen, which Cohen says the former president was aware were being disguised as a legal retainer. Cohen smoothly shared details of a meeting he had with Trump in the Oval Office in 2017, in which he alleges Trump promised to repay Cohen the $130,000, which Cohen himself had already paid to Stormy Daniels. At later meetings, in the presence of [Allen Weisselberg,](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/10/allen-weisselberg-sentenced-perjury-trump-fraud-trial) the then chief financial officer for the Trump Organization, Cohen maintains Trump was present while the lie about the nature of these payments was cooked up. When asked by a prosecutor to confirm what, in fact, the 11 cheques paid to Cohen by Trump were for, he replied coolly. “The reimbursement to me for the hush-money fee.” The fact that Cohen reviles his former boss, loyalty to whom has cost him everything, should have been his second most undermining characteristic as a witness – after the fact he’s a convicted liar. Somehow, however, things didn’t pan out this way. Trump’s lawyers came at Cohen again and again as a bitter former employee seeking revenge. His vested interest in seeing Trump jailed – the maximum penalty for the charges Trump faces is four years in prison – was, at one unmatchable point in the proceedings, linked to the fact Cohen sells a line of T-shirts featuring an image of Trump behind bars. Nothing in fiction could improve upon this. Perhaps it is just a case of my enemy’s enemy, but watching the drama this week it was hard not to feel some warmth towards Cohen, a type of New York hustler whose entire career is on a par with those pilot fish who survive by nibbling plankton off a whale. Convicted liar though he may be, it’s striking to see him appear so soberingly honest about one thing. Trump’s lawyer, hoping to prove that Cohen is a compromised witness, at one stage read out some remarks Cohen had allegedly made about Trump that included calling him a “boorish cartoon misogynist” and a “Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain”. Lightly, Cohen responded, “Sounds like something I would say.” * Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist

In the opening scene of [Stormy](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/16/stormy-daniels-documentary), the documentary about Stormy Daniels’ life, she says: “I have just been tormented for the last five years or so. And here I am, I’m still here.” Probably the worst of the torment has been from Donald Trump’s supporters, though they’ve never got together to explain what they’re angry about. Is it that Daniels claims she had sex with Trump, in 2006? That she accepted $130,000 to keep quiet about it? Surely, if he’s the richest and most virile man America ever produced, you’d think that was no big deal for him, and nice for her? Instead, as she described on the stand, giving evidence against Trump, the Maga lot have made her life a misery. Death threats layered with lurid threats of sexual violence, enough that she was constantly worried for the safety of her family, have poured in since 2018, when the Wall Street Journal first broke the story. Most likely, they are angered at Daniels’ failure to take Trump seriously. Was it the closely observed descriptions of his penis, in her memoir, or her Make America Horny Again strip club tour? Whatever you make of her, she has never seemed cowed; and in the peculiar cross-hatch of prurience and misogyny through which the hard right sees the world, a porn star is golden while she agrees with you, and contemptible once she doesn’t. [skip past newsletter promotion](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/04/stormy-daniels-never-been-cowed-now-vindicated#EmailSignup-skip-link-3) Sign up to Trump on Trial Stay up to date on all of Donald Trump’s trials. Guardian staff will send weekly updates each Wednesday – as well as bonus editions on major trial days. **Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our [Privacy Policy](https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy). We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https://policies.google.com/terms) apply. after newsletter promotion All that virulent hatred alone would be enough to sink a regular person, but Daniels has also spent the past six years in court, on and off, asking Trump to stop lying about her. She [lost her defamation case](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/11/stormy-daniels-lawsuit-pay-trump-legal-fees), then lost again on appeal, leaving her owing Trump hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. She came out pretty gung-ho on this debt, vowing not to pay it, but that’s not really how courts work. It’s not a game of chicken. And now, finally, she is not just vindicated but at the white-hot centre of Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions, which is 34 more than any former president in the country’s history. Other former members of his team who have been convicted in court include his campaign chairman (Paul Manafort Jr), his deputy campaign manager (Rick Gates), one of his lawyers (Michael Cohen), his chief strategist (Steve Bannon), several advisers (Peter Navarro, Roger Stone and George Papadopoulos) and his company CFO (Allen Weisselberg). I just couldn’t be more thrilled for Ms Daniels – that she’s one of very few people to cross paths with Trump and not end up with a criminal record. Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist _**Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our [letters](https://www.theguardian.com/tone/letters) section, please [click here](mailto:[email protected]?body=Please%20include%20your%20name,%20full%20postal%20address%20and%20phone%20number%20with%20your%20letter%20below.%20Letters%20are%20usually%20published%20with%20the%20author%27s%20name%20and%20city/town/village.%20The%20rest%20of%20the%20information%20is%20for%20verification%20only%20and%20to%20contact%20you%20where%20necessary.).**_

A few years ago, Paul Manafort was a disgraced political operative living in a windowless cell. If Donald Trump wins in November, Mr. Manafort is likely to re-emerge as one of the most powerful people in Washington. Because of Mr. Trump’s transactional nature and singular method of wielding power, as president, he would probably empower a small group of lobbyists who could profit from their access. Though no one elected them, these gatekeepers could exercise sweeping influence over U.S. policy on behalf of corporations and foreign governments, at the expense of regular Americans who can’t afford their services. Rather than drain the swamp, an unleashed President Trump would return the lobbying industry to the smoke-filled rooms of the 1930s, an era unchallenged by the decades of reforms since Watergate. And Mr. Manafort, whose career has been based on lobbying the same people he helped put in office, would be at the center. “A new Trump administration would be a bonanza for Paul,” says Scott Reed, a Republican political strategist who hired Mr. Manafort to work on Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign. “Trump is the Manafort model: access at the highest levels for his clients and friends.” A second Trump term, with the likelihood of yes-men and lackeys having more sway than political professionals and civil servants, would all but return Washington to an era when the nation’s laws were negotiated over steak dinners and golf. In the early 1970s, the leaders of a U.S. tool and die company worried about losing a Defense Department contract. They met with the era’s top lobbyist, Tommy Corcoran, who had worked in the White House for President Franklin Roosevelt and later advised Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Mr. Corcoran picked up the phone and called a Pentagon contact. After a brief exchange, he hung up. “Your problems are over,” he told his new clients. His $10,000 bill is roughly the equivalent of $75,000 today. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F06%2F20%2Fopinion%2Ftrump-manafort-lobbying.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F06%2F20%2Fopinion%2Ftrump-manafort-lobbying.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F06%2F20%2Fopinion%2Ftrump-manafort-lobbying.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F06%2F20%2Fopinion%2Ftrump-manafort-lobbying.html).

Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature The White House confirmed [Joe Biden](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden) has been tested positive for Covid. According to the press secretary **Karine Jean-Pierre,** the president is “vaccinated and boosted” and has mild symptoms. “The White House will provide regular updates on the President’s status as he continues to carry out the full duties of the office while in isolation,” she said in a statement to the press. The president’s doctor said that Biden “presented this afternoon with upper respiratory symptoms, to include rhinorhea (runny nose) and non-productive cough, with general malaise. He “felt okay for his first event of the day, but given that he was not feeling better, point of care testing for Covid-19 was conducted, and the results were positive”,” in a statement shared with media. “His symptoms remain mild, his respiratory rate is normal at 16, his temperature is normal at 97.8 and his pulse oximetry is normal at 97%. The President has received his first dose of Paxlovid. He will be self-isolating at his home in Rehoboth.” [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-669842598f081a868efc7cbb#block-669842598f081a868efc7cbb) Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature First lady Jill Biden is planning to stay in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, CNN reports a White House official as saying. The first lady last saw the president on Saturday and is not symptomatic, the official said. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66985a338f081a868efc7d6f#block-66985a338f081a868efc7d6f) JD Vance is the main attraction at the convention tonight. The Ohio senator is scheduled to give his first speech as Trump’s vice-presidential pick. He is due on stage at about 9.30pm CT. We’ll have his speech and all the latest news from the convention in our standalone blog here: [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-669856478f08155bce435cee#block-669856478f08155bce435cee) Away from Joe Biden’s Covid news, the Republican national convention speeches have gotten under way. One of the first speakers was rightwing Florida representative **Matt Gaetz**. **[Alice Herman](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/alice-herman)**, who is at the convention in Milwaukee, writes: _Gaetz took to the stage at the Republican national_ _convention on Wednesday with a brief but charged-up speech that took aim at Democrats_ _and, in particular, at **Kamala Harris**._ _“Appointing Kamala Harris to oversee the border is like appointing Bernie Madoff to oversee your retirement plan,” said Gaetz, to jeers and applause._ _With some Democrats urging **Joe Biden** to step down amid concerns about the president’s health and cognition following a devastating debate in early July, the possibility of Kamala Harris at the top of the Democrats’ 2024 presidential ticket seems top-of-mind for Republican speakers at the_ _convention._ [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6698552e8f08d8344a28f4b3#block-6698552e8f08d8344a28f4b3) **ABC’s Jonathan Karl is reporting that Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader,** **told [Joe Biden](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden) that it would be best if the president bowed out.** The Guardian has not independently verified this report. > I am told Chuck Schumer had a blunt one-on-one conversation with Biden Saturday afternoon in Rehoboth. Schumer forcefully made the case that it would be best if Biden bowed out of the race. > > Schumer's office wouldn't comment on the specifics of the conversation, telling me only,… — Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) [July 17, 2024](https://twitter.com/jonkarl/status/1813713397437104272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-669850d88f081a868efc7d1b#block-669850d88f081a868efc7d1b) As **Biden** boarded Air Force One, on his way back to Delaware following a positive Covid-19 test, he told reporters travelling with him: “I feel good.” He was not wearing a mask as he boarded. The president last tested positive for Covid-19 two years ago. But cases of the virus are now surging, and health officials have reported spikes in emergency room visits and hospitalizations due to Covid. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66984fff8f081a868efc7d18#block-66984fff8f081a868efc7d18)  Hugo Lowell **[Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) and his campaign see his running mate,** **JD Vance, as a way to expand Trump’s voter base**, according to sources familiar with the matter, intending to lean into the senator’s previous criticisms of Trump to convince voters who dislike both 2024 candidates to back the former president. In the years before Vance ran for the US Senate, he repeatedly criticized Trump and his presidency in interviews where he made clear he never liked the former president and considered him “cultural heroin” and in private conversations where he suggested Trump was “America’s Hitler”. But the criticisms, which once angered Trump, are now being seen by the Trump campaign as a unique asset that could resonate with voters who could be in a similar position: people who have previously found Trump unsavory but might prefer him to Biden, the sources said. The Trump campaign has suggested that they want Vance to lean in to the fact that he was previously a so-called “Never Trumper”, with the hope that it could give independent and uncommitted voters a path towards supporting the former president in November. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66984c0b8f081a868efc7cff#block-66984c0b8f081a868efc7cff) **The Biden/Harris campaign earlier released a statement chastising their rivals for backing away from a vice-presidential debate, linking it to Vance’s resurfaced comments endorsing an abortion ban.** “Donald Trump is the one whose campaign said he would debate ‘anytime, anyplace; and who picked JD Vance specifically for his debating skills,” the campaign said in a statement. “Now suddenly right after a damning new leak showing his support for a nationwide abortion ban, Vance is backing off a debate against Vice President Harris, who has spent the last two years prosecuting the case on behalf of reproductive freedom.” The Trump campaign, meanwhile, has said they are hesitant to schedule the debate due to uncertainty over who will be the Democratic nominee for vice-president. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-669849c78f08155bce435c95#block-669849c78f08155bce435c95) Joe Biden is headed back to Delaware. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-669845c58f081a868efc7cda#block-669845c58f081a868efc7cda) Meanwhile at the Republican national convention, **Paul Manafort**, Trump’s 2016 campaign chair, has been spotted on the floor. Manafort was pardoned after being found guilty of several financial crimes in 2018, following an investigation by special counsel [Robert Mueller](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/robert-mueller) and his team. Manafort, 69, was convicted on Tuesday of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to report a foreign bank account. Trump had signalled that he wanted to bring Manafort [back in the fold](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/18/trump-manafort-2024-campaign/) for his latest campaign, but it is unclear whether he has been officially enlisted and, if so, in what capacity. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6698442b8f08d8344a28f430#block-6698442b8f08d8344a28f430) The White House confirmed [Joe Biden](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden) has been tested positive for Covid. According to the press secretary **Karine Jean-Pierre,** the president is “vaccinated and boosted” and has mild symptoms. “The White House will provide regular updates on the President’s status as he continues to carry out the full duties of the office while in isolation,” she said in a statement to the press. The president’s doctor said that Biden “presented this afternoon with upper respiratory symptoms, to include rhinorhea (runny nose) and non-productive cough, with general malaise. He “felt okay for his first event of the day, but given that he was not feeling better, point of care testing for Covid-19 was conducted, and the results were positive”,” in a statement shared with media. “His symptoms remain mild, his respiratory rate is normal at 16, his temperature is normal at 97.8 and his pulse oximetry is normal at 97%. The President has received his first dose of Paxlovid. He will be self-isolating at his home in Rehoboth.” [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-669842598f081a868efc7cbb#block-669842598f081a868efc7cbb) “He needs to take the precautions that have been recommended,” Murguía said. “He obviously didn’t want to put anybody at risk. He said to tell my folks that we’re not going to get rid of him that quickly – we’re going to hear from him in the future directly.” Biden was scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the conference, before 1,500 Latino leaders, advocates and allies. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6698419f8f08155bce435c57#block-6698419f8f08155bce435c57) Joe Biden has cancelled a speaking engagement at the UnidosUS annual conference because he has tested positive for Covid, according to the organization’s president and CEO Janet Murguía. “We appreciate very much his wanting to have been here,” she announced from the podium where he was expected to speak shortly. > here's the moment news of Biden's positive covid test was announced at the UnidosUS conference in Las Vegas, where people were assembled waiting for his speech that was supposed to start 90 minutes ago [pic.twitter.com/OPOl14QE6b](https://t.co/OPOl14QE6b) > > — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) [July 17, 2024](https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1813697457173496083?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66983fcc8f08155bce435c43#block-66983fcc8f08155bce435c43) **Peter Navarro, a former [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) White House advis****er who was just released from prison, has been spotted in Milwaukee:** [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates#img-2) Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro, not in prison. Photograph: Dave Decker/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock The Associated Press [reports](https://apnews.com/article/peter-navarro-prison-republican-national-committee-2b443fdbf14164fed4650332aaf6d0c9) that Navarro was released today from the prison where he was serving a four-month sentence after being convicted of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the January 6 committee. He is expected to address the Republican national convention tonight. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66983d9c8f08d8344a28f3f9#block-66983d9c8f08d8344a28f3f9) * * * #### Page 2 Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature — James Singer (@Jemsinger) [July 17, 2024](https://twitter.com/Jemsinger/status/1813675399076823240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-669837528f08d8344a28f3d9#block-669837528f08d8344a28f3d9) **Jack Smith**, the justice department special counsel, has filed an appeal of judge **Aileen Cannon**’s ruling earlier this week dismissing **Donald Trump**’s indictment on charges of illegally possessing classified documents. Here’s the latest on this long-running legal saga: [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-669833248f081a868efc7c6e#block-669833248f081a868efc7c6e) The Trump campaign has announced that it will not yet schedule a debate between **JD Vance** and **Kamala Harris**, citing uncertainty over who will be the Democratic nominee for vice-president. The decision is a reference to continued tension among Democrats over whether **Joe Biden** should seek re-election, after his poor showing at his first debate with **Donald Trump**. The president insists he has no plans to step aside, but if he did, the new nominee would have to find their own running mate. “We don’t know who the Democrat nominee for vice-president is going to be, so we can’t lock in a date before their convention. To do so would be unfair to Gavin Newsom, JB Pritzker, Gretchen Whitmer, or whoever Kamala Harris picks as her running mate,” Trump campaign senior adviser **Brian Hughes** said in a statement. The Biden-Harris campaign [had previously proposed](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?page=with:block-669807c88f08d8344a28f290#block-669807c88f08d8344a28f290) three possible dates for the vice-presidential debate, all before the beginning of the Democratic convention on 19 August, where the party will formalize the presidential ticket. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66982d738f08155bce435bce#block-66982d738f08155bce435bce) **Donald Trump**’s campaign has encouraged speakers at the Republican national convention to stay away from extreme rhetoric, and in some cases directly edited their speeches, [NBC News reports](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-campaign-edits-gop-convention-speeches-tone-political-rhetoric-rcna162394). At the convention thus far, there have been few to no mentions of topics liked the January 6 insurrection, or Trump’s baseless claims that he lost the 2020 election unfairly. That’s a deliberate strategy his campaign shifted to following the assassination attempt on Saturday, as it now looks to project an image of unity. Here’s more on that, from NBC: > Trump said that he had rewritten his own speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination ahead of Thursday night after surviving an assassination attempt. The Trump campaign has said that now he intends to home in on the theme of unifying America. > > Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga, said Wednesday before delivering his convention address, ‘Frankly, they sent the same message to those of us giving speeches.’ > > ‘We always planned to be a reflection of our party’s unity and remind the American people of the difference between President Trump’s success and Crooked Joe Biden’s failure,’ Brian Hughes, a senior Trump campaign adviser, said in a statement. ‘The convention messages from everyday Americans and policymakers have met that goal. This convention is one of the greatest ever held and will launch us forward to victory in November.’ > > While convention speakers this week have served up plenty of red meat to the thousands of delegates in attendance, particularly on the issues of immigration and crime, they have steered away from some of the party’s more divisive topics and talk of seeking retribution. > > Through the convention’s first two nights, speakers have not mentioned the following issues: unfounded claims of stolen elections; the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol; investigating Trump’s political opponents, including Biden; and investigating the prosecutors who have sought indictments against him, like Special Counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg or Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. > > A video where Trump mentions the unsubstantiated threat of Democrats ‘cheating’ in the upcoming election was played during the first two nights of the convention. > > Asked if the toned-down theme would continue through the week, Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., said, ‘I do.’ > > ‘I mean, it starts with Trump,’ he continued. ‘Hopefully, JD \[Vance\] picks that up. And others. Trump said he didn’t want people to change their speeches, but I think that they will.’ [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66982a6d8f081a868efc7c22#block-66982a6d8f081a868efc7c22)  David Smith **Anyone attending the Republican national convention could be forgiven for thinking they have stepped into a mirror world where [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) is a saint, not a twice-impeached former president convicted of 34 felonies.** On Wednesday, **Brenna Bird**, the attorney general of Iowa, was asked why she travelled to New York to support the former US president during his hush-money trial. “I was glad to go out to New York to support him during that trial because I’m a prosecutor and I have prosecuted many criminal defendants, but I’ve never seen anything like that,” Bird told international reporters at a Foreign Press Centers briefing. “It’s a travesty. It’s not how the legal process is supposed to work. As a prosecutor, I’ve never taken someone’s politics into account when deciding whether to charge a crime. That is just wrong and, if it’s allowed to happen, it breaks down the rule of law and the constitutional order.” Bird added: “I went there specifically as a prosecutor to support President Trump because what was happening was an injustice and I wanted to be there and stand up for what was right and support President Trump. I think we saw his character during that trial. He doesn’t give up and he keeps on moving forward and that’s exactly what our country needs right now.” In May, Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records alleging he was involved in a scheme that sought to cover up extramarital affairs in advance of the 2016 presidential election. The New York state prosecution had no connection to Biden and there was no evidence of jury bias against Trump. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-669824108f08d8344a28f357#block-669824108f08d8344a28f357) Here’s where the day stands: * **Joe Biden said he would consider dropping out of the presidential race if a “medical condition” emerged, the New York Times reports, citing an excerpt released from Biden’s interview with Ed Gordon of BET News.** [According to](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/us/politics/biden-health-election-drop-out.html) the Times, Biden was asked if there was any reason that would make him reconsider staying in the presidential race. In response, Biden said: “If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem.” * **John Hinckley, the man who shot and wounded president Ronald Reagan in 1981, has released his own statement following Donald Trump’s assassination attempt on Saturday.** In a tweet on Wednesday, Hinckley, who was released in 2022 after spending 41 years under federal oversight, wrote: “Violence is not the way to go. Give peace a chance.” * **Kamala Harris has accepted a third possible date to hold a CBS-hosted vice-presidential debate against Trump’s newly** **announced running mate, Ohio senator [JD Vance](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/jd-vance).** The Biden-Harris campaign said it was open to a showdown with Vance on Monday, 12 August, as well. Harris had previously agreed to participate in the debate on either Tuesday, 23 July, or Tuesday, 13 August. * **The high-profile California Democrat Adam Schiff has called on Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race.** Schiff, in a [statement](https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2024-07-17/schiff-calls-on-biden-to-drop-out-citing-serious-concerns-that-he-can-win) to the Los Angeles Times, said that Biden “has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history, and his lifetime of service as a Senator, a vice president, and now as president has made our country better” adding: “But our nation is at a crossroads.” * **Joe Biden lashed out at a “tense” meeting with dozens of House Democrats who bluntly questioned his viability as their party’s presidential nominee, according to reports.** During the Saturday Zoom call, Colorado representative Jason Crow told Biden that voters are concerned about his vigor and strength, and noted the importance of national security in the November election, the reports say. * **Lloyd Doggett, the Texas** **representative who became the first House Democrat to publicly call on Joe Biden to step aside, has doubled down and urged the president to withdraw from the ticket in the face of “the reality of steadily, worsening poll numbers****”.** “My call for President Biden to step aside remains even more urgent,” Doggett said in a statement on Wednesday. * **During the Democratic press conference in Milwaukee, the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, was pressed on the party’s plans to nominate Joe Biden via a roll call vote in the coming days.** Walz, who co-chairs the Democratic national convention’s rules committee, confirmed that delegates would not begin voting before 1 August, and the governor’s spokesperson confirmed that the process should wrap up by 7 August. * **Donald Trump does not have stitches but has a “nice flesh wound****”, his son Eric Trump [said](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/assassination-attempt-trump-rally-shooting-ear-doesnt-have-stitches-nice-flesh-wound-eric-trump/) following his father’s assassination attempt.** In an interview with CBS, Eric said: “You know, he was millimeters away from having his life expunged ... I’m sure the ear doesn’t feel well.” * **Nearly two-thirds of Democrats want Joe Biden to withdraw his re-election bid, a new AP-NORC [poll](https://apnorc.org/projects/most-say-biden-should-withdraw-from-the-presidential-race/) has found.** According to the poll, which was mostly conducted before Donald Trump’s assassination attempt on Saturday, 65% of Democrats say that Biden should withdraw. Overall, seven in 10 American adults say that Biden should drop out of the race. * **The Democratic National Committee said that its virtual roll call to officially nominate Joe Biden as its party’s presidential nominee will happen in August, CBS [reports](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/democratic-national-committee-letter-joe-biden-virtual-roll-call/).** In a letter obtained and reported by CBS on Wednesday, the chairs of the Democratic national convention’s rules committee, Leah Daughtry and Tim Walz, wrote: “We have confirmed with the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic National Convention that no virtual voting will begin before August 1 … .” [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66981ef98f08155bce435b88#block-66981ef98f08155bce435b88)  David Smith **David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, warns that [Joe Biden](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden) has not done enough to relieve voters’ concern about his age since last month’s hapless debate performance.** “I’ve felt for a long time, and I’ve said for a long time, it’s not in any way a commentary on his record, which I think will be honoured more by history than it is by voters right now,” Axelrod told the Guardian in Milwaukee on Wednesday. “But it’s a very hard case to make that anyone should be elected president in the United States at the age of 82, not for political reasons but for actuarial reasons. This is the hardest job on the planet. It takes a lot out of you. It’s a legitimate concern that people have and that concern has been intensified by what happened at the debate. I don’t think anything that’s happened has relieved that concern.” Axelrod, chief strategist for the 2008 and 2012 Obama presidential campaigns, was speaking after an event organised by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and the Cook Political Report on the sidelines of the Republican national convention. Asked whether he thinks Biden can survive, Axelrod replied: “That’s entirely in his hands and that’s been the case. This whole race has been in his hands, his decision to run and now his decision to stay. “There’s a lot to think about because I know he’s laid out the stakes in this election. The question he has to answer is, what are the odds of his winning? Would the odds be better with another candidate? I’m sure there’s a lot of discussion about that.” [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-669821778f08155bce435b93#block-669821778f08155bce435b93) **Following Rudy Giuliani’s fall at the** **Republican national convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday, the 80-year-old disbarred lawyer’s spokesperson Ted Goodman released the following statement on Wednesday:** > Mayor Rudy Giuliani appreciates everyone’s concern after tripping over a dip in the walkway on the convention floor of the convention. > > The mayor and I were both filming footage for his social media and livestream programs on the floor of the convention, when he turned to set some equipment on a chair and tripped over a dip between the walkway and chairs. > > Those falsely suggesting anything else are misleading the public for their own agendas. [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?page=with:block-669837528f08d8344a28f3d9&filterKeyEvents=false#img-2) US politician and disbarred lawyer Rudy Giuliani is helped to his feet after falling on the second day of the 2024 Republican national convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 16 July 2024. Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66981ba98f081a868efc7bbe#block-66981ba98f081a868efc7bbe) **The rift among [Democrats](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/democrats) is deepening over Joe Biden’s presidential candidacy despite party leaders saying Biden is the nominee**. Joan E Greve and Martin Pengelly report for the Guardian: _Demands for Joe [Biden to step aside](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/08/democrats-calling-joe-biden-to-step-down) as the Democrats’ presidential pick to face Donald Trump have slowed since the Republican survived an assassination attempt last weekend, to the extent that on Wednesday one “prominent strategist” was moved to say of the rebellion: “It’s over.”_ _The strategist spoke anonymously to [the Hill](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4775982-biden-withdrawal-democratic-fracture/) – and before the influential California congressman [Adam Schiff](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/17/biden-adam-schiff-election) said publicly that Biden should quit._ _Nonetheless, in Milwaukee, at a press conference during the [Republican national convention](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/republican-national-convention-2024), Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor and a party grandee, said Biden would be confirmed as the [Democratic nominee by virtual vote](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/16/joe-biden-nomination-democratic-convention) between 1 and 7 August, before the Chicago convention._ For the full story, click here: [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-669815c58f08155bce435b3a#block-669815c58f08155bce435b3a) **Joe Biden’s campaign team released a new ad on Wednesday featuring Hadley Duvall, a 22-year-old** **abortion-rights activist from Owensboro, Kentucky.** In the ad, Duvall, who was in an emotional [ad](https://kentuckylantern.com/2023/09/28/woman-in-beshears-abortion-ad-says-she-wants-to-give-voice-to-victims/) last year during governor Andy Beshear’s re-election campaign, describes her experience of being impregnated by her stepfather, who raped her when she was 12 years old. She said: > I’m from Kentucky where, because of Donald Trump, an extreme abortion ban is now in place, with no exceptions for rape or incest. During the overturn \[of Roe v Wade\], I went back to the time I was 12 years old and I was holding my first pregnancy test in my hand … > > Trump brags about overturning Roe v Wade. He is ‘proudly responsible’ for each and every abortion ban across the country. And he calls them a ‘beautiful thing to watch.’ What is so beautiful about telling a 12-year-old girl that she must have the baby of her stepfather who raped her? The stakes of this election could not be higher for our choices. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66980d1f8f081a868efc7b4a#block-66980d1f8f081a868efc7b4a) * * * #### Page 3 Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature **John Hinckley, the man who shot and wounded president Ronald Reagan in 1981, has released his own statement following Donald Trump’s assassination attempt on Saturday.** In a tweet on Wednesday, Hinckley, who was released in 2022 after spending 41 years under federal oversight, wrote: > “Violence is not the way to go. Give peace a chance.” > Violence is not the way to go. Give peace a chance. > > — John Hinckley (@JohnHinckley20) [July 17, 2024](https://twitter.com/JohnHinckley20/status/1813618282500653337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-669806188f081a868efc7b16#block-669806188f081a868efc7b16)  Lauren Gambino **Kamala Harris has accepted a third possible date to hold a CBS-hosted vice-presidential debate against Trump’s newly-announced running mate, Ohio senator [JD Vance](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/jd-vance).** The Biden-Harris campaign said it was open to a showdown with Vance on Monday, 12 August, as well. Harris had previously agreed to participate in the debate on either Tuesday, 23 July, or Tuesday, 13 August. “Now that the Trump campaign has selected a running mate, we encourage them to agree to a debate between vice-president Harris and senator Vance,” a campaign official said. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-669807c88f08d8344a28f290#block-669807c88f08d8344a28f290) **Here is video of [Joe Biden](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden) saying he would consider dropping out of the presidential race if a “medical condition” emerges:**  Biden says he'd step down as presidential candidate if a 'medical condition emerged' – video Biden goes on to say that he would consider the option if “doctors came and said: ‘You’ve got this problem and that problem.’” He adds that he “made a serious mistake in the whole debate” with [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) which prompted a wave of scrutiny from the Democratic party over his mental competency as president. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-669803de8f081a868efc7b00#block-669803de8f081a868efc7b00) **Joe Biden said he would consider dropping out of the presidential race if a “medical condition” emerged, the New York Times reports, citing an excerpt released from Biden’s interview with Ed Gordon of BET News.**  Biden says he'd step down as presidential candidate if a 'medical condition emerged' – video [According to](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/us/politics/biden-health-election-drop-out.html) the Times, Biden was asked if there was any reason that would make him reconsider staying in the presidential race. In response, Biden said: > If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem. Earlier this month, Biden said during an interview with ABC host George Stephanopoulos that he would only drop out of the race if the “Lord Almighty” told him to do so. Biden’s comments come amid increasing calls from Democrats for him to withdraw his re-election bid over concerns of his age and mental competency, particularly after his poor debate performance against [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump). [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6698003c8f081a868efc7ae4#block-6698003c8f081a868efc7ae4) California representative **Adam Schiff** is the most prominent Democrat to publicly call on **Joe Biden** to drop out of the race. Over the weekend, Schiff told donors that Biden remaining on top of the ticket for November would cost the party the presidency and probably the House and Senate, too, the New York Times [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/us/politics/schiff-biden-democrats.html). “I think if he is our nominee, I think we lose,” Schiff told donors in East Hampton, New York, last Saturday, the paper said, citing “a person with access to a transcription of a recording of the event”. > And we may very, very well lose the Senate and lose our chance to take back the House. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6697fbc38f08d8344a28f234#block-6697fbc38f08d8344a28f234) The high-profile California Democrat **Adam Schiff** has called on **Joe Biden** to drop out of the presidential race. Schiff, in a [statement](https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2024-07-17/schiff-calls-on-biden-to-drop-out-citing-serious-concerns-that-he-can-win) to the Los Angeles Times, said that Biden “has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history, and his lifetime of service as a Senator, a Vice President, and now as President has made our country better”. “But our nation is at a crossroads,” he added. > A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November. Schiff said the “choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone”, but that he believes it is time for Biden “to pass the torch” and “secure his legacy of leadership” by allowing another Democrat to beat **Donald Trump**. He added that he would fully support whoever ends up at the top of the Democratic ticket – including if it remains Biden. “I will do everything I can to help them succeed,” Schiff said. > There is only one singular goal: defeating Donald Trump. The stakes are just too high. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6697f94c8f08155bce435a3e#block-6697f94c8f08155bce435a3e) **Joe Biden** faced withering criticism over his recent claim that he had done “more for the Palestinian community than anybody”, as Israel [continues to strike Gaza](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/16/dozens-of-people-killed-in-israeli-airstrikes-across-the-gaza-strip) with some of the fiercest bombardments in months. The comments were made in an interview with [Complex’s Chris “Speedy” Morman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJP2zlH2nt8) that was recorded last week in Detroit and published on Monday. While defending his administration’s response to the conflict in [Gaza](https://www.theguardian.com/world/gaza), Biden said: > By the way, I’m the guy that did more for the Palestinian community than anybody. I’m the guy that opened up all the assets. I’m the guy that made sure that I got the Egyptians to open the border to let goods through, medicine and food. More than [38,000 Palestinians](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/biden-says-israel-gaza-war-should-end-now-2024-07-11/), the majority of them civilians, have been killed since the war began 10 months ago, according to Gaza’s health ministry. About 1,200 Israelis were killed in Hamas’s cross-border assault on 7 October. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6697f8a98f08d8344a28f1f0#block-6697f8a98f08d8344a28f1f0)  Lauren Gambino **House Democrats** are scrapping a letter raising “serious concerns” about a plan to fast-track **Joe Biden**’s virtual roll call nomination after the Democratic National Committee announced the vote would not take place until August. The letter to the DNC, which had not been sent, called a proposal to fast-track Biden’s nomination a “terrible idea” that would effectively end the internal debate over whether Biden should remain the party’s nominee. **“We’re glad to see that the pressure has worked and the DNC will not rush this virtual process through in July,”** a spokesperson for Congressman Jared Huffman, a California Democrat, told the Guardian. **“We won’t be sending the letter at this time.”** > NEW: House Democrats will not be sending their letter against the DNC's plan to nominate Biden ASAP. > "We're glad to see that the pressure has worked and the DNC will not rush this virtual process through in July," a spox for Rep. Huffman said. > > — Lauren Gambino (@laurenegambino) [July 17, 2024](https://twitter.com/laurenegambino/status/1813604997507981419?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) During a press conference in Milwaukee on Wednesday morning, Minnesota governor **Tim Walz,** who heads the rules committee with **Leah Daughtry**, said delegates would not begin voting before 1 August, and the governor’s spokesperson later confirmed that the process should wrap up by 7 August. “We need to get these things done. We need to get the roll call done,” Walz said. “But it won’t happen before the first of August.” Nearly 20 congressional Democrats have publicly called on Biden to resign, though the debate had stalled in the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt on Trump. These House Democrats are suggesting a wider discussion should take place, even if the president insists he’s not going anywhere. According to a copy of the now-scrapped letter, obtained by the Guardian, a contingent of House Democrats was prepared to accuse the DNC of preparing to press ahead with a vote that could “deeply undermine the morale and unity of Democrats.” [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6697f5d88f08155bce435a17#block-6697f5d88f08155bce435a17) **Joe Biden** lashed out at a “tense” meeting with dozens of House [Democrats](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/democrats) who bluntly questioned his viability as their party’s presidential nominee, according to reports. During the Saturday Zoom call, Colorado congressman **Jason Crow** told Biden that voters are concerned about his vigor and strength, and noted the importance of national security in the November election, the reports say. According to CNN, the president said to Crow, a former Army Ranger who served two tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq, that he knew that he had a Bronze Star recipient, like his son Beau, but that “he didn’t rebuild Nato.” At one point, Biden told Crow to “cut that crap out” and that if Crow wants to walk away from him, then he can walk away, according to the report. According to Puck News, Biden told Crow: > On national security, nobody has been a better president than I’ve been. Name me one. Name me one! So I don’t want to hear that crap! Democrat lawmakers who were on the call told Puck that Biden was “rambling”, “dismissive of concerns” and “unable or unprepared to present a campaign strategy.” One told the outlet: > He’d start an answer then lose his train of thought, then would just say ‘whatever.’ He really couldn’t complete an answer. I lost a ton of respect for him. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6697f28f8f081a868efc7a23#block-6697f28f8f081a868efc7a23) **Lloyd Doggett,** the Texas congressman who became the first House Democrat to publicly call on **Joe Biden** to step aside, has doubled down and urged the president to withdraw from the ticket in the face of “the reality of steadily, worsening poll numbers”. “My call for President Biden to step aside remains even more urgent,” Doggett said in a statement on Wednesday. > Our decision must consider the reality of steadily, worsening poll numbers, not just more wishful thinking. The risk of Trump tyranny is so great that we must put forward our strongest nominee. He added: > Every day this decision is delayed, the focus is not on Trump’s lies, and a new Democratic nominee is offered less time to achieve victory. What we need is a fair, open democratic process to select a new nominee that can excite and engage more Americans. [Share](mailto:?subject=Joe%20Biden%20tests%20positive%20for%20Covid%20and%20has%20mild%20symptoms,%20White%20House%20confirms%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/17/trump-vance-biden-democrats-election-politics-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6697f0f58f08d8344a28f15c#block-6697f0f58f08d8344a28f15c)

