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Tag: Trump
Sen. Raphael Warnock slams Trump for selling Bibles
Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., on Sunday excoriated former President Donald Trump over the $60 Bibles he is selling in partnership with country music star Lee Greenwood.
Warnock, who serves as senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, condemned Trump for selling the Christian holy text at a high price during an interview on CNN.
“The Bible does not need Donald Trump’s endorsement, and Jesus, in the very last week of his life, chased the money changers out of the temple, those who would take sacred things and use them as cheap relics to be sold in the marketplace,” he said. “The sad thing is that none of us are surprised by this — this is what we expect from the former president.”
Warnock pointed to Trump’s failed business ventures including steaks and the defunct Trump University, both of which have faced legal repercussions.
“If he’s not selling us steaks, he’s selling us a school whose degree is not worth the paper that is written on it. If he’s not selling us a school, he’s selling us sneakers, and now he’s trying to sell the scriptures,” he said.
The Georgia Democrat argued that Trump selling pricey Bibles is a “risky bet” because the text conflicts with the former president’s conduct.
“Donald Trump is doing what he’s always done, and this time it’s a risky bet because the folks who buy those Bibles might actually open them up, where it says things like, ‘Thou shalt not lie. Thou shalt not bear false witness,’ where it warns about wolves dressed up in sheep’s clothing,” he added. “I think you ought to be careful. This is risky business for somebody like Donald Trump.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment when asked about Warnock’s remarks.
Trump began promoting the Bibles during Holy Week, the days leading up to Easter and a sacred time for many Christians. In a video promoting the Bibles posted to his Truth Social platform, Trump said that the holy text is “my favorite book” and warned that “religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country, and I truly believe that we need to bring them back.”
Trump, who has a long history of selling branded merchandise under his name, is set to receive royalties from the sales of his $60 Bible, a person familiar with the arrangement told The New York Times. The terms of the royalty agreement are unclear.
Trump shares image depicting Biden tied up in back of pickup truck
Former President Donald Trump shared a video on social media Friday that included an image of President Joe Biden bound and restrained in the back of a pickup truck.
The 20-second video, which Trump indicated was taken Thursday in Long Island, New York, shows a truck emblazoned with “Trump 2024” and a large picture depicting Biden tied up and lying on his side.
Trump was in Long Island Thursday for the wake of fallen NYPD officer Jonathan Diller.
When reached for comment on the image in the video, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said, “That picture was on the back of a pick up truck that was traveling down the highway.” Cheung also accused “Democrats and crazed lunatics” of calling for violence against Trump and his family, arguing that “they are actually weaponizing the justice system against him.”
Cheung pointed to comments by Biden in 2018, before he declared his candidacy, when he said that if he and Trump were in high school he’d “take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him” if he heard him demeaning women.
Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler slammed Trump for posting the video.
“This image from Donald Trump is the type of crap you post when you’re calling for a bloodbath or when you tell the Proud Boys to ‘stand back and stand by,'” Tyler said in a statement. “Trump is regularly inciting political violence and it’s time people take him seriously — just ask the Capitol Police officers who were attacked protecting our democracy on January 6.”
The White House referred questions about the video to the campaign.
Trump has previously used violent imagery and rhetoric, both in his 2024 presidential campaign and before.
On March 16, he vowed that there would be a “bloodbath” if he was not re-elected, while speaking about the economy. Last year, before his numerous indictments, Trump warned about “potential death and destruction” if he were to be charged in the Manhattan district attorney’s hush money case against him.
He also shared an article on Truth Social that had an image of him with a baseball bat near Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s head. The post was deleted.
More recently, Trump used his Truth Social platform to go after Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the hush money case, as well as the judge’s daughter after being hit with a partial gag order.
Trump faces four criminal indictments for charges related to allegations of election interference, mishandling classified documents and falsifying business records related to hush money payments. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Why Biden is dialing up his mockery of Trump: From the Politics Desk
Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.
