A judge ruled Thursday that former US president Donald Trump must testify under oath in New York’s civil probe into alleged fraudulent practices at his family business.

The ruling is the latest legal blow to Trump as he fights numerous cases that threaten to complicate any bid for another run at the White House in 2024.

State Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump and his two eldest children, Donald Jr and Ivanka, to comply with subpoenas issued by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

He said the three must sit for depositions within 21 days. The Trumps are expected to appeal.

Earlier during oral arguments, the Trumps’ lawyers said that the subpoenas should be quashed because having them give evidence in the civil case would prejudice their rights in a parallel criminal investigation.

Engoron said their argument “completely misses the mark,” noting that neither the Manhattan District Attorney, which is running the criminal investigation, nor James’s office have ordered the Trumps to appear before a grand jury.

In his ruling, Engoron added that the Trumps could invoke their Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate themselves during questioning in the civil case.

He noted that Trump’s other son, Eric, had pleaded the fifth “more than 500 times” during a deposition for James’s investigation in October 2020.

James, a Democrat, announced in January that her investigation into the Trump Organization had uncovered “significant evidence” of fraudulent or misleading practices.

She said that the civil inquiry had found that the Trump Organization fraudulently overvalued multiple assets to secure loans and then undervalued them to minimize taxes.

The Trumps have claimed the investigation is politically motivated and has urged the court to quash subpoenas against the three.

If James finds evidence of financial misconduct she can sue the Trump Organization for damages but cannot file criminal charges.

The probe, however, is running alongside a very similar criminal investigation by the Manhattan district attorney for possible financial crimes and insurance fraud.

In July last year, the Trump Organization and its long-serving finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded not guilty in a New York court to 15 felony fraud and tax evasion charges.

His trial is due to begin in the middle of this year.

Trump, 75, has so far kept the electorate and commentators guessing about whether he intends to seek the Republican nomination again.

Source: AFP

Donald Trump’s longtime accountants have ditched the former US president as a client, saying a decade’s worth of financial statements could not be relied upon, court documents showed Monday.

Mazars informed the Trump Organization in a letter last Wednesday that it would no longer work for the company, which is being probed by New York prosecutors for alleged fraud.

The letter was revealed in court by New York state attorney general Letitia James as she asked a judge to force Trump to comply with subpoenas seeking testimony in her investigation.

James announced last month that her civil inquiry into Trump’s family firm had uncovered “significant evidence” of misleading business practices, including the fraudulent valuation of assets.

Mazars wrote that James’s findings had contributed towards it deciding that accounts for Trump for the years ending June 30, 2011 to June 30, 2020 “should no longer be relied upon.”

The accounting firm added that an investigation of its own and “information received from internal and external sources” had also played a part in it reaching that conclusion.

“While we have not concluded that the various financial statements, as a whole, contain material discrepancies, based upon the totality of the circumstances, we believe our advice to you to no longer rely upon those financial statements is appropriate,” it said.

The letter added that in part because of the decision regarding the statements, Mazars “are not able to provide any new work product to the Trump Organization.”

The financial records are at the heart of James’s investigation and a criminal probe by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.

The twin inquiries are investigating whether the Trump Organization defrauded lenders into providing favourable loans.

James, a Democrat, said in January that her ongoing inquiry had found that the Trump Organization fraudulently overvalued multiple assets to secure loans and then undervalued them to minimise taxes.

She said the company had “misrepresented” the valuation of assets to financial institutions including the Internal Revenue Service, banks and insurers for “economic benefit.”

Parallel investigations

If James finds evidence of financial misconduct she can sue the Trump Organization for damages but cannot file criminal charges.

The probe, however, is running alongside a similar criminal investigation by the Manhattan DA for possible financial crimes and insurance fraud.

Last July the Trump Organization and its long-serving finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded not guilty to 15 felony fraud and tax evasion charges.

The DA’s office in January 2021 finally received roughly eight years of Trump tax returns from Mazars following a marathon legal battle that went to the Supreme Court.

Trump has slammed both probes as politically motivated.

A spokesperson for the Trump Organization said in a statement Monday evening that they were “disappointed” by Mazars’ decision to cut ties.

The firm’s “letter confirms that after conducting a subsequent review of all prior statements of financial condition, Mazars’ work was performed in accordance with all applicable accounting standards and principles and that such statements of financial condition do not contain any material discrepancies,” the spokesperson said, calling both investigations in New York therefore “moot.”