With this month’s revelations that Hunter Biden [directly contacted](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/13/us/politics/hunter-biden-ukrainian-company.html) American officials for the benefit of foreign clients in Ukraine and allegedly Romania, and with Mr. Biden facing a new trial next month stemming from charges of tax evasion for the millions he received from foreign sources, the time has come to finally charge him as an unregistered foreign agent. Originally enacted in 1938, the primary regulations targeting foreign lobbyists, known as the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), are straightforward, requiring Americans who are paid to push foreign interests to register their work with the federal government. It doesn’t make the practice illegal — lobbying is, thanks to the First Amendment, still a constitutionally protected right — but it does bring transparency to an otherwise opaque world, forcing foreign lobbyists to disclose what they’re doing, who they’re doing it for, and how much they’re being paid in the process. While FARA was unfortunately largely unenforced for decades after it took effect, the law has seen new life in recent years as prosecutors have [finally begun going after](https://www.justice.gov/nsd-fara/recent-cases) unregistered foreign agents. We’ve known that myriad foreign companies and foreign oligarchs have targeted Mr. Biden, tossing significant sums at him while his father served as vice president. With each revelation, and with each new foreign client revealed, the president’s detractors have wailed that the younger Mr. Biden violated foreign lobbying laws, which required him to disclose what he was doing abroad — as well as reveal the Americans he’d been targeting on behalf of his foreign benefactors. Mr. Biden’s highly questionable foreign dealings have for years appeared more smoke than fire; there was previously no evidence that he illicitly lobbied any American officials. Compared to figures such as the [former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/20/opinion/trump-manafort-lobbying.html), who was caught out as an illegal foreign lobbyist (among plenty of other crimes), Mr. Biden’s alleged foreign lobbying misdeeds appeared to fall short of crossing the line into criminality. They may have put a lie to President Biden’s [claimed concerns](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-09-03/danger-banning-foreign-lobbying) about foreign influence campaigns, but they were never worthy of formal charges. With the new details, though, that has changed, giving prosecutors the opening to pursue the president’s son as one of the most prominent foreign lobbyists the United States has ever seen. Take the new reporting on Mr. Biden’s work for the Ukrainian gas firm Burisma. As The [Times reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/07/us/politics/hunter-biden-special-counsel-strategy.html), Mr. Biden, who served as a board member on the firm, “sought assistance” from American officials “for a potentially lucrative energy project,” writing at least one letter to the U.S. ambassador to Italy in 2016 to help aid Burisma — actions that, in other words, appear to be direct lobbying of an American diplomat for the benefit of his foreign firm. Meanwhile, prosecutors [claimed last week](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/07/us/politics/hunter-biden-special-counsel-strategy.html) that a local Romanian magnate accused of corruption hired Mr. Biden not for any legal expertise, but to convince American officials to work with Romanian authorities to help thwart a criminal investigation into the magnate’s finances. It was, according to a potential witness [cited by the government](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25034281-the-special-counsel-responds-to-hunter-bidens-arguments-about-fara-aug-7-2024), an “attempt to influence U.S. government agencies” — part of a broader pattern of Mr. Biden “perform\[ing\] almost no work in exchange for the millions of dollars he received” from assorted foreign entities. Moreover, prosecutors claim that the Romanian deal was specifically structured to dodge basic foreign lobbying transparency — drafted as a “property management” arrangement, in which Mr. Biden received at least $1 million — all to avoid “political ramifications” for President Biden. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F08%2F16%2Fopinion%2Fhunter-biden-foreign-agent.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F08%2F16%2Fopinion%2Fhunter-biden-foreign-agent.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? 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The [Israeli](https://www.theguardian.com/world/israel) government sought legal advice on a US federal law requiring the disclosure of foreign-backed lobbying campaigns, out of concern that mounting enforcement of the law could ensnare American groups working in coordination with the Israeli government, leaked documents reviewed by the Guardian suggest. Emails and legal memos originating from a hack of the Israeli justice ministry show that officials feared that the country’s advocacy efforts in the US could trigger the US law governing foreign agents. The documents show that officials proposed creating a new American nonprofit in order to continue Israel’s activities in the US while avoiding scrutiny under the law. A legal strategy memo dated July 2018 noted that compliance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (Fara) would damage the reputation of several American groups that receive funding and direction from Israel, and force them to meet onerous transparency requirements. A separate memo noted that donors would not want to fund groups registered under Fara. Fara requires people working on behalf of a foreign government to register as foreign agents with the US justice department. In listing reasons for avoiding Fara, the memo says that the law compels registrants to “flag any piece of ‘propaganda’ that is distributed to two or more parties in the US, with a disclaimer stating that it was delivered by a foreign agent and then submit a copy of the ‘propaganda’ to the US Department of Justice within 48 hours”. To prevent Fara registration, and the stigma and scrutiny associated with it, the legal advisers suggested channeling funds through a third-party American nonprofit. Liat Glazer, then a legal adviser to Israel’s ministry of strategic affairs, writes that even though the nonprofit would not be formally managed from Israel, “we will have means of supervision and management” – for example, through grant-making and “informal coordination mechanisms” including “oral meetings and updates”. The discussions around circumnavigating Fara focused on a “[PR commando unit](https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5063599,00.html)” formed by the strategic affairs ministry in 2017 to improve Israel’s image abroad. The group, a private-public partnership, was originally known as “Kela Shlomo” (which translates to “Solomon’s Sling”) before being rebranded as “Concert” in 2018 and “Voices of Israel” in 2021. Its initial mission was to undermine the BDS movement targeting Israel with boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns in protest of its policies towards Palestinians. Over the course of its history, the group has [supported](https://forward.com/israel/453286/us-pro-israel-groups-failed-to-disclose-grants-from-israeli-government/) American nonprofits advocating for anti-BDS laws and [coordinated](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/24/israel-fund-us-university-protest-gaza-antisemitism) campaigns to push back against pro-Palestinian activities on US campuses. The emails and documents were released by Distributed Denial of Secrets, or DDoSecrets, a US-based nonprofit responsible for disseminating a number of high-profile hacks in recent years. The original source for the documents was a group calling itself “Anonymous for Justice”, a self-described “hacktivist collective” that [announced](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israels-justice-ministry-reviewing-cyber-incident-after-hacktivists-claim-breach-2024-04-05/) in April it had infiltrated Israel’s ministry of justice and retrieved hundreds of gigabytes of data. Amnesty International’s security lab analyzed the data set and “determined the files are consistent with a hack-and-leak attack targeting a series of email accounts”. The group said: “It was not possible to cryptographically verify the authenticity of the emails, as critical email metadata was removed by the hackers during a pre-processing step before release.” It added: “Technical indicators in other files from the leak, including a sampling of PDFs and Microsoft Word documents reviewed by Amnesty International did not show obvious signs of having been tampered with.” Previous [reporting](https://www.theguardian.com/news/article/2024/jul/25/israel-tried-to-frustrate-us-lawsuit-over-pegasus-spyware-leak-suggests) in the Guardian on the hacked archive revealed Israeli government attempts to thwart discovery in a lawsuit brought by WhatsApp against the infamous spyware company NSO Group. Following the leak, Israel imposed a gag order to prevent the documents from being publicized. Earlier this year, the Guardian [exclusively](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/24/israel-fund-us-university-protest-gaza-antisemitism) reported that Voices of Israel was rebooted shortly after the outbreak of the Gaza war following the 7 October terror attacks by Hamas. Amichai Chikli, the Likud minister of diaspora affairs, who oversees the latest iteration of the project, informed the Knesset that the group was set to go “on the offensive” against American students protesting against the [Gaza war](https://www.theguardian.com/world/israel-hamas-war). The heightened concern over Fara around 2018 was sparked in part by a series of enforcement [actions](https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/paul-manafort-guilty-plea-highlights-increased-enforcement-foreign-agents-registration-act) against Trump administration officials for unregistered lobbying for foreign interests. The July 2018 Israeli legal memo noted that “in the past, Fara was applied to countries hostile to the US”, such as Russia and Pakistan. Glazer warned that the new atmosphere of enforcement, given the ties between the Israeli prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu](https://www.theguardian.com/world/benjamin-netanyahu) and [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump), could lead to a formal investigation by the US justice department. In response, the documents show, the Israeli government retained Sandler Reiff, a prominent election and campaign law firm in Washington, to analyze the Fara risks posed by Concert and other Israeli advocacy efforts to shape American policy and opinion. The two primary contacts for the engagement were Joseph E Sandler, the former in-house general counsel to the Democratic National Committee, and Joshua I Rosenstein, a widely cited expert on Fara. Another memo from 2018, which summarized a discussion led by then deputy attorney general Dina Zilber, noted increased public attention to Fara due to “the investigation into Donald Trump and officials in his government suspected of operating as ‘foreign agents’ for the Russian government”. The document notes advice from senior Israeli advisors who assert that “donors are not interested in donating to groups registered under Fara”. The memo recommended creating a new American nonprofit which Kela Shlomo/Concert could funnel money through, thereby providing distance between US nonprofits and the Israeli government – though the head of the nonprofit would also serve in Kela Shlomo’s leadership. It also notes potential downsides of creating such an American intermediary: both weaker Israeli government control, and a mechanism that could be interpreted for what it was: an attempt to sidestep Fara. The documents reference concerns on the part of US groups over triggering Fara enforcement, concerns that officials say hindered their ability to conduct advocacy in the US. In 2018, the news outlet the Forward [reported](https://forward.com/news/401876/israeli-ministrys-repeated-efforts-to-fund-american-jewish-groups-rejected/) that several Jewish American organizations had rejected funding from Concert due to concerns over Fara risk. In Glazer’s December 2019 email, she noted that if it became public that Israel sought legal advice on Fara, this could “raise claims that the state of Israel wants to unacceptably interfere in US matters and spark a public debate on a sensitive issue in Israel-US relations”. To avoid the potential public relations fallout, Glazer urged secrecy surrounding the Israeli government’s hiring of Sandler Reiff, the American law firm retained to study the issue. “Exposing the name of the law firm could thwart the entire relationship,” she cautioned, “as I understand it was agreed with them that the engagement with \[Israel\] would not be revealed.” Multiple memos and emails show that Sandler Reiff analyzed Fara-related questions from 2018 through at least 2022. Sandler and Rosenstein did not respond to requests for comment. Brig Gen Sima Vaknin-Gill, a former intelligence officer and former chief military [censor](https://www.reuters.com/article/world/israels-secret-keeper-seeks-censorship-reform-idUSKCN0Q41E2/) for the Israel Defense Forces who was intimately involved in the creation of Kela Shlomo, was copied on many of the emails and named in key documents concerning how to avoid Fara. Vaknin-Gill is now a board member of the Kansas-based nonprofit Combat Antisemitism Movement (Cam). Cam was set up one year after the ministry of strategic affairs, where Vaknin-Gill was director-general, proposed its strategy to mitigate Fara risk by setting up an American nonprofit funded by Concert. Cam has publicly disclosed that it is a partner of Concert and Israel’s ministry of diaspora affairs, but the organization has [refused](https://forward.com/news/467981/dark-money-questionable-partners-behind-new-group-fighting-antisemitism/) requests from journalists to disclose its funders. When reached for comment, Cam stated that it “was not established by, nor is it influenced by, the Israeli government” and emphasized that Cam is “a global interfaith coalition that unites over 850 partner organizations”. “If there is a deliberate effort by Israeli governmental officials to influence American policy and/or public opinion on foreign affairs,” noted Craig Holman, a lobbying expert with Public Citizen, “this would constitute a Fara violation not just by the US agents serving the Israeli government, but also by any person or nonprofit organization in the US who is a knowing participant.” Glazer, the author of one of the Fara memos who helped organize several meetings around the issue, left the government in 2021 and [joined Google](https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/h1xomo9na) as one of the company’s lobbyists in Israel. Glazer did not respond to a request for comment through Google. The secrecy surrounding the ministry of strategic affairs’ US-focused advocacy campaigns was [challenged](https://www.the7eye.org.il/276553) through freedom of information requests by Israeli news outlets, [particularly](https://www.the7eye.org.il/382244) the independent media watchdog Seventh Eye. After years of denied requests, the newsrooms eventually prevailed and obtained a series of Concert-related funding documents from the ministry. The documents showed Kela Shlomo/Concert grants to several American advocacy groups, including Christian Zionist organizations such as Christians United for Israel and the Israel Allies Foundation. The latter was involved in helping to pass anti-BDS state laws penalizing Americans from engaging in certain forms of boycotts targeting the Israeli government. In 2018, the ministry of strategic affairs also [approved](https://cdn.the7eye.org.il/uploads/2017/12/276242-282147.pdf) a $445,000 grant to the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (Isgap), which totaled about 80% of the organization’s reported annual budget. The nonprofit initially disputed the precise amount but [conceded](https://forward.com/israel/453339/israel-antisemitism-isgap-think-tank-foreign-funding/) Israeli [government support](https://thecjn.ca/news/ngo-looks-to-combat-anti-semitism-through-academia/) when reached by the Forward. Fara includes an exemption for “academic” projects that do not entail political activity. Last year, Vaknin-Gill, the Israeli intelligence officer involved in the formation of Kela Shlomo/Concert and the discussions about avoiding Fara registration, joined Isgap as its managing director. Isgap has expanded its advocacy role in recent months. The group took credit for influencing the contentious December 2023 congressional hearing with elite college presidents, which preceded Harvard president Claudine Gay’s [resignation](https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/jan/02/harvard-president-claudine-gay-resigns). In recent months, Isgap has met with congressional leaders regularly as the group has urged investigations of pro-Palestinian student demonstrators. In an email sent in December 2019, Glazer emphasized the need to find a solution that would alleviate Fara-related concerns on the part of American groups. “There have already been requests by the US Department of Justice made of a number of pro-Israeli entities in the past,” the email says. “The ministry already faces real challenges in operating with groups in the US, and this could hurt the various groups that are willing to work with the ministry or with \[Concert\] and ultimately harm the office’s activities in dealing with the phenomenon of delegitimization and boycotts.”

The US is still not prepared for inevitable Russian attacks on its elections, the former special counsel [Robert Mueller](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/robert-mueller), who investigated Russian interference in 2016 and links between Donald Trump and Moscow, warns in a new book. “It is … evident that Americans have not learned the lessons of Russia’s attack on our democracy in 2016,” Mueller writes in a preface to Interference: The Inside Story of Trump, [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia) and the Mueller Investigation by Aaron Zebley, James Quarles and Andrew Goldstein, prosecutors who worked for Mueller from 2017 to 2019. Mueller continues: “As we detailed in our report, the evidence was clear that the Russian government engaged in multiple, systematic attacks designed to undermine our democracy and favor one candidate over the other.” That candidate was Trump, the Republican who beat the Democrat, Hillary Clinton, for the White House. “We were not prepared then,” Mueller writes, “and, despite many efforts of dedicated people across the government, we are not prepared now. This threat deserves the attention of every American. Russia attacked us before and will do so again.” Interference will be [published](https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/untitled-s-s-nf-if-to-be-confirmed-simon-schuster/7709017) in the US next week. The Guardian obtained a copy. Zebley, Quarles and Goldstein tell the story of the Mueller investigation, from its beginnings in May 2017 after Trump [fired the FBI director](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/09/james-comey-fbi-fired-donald-trump), James Comey, to its conclusion in March 2019 with moves by William Barr, Trump’s second attorney general, to [obscure and dismiss](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/24/mueller-report-donald-trump-william-barr) Mueller’s findings. Mueller did not establish collusion between Trump and Moscow but did initiate criminal proceedings against three Russian entities and 34 people, with those convicted including a Trump campaign manager, Paul Manafort, who was jailed. Mueller also laid out [10 instances](https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-ap-top-news-elections-james-comey-north-america-e0d125d737be4a21a81bec3d9f1dffd8) of possible obstruction of justice by Trump. Though he did not indict Trump, citing justice department policy regarding sitting presidents, Mueller [said](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/mueller-i-did-not-clear-trump-of-obstruction-of-justice) he was not clearing him either. Mueller now says Zebley, Quarles and Goldstein “care deeply about the rule of law and know the importance of making decisions with integrity and humility”, adding: “These qualities matter most when some refuse to play by the rules, and others are urging you to respond in kind.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/18/russia-election-interference-robert-mueller#img-2) Photograph: Simon & Schuster The FBI director from 2001 to 2013, Mueller was 72 and widely admired for his rectitude when he was made special counsel. His former prosecutors describe a White House meeting preceding that appointment. In an atmosphere of high tension, Mueller made his entry “via a warren of passages beneath the Eisenhower Executive Office Building”, thereby avoiding the press. Trump, who wanted Mueller to return as FBI director, “did most of the talking” but though he praised Mueller richly, Mueller declined the offer. As the authors write, Trump “would later [claim](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-again-claims-mueller-wanted-to-return-as-fbi-director-an-assertion-mueller-disputes/2019/07/24/bf78e6c2-ae2f-11e9-bc5c-e73b603e7f38_story.html) that Bob came to the meeting asking to be FBI director”, and that Trump “turned him down”. “This was false,” the prosecutors write. Soon after the White House interview, the New York Times [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-flynn-russia-investigation.html) memos kept by Comey about Trump’s request to shut down an investigation of Michael Flynn, the national security adviser who [resigned](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/13/michael-flynn-resigns-quits-trump-national-security-adviser-russia) after lying about contacts with the Russian ambassador. Soon after that, Mueller was appointed special counsel. Trump escaped punishment arising from Mueller’s work but did lose the White House in 2020, when he was beaten by Joe Biden. Zebley, Quarles and Goldstein’s book arrives as another election looms, with Trump in a tight race with the vice-president, Kamala Harris, and shortly after US authorities [outlined](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/04/russia-accused-of-trying-to-influence-us-voters-through-online-campaign) how pro-Trump influencers were paid large sums by Russia. On Tuesday, a new threat intelligence report from Microsoft [said](https://apnews.com/article/russia-disinformation-foreign-influence-election-microsoft-7f802f9f4a0efe206fdaad29516b1f7f) Russia was accelerating covert influence efforts against Harris. [skip past newsletter promotion](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/18/russia-election-interference-robert-mueller#EmailSignup-skip-link-15) Sign up to First Thing Our US morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters **Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our [Privacy Policy](https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy). We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https://policies.google.com/terms) apply. after newsletter promotion US presidential elections are often the subject of “October surprises”, late-breaking scandals which can tilt a race. In 2016, October brought both Trump’s [Access Hollywood scandal](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/07/donald-trump-leaked-recording-women), in which he was recorded bragging about sexual assault, and the release by WikiLeaks of Democratic emails [hacked by Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/07/wikileaks-hillary-clinton-paid-wall-street-speeches). In Interference, Zebley, Quarles and Goldstein tell how the Mueller team came to its conclusion that Russia boosted Trump in 2016. They also detail attempts to interview Trump that were blocked by his attorneys, Rudy Giuliani among them. Describing how the former New York mayor betrayed a promise to keep an April 2018 meeting confidential, speaking openly if inaccurately to the press, the authors say Mueller “decided he would never again meet or speak with Giuliani – and he never did. For Bob it was a matter of trust.” More than six years on, Giuliani faces criminal charges arising from his work to overturn Trump’s 2020 defeat, as well as [costly civil proceedings](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/30/georgia-election-workers-giuliani-assets-defamation-case). Trump also faces civil penalties and criminal charges, having been convicted on 34 counts in New York over hush-money payments made before the 2016 election. Though Zebley, Quarles and Goldstein focus on the Russia investigation, in doing so they voice dismay regarding the US supreme court, to which Trump appointed three rightwing justices and which has this year twice cast his criminal cases into doubt. The authors describe how Mueller’s team decided not to subpoena Trump for in-person testimony, given delays one Trump attorney said would result from inevitable “war” on the matter. Looking ahead, the authors consider new supreme court opinions that will shape such face-offs in future. [Fischer v United States](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/jun/28/supreme-court-january-6-rioters), the authors say, narrows the scope of the obstruction of justice statute “that was the focus of volume II of our report”. More dramatically, in [Trump v United States](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/16/supreme-court-john-roberts-trump-immunity-ruling), the court held “that a president has absolute immunity from criminal prosecution when carrying out ‘core’ constitutional functions … and has ‘presumptive’ immunity for all ‘official actions’”. Though the court ruled a president was not immune for “unofficial actions”, Zebley, Quarles and Goldstein warn that it nonetheless “sharply limited the areas of presidential conduct that can be subject to criminal investigation – permitting a president to use his or her power in wholly corrupt ways without the possibility of prosecution”.