In today’s edition, White House correspondents Mike Memoli and Monica Alba note how Joe Biden is ramping up the personal attacks on Donald Trump. Plus, “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker interviews two governors about whether bipartisanship can still exist in these divided times.
Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.
Biden’s latest campaign goal: Get under Trump’s skin
By Mike Memoli and Monica Alba
As President Joe Biden works to defeat Donald Trump, he’s increasingly focused on another goal he thinks will help him achieve that: getting under his skin.
In recent weeks, both in private and public settings, Biden has ramped up personal, biting and often sarcastic broadsides against his Republican opponent, targeting his financial challenges, his campaign tempo and even his weight.
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It’s a strategy largely driven by Biden himself, according to multiple aides and advisers familiar with the approach.
“This is him, and we’re following his lead,” one Biden aide said. “There’s just something about Joe Biden that gets under Donald Trump’s skin more than anybody, and I think Joe Biden knows that.”
At a star-studded fundraiser Thursday evening, Biden was asked what was at stake in the 2024 election. After giving an answer criticizing Trump’s positions broadly, he concluded: “All the things he’s doing are so old … a little old and out of shape.”
Biden also took a jab at the former president’s physical stamina while telling a story recounting a brief conversation they had about golf at the White House shortly after Trump’s election.
“I told him this once before when he came into the Oval before he was sworn in. I said, ‘I’ll give you three strokes, but you carry your own bag,’” Biden said to laughs.
The president came up with those jokes on his own, according to two aides and a senior adviser, who pointed out that Biden is often using similar quips in internal staff meetings.
Biden’s team thinks these kinds of comments and jokes may resonate with voters for two reasons: because it’s “rooted,” one aide said, in who Biden is at his core and because it wouldn’t work as well if it didn’t have some authenticity to it.
While contrasting their policy positions is important to the president, an adviser said Biden is “totally the driver” of presenting a “stark” character difference with Trump as well.
Read more here →
A time for bipartisanship? Two governors weigh in on leadership in a crisis
By Kristen Welker
In a time when the country is so divided, how do we come together?
That’s the question facing our elected leaders on a daily basis, and especially in times of crisis. And that’s the challenge facing Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, as he leads his state after this week’s deadly bridge collapse in Baltimore.
“Whether you’re a governor or elected to another office, you are called upon to serve all, to think of all, and to transcend some of the politics and unfortunate polarization that we see today,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, also a Democrat, told me this week at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston, where Moore and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, were honored. (Moore could not attend the event due to the bridge collapse.)
Sununu stressed the importance of transparency in a time of crisis and fostering a sense of “we’re all in this together.”
“And if you have that, it kind of circumvents the political issues or policy, and even folks that might not agree with the decision or a path you’re taking,” Sununu said.
Rebuilding this critical thoroughfare is a daunting task for Moore, who is facing his first major test since taking office last year. It’s also a test for the Biden administration, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who told Politico that the Baltimore bridge collapse is “one of the most striking and extreme emergency situations that we’ve faced.” And it’s a test for Congress, as lawmakers from both parties will try to come together to provide crucial funding to rebuild the bridge.
Partisanship does, of course, persist, especially as we get closer to November. Take Sununu, who finds himself in a unique position in his own party. After vigorously opposing Trump in the presidential primary, Sununu now supports him for the general election, albeit begrudgingly.
“It’s a binary choice for me,” Sununu said, later adding: “I might not like Trump and what he’s done and all that. But I can get a Republican administration, or I could get, you know, President Kamala Harris. And for the average Republican, we go, ‘Oh, I guess we’re sticking with that guy because it’s about the administration.’”
But Sununu also stressed that the country is not as divided as it may seem. And, speaking of bipartisanship, Healey agreed.
“There is far more that unites us than divides us as a country,” Healey said.
