Trademark Trump defiant as he tries to set narrative that indictments are political not legal
Donald Trump popped into a waffle restaurant in Columbus, Georgia, on Saturday afternoon.
The idea, presumably, was to create an impromptu moment – to present a man not rattled by the days ahead.
The pre-positioned supporters suggest it was rather more pre-arranged. But there is no question that the former president looked relaxed, confident, and upbeat.
The pit-stop came after his first public appearance since that remarkable indictment was unsealed.
I watched from the “fake news” media pen at the back of the Columbus Convention Center as he delivered a defiant 90-minute speech.
The capacity crowd were the great and the good of Georgia’s Republican Party – gathered for the state’s two-day Republican Convention.
It was trademark Trump.
“They want to use something called the Espionage Act. Doesn’t that sound terrible?” he said facetiously, referring to the charges against him.
“Espionage? We got a box! I got a box! The espionage…” he trailed off. The crowd laughed.
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After a rattle through his greatest hits as president, he got back to the indictment.
“The ridiculous and baseless indictment of me by the Biden administration’s weaponised department of injustice will go down as among the most horrific abuses of power in the history of our country.
“Many people have said that, the Democrats have even said it.”
“This vicious persecution is a travesty of justice,” he said to applause. At times people stood. Not all, but a good proportion.
“Think of it: Biden is trying to jail his leading political opponent that’s beating him by a lot in the polls just like they do in Stalinist Russia or Communist China. No different.” More applause.
It was a grievance-laced speech. He cast himself as the victim of an establishment out to get him.
“We are going to stand up to the corrupt political establishment, we are going to evict a totally corrupt Joe Biden from the White House…”
The narrative he is setting is that all this is political not legal. It’s Biden trying to stop him in the courts rather than face him at the ballot box.
Deflection and “whataboutism” play very well. And that’s the crux of all this for sections of American society that have been so angered by the indictment.
In the Columbus convention hall I heard it repeatedly: what about Joe Biden and the classified documents found in his Delaware garage, next to his Corvette? Hilary Clinton and the classified documents on her email server? Mike Pence and the classified documents found at his home?
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Trump indictment: ‘Laws apply to everyone’
American standards of justice are being questioned by the first federal indictment of a former and possible next president.
There are clear distinctions with those cases: quantity, intent, obstruction.
The number of documents in Trump’s case is far larger. There appears to have been an intent to remove them from the White House and an obstruction of National Archive and FBI attempts to retrieve them.
There is also plain misinformation. Trump talks frequently about the “1850 boxes Biden took”.
He is referring to boxes of Biden documents at the University of Delaware. They are papers from his senate career between 1973 to 2009. They are not secret, there is no requirement for him to give them to the National Archives and there is no wrongdoing.
Still, President Biden has been blasé about the documents found in his Corvette garage – his assurance that the “garage was locked” cemented the incredulity.
All of this, not to mention the stories about his son Hunter, reflect a genuine American crisis of distrust.
The 45th president of the United States has been indicted, by the Justice Department of the Biden administration, on 31 of the counts relating to the espionage act – “wilful retention of national defence information”.
That is a massive moment. It is not yet clear quite what it will unleash in America.
Donald Trump could meet Vladimir Putin in person as early as next week to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine, a White House official has said.
They said the meeting would be conditional on the Russian president meeting his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sky News’s US partner network NBC News reported.
It came days before the White House’s deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or face severe economic penalties, which could also target countries buying its oil.
Asked during a news conference at the White House if the talks would take place, Mr Trump said: “There’s a very good prospect that they will.”
He said it had not been determined where the talks would take place, but added: “We had some very good talks with President Putin today.”
However, he said: “I’ve been disappointed before with this one.”
Asked if Mr Putin made any kind of concession to lead to the development, Mr Trump did not give much away, but added: “We’ve been working on this a long time. There are thousands of young people dying, mostly soldiers, but also, you know, missiles being hit into Kyiv and other places.”
More tariffs ‘could happen’
Mr Trump also said he could announce further tariffs on China similar to the 25% he announced on India over its purchases of Russian oil.
“Could happen,” he said, after saying he expected to announce more secondary sanctions intended to pressure Russia into ending its war with Ukraine.
Earlier, he imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, on top of a previous 25% tariff, over its continued purchases of Russian oil.
India’s foreign ministry spokesperson said the additional tariffs were “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.
Vladimir Putin welcomes Steve Witkoff during a meeting in Moscow. Pic: Sputnik/Reuters
It came after Mr Putin held talks with Mr Trump‘s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, with the meeting lasting around three hours.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said Mr Witkoff “had a highly productive meeting” with Mr Putin in which “great progress was made”.
He said he had updated America’s European allies, and they will work towards an end to the Russia-Ukraine war “in the days and weeks to come”.
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Correspondents in Washington and Moscow break down a busy day of diplomacy
‘The war must end’
Mr Zelenskyy later said he and Mr Trump spoke on the phone after the meeting. He said “European leaders also participated in the conversation” and “we discussed what was said in Moscow”.
He added: “Our common position with our partners is absolutely clear: The war must end. We all need lasting and reliable peace. Russia must end the war that it started.”
Mr Zelenskyy later said: “It seems that Russia is now more inclined to agree to a ceasefire.”
He added that the pressure on Moscow “is working”, without elaborating, and stressed it was important to make sure Russia does not “deceive us or the United States” when it comes to “the details” of a potential agreement.
America’s vaccine-sceptic health secretary has announced $500m (£375.8m) worth of cuts to their development in the country.
The US health department is cancelling contracts and pulling funding for jabs to fight viruses like COVID-19 and the flu, it was announced on Tuesday.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, known as RFK Jr, said 22 projects developing mRNA vaccines will be halted. It is the latest in a series of decisions to reduce US vaccine programmes.
Read more: Who is Donald Trump’s health chief?
The health secretary has fired the panel that makes vaccine recommendations, reduced recommendations for COVID-19 shots, and refused to endorse vaccines despite a worsening measles outbreak.
RFK Jr claims the US will now prioritise “safer, broader vaccine strategies, like whole-virus vaccines and novel platforms that don’t collapse when viruses mutate”.
Responding to the announcement of cuts, Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations, said: “I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business.”
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Is US politics fuelling a deadly measles outbreak?
Dr Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said RFK Jr’s move was short-sighted and that mRNA vaccines “certainly saved millions of lives”, including during the pandemic.
MRNA vaccines work by delivering a snippet of genetic code into the body that triggers an immune response, rather than introducing a real version of the virus.
According to the UK Health Security Agency, the “leading advantage of mRNA vaccines is that they can be designed and produced more quickly than traditional vaccines”.
Moderna, which was studying a combo mRNA shot that can tackle COVID and flu for the US health department, previously said it believed mRNA could speed up production of flu jabs compared with traditional vaccines.
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A COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic. File pic: PA
Scientists are also exploring how mRNA could be used in cancer immunotherapies and in other illnesses.
At the White House earlier this year, billionaire tech entrepreneur Larry Ellison praised mRNA for its potential to treat cancer.
RFK Jr touts ‘effective’ alternative
The health department said the abandoned mRNA projects signal a “shift in vaccine development priorities.”
“Let me be absolutely clear, HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them,” Mr Kennedy said in a statement.
Later, he said work is underway on an alternative – a “universal vaccine” that mimics “natural immunity”.
“It could be effective – we believe it’s going to be effective – against not only coronaviruses, but also flu,” he said.
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