In her filing Monday, James repeated her request that the former president, Donald Trump Jr, and Ivanka Trump give evidence under oath. Her office has already questioned Eric Trump.

The legal woes could make a second White House run more difficult for the 75-year-old Trump, who has kept Americans guessing about his plans.

Source: AFP

North America’s busiest trade link reopened for traffic late Sunday evening, ending a six-day blockade, Canada Border Services Agency said, after Canadian police cleared the protesters fighting to end COVID-19 restrictions.

Canadian police made several arrests on Sunday and cleared protesters and vehicles that occupied the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario, after a court order on Friday.

The blockade had choked the supply chain for Detroit’s carmakers, forcing Ford Motor Co, the second-largest U.S. automaker, General Motors Co and Toyota Motor Corp to cut production.

The bridge carries about $360 million a day in two-way cargoes – 25% of the value of all U.S.-Canada goods trade. A Windsor Police official told reporters that 20 to 30 arrests had been made. Police also seized vehicles within the demonstration area, according to an earlier statement.

Police stepped up their presence on Sunday with more than 50 vehicles, including cruisers, buses and an armoured car, as the number of protesters dropped to around 45 from roughly 100 on Saturday. Windsor Police tweeted “there will be zero tolerance for illegal activity”.

In Ottawa, counter protests started blocking vehicles trying to join the protests on Sunday, with residents losing patience over the three-week-old demonstrations.

In the western Canadian province of British Columbia, the Pacific highway border crossing in Surrey was temporarily closed on Sunday afternoon, for a second day, by a group of about 200 protesters, according to a Reuters photographer on the scene. A small group of protesters gathered on the U.S. side of the border, blocking incoming vehicles.

The “Freedom Convoy” protests, started in the national capital Ottawa by Canadian truckers opposing a vaccinate-or-quarantine mandate for cross-border drivers, entered its 17th day on Sunday. But it has now morphed into a rallying point against broader COVID-19 curbs, carbon tax and other issues, with people joining in cars, pick-up trucks and farm vehicles.

“We’re fed up, we’re tired. We want Ottawa to be boring again,” said an Ottawa resident at a counter protest in front of the city’s police headquarters.

The Canadian government had discussed whether to invoke special emergency powers to deal with the protests in the capital, Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair told CBC News on Sunday. Blair said the lack of police enforcement in Ottawa was “inexplicable.”

The rarely used Emergencies Act would allow the federal government to override the provinces and authorize special temporary measures to ensure security during national emergencies anywhere in the country. It has only been used once in peacetime – by Trudeau’s father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau – in 1970.

Strangling bilateral trade, protests have spread to three border points, including in Alberta and Manitoba. Canadian police have said the protests have been partly funded by U.S. supporters, and Ontario froze funds donated via one U.S. platform GiveSendGo on Thursday.

The estimated loss so far from the blockades to the auto industry alone could be as high as $850 million, based on IHS Markit’s data, which puts the 2021 daily flow in vehicles and parts at $141.1 million a day.

“Today, our national economic crisis at the Ambassador Bridge came to an end,” Windsor City Mayor Drew Dilkens said in a tweet.

In Europe, a convoy of 150 cars protesting COVID-19 restrictions left Paris on Sunday morning and headed towards Brussels, protesters told Reuters.

Source: REUTERS

The US general in charge of American forces in the West Asia region has arrived in the United Arab Emirates after a string of Yemeni counterstrikes that caught Abu Dhabi off-guard.

Marine General Frank McKenzie, the head of the United States Central Command, traveled to the Emirates on Sunday ahead of the schedule, after Yemen’s defense forces carried out at least three rounds of retaliatory attacks against the UAE’s sensitive spots in the space of a single month.

“I think it’s a very worrisome time for UAE. They’re looking for support. We’re here to help them to provide that support,” McKenzie said shortly before landing in Abu Dhabi, Reuters reported.

Queen Elizabeth II made a rare public appearance on Saturday, chatting and cutting cake at a party, a day before she enters her 70th year as monarch.

The 95-year-old Queen has rarely appeared in public and has cancelled major engagements since spending a night in hospital for tests last October.