🗞️ Today’s top stories
- 🔀 Crossing the aisle: Biden released an ad aimed directly at winning over Nikki Haley’s voters, using comments from Trump that her supporters are not welcome in his campaign. Read more →
- 💲Art of the deal: Trump is now selling a wide range of products, ranging from sneakers to perfume to trading cards to Bibles. Experts say it’s unprecedented for a presidential candidate to intertwine business ventures with a campaign to this degree. Read more →
- 🍑 Election moves : Georgia lawmakers passed a bill that would expand access for candidates to appear on the state’s presidential ballot and broaden abilities to challenge voter eligibility in the battleground state. Read more →
- 🗳️ Ballot battle: A judge struck down New Jersey’s controversial ballot design ahead of the June primary, a win for Democratic Senate candidate Andy Kim and a blow to the state’s political machine. Read more →
- ⏪ Decision reversed: A Texas appeals court tossed out a woman’s five-year prison sentence for voting illegally, ending a yearslong saga that garnered national attention. Read more →
- 🏀 March madness: A GOP Michigan state lawmaker posted a photo on social media claiming there were buses of “illegal invaders” at Detroit’s airport. But as the Detroit News notes, the buses were filled with college basketball players arriving for the NCAA Tournament. Read more →
That’s all from The Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
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Trump and co-defendants ask appeals court to review ruling allowing Fani Willis to stay on Georgia election case
Former President Donald Trump and eight other defendants accused of illegally trying to interfere in the 2020 election in Georgia on Friday submitted a formal application to appeal a judge’s ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case.
Trump and other defendants had tried to get Willis and her office tossed off the case, saying her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee earlier this month found that there was not a conflict of interest that should force Willis off the case but said that the prosecution was “encumbered by an appearance of impropriety.”
McAfee’s ruling said Willis could continue her prosecution if Wade left the case, and the special prosecutor resigned hours later. Lawyers for Trump and other defendants then asked McAfee to allow them to appeal his ruling to the Georgia Court of Appeals, and he granted that request.
The filing of an application with the appeals court is the next step in that process. The Court of Appeals has 45 days to decide whether it will take up the matter.
The allegations that Willis had improperly benefited from her romance with Wade upended the case for weeks. Intimate details of Willis and Wade’s personal lives were aired in court in mid-February, overshadowing the serious allegations in one of four criminal cases against the Republican former president. Trump and 18 others were indicted in August, accused of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to overturn his narrow 2020 presidential election loss to President Biden in Georgia.
Alex Slitz / Getty Images
The appeal application says McAfee was wrong not to disqualify both Willis and Wade from the case, saying that “providing DA Willis with the option to simply remove Wade confounds logic and is contrary to Georgia law.”
Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in the case, said in a statement that the case should have been dismissed and “at a minimum” Willis should have been disqualified from continuing to prosecute it. He said the Court of Appeals should grant the application and consider the merits of the appeal.
A spokesperson for Willis declined to comment.
Willis used Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, law, an expansive anti-racketeering statute, to charge Trump and the 18 others. Four people charged in the case have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty.
McAfee clearly found that Willis’ relationship with Wade and his employment as lead prosecutor in the case created an appearance of impropriety, and his failure to disqualify Willis and her whole office from the case “is plain legal error requiring reversal,” the defense attorneys wrote in their application.
Given the complexity of the case and the number of defendants, the application says, multiple trials will likely be necessary. Failure to disqualify Willis now could require any verdicts to be overturned, and it would be “neither prudent nor efficient” to risk having to go through “this painful, divisive, and expensive process” multiple times, it says.
In his ruling, McAfee cited a lack of appellate guidance on the issue of disqualifying a prosecutor for forensic misconduct, and the appeals court should step in to establish such a precedent, the lawyers argue.
Finally, the defense attorneys argued, it is crucial that prosecutors “remain and appear to be disinterested and impartial” to maintain public faith in the integrity of the judicial system.
