The first big event of the 2024 presidential election campaign in the United States will be held Wednesday when candidates of the Republican Party meet on a debate stage. The story from VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman in Milwaukee. VOA footage by Adam Greenbaum and Steve Herman …
Leave a commentFormer U.S. President Donald Trump plans to skip the first Republican primary debate next week and instead sit for an online interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, The New York Times reported, citing people briefed on the matter. Trump has for months suggested that he would likely pass on Wednesday night’s debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, arguing that it did not make sense to give others a change to attack him given his sizeable lead among Republicans in national polls. Trump has also criticized Fox, which is hosting the debate, over its recent coverage of him. Trump’s absence couldmore
Leave a commentFormer U.S. President Donald Trump now says he won’t be holding a press conference next week to unveil what he claims is new evidence of fraud in the 2020 election in Georgia, citing the advice of his lawyers. No compelling evidence of the wide-scale fraud Trump alleges has emerged in the 2½ years since the election. Republican officials in the state — where three recounts confirmed Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden — have long said he lost legitimately. “Rather than releasing the Report on the Rigged & Stolen Georgia 2020 Presidential Election on Monday, my lawyers would prefer puttingmore
Leave a commentFormer President Donald Trump’s legal woes keep mounting. On Monday, prosecutors in the southern U.S. state of Georgia unveiled a new indictment, charging Trump and 18 others in connection with efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. This is the fourth indictment against Trump in less than five months — two at the state level and two at the federal level. The former president is now facing 91 criminal charges, ranging from falsifying business records in New York to seeking to subvert the 2020 presidential election. Many of the charges carry hefty prison sentences of 10 tomore
Leave a commentOver a million people visit the Iowa State Fair during its annual 11-day run in August. But this year, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, resident Rick Stewart isn’t attending the fair to judge the livestock contests, sample the diverse food offerings — including pork chops on a stick — or lining up to see the life-size cow made entirely of butter. He’s here to perform a civic duty. “It’s a chance to see all the candidates for president,” Stewart told VOA. “They’ve got a soapbox event. They’ve got a sit-down with [Iowa Governor] Kim Reynolds if they are a Republican. And Imore
Leave a commentFormer President Donald Trump’s legal troubles are escalating by the day. Trump is facing an unprecedented slate of criminal charges that threatens his political future and, if convicted, could land him in prison. Last week, the former president and front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination was indicted in Washington on charges of conspiring to overturn his electoral defeat in 2020, adding to existing criminal cases in New York and Florida. A fourth indictment in Georgia could come any day. No American president has ever been criminally charged before, and no one knows what happens if Trump is found guilty. more
Leave a commentOhio voters on Tuesday resoundingly rejected a Republican-backed measure that would have made it more difficult to change the state’s constitution, setting up a fall campaign that will become the nation’s latest referendum on abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned nationwide protections last year. The defeat of Issue 1 keeps in place a simple majority threshold for passing future constitutional amendments. It would have raised that to a 60% supermajority, which supporters said would protect the state’s foundational document from outside interest groups. While abortion was not directly on the special election ballot, the result marks the latestmore
Leave a commentA federal judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s trial on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election has ordered his attorneys and federal prosecutors to appear in court on Friday for a hearing to help determine how evidence can be used and shared in the case. U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan set the hearing for Friday at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT), shortly after Trump’s attorneys and members of U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office had clashed over when to schedule the proceeding. Prosecutors had said they were available all week, while Trump’s lawyers had asked formore
Leave a commentDeclaring it good “not only for Arizona but for the planet,” President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed a national monument designation for the greater Grand Canyon, turning the decades-long visions of Native American tribes and environmentalists into reality. Coming as Biden is on a three-state Western trip, the move will help preserve about 4,046 square kilometers (1,562 square miles) just to the north and south of Grand Canyon National Park. It was Biden’s fifth monument designation. Tribes in Arizona have been pushing the president to use his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to create a new national monumentmore
Leave a commentThe Justice Department has asked a federal judge overseeing the criminal case against former President Donald Trump in Washington to step in after Trump released a post online that appeared to promise revenge on anyone who goes after him. Prosecutors on Friday requested that U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan issue a protective order concerning evidence in the case, a day after Trump pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss and block the peaceful transition of power. The order, different from a “gag order,” would limit what information Trump and his legal team couldmore