 When Olga Belogolova moved to Washington, DC, in 2010, Russian state-owned broadcaster RT was making a big push in the U.S. “I remember going to bars in this town and seeing RT on televisions, just on,” Belogolova, who is now director of the Emerging Technologies Initiative at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, recalls. RT was long known to be government-funded and a source of Russian propaganda. But it claimed to be independent. It hired American journalists, and featured some big names like former CNN host [Larry King](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/19/business/media/moscow-joins-the-partisan-media-landscape-with-familiar-american-faces.html). The channel’s aesthetic was sleek, modern, and cable news-like. But over the years, as American relations with Russia cooled, skepticism of RT grew. Now, the U.S. government has accused RT and its parent company, Rossiya Segodnya, of going beyond [propaganda](https://www.npr.org/2024/06/06/g-s1-2965/russia-propaganda-deepfakes-sham-websites-social-media-ukraine), as part of the [Kremlin’s efforts](https://www.npr.org/2024/09/04/nx-s1-5100329/us-russia-election-interference-bots-2024) to destabilize democracies and erode international support for Ukraine. “They are engaged in covert influence activities aimed at undermining American elections and democracies, functioning like a de facto arm of Russia's intelligence apparatus,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a press conference this month. That includes a scheme to funnel nearly $10 million to [pro-Trump American influencers](https://www.npr.org/2024/09/05/nx-s1-5100829/russia-election-influencers-youtube), over which the Justice Department recently indicted two RT employees. Responding to Blinken’s accusation, an RT statement joked that the organization has been “broadcasting straight out of the KGB headquarters all this time.” From the war in Georgia to Occupy Wall Street --------------------------------------------- RT originally launched in 2005 as Russia Today, a round-the-clock English language news channel. It had a clear mission: to “reflect the Russian position on the main issues of international politics and inform the wider public about the events and phenomena of Russian life,” according to Nina Jankowicz, who has studied Russian information operations and also co-founded the American Sunlight Project.  The channel’s first big moment came in 2008 during Russia’s war in Georgia. Russia Today presented itself as a counterpoint to coverage on CNN and other international outlets that its editor-in-chief said was biased towards the Georgians. In the following years, the network shortened its name to RT, launched channels in [Arabic and Spanish](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/09/business/russia-propaganda-spanish-social-media.html), and began broadcasting from Washington, DC, under the name RT America. It also built a big [online presence](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2013/09/how-the-rt-network-built-a-us-audience.html) on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and its own website. As RT evolved, one constant was its approach as a [provocative alternative](https://www.cjr.org/feature/what_is_russia_today.php) to Western media, in a “just asking questions” mode seemingly aimed at younger, left-leaning Americans. It adopted the slogan “Question More” and in 2010 launched a [controversial advertising campaign](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/18/russia-today-propaganda-ad-blitz) with the phrase. [One ad](https://www.themoscowtimes.com/archive/russia-today-courts-viewers-with-controversy) asked whether then President Barack Obama or Iran’s President Mahmud Ahmadinejad posed “the greater nuclear threat?” That contrarian approach got RT noticed, including for its coverage of the anti-wealth inequality Occupy Wall Street movement of the early 2010s. But RT’s legitimate reporting was mixed with sensationalism, seizing on stories of grievance and chaos in the U.S. “They also engage in ragebait…in disaster footage and kind of the shock and awe value,” Jankowicz said. Russia has long deflected scrutiny of issues like its own human rights violations by highlighting the U.S.’s own social problems. RT has also trafficked in outright [conspiracism](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/jul/30/peter-lavelle/rts-peter-lavelle-says-he-doesnt-allow-conspiracy-/), from the [false claim](https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2010/russian-tv-channel-pushes-patriot-conspiracy-theories) that President Barack Obama wasn’t born in the US to [bogus theories](https://web.archive.org/web/20130501141951/http://rt.com/usa/911-attack-job/) about the September 11th attacks. Scrutiny increases as views of Russia soured -------------------------------------------- Jankowicz says RT’s image began to shift when Russia illegally annexed [Crimea](https://www.npr.org/2022/02/12/1080205477/history-ukraine-russia) in 2014. American RT anchor [Liz Wahl quit on air](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/03/06/286807718/russian-tv-host-quits-over-network-whitewash-of-crimea), saying “I cannot be part of a network funded by the Russian government that whitewashes the actions of Putin.” “The masks were off. It was clear that RT was just shilling for the Russian point of view,” Jankowicz said. [Scrutiny](https://www.npr.org/2017/10/26/560199026/twitter-ends-russian-state-media-advertisements-citing-2016-interference-efforts) of Russian state media [escalated](https://www.npr.org/2017/06/09/532196946/russia-needs-to-counter-mainstream-media-head-of-rt-network-says) with the revelations that the Kremlin sought to [tip the 2016 presidential election](https://www.npr.org/2020/08/18/903512647/senate-report-former-trump-aide-paul-manafort-shared-campaign-info-with-russia) to Donald Trump. U.S. intelligence officials accused RT of being [involved](https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2017-rt-media/) in election meddling, and RT America was forced to register with the Justice Department as a [foreign agent](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/11/14/564045159/rt-america-firm-registers-as-foreign-agent-in-u-s-russia-looks-to-retaliate). In January 2019, [Facebook took down](https://about.fb.com/news/2019/01/removing-cib-from-russia/) hundreds of pages posing as independent European news sites that were actually run by employees of an RT sister brand called Sputnik. A month later, [CNN reported](https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/15/tech/russia-facebook-viral-videos/index.html) that Maffick Media, which made online videos targeting left-leaning millennials, was funded by an RT subsidiary – without any disclosure. The fake news sites in particular were a precursor to what RT is accused of doing today, said Belogolova, who was leading Facebook’s Russia investigations at the time. “It's not a totally novel thing for them to sort of blur the lines between covert and overt,” she said. After the invasion of Ukraine, RT adopts ‘guerrilla’ tactics ------------------------------------------------------------ Then came Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Many US cable companies dropped [RT America](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/12/business/rt-america-russian-tv.html), and the U.S. channel shut down. RT was [banned](https://www.npr.org/2022/02/28/1083633239/facebook-and-tiktok-block-russian-state-media-in-europe) across much of Europe, and was blocked globally on [YouTube](https://www.npr.org/2022/03/01/1083824030/techs-crackdown-on-russian-propaganda-is-a-geopolitical-high-wire-act), where it had racked up billions of views. So, the network looked for ways to keep pushing [pro-Russia, anti-Ukraine messages](https://www.npr.org/2023/02/28/1159712623/how-russia-is-losing-and-winning-the-information-war-in-ukraine) — without the RT label. Speaking on Russian state television after this month’s Justice Department indictments, RT editor-in-chief [Margarita Simonyan](https://cepa.org/article/onward-putin-soldiers/) said RT started working “underground” using “guerilla operations” in places it lost access, including the U.S.  Simonyan wouldn't say whether the scheme involving several prominent right-wing American influencers is one of these operations. The influencers, who have not been charged, say they didn’t know the money came from Russia. RT has mocked the US government’s allegations. Speaking on Russian TV, Simonyan sarcastically told any listening U.S. officials: “Write down for yourself that all RT employees and, personally, the editor-in-chief obey only orders from the Kremlin. All other orders immediately become toilet paper!” RT’s worldwide footprint ------------------------ The [State Department says](https://www.state.gov/alerting-the-world-to-rts-global-covert-activities/) RT is running these kinds of covert operations around the world, from secretly operating media outlets in Africa and Germany to targeting elections in [Moldova](https://www.npr.org/2023/03/09/1162045645/from-tv-to-telegram-to-tiktok-moldova-is-being-flooded-with-russian-propaganda). US officials allege the Kremlin has even embedded a cyberintelligence unit inside RT. “RT has become a clearinghouse for a set of covert operations, covert influence activities, intelligence operations de facto, in country after country after country,” said James Rubin, head of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which focuses on foreign disinformation and propaganda.  Following the State Department’s announcement, Meta and TikTok banned RT and its affiliates from their apps. But the network still has a big [footprint](https://www.wired.com/story/russia-backed-media-outlets-are-under-fire-in-the-us-but-still-trusted-worldwide/) across Latin America and Africa, where critics say it broadcasts a steady stream of anti-Ukraine, anti-imperialist, anti-Western content. “One of the reasons why so much of the world has not been as fully supportive of Ukraine as you would think they would be, given that Russia has invaded Ukraine and violated rule number one of the international system, is because of the broad scope and reach of RT, where propaganda, disinformation, and lies are spread to millions, if not billions, of people around the world,” Rubin said. Belogolova says transparency about what RT is up to is good — and that it’s important for people to know where their information is coming from. But she also warns against overstating the impact of these influence operations. “We're very capable here in the United States and in other countries of coming up with our own very stupid ideas and conspiracy theories,” she said. “And sometimes we don't need the help of the Russians to do that.”

“The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion,” said the [Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election,](https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1373816/dl) AKA the Mueller Report. “A Russian entity carried out a social media campaign that favored presidential candidate Donald J Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.” Robert Mueller, the special counsel, did not criminally charge Trump but did not give him a clean bill of health, contrary to misleading claims made by Bill Barr, Trump’s attorney general, in a 24 March 2019 letter – AKA the Barr Report. Barr’s bad-faith action angered Mueller and members of his team, among them prosecutors Aaron Zebley, James Quarles and Andrew Goldstein. So much so, the three have now written a book of their time at what was once the central maelstrom of American politics. “The purpose of appointing a special counsel was to shield the investigation from political interference so there would be public confidence in the outcome,” the three men now write in Interference, their look back at their time in the special counsel’s office. “That required the public to see our actual analysis and conclusions, not those of a politically appointed attorney general.” Under the subtitle The Inside Story of Trump, [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia), and the Mueller Investigation, Zebley, Quarles and Goldstein shed new light on the decisions not to subpoena or indict Trump, who Mueller nonetheless saw as a “subject” – someone “whose conduct is within the scope of the investigation”. The tenor of Interference is sober, not breathy. Its prose is dry. This is a book by establishmentarian lawyers. Their boss, an ex-US marine and FBI director, earned the sobriquet “Bobby Three-Sticks”, a reference to his name and the three-fingered Boy Scout salute. Justice department protocols barred federal prosecutors from charging an incumbent president, yet doubts lingered. “The department had twice taken the position, in writing, that a sitting president could not be indicted,” the authors acknowledge. But “if the special counsel’s office had evidence proving Trump truly was a Manchurian candidate, a puppet who was being directed by Russia in a way that was an immediate and ongoing threat, then the public interest in an indictment might be so great as to warrant pushing the department to revisit the \[Office of Legal Counsel\] opinion in order to safeguard the nation”. Also, Rod Rosenstein, the Janus-faced deputy attorney general who oversaw Mueller after Jeff Sessions, Trump’s first attorney general, recused himself, reportedly instructed Mueller to limit his investigation to criminal conduct connected with Russia’s election interference. “This is a criminal investigation,” Rosenstein purportedly [told Mueller](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/30/us/politics/trump-russia-justice-department.html). “Do your job, and then shut it down.” Examination of Trump’s prior ties to Russia was outside Mueller’s remit. Furthermore, a 2 August 2017 “scope memo” between Rosenstein and the special counsel gave the deputy attorney general the power to veto new lines of investigation, Zebley, Quarles and Goldstein now disclose. We know how the story ends. Trump was not charged. Associates were convicted, only to be pardoned. Roger Stone and Paul Manafort remain in Trumpworld. Zebley, Quarles and Goldstein portray Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, as untrustworthy. By the end, Mueller “decided he would never again meet or speak with Giuliani – and he never did”. Giuliani is now under indictment in Arizona and Georgia, for his role in Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Not everyone who worked for Mueller was thrilled with Zebley, Quarles and Goldstein. Andrew Weissmann, a Mueller deputy, now a New York University law professor and MSNBC commentator, has strafed Zebley for being overly cautious, adhering to a narrow reading of the special counsel’s mandate. In [Where Law Ends](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/27/where-law-ends-review-robert-mueller-donald-trump-andrew-weissmann): Inside the Mueller Investigation, his 2020 memoir, Weissmann hearkened back to the generals who served Abraham Lincoln, comparing Zebley to the “timorous” George McClellan, reluctant to fight the Confederates, while presenting himself as a hero, an approximation of Philip Sheridan and Ulysses S Grant. In turn, Zebley, Quarles and Goldstein see Weissmann as a zealot. Mueller and Zebley knew him but the decision to bring him on board engendered discussion. “He had a reputation for being unduly harsh with some defendants,” the authors write. In addition, Weissmann was already collecting information on Manafort, “almost as though it had been a hobby”. Maybe “that should have caused us to consider whether he was too interested in the investigation”. [skip past newsletter promotion](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/29/interference-book-review-mueller-report#EmailSignup-skip-link-15) Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you **Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our [Privacy Policy](https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy). We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https://policies.google.com/terms) apply. after newsletter promotion Later, the authors describe Weissmann’s failed efforts to have the Manhattan district attorney resurrect the federal case against Manafort, after he had received a Trump pardon. As Interference arrives, the US is embroiled in another brutal election. Again, the Kremlin is in the mix. Earlier this month, the justice department [indicted](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-rt-employees-indicted-covertly-funding-and-directing-us-company-published-thousands) two employees of RT, the Russian propaganda machine, as part of “a $10m scheme to create and distribute content to US audiences”. Pro-Trump American lackeys purportedly benefited from such largesse. Trump continues to brag about his relationship with the Russian leader and his ilk. “I know Putin very well,” [he announced](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/harris-trump-presidential-debate-transcript/story?id=113560542) at the September debate. “I have a good relationship.” Also in September, federal prosecutors charged Dimitri and Anastasia Simes in a scheme to evade sanctions and launder money at the behest of Channel One Russia. Dimitri Simes previously led a thinktank with ties to the Kremlin and Trumpworld. His name appeared dozens of times in the Mueller Report, earning a whole subsection, Dimitri Simes and the Center for the National Interest. As he seeks a second presidency, Trump is unhinged and unrestrained. “I am your retribution,” he tells supporters. “I’m being indicted for you.” “We were not prepared then,” Mueller writes in his introduction to Interference, “and, despite many efforts of dedicated people across the government, we are not prepared now. This threat deserves the attention of every American. Russia attacked us before and will do so again.” * _Interference: The Inside Story of Trump, Russia, and the Mueller Investigation is_ _[published in the US](https://bookshop.org/p/books/untitled-s-s-nf-if-to-be-confirmed-simon-schuster/21389318?ean=9781668063743)_ _by HarperCollins_