Fulton County DA Fani Willis plans to take a lead role in trying Trump case
Two weeks after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis survived a bid by defense lawyers to have her disqualified from the Georgia election interference case, she has all but taken over the case personally, focusing intensely on legal strategy and getting her team in fighting form for trial.
In a significant move along these lines, according to a source close to her, Willis has decided to play a leading courtroom role herself in the sprawling conspiracy case against Donald Trump and 14 co-defendants.
“I think there are efforts to slow down the train, but the train is coming,” Willis said with characteristic bravado during impromptu remarks to CNN as she was leaving a Georgia Easter egg hunt on March 23.
“I guess my greatest crime is that I had a relationship with a man, but that’s not something I find embarrassing in any way,” she added.
Willis had just endured a lengthy legal soap opera after lawyers for one of the defendants filed a motion on Jan. 8 alleging that she had a clandestine romantic relationship with outside lawyer Nathan Wade, whom she had tapped to lead the case. Over two months of withering testimony and legal argument, Willis had intimate details of her private life publicly aired, her judgment and integrity questioned, and saw the most high-stakes prosecution of her career teeter on the brink of collapse because of an indiscretion in her personal life.
Alex Slitz/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images
In the end, Judge Scott McAfee ruled there was no actual conflict of interest that would have required disqualification of Willis and her entire office from the case. But he did conclude that Willis’ conduct created an “appearance of impropriety” that needed to be “cured” for her to continue. The solution was for Wade to resign from the case, which he did a few hours after the judge’s ruling.
Instead of replacing Wade with another lawyer from inside or outside the office, Willis is stepping up her own role in quarterbacking the case, CBS News has learned. She has already plunged into the nuts and bolts of trial strategy, including starting to lay out how evidence, including witnesses and documents, will be presented, a process known as “order of proof.”
At the same time, she is thinking about how to communicate the stakes of a case about protecting the democratic rights of Georgians — a far more abstract concept than typical murder or gang prosecutions — to a Fulton County jury.
Moreover, according to one knowledgeable source, Willis will now be the primary point of contact for defense lawyers in any future plea negotiations, a role that Wade had previously played.
Perhaps most consequentially, she is gaming out her own role in trying the case. Her appearance in the courtroom will not just be symbolic. Willis is seriously considering handling opening statements for the prosecution and examining key witnesses herself, according to sources familiar with her thinking, who requested anonymity to speak freely about her approach to the case.
Those who know the pugnacious and competitive DA well say a star turn in the courtroom — in the only case against Trump that will be televised — may put the distracting disqualification drama fully behind her. They say she is intent on shifting the public’s focus back onto Trump and his co-defendants for their alleged effort to overturn the 2020 election. It was a strategy she already showcased when she testified combatively in the disqualification hearing last month.
“You’re confused, you think I’m on trial,” she told defense lawyer Ashley Merchant. “These people are on trial for trying to steal an election.”
Willis’ stepped-up, high-profile public role in the case would also come as she runs for reelection in Fulton County. While it seems unlikely the trial would begin before the general election in November, she will likely have opportunities to argue pre-trial motions and procedural matters before then.
Any remarks about the case she makes inside the courtroom carry far less risk than whatever she might be tempted to say in the public arena, where she feels less restrained. She has already been admonished by McAfee for making “unorthodox” public remarks. The judge has hinted that he might impose a gag order on the case.
“Given the fact that she just barely walked away legally unscathed and that there is an appeal, I think a little extra caution would pay off dividends,” said Anthony Michael Kreis, a professor of law at Georgia State College of Law, who has been following the election interference case closely. But at the same time, Kreis said Willis has every “right and prerogative” to try the case herself and called doing so a potential “rehabilitation moment.”
Willis was always likely to play at least some public-facing role in the trial, if for no other reason than to show her constituents how seriously she was taking a case that she regards as core to their rights as Americans and Georgians, according to a close friend of Willis’. But it was only after going through the searing two-month disqualification ordeal that she decided to play a leading, if not the leading trial role, sources tell CBS News.