Wearing a blue dress and pearls, the Queen talked to people from local community and volunteer groups at a morning reception at her Sandringham residence in Norfolk in eastern England.

She is about to mark a major milestone in her reign, as Sunday will be the 70th anniversary of the day her father, King George VI, died, and she became queen aged 25.

The nation will take part in Platinum Jubilee celebrations this summer including a four-day weekend.

On Saturday, the Queen cut a cake with the Jubilee emblem iced on top and received a posy of flowers at the reception in Sandringham’s Ballroom, which included a band playing the song “Congratulations”.

The guests included Angela Wood, a woman who helped create the recipe for coronation chicken, first served at a banquet in 1953.

Wood told the BBC in January that she helped fine-tune the recipe for the bright yellow dish of chicken, boned and coated in a curry cream sauce, while a 19-year-old student at a Cordon Bleu cookery school.

The Queen was also photographed out walking out at Sandringham. She has used a stick in public appearances since October, but royal officials said it was not linked to any specific health condition.

The Queen traditionally spends her Accession Day at Sandringham, where her father died of cancer while she was on a visit to Kenya.

She is set to become the first UK monarch to reign for 70 years.

Source: AFP

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has slammed protests that took place in the capital Ottawa to demand an end to COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Supporters of the so-called “Freedom Convoy” rallied in Ottawa on Monday for the third consecutive day to protest against a vaccine requirement for cross-border truckers.

The protests have been largely peaceful but investigations have been opened into some incidents, including a video showing a woman dancing on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial.

Some participants in the protest likened the COVID-19 restrictions to Jews under Nazi persecution, using Nazi symbols on protest signs.

The incidents drew condemnation from Trudeau, who refused to meet the protesters, describing them as “an insult to memory and truth”.

“Freedom of expression, assembly and association are cornerstones of democracy, but Nazi symbolism, racist imagery and desecration of war memorials are not.”

“This is not the story of our pandemic, our country, our people,” the premiere said, adding that his focus was on “standing with Canadians and getting through this pandemic.”

Candice Bergen, deputy leader of the Conservative Party, said the demonstrators represented millions who “have had enough of lockdowns and broken promises”.

“They deserve to be heard and they deserve respect,” she said in a tweet.

The supporters of the “Freedom Convoy” see the coronavirus health measures as government overreach of COVID-19 restrictions, demanding an end to all vaccine mandates nationwide.

Source: Presstv

North Korea conducted its largest missile test since 2017 on Sunday, sending a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile soaring into space, seen as taking the nuclear-armed country a step closer to resuming long-range testing.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that a projectile believed to be a single ballistic missile was launched about 7:52 a.m. (2252 GMT) from North Korea’s Jagang Province toward the ocean off its east coast.

South Korea’s National Security Council (NSC), which convened a rare emergency meeting presided over by President Moon Jae-in, said the test appeared to involve an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), which North Korea has not tested since 2017.

The launch takes North Korea a step closer to fully scrapping a self-imposed moratorium on testing its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), Moon said.

He noted that this month’s flurry of missile tests was reminiscent of the heightened tensions in 2017, when North Korea conducted multiple nuclear tests and launched its largest missiles, including some that flew over Japan.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said he is no longer bound by that moratorium, which included a stop to nuclear weapons tests and was announced in 2018 amid a flurry of diplomacy and summits with then-U.S. President Donald Trump.

North Korea’s rulers suggested  this month they could restart those testing activities because the United States and its allies had shown no sign of dropping their “hostile policies.”

“The United States condemns these actions and calls on (North Korea) to refrain from further destabilizing acts,” the U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement after Sunday’s launch.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said the launch demonstrates the threat posed by North Korea’s unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes, and called on Pyongyang to engage in “sustained and substantive” dialogue.

Bigger missiles

It is unclear if IRBMs were included in Kim’s moratorium, but those, too, have not been tested since 2017.

South Korea’s JCS and Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno separately said the missile is estimated to have reached an altitude of 2,000km and flown for 30 minutes to a distance of 800km. IRBMs typically have ranges of 600 to 3,500 miles, while ICBMs have ranges exceeding 3,500 miles.

Missile experts said the data could indicate a test of an IRBM such as the Hwasong-12, which was last tested in 2017, or a new type.