“But stupidity is not enough,” wrote George Orwell in 1984. The facts must be eliminated. “Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts.” Followers must “forget that one has ever believed the contrary”. Memory must be erased. “This demands a continuous alteration of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embraces all the rest, and which is known in Newspeak as doublethink.” The past, like the facts, must be reinvented. “For when it has been recreated in whatever shape is needed at the moment, then this new version is the past, and no different past can ever have existed.” Donald Trump keeps saying that if he elected to a second term he will prosecute his political opponents, “the enemies within”. On 22 October he stated, once again, that as president he would use “extreme power … We can’t play games with these people. These are people that are dangerous people _…_ an enemy from within.” At the very moment Trump delivered his remarks highlighting his campaign for a dictatorship, the Atlantic published an [article](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/10/trump-military-generals-hitler/680327/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email) by Jeffrey Goldberg confirming his motive. He reported that Trump, as president, had rebuked the US military command, stating: “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had. People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.” Then, Trump’s former chief of staff, former general John Kelly, stepped from behind the curtain in an [interview](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/22/us/politics/john-kelly-trump-fitness-character.html?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email) with the New York Times. “Certainly,” he said, “the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators – he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure. He certainly prefers the dictator approach to government.” Kelly added, the Times wrote, that “in his opinion, Mr Trump met the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator if allowed, and had no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of rule of law”. The warning of the generals against Trump’s fascism is unanimous among those who have served most closely with him. The former chairman of the joint chiefs, retired general Mark Milley, told Bob Woodward, in his new book War, that Trump is “fascist to the core”. Trump’s secretary of defense, former general James Mattis, [emailed](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4940720-bob-woodward-james-mattis-donald-trump-war-book/) Woodward to express his agreement with Milley that Trump is “the most dangerous person ever”, and “Let’s make sure we don’t try to downplay the threat, because the threat is high.” It’s Defcon 1. In a case of exquisitely poor timing, two days before the latest revelations of Trump’s despotic intent and his own insistent bellicose demands for absolute power to use against his “enemies”, the Wall Street Journal editorial board [assured](https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-fascist-meme-returns-donald-trump-election-voters-5e513359) its readers that Trump doesn’t mean it. There is no reason to take him seriously. In any case “the public isn’t buying this Democratic claim about Trump”. The “fascist meme” is just partisan propaganda. “The answer is that most Americans simply don’t believe the fascist meme, and for good reasons. The first is the evidence of Mr Trump’s first term. Whatever his intentions, the former President was hemmed in by American checks and balances.” Not satisfied with absurdly dismissing Trump’s unapologetic statement, the Wall Street Journal felt compelled to airbrush the present and the past in the Orwellian tradition of “doublethink”. Within 48 hours, however, its dismissal of the supposedly “Democratic claim” about “the fascist meme” was swept away by Kelly. Having discarded Milley’s and Mattis’s earlier statements, the Journal must have figured it could deposit Kelly’s as well in the burn bag for facts in order to be able to embroider its sophistry. But, at least for the moment, creating doublethink is a demanding job. An essential element in the normalization of Trump and his fascism is the erasure of his crimes and transgressions when he was president – his “first term”, as the Journal disingenuously describes it, as though he’s already elected to his second. Conjuring up an air of inevitability is another demoralizing Newspeak tactic. Trump’s threats, when they are not dismissed as mere rhetoric, are too generally reported as if they are something new, that they exist solely in the vacuum of this campaign, and that he has no past. Trump’s history is consigned to the memory hole. [](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/28/we-are-witnessing-the-making-of-a-fascist-president-in-real-time#img-2) John Kelly and Donald Trump in 2018. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters But Trump’s presidency was a rehearsal for fascism. Quite apart from his [record](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/20/us/politics/trump-scandals.html?searchResultPosition=2) of kleptocracy, allegedly pervasive corruption and obstructions of justice, pardons of criminal associates and dangling of pardons to insure their silence, contempt for the law, maniacal obsession with Hitler, who “did come good things”, scorn for military service (“suckers” and “losers”), worship of foreign tyrants, congenital lying, paranoid conspiracy mongering, disdain for climate science, willful neglect of public health, ignoring warnings and spreading falsehoods in the [Covid-19 pandemic](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9115435/) resulting in the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands, the organization and incitement of the January 6 insurrection, and indifference to the near-assassination of his vice-president by a mob he had unleashed (“So what?”), Trump systematically abused the Department of Justice to investigate, harass and prosecute his “enemies within”. Trump’s current rage is hardly a new threat. In a second term he intends to smash through the constraints that inhibited him in his first. The Just Security website of the New York University School of Law [reports](https://www.justsecurity.org/98703/chronology-trump-justice-department/): “The cascade of election coverage, commentary and speculation about how Donald Trump might use the power of the presidency to retaliate against his perceived political enemies has overlooked important context: Trump has done just that, while he was president.” Just Security distilled “A Dozen Times Trump Pushed to Prosecute His Perceived Enemies”, but there were many more. “The saddest thing is that because I’m the president of the United States, I am not supposed to be involved with the justice department,” Trump said on 2 November 2017. “I am not supposed to be doing the kind of things that I would love to be doing. And I am very frustrated.” Trump’s years in office showed him on a learning curve of fascism. He saw democracy as a plot against him that he had to break down. Like a hotel burglar jimmying door locks, through trial and error he discovered how to turn the keys. He pushed and prodded looking for weaknesses and loopholes. He located the places where he encountered resistance. He felt for the limits and how to go beyond them. He found out who would deter him and who would enable him. He calculated the price of everyone. He discovered those whose craven ambition would serve him. He realized that ideology was a tool he could use like a crowbar. He absorbed the lessons of crime and punishment in order to commit greater crimes without punishment. His administration was a school for the making of a fascist. Trump was frustrated that his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, recused himself so that he could not kill former FBI director Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign connections to the Russians. The Mueller report stated: “According to Sessions, the President asked him to reverse his recusal so that Sessions could direct the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute Hillary Clinton … ” After publicly attacking the Justice Department for not investigating “Crooked Hillary”, Trump succeeded in intimidating Sessions into naming a special counsel to investigate the already [debunked](https://www.factcheck.org/2017/10/facts-uranium-one/) conspiracy theory that Uranium One, a Canadian company, made a deal with the Russians in exchange for donations to the Clinton Foundation. A grand jury was empaneled, issued subpoenas and prosecutors concluded there was no there there. But it was not until two years later that the case was closed without any charges on 15 January 2021, five days before Trump left office. > I don’t think people like the fact that you got somebody at the top basically trying to dictate whether somebody should be prosecuted. I just think it’s a banana republic when we go down that road Federal judge Reggie Walton Trump blamed the FBI for the investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 campaign. His paranoia morphed into ever widening conspiracy theories about the “deep state”. He fired FBI director James Comey for not exonerating him. He forced the firing of deputy director Andrew McCabe on 16 March 2018, two days before McCabe’s scheduled retirement. The justice department opened an investigation into whether McCabe illegally leaked information about the Clinton email and Clinton Foundation probes. The federal judge overseeing the McCabe case, Reggie Walton, a George W Bush appointee, stated: “I don’t think people like the fact that you got somebody at the top basically trying to dictate whether somebody should be prosecuted. I just think it’s a banana republic when we go down that road … ” The case against McCabe was dropped without charges on 14 February 2020, and his back pay and pension were restored. On 20 May 2018, Trump demanded a justice department investigation into a “deep state” conspiracy theory going all the way up to President Barack Obama, in which Trump stated that “the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes” – “Spygate” .An investigation was opened. But on 11 December 2019, the DOJ inspector general, Michael Horowitz, issued a [report](https://oig.justice.gov/node/1100) stating that, contrary to Trump’s assertions, there was “no evidence that the FBI attempted to place any \[confidential human sources\] within the Trump campaign … ” On 23 August 2018, Trump declared that his appointment of Sessions was a terrible mistake. In response, Sessions issued a statement: “While I am attorney general, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.” The next day Trump tweeted a long list of his people he designated as enemies whom he demanded Session should investigate. “Come on Jeff, you can do it, the country is waiting!” On 8 November, he forced Sessions to resign. The new attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, a compliant mid-level rightwing operative from Iowa, was a stand-in until William Barr took over in February 2019. Barr, who had been attorney general under George HW Bush, was advertised as a conservative Republican institutionalist. He knew how to game the system for the gamester in the interest of his own game. The cultural reactionary, on the board of the reactionary Opus Dei organization’s Washington DC front, the Catholic Information Center, believed he was using the depraved Trump in a [crusade](https://www.ncronline.org/news/william-barr-nations-top-lawyer-culture-warrior-catholic) for the restoration of traditional morality. More importantly, Trump was the useful idiot to stock the federal bench with Federalist Society-stamped judges. Leonard Leo, chair of the Federalist Society, served on the Opus Dei group’s board with Barr. Barr was the adult in the room who became Trump’s enabler, enforcer and teacher. On 24 March 2019, Barr issued a [letter](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mueller-report-key-findings-from-william-barr-summary-letter-to-congress-today-2019-03-24/) pre-empting the release of the full Mueller report so that he could to distort its conclusions and present those distortions as truthful. He wrote that Trump’s campaign had not “conspired or coordinated” with the Russians, that Trump had fully cooperated with the investigation and that Trump had not committed obstruction of justice. He redacted and withheld from the public key sections of the report. “Mueller’s core premise – that the President acts ‘corruptly’ if he attempts to influence a proceeding in which his own conduct is being scrutinized – is untenable,” Barr wrote to justify his cover-up. [](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/28/we-are-witnessing-the-making-of-a-fascist-president-in-real-time#img-3) William Barr speaks at a news conference at the justice department in Washington DC in 2020. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/AP The US House of Representatives held Barr in contempt for withholding the full report. It revealed that Trump had committed 10 indictable obstructions of justice to keep evidence and witnesses from investigators, which neither Barr nor his Biden-appointed successor, Merrick Garland, ever prosecuted. The report identified 272 contacts between Trump agents and Russian operatives, not one of which Trump reported to the FBI. Judge Walton ruled that Barr had “distorted” and been “misleading” about the contents of the report. On 30 September 2020, he [decided](https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/judge-finds-doj-violated-federal-law-with-certain-mueller-report-redactions-orders-pages-released-before-election/) Barr had violated federal law and that the redacted sections should be released, which they were, only days before the 2020 election. But Barr was not about to open a prosecution of himself. The bipartisan Senate intelligence committee report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, released on 18 August 2020, [disclosed](https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/senate-intelligence-committee-russian-interference/8cf58e574d235164/full.pdf) literally hundreds of instances of Trump campaign involvement with Russian operations. Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, regularly shared “sensitive internal polling data or Campaign strategy” with a Russian intelligence officer, Konstantin Kilimnik, with whom he had a long relationship on behalf of Russian interests in Ukraine. One of Trump’s obstructions, cited by Mueller, was his dangling of pardons for Manafort, who was convicted of numerous tax and financial frauds, and for Mike Flynn, the former national security adviser convicted for lying to the FBI and not registering as a foreign agent. Trump was enticing them not to testify. Both stonewalled, and both received pardons. After Roger Stone, Trump’s longtime dirty trickster, was convicted of lying to the Congress and obstructing justice about acting as a conduit for Russian intelligence through WikiLeaks on hacked Clinton campaign documents, among other murky things, and sentenced to nine years in prison, Trump expressed [outrage](https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1227122206783811585): “The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them.” Barr instantly intervened to reduce the sentence. The four prosecutors on the case [resigned](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/us/politics/roger-stone-sentencing.html) in protest. [skip past newsletter promotion](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/28/we-are-witnessing-the-making-of-a-fascist-president-in-real-time#EmailSignup-skip-link-28) Sign up to The Stakes — US Election Edition The Guardian guides you through the chaos of a hugely consequential presidential election **Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our [Privacy Policy](https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy). We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https://policies.google.com/terms) apply. after newsletter promotion Trump [tweeted](https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1227561237782855680): “Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought. Evidence now clearly shows that the Mueller Scam was improperly brought & tainted. Even Bob Mueller lied to Congress!” Just before leaving office Trump would commute Stone’s sentence. Meanwhile, as soon as Barr assumed his post he revived the “Spygate” conspiracy theory, declared “spying did occur” and appointed a special prosecutor to investigate what Trump called an “attempted coup” against him. Trump [denounced](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/10/us/politics/barr-trump-campaign-spying.html) the Mueller probe as “illegal”: “Everything about it was crooked – every single thing about it. There were dirty cops. These were bad people.” Barr appointed John Durham, the former US attorney for Connecticut, who spent four years trying to prove Trump’s accusation that the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation into Russian interference was a “hoax,” as Trump claimed. Durham’s chief prosecutor, Nora Dannehy, [quit](https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/20/former-prosecutor-resigned-trump-russia-probe-barr-00117255) because she thought he was running a political operation and that Barr had “violated DOJ guidelines”. Durham interviewed nearly 500 witnesses, including Hillary Clinton, to determine “whether the conduct of these individuals or entities \[with ties to the Clinton campaign\] constituted a federal offense and whether admissible evidence would be sufficient to obtain a conviction for such an offense.” Durham’s two high-profile cases, against attorney Michael Sussmann and Russian analyst Igor Danchenko, resulted in embarrassing acquittals. Durham wound up convicting an FBI lawyer for altering an email in his effort to shortcut a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant, for which he received probation and community service. Durham ended his snark hunt by criticizing the FBI’s investigation of Russian interference as “seriously flawed”, but without anything of consequence to show. Trump tweeted: “WOW! After extensive research, Special Counsel John Durham concludes the FBI never should have launched the Trump-Russia Probe! In other words, the American Public was scammed … ” For two years, Barr waged a war against Geoffrey Berman, the US attorney for the southern district of New York, a Republican, who indicted Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen on campaign finance charges for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels to silence her about a sexual relationship with Trump. Trump clearly appeared in the indictment as Unindicted Co-Conspirator No 1. Barr pressured Berman to reopen the case in order to toss it out. Berman refused. Barr then tried to strong-arm Berman at Trump’s instigation into indicting former secretary of state John Kerry for trying to keep alive the Iran nuclear deal he negotiated during the Obama administration. Berman refused. Barr pushed Berman to indict Greg Craig, Obama’s former legal counsel, on flimsy charges of not registering as a foreign agent, in order to have a prominent Democrat’s scalp. Barr sent a deputy to tell Berman he should prosecute Craig to “even things out” before the election. Again, Berman refused. Barr moved the Craig case to the District of Columbia, where he leveraged an indictment. On 4 September 2019, the jury acquitted Craig in less than five hours. “Throughout my tenure as US attorney,” Berman wrote in a memoir, “Trump’s Justice Department kept demanding that I use my office to aid them politically, and I kept declining – in ways just tactful enough to keep me from being fired. I walked this tightrope for two and a half years. Eventually, the rope snapped.” Berman was conducting a criminal investigation into Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s attorney who had sought to fabricate dirt against Joe Biden in Trump’s blackmailing of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in exchange for Stinger missiles, which precipitated Trump’s first impeachment. On 19 June 2020, Barr announced Berman was resigning. It was news to him. He refused to go. Then, Trump fired him. > It was all bullshit Former attorney general William Barr, on Trump's claim of a fixed election After Trump lost the election of 2020, Barr was on board with Trump’s claim it was stolen, sending a memo to DOJ prosecutors to investigate “vote tabulation irregularities”. Sixteen assistant US attorneys resigned in protest. Later, Barr acknowledged, of Trump’s assertion that the election was fixed: “It was all bullshit.” On 14 December 2020, Trump attempted to get Barr’s involvement in the fake electors scheme. Barr declined to be ensnared in an obviously illegal act in a losing cause. He saved himself from becoming incriminated and resigned. Trump had already got whatever he wanted from Barr up to the last minute, when Barr’s instinct for personal self-preservation asserted itself. On the eve of 6 January, Barr relinquished the Tom Hagen role for his godfather. Trump was done with the disloyal consigliere. He turned to other helpers. After the January 6 insurrection, Barr [accused](https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/07/barr-trump-committed-betrayal-of-his-office-455812) Trump of a “betrayal of his office”. “All of a sudden, Bill Barr changed. You hadn’t noticed,” Trump remarked. Yet this past April, Barr endorsed Trump for re-election, [explaining](https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/26/politics/barr-vote-for-trump-2024/index.html?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email) that “the threat to freedom and democracy has always been on the left.” Trump [sneered](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4620415-trump-mocks-bill-barr-after-endorsement/): “Wow! Former AG Bill Barr, who let a lot of great people down by not investigating Voter Fraud in our Country, has just Endorsed me for President despite the fact that I called him ‘Weak, Slow Moving, Lethargic, Gutless, and Lazy’. Based on the fact that I greatly appreciate his wholehearted Endorsement, I am removing the word ‘Lethargic’ from my statement. Thank you Bill.” The conservative majority on the US supreme court, three of whose members Trump appointed, rescued him from facing trial for January 6 before the 2024 election. Taking up Trump’s appeal, the court languidly spent months to render an opinion bestowing on him and future presidents absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for “official acts”. In its ruling, with a sharp understanding of Trump’s methods, the court stated that a president could order a sham investigation of his political enemies, if he wished, without any restraint or accountability. The [decision](https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf) was explicit in granting free license to political prosecutions: “The indictment’s allegations that the requested investigations were shams or proposed for an improper purpose do not divest the President of exclusive authority over the investigative and prosecutorial functions of the Justice Department and its officials. Because the President cannot be prosecuted for conduct within his exclusive constitutional authority, Trump is absolutely immune from prosecution for the alleged conduct involving his discussions with Justice Department officials.” The court has ruled: Trump’s past efforts to stage “sham” show trials of his “enemies” and launch a coup involving the DOJ are above the law. His future dictatorship in which he could exact retribution from his “enemies within,” deploying the DOJ, has received advance approval. The supreme court’s immunity decision justifying Trump despotism, presented by Chief Justice John Roberts, was better explained in the twisted language of an apparatchik from the Ministry of Truth in Orwell’s 1984: “We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?” On 24 October of this month, Trump boasted about the unlimited power that he would possess once he is back in the White House. Speaking to rightwing radio talkshow host Hugh Hewitt, he declared that he would at the start fire the special prosecutor Jack Smith, who has indicted him for his crimes of January 6 and stealing national security secrets. “We got immunity at the supreme court,” Trump said. “It’s so easy. I would fire him within two seconds.” Trump would then have 86,398 seconds left to be a dictator on “day one”.