Willis earned a reputation as a courtroom practitioner over a two-decade career of trying and winning hundreds of murder, rape and gang cases, but also leading some of the most complex prosecutions ever brought in Georgia. Chief among them was the Atlanta Public Schools cheating case, a Georgia RICO prosecution — involving the same conspiracy statute under which Trump and his co-defendants were charged — against more than a dozen teachers, principals and administrators. All but one of the 12 defendants who went to trial were convicted in what still stands as the longest trial in Georgia history.
“She combines a level of preparation unmatched by any attorney I have ever seen, with a very rare ability to connect with a jury at that gut level,” said Charley Bailey, a former Fulton County assistant DA who has tried cases with Willis and is a close friend.
Trump, co-defendants ask appeals court to consider booting DA Fani Willis from Georgia case
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump and eight of his co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case on Friday asked a state appeals court to allow them to challenge a recent ruling that didn’t disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting the case.
“The Georgia Court of Appeals should grant the application and accept the interlocutory appeal for consideration on the merits,” Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, told NBC News in a statement Friday.
Willis’ office declined NBC News’ request for comment.
The application comes after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee gave Trump and the others permission to seek a review from the Georgia Court of Appeals of McAfee’s decision not to disqualify Willis and her office and dismiss the charges in the sprawling racketeering case.
In a motion originally filed by Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, and later adopted by Trump and others, Willis is accused of financially benefitting from a personal relationship she had with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor she’d appointed to the case. The motion alleged Willis and Wade took vacations together while working on the case.
Willis and Wade denied any wrongdoing. They acknowledged they’d been in a relationship, but they maintained that it began after his appointment as special prosecutor and that Willis did not benefit financially.
In a decision earlier this month, McAfee found no conflict of interest but said because of an “appearance of impropriety,” either Willis and her office would have to step aside, or Wade.
Wade resigned shortly after McAfee’s ruling — but, Sadow noted, the defense wanted the order to go further.
“Defendants argues in the trial court that the indictment should have been dismissed and, at a minimum, DA Willis and her office should have been disqualified from prosecuting the case,” Sadow’s statement said.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case, which alleges he conspired with others to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.
With the request officially filed, the appeals court has 45 days to decide whether to take up the case. McAfee has said he will not halt proceedings in the Georgia case as the disqualification matter makes its way through the appeals court.
Trump allies hope to raise $33 million at Florida fundraiser, seeking to narrow gap with Biden
As former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies seek to narrow President Biden’s cash advantage, wealthy GOP donors hope to raise more than $33 million at a fundraiser next week for their presumptive nominee and the Republican National Committee, a total that would eclipse the eye-popping $26 million Mr. Biden raised in New York on Thursday.
The fundraiser, set to be held on April 6 in Palm Beach, Florida, will direct donations to the Trump campaign and Save America PAC, the political action committee paying a majority of Trump’s legal bills, before the RNC and local state parties get a cut, according to an invitation obtained by CBS News. The Financial Times first reported details of the event.
The GOP fundraiser comes as the Biden campaign continues to flex its fundraising muscles in recent weeks, adding to its financial advantage over Trump and the RNC. Mr. Biden appeared with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama for a glitzy event at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan, which the campaign billed as the most lucrative political fundraiser in U.S. history.
The president’s reelection campaign entered March with $71 million cash on hand, more than doubling the amount the Trump campaign started the month with. The Biden war chest stood at $155 million when including money from the Democratic National Committee and affiliated joint fundraising committees.
In contrast, the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and the political action committees supporting Trump had just over $74 million cash on hand to start the month.
Michael M Santiago/GettyImages / Getty Images
Trump campaign representatives told CBS News that while they are unlikely to match Mr. Biden and the Democrats in fundraising, they have brought in more than $1 million a day the last six days and raised over $10.6 million in online, small-dollar donations last week.