“Regardless of whether it’s a IRBM or ICBM, this is a strategic missile of some sort and clearly not the same as the prior tests in the January 2022 test series to date,” George William Herbert, an adjunct professor at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies and a missile consultant, said on Twitter.

The launch could make January the busiest ever for North Korea’s missile programme, which analysts say is expanding and developing new capabilities despite strict sanctions and United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban the country’s ballistic missile tests.

Its latest launches included a test of two short-range ballistic missiles and their warheads on Thursday, and an updated long-range cruise missile system tested on Tuesday.

‘Ramping up tests’

The test comes less than a week before the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, which is North Korea’s main political and economic partner. Pyongyang has said it would be skipping the Games because of the COVID-19 pandemic and “hostile forces.”

“Kim seems to be ramping up tests in bid to pressure both Washington and Beijing over sanctions just ahead of the Olympics,” said Uk Yang, research fellow at Center for Foreign Policy and National Security.

The tests would also appear to be the final nail in the coffin for Moon’s last-ditch push for a peace deal with North Korea before he leaves office in May, Uk added.

“It’s clear that North Korea is saying inter-Korean relations will need to start from scratch,” he said.

In an address ahead of the New Year, Kim Jong Un called for bolstering the military with cutting-edge technology at a time when talks with South Korea and the United States have stalled.

Since then, North Korea has tested a dizzying array of weapon types, launch locations, and increasing sophistication as denuclearisation talks remain stalled.

Jagang Province was the site of two launches this month of what North Korea said was a “hypersonic missile,” which could reach high speeds while flying and maneuvering at relatively low altitudes, but the ranges reported on Sunday were higher and farther than those earlier tests.

“The ballistic missile launch and the ones before it are a threat to our country, the region and the international community,” Matsuno said. “This series of launches violate U.N. resolutions and we strongly protest this action by North Korea.”

South Korea’s NSC condemned the launch as a violation of the resolutions and a challenge to international peace efforts, using stronger language than previous tests, when it typically expressed “strong regret.”

The tests appear aimed at modernizing North Korea’s military, bolstering national pride ahead of several major North Korean holidays, and sending a message of strength as the country grapples with economic crises caused by sanctions and COVID-19 lockdowns, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha University in Seoul.

“The Kim regime hears external discussions of its domestic weaknesses and sees South Korea’s growing strength,” he said.

“So it wants to remind Washington and Seoul that trying to topple it would be too costly.”

Kim visited a munitions factory last week, where he called for “an all-out drive” to produce “powerful cutting-edge arms,” and its workers touted his devotion to “smashing … the challenges of the U.S. imperialists and their vassal forces” seeking to violate their right to self-defence.

Source: REUTERS

US President Joe Biden on Friday sought to maintain pressure on Russian leader Vladimir Putin over Ukraine, announcing a small troop deployment to eastern Europe even as top Pentagon officials backed a renewed push for diplomacy.

As President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Western leaders to avoid stirring “panic” over the massive Russian troop buildup on his country’s borders, Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed on the need for de-escalation.

Neither Putin nor his Western counterparts had until now appeared ready to give ground in the weeks-long crisis, the worst in decades in the region between Russia and Western Europe.

But according to a Macron aide, Putin told the French leader in a call lasting more than an hour that he had “no offensive plans.”

In Washington, Biden nevertheless said he would soon send a small number of US troops  – “not too many” – to bolster the NATO presence in eastern Europe as tensions remain heightened.

The United States already has tens of thousands of troops stationed across mostly Western Europe.

At the Pentagon, top officials urged a focus on diplomacy while saying that Russia now had enough troops and equipment in place to threaten the whole of Ukraine.

Any such conflict, warned the top US general, Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, would be “horrific” for both sides.

“If that was unleashed on Ukraine, it would be significant, very significant, and it would result in a significant amount of casualties,” Milley said.

“It would be horrific, it will be terrible,” he said.

But speaking alongside Milley, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said war in Ukraine could still be avoided.

“Conflict is not inevitable. There is still time and space for diplomacy,” said Austin.

“Mr Putin can do the right thing as well,” said Austin. “There is no reason that this situation has to devolve into conflict. He can choose to de-escalate. He can order his troops away.”

During his talks with Macron, Putin “expressed no offensive plans and said he wanted to continue the talks with France and our allies,” the aide to the French president said.

Their conversation “enabled us to agree on the need for a de-escalation,” the aide told journalists. Putin “said very clearly that he did not want confrontation.”