By [Andy Greenberg](https://www.wired.com/author/andy-greenberg/) and [Lily Hay Newman](https://www.wired.com/author/lily-hay-newman/) Nov 12, 2024 6:30 AM Donald Trump has vowed to deport millions and jail his enemies. To carry out that agenda, his administration will exploit America’s digital surveillance machine. Here are some steps you can take to evade it.  ILLUSTRATION: DEENA SO OTEH President-elect Donald Trump has promised to [deport millions of undocumented immigrants](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/inside-trumps-plan-mass-deportations-who-wants-stop-him-2024-11-06/). He’s vowed to jail his [political foes](https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/trump-vows-prosecute-political-foes-others-corrupt-cheaters-rcna169292) and [journalists](https://www.npr.org/2024/10/22/nx-s1-5161480/trump-media-threats-abc-cbs-60-minutes-journalists). A Republican-controlled government [could further restrict](https://www.vox.com/2024-elections/381773/trump-win-election-abortion-ban-filibuster-dobbs) abortion and transgender rights. Influential conservatives have called for a [crackdown](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/oct/05/trump-presidency-protest-rights-black-lives-matter) on [left-leaning activist groups](https://newrepublic.com/post/187759/project-2025-plan-crush-pro-palestine-activism), a replay of Trump’s hardline attitude against protesters in his first administration. To carry out all of those spoken and unspoken threats, the incoming Trump administration and Republicans in Congress will tap into—and may very well expand—the American government’s vast surveillance machinery, and they appear poised to use it more than any administration in US history. That means now is the time for anyone in an at-risk group, those who communicate with them—or even those who want to normalize privacy and create cover for more vulnerable people—to think about how they can upgrade their data security and surveillance resistance ahead of a second Trump administration. “Undocumented immigrants, Muslims, pregnant people, journalists, really anyone who doesn't support him” need to reconsider their personal privacy safeguards, says Runa Sandvik, a former digital security staffer for The New York Times and the founder of the security firm Granitt, which focuses on protecting members of civil society. “Whatever platforms you're on, whatever devices you have, you need to have a sense of what kind of data you're generating and then use the controls available to limit who can see what you're doing.” Protection from surveillance comes in two forms: top-down legal and policy limits on data collection, and bottom-up technological protections in the hands of the targets of that surveillance. A new era looms just weeks ahead where Trump and his allies control all three branches of government and tech companies will very likely bend to their will—as evidenced by the Silicon Valley CEOs’ [race to congratulate the president-elect](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/big-tech-ceos-send-well-wishes-trump-musk-bezos-zuckerberg-rcna179010). That may leave the technology you choose to use as a last line of defense, says Harlo Holmes, the director of digital security at the Freedom of the Press Foundation. “This is the last recourse of a lot of people in vulnerable positions,” says Holmes. “We’re just going to have to increase our efforts to make sure that people have the best tools in their hands and their pockets to maintain their privacy. And it's going to matter more and more.” Ahead of that impending new reality, WIRED asked security and privacy experts for their advice for hardening personal privacy protections and resisting surveillance. Here are their recommendations. Encrypted Communications ------------------------ Securing your data starts with securing your communications, and securing your communications means using end-to-end encryption. [End-to-end encrypted messengers](https://www.wired.com/2014/11/hacker-lexicon-end-to-end-encryption/) like [Signal](https://www.wired.com/story/signal-tips-private-messaging-encryption/), WhatsApp, and Apple’s iMessage and FaceTime are all designed to encrypt your messages and phone calls such that no one can decrypt and access your conversations other than the recipient—not even the company that offers the service. That’s very different from traditional calls and texts, which are subject to law enforcement interception and data requests to your phone carrier. Digital services like Facebook Messenger, Telegram, or X may say their direct messages offer “encryption,” but in the default setting that almost everyone uses, they only encrypt information in transit to the server that runs the service. On that server, the information is then decrypted and accessible to the company that controls that server, or any government agency that demands they share that data—like the Nebraska police who demanded Facebook [hand over chats about a 17-year-old’s illegal abortion in 2022](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-turned-chat-messages-mother-daughter-now-charged-abortion-rcna42185), then brought criminal charges against her and her mother. Among actual end-to-end encrypted messengers, Signal is broadly recommended as offering the best privacy protections. Importantly, Signal doesn’t collect or store metadata about who is calling or texting whom, information that can often be nearly as sensitive as the content of conversations. That’s a crucial safeguard given that Trump has said in his recent campaigning, for instance, that he will hunt down and prosecute government staffers leaking information to journalists—and his previous administration [seized the phone and email records of reporters](https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-business-arts-and-entertainment-government-and-politics-ca37d8079ee3ae88ba1bea1158e14f59) at The New York Times and CNN. With Signal, there are no records to seize. “Metadata matters,” says Holmes. Just as important is that Signal offers flexible settings for “disappearing messages” that self-delete on every device used in a conversation after a chosen time, in as little as five seconds. Be sure to turn this feature on to prevent messages from being read in the event that your phone is seized—or the phone of the person on the other side of the conversation. Signal also doesn’t back up communication logs to iCloud or other cloud services, so there’s less risk that a participant in the conversation will accidentally leak everyone’s messages to a server where they can be accessed. “If it's up to me, I will choose Signal, because I know that there is less that you can do on _your_ end to potentially put our communications at risk,” says Granitt’s Sandvik. Encrypted Devices ----------------- Just as important as encrypting your conversations is strongly encrypting your devices themselves. On modern iOS and Android smartphones, that’s relatively easy. They’re designed to use full disk encryption by default: All the data is encrypted when they’re locked. That means setting a six-digit passcode is enough to make cracking the device a serious challenge, given that both Android and iOS limit the number of times someone can guess a passcode before the device is wiped as a security measure. Still, the Freedom of the Press Foundation’s Holmes recommends setting a longer alphanumeric password or passphrase on your phone to make it harder still to break into. (On an iPhone, go to “Settings,” “FaceID & Passcode,” “Change Passcode,” “Passcode Options,” re-enter your passcode and then choose “Custom Alphanumeric Code.“ On Android, the path to change the setting varies by device.) Entering a 34-character passphrase every time you want to unlock your phone is, admittedly, a nightmare. So Holmes recommends also using the biometric features built into smartphones like Apple’s FaceID. That does present the risk that someone who grabs your phone will exploit this feature: You can tell a police officer or FBI agent you forgot your iPhone’s passcode, like [indicted New York mayor Eric Adams](https://www.wired.com/story/fbi-eric-adams-phone-not-cracked/) did, but you can’t remove your face. You can, however, temporarily disable biometric unlocking features with a long press on an Android phone’s power button or by holding the side button and one volume button on an iPhone, so that the next unlock requires the passcode. “Let’s say you’re protesting, or if you’re going through a border crossing,” says Holmes. “There’s always that gesture that clears your biometrics.” She recommends practicing that trick before going into a setting where you might need to use it. Encrypting a laptop requires slightly more effort. On a Macbook, enable Apple’s built-in FileVault’s full disk encryption in your computer’s privacy and security settings. On Windows, use the built-in Bitlocker encryption setting if you have a Windows Pro license. If you have a Home license, install and enable an encryption tool called [Veracrypt](https://veracrypt.eu/en/Beginner%27s%20Tutorial.html). For both smartphones and laptops, keep in mind that cracking a device’s encryption is far more difficult when it’s been powered off, which prevents the cryptographic keys that unlock the device from lingering in memory. So it’s always a good idea—for security’s sake—to switch off your computer and phone when they’re not in use or you’re entering a situation where they might be seized. Cloud Storage ------------- Whether it’s extra storage for all of your photos and videos or merely your contacts and messages syncing between your phone and your tablet, you’re almost inevitably using cloud services to back up and sync your information. When your data lives on the hard drive of your computer or smartphone, it’s stored “locally” and you control it. Before the rise of the internet, this local, decentralized storage model was the norm. Companies had their data on their own servers, and regular people had their data on their home computers. Today, though, you can save your data—from documents to phone backups—in your own little corner of the cloud and let tech giants like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Apple manage the storage infrastructure for you. Web services, whether they are social networks or your go-to cooking app, similarly store your account data in the cloud so you can access your favorite recipes and all of your annotations from any device with an internet connection. Cloud storage has huge advantages—you never run out of hard drive space, and your data won’t be lost forever when an ill-fated Diet Coke spills on your laptop. The trade-off, though, is that storing data in the cloud adds a third party to the mix. Cloud companies that hold and manage your data can almost always access it, which means they can be compelled to hand it over to governments. US law enforcement gathered evidence about now-convicted former Trump campaign chair Paul Manaforte in part by [accessing unencrypted iCloud backups of his WhatsApp chat histories](https://www.wired.com/story/paul-manafort-bad-tech-pdfs-passwords/). And in 2020, the FBI got [access to a protester's iCloud account from Apple](https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-fbi-icloud-investigation-seattle-protester-arson-2020-9)—including photos, videos, and screenshots—over accusations that he lit police cars on fire in Seattle. In recent years, more companies have begun offering end-to-end encrypted data backups and storage schemes for their cloud services so customers can use cloud infrastructure without worrying that the provider can access their data—and potentially give it away. Apple’s [iCloud backups](https://www.wired.com/story/apple-end-to-end-encryption-icloud-backups/) and [backups for Meta’s chat apps](https://www.wired.com/story/meta-messenger-instagram-end-to-end-encryption/), Facebook Messenger, Instagram Chat, and WhatsApp, can all be encrypted now. But to benefit from the protection you need to make sure that you actually have the feature turned on. And from there you have to set up mechanisms to preserve your access to the data and be able to recover your account if you’re ever locked out, since end-to-end encryption schemes mean that you no longer have the convenience of the cloud provider managing access. In general, privacy advocates agree that the simplest way to ensure that data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands is to keep it out of the cloud in the first place. Each time you use a different device or digital account, think for a second about whether your data is stored on your device or in the cloud. And if you realize it’s the latter, consider whether you trust the service provider to store that data for you. For example, as Holmes puts it, “Take a moment to make sure that the things that you are deliberately syncing to your iCloud are the things that you wouldn't mind someone having access to.” If you really need to store private data in the cloud, you can use a tool like Veracrypt to encrypt the information before uploading it. But the easiest and safest option is to keep anything particularly sensitive or revealing out of the cloud. Online Anonymity ---------------- Your communications and the data on your devices are far from the only sensitive digital records you’re constantly creating. You’re also leaving behind a trail of breadcrumbs on the paths you take around the internet—paths that are all too visible to your internet service provider and the websites you visit, and which can be highly revealing to anyone building a profile of you and your behavior. “For me, I always say it's important to remember you're not ‘going to’ a website,” says Matt Mitchell, a cybersecurity expert focused on security and privacy training at the Ford Foundation, a human welfare-focused nonprofit. “You're opening a door, and just like if you open your door, people can see you, and they can see behind you.” The strongest tool available to obscure your trail online is the Tor Browser. That browser for desktops and laptops, or the mobile equivalent called Orbot, both offered by the nonprofit [Tor Project,](https://www.torproject.org/) triple-encrypt your web-browsing data and bounce your connection to the sites you visit through a series of proxy computers. Each of those proxy machines can only decrypt one of those three layers of encryption so that none of the machines can determine the full path of your connection or tie the internet protocol address that would reveal your identity and location to the sites you’re visiting. Your IP address is also hidden from the website itself. Tor’s encrypted triple-proxy system can, however, be slow, and some websites are configured to block connections from the Tor network or force users to fill out annoying captchas. So the Freedom of the Press Foundation’s Holmes suggests users try the private browsing feature in the Brave browser, which uses a stripped-down version of Tor’s anonymous routing by default. Apple also offers a feature called iCloud Private Relay, which uses a two-hop proxy system rather than Tor’s three-hop system to obscure your web browsing, which may well be faster and more convenient, but it requires a paid monthly subscription to the company’s iCloud+ services. In addition to using a [privacy-focused browser](https://www.wired.com/story/privacy-browsers-duckduckgo-ghostery-brave/), one of the most practical tools for the majority of users is a virtual private network or VPN—essentially a service that offers a one-hop version of Tor’s privacy protections. Many commercial VPNs do log users’ browsing and respond to law enforcement requests for that data, however, so choosing a VPN with strong privacy guarantees for its users can be a challenge. Holmes suggests referring to the Freedom of the Press Foundation’s [VPN guide](https://freedom.press/digisec/blog/choosing-a-vpn/). For those who can’t or don’t want to use Tor-based tools, a carefully chosen VPN remains a powerful form of protection. “Having a VPN in your pocket that doesn’t do any logging at all of your activity and also provides robust controls is the next best thing,” Harlo Holmes says. Location Data ------------- One of the most difficult—and crucial—types of personal information to get a handle on is your location data. Any entity that can track your location or obtain records of where you’ve gone can gain a full picture of where you live and work, who you know and care about, which businesses and medical services you use, and even what you believe in or the causes you support. Protecting information about your movements is critical to your own privacy and security under expanding government surveillance and is significant in protecting the privacy of those you associate with. Danacea Vo, founder of Cyberlixir, a cybersecurity provider for nonprofits and vulnerable communities, says that societal changes like the loss of federal abortion protections in the United States, are a reality check about the shifting digital privacy landscape and “help people realize how important it is to hide their location data, because something that might be completely legal today might not be legal tomorrow.” Your smartphone is [essentially a tracking beacon](https://www.wired.com/story/jeffrey-epstein-island-visitors-data-broker-leak/) that you carry with you all the time. And it’s important to remember that other devices like laptops, not to mention literal tracking beacons like AirTags and Tiles, can also reveal your movements. You can limit the location tracking that your mobile apps and mobile operating system are automatically doing to cut down on the number of companies and other entities that have the information. On both [iOS](https://support.apple.com/en-us/102647) and [Android](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3467281?hl=en) you can manage which apps and operating system services have access to the information and when. Turn off location access for as many apps as possible and regularly review and delete apps you don’t use anymore. You can also take [similar precautions](https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-not-accidentally-share-your-location/) on desktop. And make sure that overarching accounts like your [Google](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3118687) or [Apple ID/iCloud](https://support.apple.com/en-us/104976) accounts haven’t logged trusted places like a “home” for you. Turning on a VPN, using a [privacy-focused mobile browser](https://www.wired.com/story/privacy-browsers-duckduckgo-ghostery-brave/), and adding an ad blocker can all help reduce the location data you leak during mobile browsing. iPhone users can also gain location-protecting features by [turning on Apple’s Lockdown Mode](https://www.wired.com/story/apple-lockdown-mode-hands-on/), which is meant to minimize the ways that someone can attack your device—particularly limiting features that could be exploited by hackers to plant spyware. Lockdown Mode provides extra protections relevant to location privacy, like removing location metadata from photos when you go to share them and stopping your device from auto-joining public or otherwise unprotected Wi-Fi networks. But using Lockdown Mode significantly restricts your iPhone’s features. Unless you believe that you are under specific threat of targeted surveillance or digital attack, it isn’t the most practical tool for daily life. No matter how much you’ve limited location tracking in apps and operating systems, your smartphone can also be tracked through your cellular service because your device pings cell towers around you to stay connected to the network. That’s why the easiest way to be certain that your devices aren’t collecting or leaking your whereabouts is to not carry them. If you don’t create the data in the first place, no one can access it. “If you’re trying to not be tracked, not having a phone is often the easiest,” Sandvik says. “Leave it at home.” For most people most of the time, though, this solution isn’t practical. You can put your devices in airplane mode or turn them off completely to limit connectivity. But to be totally certain that everything is off the grid, you can put your devices in special pouches or cases known as Faraday bags that block all electromagnetic signals going to or coming from a device. Faraday bags allow you to carry your devices while keeping them from exposing your location; for example, concealing your whereabouts on a given afternoon or the route you took to get to a destination. The downside of Faraday bags is the device must stay in the bag to protect your privacy, so it takes planning to use them effectively. Removing your phone means that the (location) cat is out of the bag. Financial Privacy ----------------- Financial surveillance is among the most powerful tracking tools in the government’s arsenal. Credit card payments or other transactions linked to your bank account are essentially transparent to any law enforcement agency that demands them. That “follow the money” form of surveillance also has a relatively simple analog defense: dollar bills. “Forensic accounting is a thing,” warns Holmes. “So yeah, use cash.” For those seeking more convenient or long-distance transactions, payment apps like Paypal, Venmo, and Cash App may seem slightly more cash-like than a credit card or check, but in fact are just as vulnerable to law enforcement data requests as any bank. Cryptocurrency may appear to be a tempting alternative. But despite the long-running [mythical reputation of cryptocurrency as anonymous cash for the internet](https://www.wired.com/story/27-year-old-codebreaker-busted-myth-bitcoins-anonymity/), bitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies offer no real privacy, given the ease of tracing bitcoin transactions on its blockchain and the difficulty of buying or selling cryptocurrency from a cryptocurrency exchange that complies with US know-your-customer laws. Some cryptocurrencies like Monero and Zcash do offer privacy properties that make them vastly more difficult to trace than other cryptocurrencies—at least in theory. Mixer services like the Ethereum-based Tornado Cash, too, promise to blend users’ coins with those of others to complicate the task of following the money. Still, given the ongoing advances in cryptocurrency tracing—and the indelible evidence of any security slipup that public blockchains make available to the cats in that cat-and-mouse game—it’s far safer to stick with cash whenever possible. A Note on Burner Phones ----------------------- Burner phones, or prepaid phones that aren’t connected to any of your credit cards or digital accounts, can be a useful tool for protecting your location data and other information. They are meant to have no traceable connection to you and to be used for a limited time. In other words, they are meant to provide anonymity. The advantage to using burner devices is that you don’t need to worry as much about the personal information they are collecting or inadvertently leaking while you use them because the devices are not linked to you. They merely show that someone is going here and there or that someone has, say, planned to meet someone else at 8 pm on the park benches. Over time, though, if you, use the device to communicate often, log into any digital accounts that are associated with you from the device, give a burner number to people who don’t use burners themselves, or bring it to a location associated with you while it’s on, like your house, the phone could quickly be linked to you. On top of all of these restrictions, burner phones should always be acquired with cash. But even when people take this precaution, it can still be difficult in practice to purchase a burner device without leaving a trail of potentially identifying clues. For all of these reasons, many privacy advocates do not recommend burner phones for the majority of people. Holmes suggests that people instead “compartmentalize” and control their data by having a second phone that separates some activities, like work versus personal life. This way, you don’t accidentally end up with photos of your family in your work’s cloud storage, say, or with confidential information from work on your personal device. “Unless you're gonna pretend to be a character from _The Wir_e, ultimately what's attainable for people is compartmentalization, not anonymity,” Holmes says. Your Digital Past, Present, and Future -------------------------------------- If you’ve made it this far, you know that there are real, concrete steps you can take to resist surveillance and defend your digital privacy in everyday life. But for even the most dedicated digital hermits, there are limits to how much you can control. At this point, information about almost everyone—whether it’s basic personal information, health data, or financial records—has likely been compromised at some point in at least one big data breach. This means that no matter how careful you’ve been, some details about you are likely available to anyone who wants to dig them up, either legally or through the cybercriminal ecosystem. If your privacy practices have been less than perfect in the past—and whose have not, given the vanishingly tiny odds of evading every form of digital data collection—additional information about you from over the years is likely available from hundreds of data brokers. These companies give anyone who will pay—including governments—access to vast troves of advertising and marketing information, which can often include location data. That means any reader of this guide should be aware that, careful as they may be now or in the future, digital evidence from their past can still be dug up and used to track or target them. “You can make changes today and moving forward, but there's likely a lot of data that's already available that can be abused,” warns Sandvik. Still, it’s better to start somewhere than never to start at all. Even if you haven’t tried to protect your digital privacy in the past, your future self may be in a situation, someday, where you appreciate that you started taking precautions now. With a new Trump administration weeks away from inauguration—a government openly committed to targeting its enemies with every tool available and hunting many of the country’s most vulnerable people—that someday may be sooner than you think.

In 1992, Bill Clinton defeated George HW Bush, a sitting Republican president. In 1996, Clinton won re-election over Bob Dole. A former Democratic governor of Arkansas, Clinton had a flair for policy and retail politics. He felt your pain, garnering support from voters without a four-year degree and graduates alike. He played the saxophone, belting out Heartbreak Hotel [on late-night TV](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LhgGs4TrYA). Redefining what it meant to be presidential, he [told a studio audience](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFMW5RIwVhU) he preferred briefs to boxers. He oozed charisma – and more. But his legacy remains deeply stained by allegations of predatory conduct and questionable judgment. He is one of three presidents to be impeached – in his case, for lying under oath about his extra-marital relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. Before leaving office, to avoid professional discipline, Clinton [surrendered](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/19/politics/clinton-reaches-deal-to-avoid-indictment-and-to-give-up-law-license.html) his law license. Congress twice impeached [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump). His legal problems range far wider than Clinton’s. Nonetheless, there are echoes. Back in the day, Clinton and Trump golfed together, each a tabloid fixture. Clinton crossed paths with Jeffrey Epstein too. [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/24/bill-clinton-memoir#img-2) Citizen: My Life After the White House by Bill Clinton. Photograph: Hutchinson Heinemann [Clinton’s fame outstrips his popularity](https://today.yougov.com/ratings/politics/popularity/public-figures/all). Like an old-time vaudevillian, the 42nd president, now 78, finds it hard to leave the stage. His second memoir, [subtitled My Life After the White House](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/nov/14/bill-clinton-monica-lewinsky-book), is a stab at image rehabilitation and relevance. Densely written, the 464-page tome is a prolonged stroll down memory lane that never quite reaches a desired destination. It is too much, too little, too late – all at once. Clinton grapples with his past. In January 1998, news broke that the president, then in his 50s, had a sexual relationship with Lewinsky, a 22-year-old intern. It gave a nascent internet culture – most of it following and shaped by Matt Drudge – plenty to talk about. Newt Gingrich, the soon-to-be disgraced speaker of the House, and Ken Starr, an independent counsel turned modern-day Torquemada, did their best to bring Clinton down. Lindsey Graham, then an eager young congressman, now the senior senator from South Carolina and a key Trump ally, dutifully fanned the flames. Fast forward 30 years. In 2018, Craig Melvin of NBC asked Clinton if he apologized to Lewinsky. Clinton did not take kindly to the question. He now admits the interview “was not my finest hour”. “I live with it all the time,” he writes, reflecting on the affair. “Monica’s done a lot of good and important work over the last few years in her campaign against bullying, earning her well-deserved recognition in the United States and abroad. I wish her nothing but the best.” Lewinsky is probably unimpressed. In 2021, NBC asked her if Clinton owed her an apology. “I don’t need it,” she said. “He should wanna apologize, in the same way that I wanna apologize any chance I get to people that I’ve hurt, and my actions have hurt.” In his new book, Clinton stays silent about other women who accused him of sexual misconduct – Paula Jones and Juanita Broaddrick – but gingerly rehashes Trump’s Access Hollywood moment and proliferating allegations of groping. As for Epstein, the financier and sex offender who [killed himself](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/10/jeffrey-epstein-dead-prison-report-latest) in jail in New York in 2019, and whose links to Trump are perennially discussed, Clinton pleads ignorance. “I had always thought Epstein was odd but had no inkling of the crimes he was committing,” he writes. “He hurt a lot of people, but I knew nothing about it and by the time he was first arrested in 2005, I had stopped contact with him.” Clinton adds: “I’ve never visited his island.” Clinton does acknowledge two flights, in 2002 and 2003, on Epstein’s plane, luridly known as the “Lolita Express”: “The bottom line is, even though it allowed me to visit the work of my foundation, traveling on Epstein’s plane was not worth the years of questioning afterward. I wish I had never met him.” In 2016, Trump beat [Hillary Clinton](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/hillary-clinton) for the White House. On the page, Bill Clinton burnishes the memory of his wife’s failed campaigns – though he is ever aware of her shortcomings. He recognizes the meaning of her Democratic primary defeat, by Barack Obama in 2008. Blaming the media, in part, Clinton implicitly acknowledges that Obama, then the junior senator from Illinois, was a better candidate than Hillary, then a former first lady and junior senator from New York. “Obama’s best decision was to start his campaign early with a full 50-state strategy, something Hillary’s campaign had to develop after she strengthened her leadership team in February,” Bill laments. “But she never really caught up.” Said differently, 2008 was a change election. Obama stood atop history. Hillary was in over her head. She was also the status quo. As for 2016, Clinton pins his wife’s loss on James Comey, the FBI director who investigated her private email use; WikiLeaks, which released Democratic emails; and Vladimir Putin, who capitalized on such scandals in order to boost Trump. Elsewhere, Clinton revisits his last-minute pardon of Marc Rich – a [scandal](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/clintons-pardon-of-marc-rich) from the last day of the presidency, 20 January 2001. Denise Rich, the fugitive financier’s ex-wife, donated $450,000 to the Clinton library and wrote to him, seeking a pardon. “I wish Denise hadn’t written to me, for her sake and mine,” Clinton writes. “I knew she had made plenty of money on her own, did not get along with her ex-husband, and didn’t know he would apply for a pardon when she gave money to the library fund.” Again, parallels to Trump are apparent. At the end of his first term, the 45th president gave get-out-of-jail-free cards to cronies and the connected. Charlie Kushner, father of Jared Kushner, was one who benefited. So did Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Steve Bannon. A robust pardon pipeline emerged with an ultimate audience of one. Trump will soon wield the pardon power again. On the whole, Bill Clinton’s latest book will be remembered for its omissions. It usually works out that way. * Citizen [is published](https://bookshop.org/p/books/citizen-my-life-after-the-white-house-bill-clinton/21310645?ean=9780525521440) in the US by Knopf

Getty Images Charles Kushner (left) with his son Jared Kushner President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he has selected Charles Kushner as his pick for ambassador to France. Mr Kushner is a real-estate developer and the father of Jared Kushner, husband of his daughter Ivanka Trump. Trump pardoned Mr Kushner during his first term, waving away a federal conviction in 2020. In a post to his social media site Truth Social, Trump said Mr Kushner is "a tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker, who will be a strong advocate representing our Country & its interests". The nomination appears to be the first administration position that Trump has formally offered to a relative since his re-election. Alongside many other presidential picks, ambassador appointments must be approved by a majority vote in the US Senate. It's not clear what role Mr Kushner's background might play in a confirmation hearing. The elder Kushner pleaded guilty to federal charges of tax evasion, campaign finance offences and witness tampering and was sentenced to two years in prison in 2005. Among the evidence presented in court, prosecutors said Mr Kushner targeted a brother-in-law who was cooperating with authorities against him. He hired a prostitute to seduce the man, intending to intimidate him by sending video footage to his wife - Mr Kushner's sister. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who ran against Trump in the latest Republican primary, prosecuted the case at the time and called it “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes” he had seen. Jared Kushner served as an advisor during the first Trump administration, when Trump extended a pardon to Charles Kushner in a batch of announcements that also included pardons for former campaign manager Paul Manafort and ex-adviser Roger Stone. In his announcement post on Saturday, Trump praised Jared Kushner's work and said he looked forward to working with Charles Kushner. "Together, we will strengthen America’s partnership with France, our oldest Ally, & one of our greatest!"