March fundraising numbers for either party cannot be confirmed independently until next month, when updated federal campaign finance reports will be released.
Guests invited to Trump’s upcoming Florida fundraiser are being asked to donate between $250,000 and $814,000 per person. Up to $6,600 will go directly to the Trump campaign, and the next $5,000 will go to Save America PAC, the legal limits for each. The remaining money will then go to the RNC and state parties across the country.
The way the fundraising committee, known as the Trump 47 Committee, diverts money to Save America PAC is unorthodox. It represents a new way that GOP donors could potentially end up paying for at least a portion of Trump’s mounting legal bills, which have totaled more than $10 million so far this year.
The fine print on the dinner invitation, which lists Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Vivek Ramaswamy as speakers, said that donors can request for their donation to be divided differently.
“The response to our fundraising efforts has been overwhelming, and we’ve raised over $33 million so far,” John Paulson, a hedge fund billionaire who is hosting the fundraiser, said in a statement to CBS News. “There is massive support amongst a broad spectrum of donors. The dinner is relatively small in nature, and we are almost at our cap.”
The invite lists more than three dozen co-chairs for the fundraiser, including aerospace entrepreneur Robert Bigelow; Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets and former U.S. ambassador to the U.K.; casino moguls Steve Wynn and Phil Ruffin; and former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
When Trump became the presumptive GOP nominee for president earlier this month, he was allowed to start fundraising alongside the RNC and quickly moved to reshape the committee’s leadership. He tapped Michael Whatley, former chair of the North Carolina Republican Party, and Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law, to run the party. Mass layoffs quickly ensued, and potential new hires have been asked whether they believe the 2020 election was stolen.
Chris LaCivita, Trump’s co-campaign manager, and James Blair, a senior Trump campaign adviser, are also working with the RNC but will retain their positions with the Trump campaign.
Biden holds NYC fundraiser, Trump attends slain NYPD officer’s wake and more political stories
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Trump to attend wake for fallen NYPD officer as he ramps up rhetoric on crime
Former President Donald Trump is expected to attend the wake for New York Police Officer Jonathan Diller on Thursday.
Diller was killed Monday when he was shot in Queens after he approached an illegally parked vehicle.
New York police spokesperson Tarik Sheppard said the officers were expecting Trump at the wake in Massapequa on Long Island.
Trump previously posted on Truth Social that his “heartfelt prayers go out to the family” of Diller, adding that Diller’s “life was taken by a murderous career criminal.”
“To Officer Diller’s family, and all of the other brave men and women of law enforcement who put your lives on the line every day, we love you, we appreciate you, and we will always stand with you!” Trump said in his post.
Trump was already in New York, and he attended a hearing Monday in the hush money case against him. He has not held a major campaign event since March 16.
“President Trump is moved by the invitation to join NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller’s family and colleagues as they deal with his senseless and tragic death,” Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Wednesday.
Trump has often railed against crime rates in New York City, and he has falsely asserted that the city’s violent crime rate “hit unimaginable records.” The rate of major crimes is down by more than 20% since 2001, according to police crime data.
In his rhetoric about crime, Trump has often blamed his likely opponent in November, President Joe Biden. Biden will also be in New York on Thursday for a major campaign fundraising event alongside former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
New York Police Commissioner Edward A. Caban this week mourned Diller on X, saying that “this city lost a hero, a wife lost her husband, and a young child lost their father.”
“We struggle to find the words to express the tragedy of losing one of our own,” Caban said in the post. “The work that Police Officer Jonathan Diller did each day to make this city a safer place will NEVER be forgotten.”
Diller received a dignified transfer Tuesday, looked on by New York police officers paying their respects.
The last time a New York City officer died in the line of duty was in January 2022, when Detectives Wilbert Mora, 27, and Jason Rivera, 22, were killed responding to a 911 call in Harlem.
Jonathan Dienst, Tom Winter and Summer Concepcion contributed.