Complex threat

Since October, Russia has amassed more than 100,000 combat troops and equipment, as well as support forces, along its frontier with Ukraine and more recently in Belarus, which borders Ukraine on the north.

Western officials say Russia has also mustered more air and sea assets in the region, creating a complex threat like none seen since the Cold War.

Moscow has demanded wide-ranging security guarantees from the West, including that Ukraine never be allowed to join NATO.

Those demands have been the subject of intensive negotiations, with the West warning of far-reaching consequences if diplomacy fails and Russia attacks.

“We don’t need this panic,” Zelensky told a news conference with foreign media, insisting he wanted to avoid hurting his country’s already battered economy.

“There are signals even from respected leaders of states, they just say that tomorrow there will be war. This is panic – how much does it cost for our state?” he asked.

In talks with Macron, the Ukrainian leader called for more meetings and talks “while a propitious climate for dialogue exists.”

Russia’s concerns not addressed

Putin also made clear to Macron that the written responses from the West to his demands this week had fallen short of Russia’s expectations, the Kremlin said.

“The US and NATO responses did not take into account Russia’s fundamental concerns including preventing NATO’s expansion,” Putin said, according to the Kremlin’s readout of the call.

He added that the West had ignored the “key question,” that no country should strengthen its security at the expense of others, adding Russia would “carefully study” the responses, “after which it will decide on further actions.”

Russia has also demanded a pullback of NATO forces deployed to eastern European and ex-Soviet countries that joined the alliance after the Cold War.

In a sign of continued tensions, Russia announced Friday evening it had added several EU officials to a list of people banned from entering the country, saying they were responsible for “anti-Russian policies.”

Threat to key pipeline

The Putin-Macron phone call followed talks in Paris this week between Russia and Ukraine, with France and Germany alongside, which produced a joint statement to preserve a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Moscow separatists.

They also agreed to hold new talks in Berlin in February.

“Taking into account the results of the meeting” in Paris, the Kremlin said, “the mood for further work of Russia and France in this format was confirmed.”

In tandem with the diplomacy, the West has upped its threats of a tough response to an invasion.

Washington and Berlin warned that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, designed to double supplies of Russian natural gas to Germany, was at stake.

Milley said Russia itself would be hurt by war.

“If Russia chooses to invade Ukraine, it will not be cost-free, in terms of casualties or other significant effects,” he said.

Source: AFP

Two of Prince Andrew’s efforts to prevent or stall the progression of a lawsuit by a woman who says he sexually assaulted her when she was 17 have been blocked by a US federal judge.

Judge Lewis A Kaplan, in a written order on Saturday, asked the prince’s lawyers to turn over key legal documents on the schedule that has been set in the lawsuit filed by Virginia Roberts Giuffre.

Giuffre claims she was abused by the prince on multiple occasions in 2001 while she was being sexually abused by financier Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself in a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

Kaplan also rejected arguments by the prince’s lawyers on jurisdiction grounds after they argued last week that the suit should be dismissed since Giuffre, a US citizen, no longer lives in the US.

The lawyers had claimed it was, therefore, pointless to exchange evidence until that question is resolved because it could result in the lawsuit’s dismissal.

In a statement, Giuffre’s attorney, Sigrid McCawley, called the request to halt the case “just another in a series of tired attempts by Prince Andrew to duck and dodge the legal merits of the case Virginia Giuffre has brought against him. All parties in litigation are subject to discovery and Prince Andrew is no exception.”

A US judge has postponed a sexual abuse case of British Prince Andrew likely to late 2022 despite an earlier announcement that he would have to answer questions under oath by next July 14.

In October, the prince’s lawyers attacked Giuffre’s lawsuit, arguing Giuffre had made false claims against Andrew because he “never sexually abused or assaulted” her.

“Giuffre has initiated this baseless lawsuit against Prince Andrew to achieve another payday at his expense and at the expense of those closest to him. Epstein’s abuse of Giuffre does not justify her public campaign against Prince Andrew,” the written arguments said.

Andrew has also come under pressure to shed more light on the nature and extent of Epstein’s relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of the disgraced media mogul, Robert Maxwell.

Last Thursday, Ghislaine, 60, was found guilty of recruiting and trafficking young girls to be sexually abused by Epstein.

Source: Presstv