Leave a commentThe Justice Department has asked a federal judge overseeing the criminal case against former President Donald Trump in Washington to step in after Trump released a post online that appeared to promise revenge on anyone who goes after him. Prosecutors on Friday requested that U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan issue a protective order concerning evidence in the case, a day after Trump pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss and block the peaceful transition of power. The order, different from a “gag order,” would limit what information Trump and his legal team couldmore
Leave a commentFormer US President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to four charges of criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from the courthouse. Camera: Saqib Ul Islam …
Leave a commentThe White House says it’s closely watching a coup in Niger, as the US Embassy prepares to evacuate staff from the West African nation. With the coup plotters staring down a Sunday deadline to reinstate the deposed democratically elected president, analysts say Moscow and Beijing are also monitoring Niamey – and looking for opportunities to widen their influence. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Washington. …
Leave a commentFormer US President Donald Trump is due to appear in court Thursday, after a grand jury in Washington accused him of illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from Washington. …
Leave a commentThe Biden administration has recently been emphasizing the strength of the U.S. economy, but some small business owners remain skeptical. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias visited their shops and found out more about their economic struggles, ahead of election season. …
Leave a commentFormer U.S. President Donald Trump will be facing two vastly different pools of possible jurors and judges with divergent views when he goes on trial in Washington, accused of illegally orchestrating an attempt to upend his 2020 election loss, and in Florida for allegedly trying to hoard classified national security documents. Trump was indicted by Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday in the Washington case, and Trump is set to make his first court appearance on Thursday afternoon. A federal court grand jury handed up a four-count indictment alleging that Trump conspired to defraud the United States tomore
Leave a commentDonald Trump for years has promoted baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. In truth, Trump was the one who tried to steal the election, federal prosecutors said Tuesday in a sprawling indictment that paints the former president as desperate to cling to power he knew had been stripped away by voters. The Justice Department indictment accuses Trump of brazenly conspiring with allies to spread falsehoods and concoct schemes intended to overturn his election loss to President Joe Biden as his legal challenges foundered in court. The felony charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith are builtmore
Leave a commentFormer U.S. President Donald Trump’s indictment on four federal charges for working to overturn his 2020 election loss drew reaction from across the political spectrum, including from his vice president at the time, Mike Pence, who said “anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.” The indictment describes a series of events after the November election, culminating in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. The indictment says many in the “large and angry crowd” had been deceived by Trump into believing Pence could change the election results. more
Leave a commentLegal jeopardy for Donald Trump is growing after a federal grand jury in Washington indicted the former U.S. president, accusing him of illegally trying to upend his 2020 election loss to retain power. VOA’s Michael Brown reports. …
Leave a commentFormer U.S. President Donald Trump continues to defy expectations as he surges ahead of other Republican contenders for the presidential nomination despite multiple indictments against him — and with words of support from some of his own rivals. As he was indicted again Tuesday over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, VOA’s Anita Powell looks at the unprecedented path of the former president. …
Leave a commentThe federal judge assigned to the election fraud case against former President Donald Trump has stood out as one of the toughest punishers of rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attack fueled by Trump’s baseless claims of a stolen election. She has also ruled against him before. Trump is to appear Thursday before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, a former assistant public defender who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama. She often handed down prison sentences in January 6, 2021, riot cases that were harsher than Justice Department prosecutors recommended. Trump was indicted Tuesday onmore
Leave a commentLANSING, Michigan — A former Republican attorney general candidate and another supporter of former President Donald Trump have been criminally charged in Michigan in connection with accessing and tampering with voting machines after the 2020 election, according to court records. Matthew DePerno, a Republican lawyer who was endorsed by Trump in an unsuccessful run for Michigan attorney general last year, was charged with undue possession of a voting machine and conspiracy, according to Oakland County court records. Daire Rendon, a former Republican state representative, was charged with conspiracy to commit undue possession of a voting machine and false pretenses. Bothmore
Leave a commentThe race to choose a Republican nominee for the 2024 U.S. presidential election is heating up in Iowa. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, the Iowa GOP’s Lincoln Dinner Friday brought nearly all of the party’s candidates to one place, allowing each to woo voters ahead of the January 15 caucus. …
Leave a commentFormer President Donald Trump was charged Thursday with illegally retaining a classified document detailing an operational U.S. military plan of attack on Iran, and with two counts of attempting to “alter, destroy, mutilate or conceal evidence” during the investigation into the classified documents he took to his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports. …
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