A loving act of mercy by a father who has already known much sorrow? Or a hypocritical political manoeuvre reminiscent of his great foe? Maybe both can be true. Joe Biden’s announcement on Sunday that he had [pardoned his son Hunter](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/01/joe-biden-pardons-hunter), who is facing sentencing in two criminal cases, is likely to have been the product of a Shakespearean struggle between head and heart. On the one hand, Biden is one of the last great institutionalists in Washington. “From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making,” he said in an unusually direct and personal [statement](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/02/joe-biden-hunter-pardon-statement) on Sunday. To undermine the separation of powers goes against every fibre of his political being. On the other hand, Biden is nothing without family. His speeches are peppered with references to his parents. As a senator, he [once took a train](https://www.npr.org/2024/08/19/g-s1-17885/ashley-biden-democratic-national-convention) from Washington to Wilmington, Delaware, so he could blow out the candles on a birthday cake for his eight-year-old daughter, Ashley, at the station, then cross the platform and take the next train back to work. [ Joe Biden issues ‘full and unconditional’ pardon to son Hunter ](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/01/joe-biden-pardons-hunter) Biden was profoundly shaped by the death of his first wife, Neilia [Hunter Biden](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/hunter-biden), and 13-month-old daughter Naomi in a car accident and, much later, the death of his son Beau from brain cancer. In that context, Hunter’s status as the first child of a sitting president to face criminal charges will have pained his father in what Ernest Hemingway called “the broken places”. Hunter was convicted this summer of lying about his drug use when he bought a gun. [Joe Biden](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden) categorically ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son, telling reporters: “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.” Hunter also pleaded guilty in a separate tax evasion trial and was due to be sentenced in both cases later this month. Biden reportedly spent months agonising over what to do. The scales were almost certainly tilted by Donald Trump’s victory in last month’s presidential election. The prospect of leaving Hunter to the tender mercies of Trump’s sure-to-be politicised, retribution-driven justice department was too much to bear. Biden typically takes advice from close family and is likely to have reached the decision after talking it over during what was an intimate Thanksgiving weekend. “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong,” the president said in a statement, calling it “a miscarriage of justice”. He added: “There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.” Joe Biden’s defenders will certainly contend that, if Hunter had been an ordinary citizen, the gun case would not have come this far, and his father was simply righting that wrong. Republicans spent years hyping investigations into Hunter that failed to produce a shred of evidence linking his father to corruption. Eric Holder, a former attorney general, [wrote](https://twitter.com/EricHolder/status/1863389327310692525) on social media that no US attorney “would have charged this case given the underlying facts. After a five-year investigation the facts as discovered only made that clear. Had his name been Joe Smith the resolution would have been – fundamentally and more fairly – a declination. Pardon warranted.” It was also noted that this is hardly the first time pardons have smacked of nepotism. Bill Clinton as president pardoned his half-brother for old cocaine charges, and Trump pardoned the father of Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, for tax evasion and retaliating against a cooperating witness, though in both cases those men had already served their prison terms. Trump also used the dog days of his first presidency to pardon the rogues’ gallery of Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone. And yet for many Americans there will be something jarring about the double standard of a president pardoning a member of his own family ahead of numerous other worthy cases. Republicans in the House of Representatives naturally pounced with more hyperbole about the “Biden crime family”. But there were also more thoughtful objections. Jared Polis, the Democratic governor of Colorado, wrote on social media: “While as a father I certainly understand President Joe Biden’s natural desire to help his son by pardoning him, I am disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country. This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation.” Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman turned Trump critic, said on the MSNBC network: “Joe Biden repeatedly said he wouldn’t do this so he repeatedly lied. This just furthers cynicism that people have about politics and that cynicism strengthens Trump because Trump can say, ‘I’m not a unique threat. Everybody does this. If I do something for my kid, my son-in-law, whatever, look, Joe Biden does the same thing.’ I get it but this was a selfish move by Biden, which politically only strengthens Trump. It’s just deflating.” The Trump context is impossible to ignore in this moral maze. Next month he will become the first convicted criminal sworn in as president, though three cases against him have all but perished. He is already moving to appoint loyalists to the FBI and justice department. Michelle Obama once advised, when they go low, we go high. On Sunday Joe Biden, 82 and heading for the exit with little to lose, decided to go low. Perhaps it was what any parent would have done.

Good morning. Joe Biden has [granted “a full and unconditional” pardon](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/01/joe-biden-pardons-hunter) to his son Hunter Biden, days before he was due to be sentenced for convictions on federal gun and tax charges, the US president said in a statement released by the White House on Sunday. Biden had repeatedly said he would not use his executive power to pardon his son or commute his sentence – but reversed his position at the weekend, claiming that his son’s prosecution was politically motivated. In his statement, Biden argued that “it is clear that Hunter was treated differently”, adding that the charges in the case “came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election”. * **How did Republicans respond?** Donald Trump called the decision “such an abuse and miscarriage of justice”. Trump, too, has used executive authority to help a relative – [he pardoned Charles Kushner](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/23/donald-trumps-latest-wave-of-pardons-includes-paul-manafort-and-charles-kunsher), the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner in 2020. **Justin Trudeau promises Trump that Canada will step up border surveillance** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/02/first-thing-biden-issues-full-and-unconditional-pardon-to-son-hunter#img-2) Justin Trudeau walks through the lobby of the Delta Hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP Justin Trudeau has [promised Trump that Canada](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/01/trudeau-trump-border-surveillance) will step up its surveillance of its joint border, a senior Canadian official has said. The Canadian prime minister on Friday had dinner with the US president-elect, who has threatened to impose tariffs on Canadian imports unless it stops undocumented people and drugs from reaching the US. The move would severely hurt Canada’s economy, as it sends more than 75% of all of its goods and services exports to the US. The public safety minister, Dominic LeBlanc, who was also at the dinner, said the Canadian government would continue to try to dissuade Trump from imposing tariffs, arguing that the policy would damage both countries’ economies. * **How will Canada secure its border?** LeBlanc said Canada would procure more drones and police helicopters and redeploy personnel. **Iranian-backed militias reportedly enter Syria to back Assad’s army** ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/02/first-thing-biden-issues-full-and-unconditional-pardon-to-son-hunter#img-3) Anti-Assad rebels reach the highway near the northern Syrian town of Azaz on Sunday. Photograph: Rami Al Sayed/AFP/Getty Images Iranian-backed militias have [reportedly entered Syria overnight](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/middle-east-crisis-live-syria-iran-assad?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-674d61938f0816561c4a050c#block-674d61938f0816561c4a050c) and are moving on northern Syria to bolster Bashar al-Assad’s forces after [Syrian and Russian airstrikes battered the region](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/01/syria-iran-abbas-araghchi-damascas-visit-aleppo-fall-bashar-al-assad) where insurgents have mounted their strongest challenge in years. The surprise offensive has allowed Islamist rebels to wrest control of Aleppo, with insurgents using Russia and Iran’s distraction to their advantage as the wars in Ukraine, Lebanon and Gaza took priority. “These are fresh reinforcements being sent to aid our comrades on the frontlines in the north,” a Syrian army source told Reuters, referring to the Iranian-backed fighters. The forces entered Syria after the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, met Assad for talks in Damascus on Sunday evening in a gesture of support for his regime. * **Who are the rebels?** Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), [a group that previously declared allegiance](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/02/who-are-syrian-rebels-hayat-tahrir-al-sham-hts-aleppo) to al-Qaida before breaking ties in 2016. * **How fast did they take Aleppo?** In three days. The attack began on Wednesday, and by Saturday they had forced out government forces. * **Why was Assad’s army so vulnerable?** In part because [its backer, Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/01/rebels-behind-aleppos-surprise-fall-took-advantage-of-russian-and-iranian-distraction), has shifted its focus and resources to Ukraine. **In other news …** ------------------- [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/02/first-thing-biden-issues-full-and-unconditional-pardon-to-son-hunter#img-4) Demonstrators flee teargas during a rally in Tbilisi against the government’s decision to suspend negotiations on joining the EU. Photograph: Zurab Tsertsvadze/AP * **Protesters rallied in Tbilisi for a fourth consecutive night** **on Sunday** [against the government’s decision](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/01/dozens-hospitalised-in-third-night-of-pro-eu-protests-in-georgia) to pause talks on joining the European Union. * **A bear that attacked a supermarket worker in northern Japan has been killed** [after hiding in the store](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/02/akita-japan-bear-attack-supermarket-captured) for three days. * **Marshall Brickman, Woody Allen’s Oscar-winning co-writer, has died at the age of 85.** [No cause of death](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/dec/02/marshall-brickman-death-dies-aged-85-oscar-winning-writer) was given. **Stat of the day: flights to Greenland to double next year** ------------------------------------------------------------- [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/02/first-thing-biden-issues-full-and-unconditional-pardon-to-son-hunter#img-5) The first direct international flight lands in Nuuk on Thursday. Photograph: Inesa Matuliauskaite/Guide to Greenland Greenland’s first international airport has opened, and more hubs are in the making. The development is sure to drive tourism, with [the number of flights to Greenland expected to almost double](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/02/greenland-tourism-territory-opens-to-world) in the space of a year, from 55,000 seats between April and August this year to an expected 105,000 seats in that period next year, including a four-hour direct flight from New Jersey. Not everyone is happy, with concerns about its natural landscape being spoiled. **Don’t miss this: are we hardwired to commit ‘deadly sins’?** -------------------------------------------------------------- [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/02/first-thing-biden-issues-full-and-unconditional-pardon-to-son-hunter#img-6) ‘A change in the structure or function of our brains can result in a change in our actions or personalities.’ Photograph: melita/Alamy From gluttony to lust, scientists are increasingly discovering that behaviors long seen as sinful often have a biological cause, writes neurologist Guy Leschziner. With many of the factors that determine who we are present from conception, Leschziner asks whether free will is illusory. “Who should be the arbiter of the lines between the normal and the pathological, the biological and the moral?” Also featuring: [how to learn how much testosterone](https://www.theguardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2024/dec/02/deadly-sins-science-behaviour-physical) you were exposed to in the womb just by looking at your hands. **Climate check: Top UN court to begin hearings on landmark climate** **crisis case** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/02/first-thing-biden-issues-full-and-unconditional-pardon-to-son-hunter#img-7) Countries and organizations will make submissions before the International Court of Justice in The Hague on the legal obligations of countries to fight climate change. Photograph: Vlad Sokhin/World Bank The International Court of Justice on Monday will begin considering [evidence regarding what action countries are legally required](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/02/icj-un-climate-change-case-pacific-nations) to take against the climate crisis and in aid of vulnerable nations. While the findings by the ICJ in the landmark case will be non-binding, the court’s conclusions will be legally and politically significant. **Last Thing: Deadly tiger snake caught after slithering up a driver’s leg on a Melbourne freeway** --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/02/first-thing-biden-issues-full-and-unconditional-pardon-to-son-hunter#img-8) A tiger snake Photograph: Ken Griffiths/Alamy Police in the Australian state of Victoria have carried out one of their more bizarre welfare checks after a woman reported that she had been driving on the freeway when she felt something on her foot and saw a snake “slithering up her leg”. [The unbelievably cool-headed motorist](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2024/dec/02/deadly-tiger-snake-caught-after-slithering-up-a-drivers-leg-on-a-melbourne-freeway-video) managed to ward the snake off and weave through the lanes before jumping out of her vehicle in the slip lane. **Sign up** ----------- Sign up for the US morning briefing First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, [subscribe now](https://www.theguardian.com/info/2018/sep/17/guardian-us-morning-briefing-sign-up-to-stay-informed). **Get in touch** ---------------- If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden on Sunday, just weeks before he leaves the White House and despite [previously promising not to do so](https://www.vox.com/politics/389206/hunter-biden-pardon-joe-biden-democrats-response). Biden said in a statement announcing the pardon that his son had been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted” and that his political opponents had undertaken an “effort to break Hunter,” suggesting that the Justice Department under a second Trump administration would continue to go after him. Hunter Biden was convicted in two separate federal cases involving handgun and tax-related charges and was awaiting sentencing. The “[full and unconditional pardon](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/12/01/statement-from-president-joe-biden-11/)” covers an 11-year period ending on December 1 and is “not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted.” “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice,” Biden said in the statement. Republicans, unsurprisingly, have criticized the decision, but so, too, have some of Biden’s fellow Democrats. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) [called](https://x.com/SenatorBennet/status/1863623197788160041) the pardon a decision to “[put personal interest ahead of duty](https://x.com/SenatorBennet/status/1863623197788160041)” that “further erodes Americans’ faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all,” and Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) said [it was “a setback”](https://x.com/RepGregLandsman/status/1863591569363804388) for those who want to “believe in public service again.” Here’s what you need to know about Hunter Biden, the president’s pardon powers, and what this precedent could mean for Donald Trump. Hunter Biden, 54, is the president’s only living son and the only family member of a sitting president to be convicted of federal crimes. In June, a Delaware jury [convicted him](https://www.vox.com/politics/354731/hunter-biden-guilty-gun-charges) on three charges related to misrepresenting his illegal drug use on a form he submitted while purchasing a handgun in 2018, when he was addicted to drugs. He had initially struck a plea deal with prosecutors that later fell apart, and instead, they brought the gun charges to trial — a [rare occurrence](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/15/us/politics/hunter-biden-gun-charges.html). In September, Biden also pled guilty to nine charges related to underpaying taxes between 2016 and 2019, including filing a false tax return and tax evasion. He would have faced up to 25 years in prison for the gun conviction and 17 years for the tax conviction, though likely would have [only been sentenced for a fraction of that time](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/01/us/politics/hunter-biden-crimes.html), totaling under five years. Neither case involved longstanding probes into Biden’s business dealings, which Republicans have attempted to link to his father. But it’s possible further charges could have been brought against him had he not been pardoned. Under the Constitution, the president has the power to “grant Reprieves and Pardons.” A full pardon reverses a past criminal conviction (or, in Hunter Biden’s case, all of them within a certain span of time, as well as the possibility of facing legal jeopardy for as-of-yet-unprosecuted crimes) and its consequences, including restoring the right to vote, hold office, and sit on a jury, if lost as a consequence of the conviction. Presidents can also grant clemency to those convicted of federal crimes, reducing their sentences while leaving convictions in place. This authority, however, is not limitless. Though the president can grant an unlimited number of pardons, they can only do so for federal criminal offenses, not state crimes or civil liability. There are also [other restrictions](https://protectdemocracy.org/work/the-presidential-pardon-power-explained/) on the president’s pardon powers: Federal courts have found that pardons must advance “public welfare”; they cannot be used to infringe on constitutional rights, to obstruct justice, or as bribes; and they must not interfere with the president’s duty to “[take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed](https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S3-3-1/ALDE_00001160/)” by encouraging future lawbreaking. Presidents have pardoned members of their family before, though it’s relatively uncommon. Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother, who [pleaded guilty](https://www.npr.org/2024/12/02/nx-s1-5213251/hunter-biden-presidential-pardon-explained) to drug charges in 1985. Trump pardoned his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, who he [recently appointed as the US ambassador to France](https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/30/politics/charles-kushner-france-ambassador-trump/index.html). Trump also pardoned [dozens of people](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2023/trump-pardon-power-2024-benefit/?itid=hp-top-table-main_p001_f001) shortly before leaving office in his first term who later went on to endorse him or financially support his 2024 campaign, including his former White House chief strategist Steven Bannon, former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, his former campaign chair Paul Manafort, and his former political consultant Roger Stone. In 1974, Gerald Ford notably pardoned his predecessor, Richard Nixon, after the Watergate scandal, a decision he attributed to the need to allow the country to move past the scandal. But Biden’s controversial decision to pardon his son may pave the way for future presidents — Trump included — to abuse their pardon powers. Biden’s pardon is incredibly broad, covering over a decade in which his son could have potentially committed crimes that have not even been charged yet, and in that sense, is [unprecedented](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/12/02/hunter-biden-presidential-pardon-comparisons/). Typically, presidents pardon specific crimes or any crimes related to a particular event. This one amounts to blanket amnesty. Trump has previously claimed he has an “[absolute right](https://www.newsweek.com/hunter-biden-donald-trump-pardon-2028-1994233)” to pardon himself, a statement that has [divided legal scholars](https://www.newsweek.com/hunter-biden-donald-trump-pardon-2028-1994233). It’s unclear if he will test that theory, however; while he has [34 felony convictions](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/11/donald-trump-legal-cases-charges/675531/) to his name for falsifying business records, those lie outside his pardon power in New York state court. He also faces multiple federal criminal investigations, but following Trump’s reelection, Special Counsel Jack Smith and the Justice Department said they would drop cases against him for trying to overturn the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. The conservative majority on the Supreme Court has suggested it might side with Trump if he pardons himself. In a ruling earlier this year, it found that presidents have immunity from prosecution for official acts under their “exclusive sphere of constitutional authority.” Trump has also suggested he would pardon those behind the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. More than [1,000 people](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/prosecution-jan-6-capitol-riot-60-minutes/) have been convicted for their involvement, including on charges of seditious conspiracy and assaulting law enforcement officers, and hundreds of cases are still pending. Trump has previously, baselessly, called them “hostages” and said he would be “[inclined to pardon many of them](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-january-6-defendants-first-acts-reelected/).” Past presidents have pardoned insurrectionists before, but not recently. Previous cases include during the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion and the Philippine-American War at the turn of the 20th century, but in those cases, the pardons were seen as an opportunity to quell further unrest. Potential Trump pardons for January 6 insurrectionists could have the opposite effect; by allowing his supporters to escape consequences for committing politically motivated violence, it could encourage further such violence on his behalf. Some Democrats have raised the possibility of putting guardrails on the president’s pardon power to prevent future abuses in the wake of Biden’s decision. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) [indicated](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5017923-gerry-connolly-hunter-biden-pardon/) Monday that he would support reforms: “At the very least, we’ve got to circumscribe it so that you don’t get to pardon relatives, even if you believe passionately that they’re innocent or their cause is just,” he said on CNN. Other Democrats have [previously suggested](https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/4913189-trump-pardon-power-reform/) that not only a president’s family members, but members of their administrations or campaign staff and anyone who commits a crime to further the president’s personal interests should not be eligible for a pardon. Though that might already be beyond the scope of the president’s pardon powers, making that prohibition explicit would help prevent abuse, especially since courts may be reluctant to intervene. However, such reforms would require a constitutional amendment. Two-thirds of both chambers of Congress would have to approve it, which seems unlikely at such a moment of political polarization. With nearly two months left in office, Biden may still issue further pardons. It’s traditional for presidents to issue grants of executive clemency before leaving office, and advocates have urged Biden to do so in a number of cases. Perhaps most prominently, Biden still has time to grant clemency to the [40 men currently on federal death row](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/biden-contemplates-federal-commutation-requests), who otherwise would face the [possibility of execution](https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-trump-and-barrs-last-minute-killing-spree) under a second Trump administration. He could also use the power to alleviate the harms of mass incarceration, as [dozens of lawmakers](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25354946-2024-11-20-letter-to-president-biden-on-clemency?responsive=1&title=1) have recently urged him. Specifically, they asked Biden to help “elderly and chronically ill,” “people with unjustified sentencing disparities,” and “women who were punished for defending themselves against their abusers” who are currently in prison, including many who do not pose a public safety threat and who have been separated from their families. [Biden has granted 25 pardons and 132 commutations](https://www.justice.gov/pardon/clemency-statistics) of sentences during his time in office, according to Department of Justice data. That puts him behind other recent Democratic presidents, including former President Barack Obama, who issued 212 pardons and 1,715 commutations. However, Obama issued hundreds of clemency actions on his [last day in office](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/23/13731448/obama-pardon-clemency-commutation), and Biden could do the same — on Monday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre [told reporters](https://x.com/ToluseO/status/1863619155427017125) that more pardons will be forthcoming. You’ve read 1 article in the last month Here at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you — threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country. Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change. We rely on readers like you — join us.  Swati Sharma Vox Editor-in-Chief See More: * [Criminal Justice](https://www.vox.com/criminal-justice) * [Donald Trump](https://www.vox.com/donald-trump) * [Joe Biden](https://www.vox.com/joe-biden) * [Policy](https://www.vox.com/policy) * [Politics](https://www.vox.com/politics)

