Trump refuses to call Putin ‘evil’ on Fox News
Donald Trump has had his request to countersue writer E Jean Carroll in the defamation case brought against him denied by a New York federal judge.
In a scathing opinion, Judge Lewis Kaplan slammed the former president’s attempt to delay proceedings. Ms Carroll accuses Mr Trump of raping her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. After she wrote about the incident during his presidency, he called her a liar and she sued him for defamation.
In other news, the former president is outraged by YouTube’s decision to take down an interview he did earlier this week with the NELK Boys, an encounter in which he repeated false claims about the 2020 election that violate the platform’s misinformation policy.
A furious statement issued after the interview was removed wrongly claimed that the platform was violating his First Amendment rights, compared the move to the Russian government’s crackdown on information about its invasion of Ukraine, and declared that “our country is going to hell!”
Meanwhile, Mr Trump last night shied away from walking back on his praise for Russian president Vladimir Putin in an interview with Fox News late on Thursday, even as host Sean Hannity gave him multiple opportunities to do so, even leading him to call the Russian leader “evil”.
The most recent polling from The Wall Street Journal shows the former president tied with Joe Biden in a hypothetical electoral match-up.
Trump loses bid to sue rape accuser E Jean Carroll, effort in ‘bad faith’ says judge
In a scathing decision released on Friday, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan said Mr Trump’s continuing attempts to delay the 2019 case were “futile” and in “bad faith”.
“The defendant’s litigation tactics, whatever their intent, have delayed the case to an extent that readily could have been far less,” Judge Kaplan wrote.
Bevan Hurley reports for The Independent.
Oliver O’Connell12 March 2022 02:45
Trump’s 2020 election misinformation sees popular Youtubers’ episode pulled
After his interview with the NELK boys on the Full Send YouTube channel was pulled, Mr Trump falsely claimed, again, that social media companies that have banned posting lies about the 2020 election are violating the First Amendment.
Oliver O’Connell12 March 2022 01:45
Trump side-steps chance to call Putin ‘evil’ in Hannity interview
Donald Trump faced a wave of condemnation for his comments in February calling Vladimir Putin “smart”, “genius”, and “savvy”, and while he has spoken out about the violence in Ukraine, he still refuses to say anything negative about the Russian leader.
Calling into Sean Hannity’s Fox News show on Thursday night, the former president was even presented with the perfect opportunity to issue a harsh rebuke of Mr Putin’s unprovoked war on Ukraine and the mounting accusations of war crimes.
Oliver O’Connell12 March 2022 00:45
Joni Ernst rebukes Madison Cawthorn from Senate floor over Zelensky comments
“Remember that Zelensky is a thug,” Mr Cawthorn told supporters, a video obtained by WRAL shows. “Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies.”
On Thursday, Ms Ernst addressed Mr Cawthorn’s comments on the floor of the Senate, remembering her time in Ukraine in 1989, two years before the country gained its independence from the collapsing Soviet Union.
Gustaf Kilander reports from Washington, DC.
Oliver O’Connell12 March 2022 00:00
Tucker Carlson called out over ‘word for word’ Russian propaganda
The allegation came from ABC News‘ chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl during an interview with MSNBC.
Karl said Carlson’s talking points were indistinguishable from Kremlin propaganda.
Oliver O’Connell11 March 2022 23:15
Harris warns of uncertainty around what Putin will do next in…
Read More: Trump news: Ex-president’s attempt to sue rape accuser E Jean Carroll thrown out