 The topic of presidential pardons is back in the spotlight this week after President Biden announced he signed a "[full and unconditional](https://www.npr.org/2024/12/01/g-s1-36324/president-biden-pardons-son-hunter)" one for his son. Hunter Biden was convicted earlier this year of [federal gun charges](https://www.npr.org/2024/06/11/nx-s1-5002013/federal-jury-convicts-hunter-biden-on-felony-gun-charges) for lying about his addiction to crack cocaine when he purchased a gun, and separately pleaded guilty to [tax offenses](https://www.npr.org/2024/09/05/nx-s1-5100805/hunter-biden-trial-tax-evasion-addiction) for failing to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes. Sentences in both cases were scheduled to be handed down later this month. The president has said publicly that he would not pardon his son — but reversed that promise in an [announcement on Sunday](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/12/01/statement-from-president-joe-biden-11/) in which he called the prosecution unfair and selective. Biden blamed his opponents in Congress for instigating the charges against Hunter and unraveling his [would-be plea deal](https://www.npr.org/2023/09/14/1199584231/hunter-biden-is-indicted-on-felony-gun-charges) through political pressure, though the special counsel leading the firearm probe has [denied facing political interference](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/hunter-biden-prosecutor-testify-behind-closed-doors-house-republicans-2023-11-07/). In his statement, Biden said, "No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter's cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son." "I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice," Biden added. "I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision." Biden's decision was met with criticism from both sides of the aisle. For one, his rationale closely echoes Donald Trump's claims of a politicized Justice Department — even though the charges against Hunter Biden and Trump, the first president to be convicted of a felony, are very different. Trump was charged with trying to [overturn the 2020 election](https://www.npr.org/2024/10/02/nx-s1-5137303/trump-election-interference-jack-smith-immunity-jan-6) and endangering national security through his [handling of classified documents](https://www.npr.org/2023/06/09/1181340894/trump-indictment-classified-documents-charges), though both [cases were dismissed](https://www.npr.org/2024/11/25/nx-s1-5205376/jan-6-trump-case) after his 2024 election victory. Trump was quick to slam Biden's pardon as an "abuse and miscarriage of Justice." Even some Democrats — including Colorado Gov. [Jared Polis](https://x.com/jaredpolis/status/1863392145669046677), Arizona Rep. [Greg Stanton](https://x.com/RepGregStanton/status/1863401113946345599) and Colorado Sen. [Michael Bennet](https://x.com/SenatorBennet/status/1863623197788160041)— publicly denounced Biden's decision. They warned it could set a dangerous precedent, especially before the return of Trump, who has vowed to [pardon Jan. 6 rioters](https://www.npr.org/2024/11/11/nx-s1-5181960/can-trump-pardon-as-promised-people-convicted-in-connection-with-the-jan-6-attack) and baselessly suggested [he could even pardon himself](https://www.npr.org/2021/01/09/955087860/can-trump-pardon-himself). "Joe Biden put self before country, and just pardoned his son," [tweeted Joe Walsh](https://x.com/WalshFreedom/status/1863412524559077633), an anti-Trump former Republican congressman who had endorsed Biden. "And that selfishness took the 'no one is above the law' argument against Trump off the table." Presidential pardons have been commonplace since the days of George Washington, who forgave the two men convicted of treason for their role in the [Whiskey Rebellion](https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/whiskey-rebellion). Over the years, many have been cause for celebration as well as controversy. ### What is a pardon? Presidential pardon authority is inspired by early English law, which granted kings "the prerogative of mercy." Article II, Section 2 [of the Constitution](https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S2-C1-3-1/ALDE_00013316/) gives the president the power to "grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment." "The U.S. Constitution grants the president of the United States what's called unilateral clemency power," explains [Lauren-Brooke Eisen](https://www.brennancenter.org/about/leadership/lauren-brooke-eisen), the senior director of the Brennan Center's Justice Program. "And you can think of clemency as the umbrella term." Acts of clemency include granting amnesty, reprieves, commutations, and pardons — the most expansive form of relief. A full pardon releases the person from punishment and restores their [civil liberties](https://www.justice.gov/pardon/frequently-asked-questions#:~:text=A%20pardon%20is%20an%20expression,It%20does%20not%20signify%20innocence.), including their right to vote, hold office and sit on a jury. "Clemency really is an expression of mercy, and often tempers the very overly punitive, harsh, inequitable results that our criminal justice system produces," says Eisen. The Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized the president's pardoning powers as relatively broad, "extending to 'every offence known to the law' and available 'at any time after \[a crime's\] commission, either before legal proceedings are taken or during their pendency, or after conviction and judgment,' " according to the [Congressional Research Service](https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46179) (CRS). In some rare cases, presidents have even pardoned individuals who had not been charged with a crime: Gerald Ford [pardoned Richard Nixon](https://www.npr.org/2024/08/09/nx-s1-5068704/nixon-resign) after the Watergate scandal, and Jimmy Carter pardoned most [Vietnam War draft dodgers](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/president-carter-pardons-draft-dodgers), both charged and uncharged. The only limits — at least according to the Constitution — are that a president can only grant pardons for federal criminal offenses, not state or civil offenses, and cannot issue pardons in cases of impeachment. ### How have pardons typically been used?  Presidents have pardoned all sorts of federal offenses, from marijuana possession to mail fraud to murder. Somewhere along the way, they even started [pardoning Thanksgiving turkeys](https://www.npr.org/2024/11/25/nx-s1-5199862/turkey-pardon-history-washington-president) to spare them from the dinner table. Some pardons have involved high-profile figures: Andrew Johnson [pardoned a doctor](https://fords.org/lincolns-assassination/material-evidence-dr-mudd/) who treated John Wilkes Booth's broken leg after he assassinated Abraham Lincoln, as well as thousands of Confederate soldiers and officials after the Civil War. Warren Harding [pardoned Socialist Party leader Eugene Debs](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/fiery-socialist-challenged-nations-role-wwi-180969386/) after he was sentenced to a decade in prison for speaking out against World War I. Richard Nixon pardoned [Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa](https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1862257_1862325_1862316,00.html) during his 15-year prison sentence for jury tampering and fraud. More recently, over 3,000 acts of clemency were granted in the four decades between the start of the Ronald Reagan and end of the Barack Obama administrations, according to the [White House Historical Association](https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-history-of-the-pardon-power). But the number of pardons has varied widely between presidents. Obama granted the most clemency actions — 1,927, of which 212 were pardons — of two-term presidents since the mid-20th century, according to the [Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/01/22/trump-used-his-clemency-power-sparingly-despite-a-raft-of-late-pardons-and-commutations/). George W. Bush issued the fewest — 200, including 189 pardons. Trump granted 237 acts of clemency during his first term, including 143 pardons and 94 commutations. His use of the power was relatively rare compared to many of his predecessors, but highly controversial because most of the people he helped had some sort of [personal or political connection](https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/trumps-aberrant-pardons-and-commutations) to him. ### Have presidents pardoned relatives before? Biden is now the third president to pardon a relative. On his last day in office in 2001, President Bill Clinton pardoned his [half-brother, Roger](https://www.justice.gov/pardon/pardons-granted-president-william-j-clinton-1993-2001), who had pleaded guilty and spent a year in jail on drug charges. That was one of a whopping 140 pardons that Clinton issued that day, and not the most controversial. He got much more flack for [pardoning Marc Rich](https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1862257_1862325_1862324,00.html), a disgraced financier who had fled to Switzerland after being indicted for evading more than $48 million in taxes, among other charges. Rich's ex-wife Denise had donated over $1 million to Democrats and Clinton's presidential library, [raising questions](https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-bill-clinton-pardon-scandals-should-help-biden-fix-flawed-ncna1249785) and a Justice Department investigation into the pardon, which ultimately [found no wrongdoing](https://www.npr.org/2016/11/01/500297580/more-surprises-fbi-releases-files-on-bill-clintons-pardon-of-marc-rich) by Clinton. Trump also issued a [flurry of pardons](https://www.npr.org/2021/01/20/934139723/trump-pardons-steve-bannon-lil-wayne-in-final-clemency-flurry) — 74, to be exact — in the final hours of his first term, with recipients including his former chief strategist Steve Bannon, rapper Lil Wayne and Al Pirro, the former husband of Fox News commentator Jeanine Pirro. He had previously pardoned many other [members of his inner circle](https://www.npr.org/2020/12/23/949820820/trump-pardons-roger-stone-paul-manafort-and-charles-kushner) who had been charged with various crimes, including Republican operative Roger Stone, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner — the father of his senior advisor, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Charles Kushner, himself a real estate billionaire, pleaded guilty in 2004 to filing false tax returns, lying to the Federal Election Commission and retaliating against a witness: his own brother-in-law. The case, prosecuted by then-U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, led to Kushner attempting an elaborate blackmail plot against his brother-in-law and former employee, William Schulder, who had become a witness for federal prosecutors. He hired a prostitute to sleep with Schulder, secretly videotaped the encounter and mailed the recording to Schulder's wife — his own sister — who turned it over to authorities. Kushner served about two years in prison before his release in 2006, and Trump cited his philanthropic record "of reform and charity" when pardoning him in 2020. Over the weekend, Trump announced he [intends to nominate Charles Kushner](https://apnews.com/article/trump-france-ambassador-charles-kushner-pardon-c3835be92b1fbd1dffcd05707cba9f52) to serve as ambassador to France. ### How does Hunter's pardon fit into Biden's clemency record? Biden has pardoned [25 individuals](https://www.justice.gov/pardon/pardons-granted-president-joseph-biden-2021-present) and commuted 132 sentences during his tenure, according to Justice Department data. He has granted clemency to many more, including entire groups. In 2022, he took executive action to pardon the more than 6,500 people [convicted of simple marijuana possession](https://www.npr.org/2022/10/06/1127302410/biden-pardon-marijuana-possession-convictions) under federal law and D.C. statute, which he [expanded last year](https://www.npr.org/2023/12/22/1221230390/biden-pardons-clemency-marijuana-drug-offenses). Earlier this year, he issued a blanket pardon to [LGBTQ+ service members](https://www.npr.org/2024/06/26/g-s1-6364/biden-pardon-troops-lgbtqi-sexuality) removed from the military over their sexual orientation or gender identity. Even so, Eisen says there is much more Biden could do before his term ends — including addressing the more than 8,000 petitions for clemency pending before his administration. The Brennan Center, which describes itself as a nonpartisan law and policy organization, is among the groups urging the president to commute all death sentences to life without parole. Last month, more than 60 members of Congress [wrote Biden a letter](https://theappeal.org/biden-commutations-pardons-before-trump/) asking him to use his authority to "help broad classes of people and cases, including the elderly and chronically ill, those on death row, people with unjustified sentencing disparities, and women who were punished for defending themselves against their abusers." While Biden's most recent — and most personal — pardon is in the spotlight, Eisen hopes he will take this opportunity to afford the same grace to many others who are already serving what she calls excessive sentences. "President Biden has until January 20 to provide clemency for thousands of individuals who are appropriate clemency candidates who are sitting in federal prison right now," Eisen says. "So there's plenty of time."

When [Joe Biden](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden) announced on Sunday that he would be pardoning his son, Hunter – who was facing sentencing in two federal criminal cases – he helped cement Donald Trump’s much-repeated [argument](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/donald-trump-wants-control-justice-department-fbi-his-allies-have-plan-2024-05-17/) that the American judicial system is rotten, politicized and in need of an overhaul. It’s a stupid refrain, but there _are_ some heavy issues with Biden’s choice to do this now. What are we to make of the hypocrisy of a president who promised he’d “never interfere in the dealings of the justice department”, and swore even up until six weeks ago that he would not pardon his son? Or the fact that he just delivered Trump and the Republican party the kind of ammunition they need to justify pardoning, say, the orchestrators of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol? More morally troubling is that there’s a million other worthy causes that Biden could be using his pardon powers for. “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong,” Biden said in his official statement on the pardon. He also [called](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/12/01/statement-from-president-joe-biden-11/) Hunter’s conviction a “miscarriage of justice”. [ Joe Biden issues ‘full and unconditional’ pardon to son Hunter ](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/01/joe-biden-pardons-hunter) Sure, there’s validity to Biden’s claims that Hunter was singled out because of who his father is: prosecutors rarely ever charge people for illegal gun possession while being addicted to a controlled substance unless there’s a violent crime involved, for instance, and many other people who are nicked on late tax charges are allowed to resolve things through the civil courts. But political witch hunt or not, the optics of Biden letting his son cut in line are terrible when there are thousands of people languishing in federal prisons who deserve this consideration. From inmates sitting on federal death row charged with faulty evidence, to the Black and brown people serving long jail terms for drug offenses or non-violent crimes, the inequities in the US justice system and who it punishes or rewards are far too grave and well-documented for Biden to have thought this was the right move. Trump has [promised](https://www.aclu.org/trump-on-the-criminal-legal-system#specific-threats-potential-responses) to accelerate mass deportations, to carry out a [spree](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/14/death-row-capital-punishment-trump-election) of executions including for drug offenses and is actively seeking to re-incarcerate [thousands of people](https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterpavlo/2024/11/06/the-bureau-of-prisons-under-a-trump-administration/) who were released into federal home confinement during the pandemic. Biden’s lack of foresight and judicial inaction on these issues becomes even more shameful in light of Hunter’s pardon. Still, presidential pardons have always been something of a political lootbag for outgoing presidents – a gift for friends and family to be handed out before the party ends. Bill Clinton used his to clear his half-brother of old cocaine charges, while Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, his son-in-law’s father, for tax evasion among other charges. But that’s just family. Let’s not forget that Trump also spent his first term [doling out](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/12/02/trump-pardoned-during-first-term/76705964007/) these pardons to his merry band of thieves and liars including Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone. And it is that track record that makes the fallout from Biden’s pardon so frightening, because Trump has [already begun hinting](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/02/hunter-biden-pardon-trump-jan-6) at the ways he plans to capitalize on the decision. “Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” Trump wrote on Truth Social after the announcement. “Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!” Meanwhile, Trump’s Republican buddies have already found ways to shoehorn this moment into a defense of Trump’s most egregious Senate picks. “Democrats can spare us the lectures about the rule of law when, say, President Trump nominates Pam Bondi and Kash Patel to clean up this corruption,” Tom Cotton, the Arkansas senator, wrote on X. More than anything, the Hunter pardon and its fallout are reflective of the sad and un-funny joke that has become [US politics](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/us-politics) and governance. Next month, Trump will be the first convicted felon ever sworn in as president in American history, and he’s already lining up the get-out-of-jail-free cards for his criminal friends. The difference is that now, any time Trump is criticized for his use of pardon power, he will be able to argue that Biden used those same powers to protect his own son. * Tayo Bero is a Guardian US columnist

Late-night hosts discuss [allegations](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/03/pete-hegseth-defense-department-alcohol-use) of [Pete Hegseth](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/pete-hegseth)’s worrisome drinking and [sexual misconduct](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/02/pete-hegseth-non-profit-allegations), as well as outrage over [Joe Biden](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden)’s [pardon](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/01/joe-biden-pardons-hunter) of his son Hunter. Stephen Colbert --------------- On Wednesday evening, [Stephen Colbert](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/stephen-colbert) focused on Pete Hegseth, the former Fox News host and [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump)’s choice to be secretary of defense, who by all accounts has a “slight work problem when he shows up at drinking”, the Late Show host joked. According to an NBC report, Hegseth’s drinking even worried colleagues at Fox News. “Reached for comment, Judge Jeanine Pirro said: ‘ahgusasinfarp’,” Colbert quipped. In anonymous interviews, several of Hegseth’s former colleagues at Fox said that on more than a dozen occasions during his time as Fox & Friends Weekend cohost, they smelled alcohol on him before he went on air. “Come on, it’s a show that starts at 6am on the weekend – I’m sure a lot of morning hosts are still feeling it from the night before,” Colbert continued. Though none of his former co-workers could recall a time when Hegseth missed a scheduled appearance because of his drinking, Colbert noted: “That’s great, because you know what everyone says when the drunk guy shows up at work: ‘Oh good, you’re here.’” Amid cratering congressional support, Hegseth has attempted to defend his appointment by promising to remain sober. “This is the biggest deployment of my life, and there won’t be a drop of alcohol on my lips while I’m doing it,” he said. “A bold pledge that can mean only one thing: he’s gonna butt chug,” Colbert quipped. Trump’s support of Hegseth is reportedly teetering – “much like Pete Hegseth at a staff meeting”, Colbert joked – and he is mulling replacing him with Florida’s governor, [Ron DeSantis](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ron-desantis). While DeSantis has some defense qualifications, his nomination faces an uphill battle, as many in Trump’s orbit strongly dislike him. “Wow, that is a weird way to find out I’m in Trump’s orbit,” said Colbert. Jimmy Kimmel ------------ In Los Angeles, [Jimmy Kimmel](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/jimmy-kimmel) expressed more frustration over the reaction to Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter on federal gun and tax charges. “I don’t love the idea that the president said he wasn’t going to pardon him and then he pardoned him,” he said. “But I’m also having a hard time digesting some of the outrage.” “Over the past three, four days, I’ve heard every Republican screaming about this 24/7 on Fox News. And not just Republicans, Democrats too,” such as Adam Schiff, Gavin Newsom and Tim Kaine. “A lot of them are mad, but what I don’t remember – and maybe someone can help me with this – was hearing anyone from the right; I don’t remember hearing any Republican currently serving in the Senate or in the House, wagging their fingers or clucking their tongues when Donald Trump pardoned his friend Steve Bannon, or swindled a bunch of his Maga supporters out of their money for the wall, or for Paul Manafort or Roger Stone or Michael Flynn or Ivanka’s father-in-law Charles Kushner, who hired a prostitute to blackmail his sister’s husband. “I don’t recall anyone on Fox News or Newsmax or anyone express a single negative thought about those pardons,” he continued. “But I am hearing anchors on CNN, MSNBC, pieces in the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Atlantic, lambasting Joe Biden for pardoning Hunter. Isn’t that curious? “I think Joe Biden made a mistake,” he added, explaining that the president should have justified the pardon by what would happen to Hunter under Trump’s administration. “He said he was pardoning his son because he was selectively prosecuted,” he said. “What he should have said is: ‘I’m pardoning him because I know if I don’t, you animals are going to keep tormenting him for the rest of his life. And the reason I know that you’re going to do this is because you guys are currently doing it.’ “Did Joe Biden do the right thing? No, he did not do the right thing,” he concluded. “If my son was in this situation, would I do what Joe Biden did? You’re goddamn right I would.” The Daily Show -------------- “Donald Trump is still constructing his next administration, but he seems to be doing it the same way that that billionaire built the Titanic submarine, because it’s imploding immediately,” said Ronny Chieng on The Daily Show, referring to cratering support for Hegseth after numerous reports of his excessive drinking. “This would be very sobering news for Pete Hegseth if he wasn’t shitfaced right now,” Chieng joked. “I mean, if Hegseth doesn’t get confirmed, this is really going to make people question Trump’s strategy of giving the most unemployable people on Earth the hardest jobs that ever existed.” Chieng said he almost felt bad for Hegseth. “He had it made – a cushy job on Fox News, a side hustle selling macho garbage on rightwing Instagram, a loving third family – and then Trump comes along and offers him a job and now his life is kinda fucked up. I mean, who could’ve seen that coming … other than Matt Gaetz, Mike Pence, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Cohen and everyone else Trump has ever come into contact with.”