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.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has accused the US of a coup attempt after Donald Trump approved CIA operations in the country to tackle alleged drug trafficking.
Mr Trump confirmed his decision, first revealed by The New York Times, as he said large amounts of drugs were entering the US from Venezuela – much of it trafficked by sea.
“We are looking at land now, because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” he said.
When asked why the coastguard wasn’t asked to intercept suspected drug trafficking boats, which has been a longstanding US practice, Mr Trump said the approach had been ineffective.
“I think Venezuela is feeling heat,” he said.
Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday evening. Pic: Reuters
Maduro hits back
He declined to answer whether the CIA has the authority to execute Mr Maduro, who denies accusations from Washington that he has connections to drug trafficking and organised crime.
The US has offered a $50m (£37m) reward for information leading to his arrest.
“How long will the CIA continue to carry on with its coups?” he asked after Mr Trump’s comments on Wednesday evening, saying calls for regime change harkened back to “failed eternal wars” in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In a message to the American people, he said in English: “Not war, yes peace. The people of the US, please.”
President Nicolas Maduro. Pic: Reuters
US targets ‘drug boats’
Mr Trump also alleged Venezuela had sent a significant number of prisoners, including individuals from mental health facilities, into the US, though he did not specify the border through which they reportedly entered.
On Tuesday, he announced America had targeted a small boat suspected of drug trafficking in waters off the Venezuelan coast, resulting in the deaths of six people.
According to the president’s post on social media, all those killed were aboard the vessel.
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Footage of the strike was released by Donald Trump on social media. Pic: Truth Social
The incident marked the fifth such fatal strike in the Caribbean, as the Trump administration continues to classify suspected drug traffickers as unlawful combatants to be confronted with military force.
War secretary Pete Hegseth authorised the strike, according to Mr Trump, who released a video of the operation.
The black-and-white footage showed a small boat seemingly stationary on the water. It is struck by a projectile from above and explodes, then drifts while burning for several seconds.
Mr Trump said the “lethal kinetic strike” was in international waters and targeted a boat travelling along a well-known smuggling route.
There has also been a significant increase in US military presence in the southern Caribbean, with at least eight warships, a submarine, and F-35 jets stationed in Puerto Rico.
A 39-year-old man died in hospital alone, miles from his family, after being detained by US immigration officials.
Ismael Ayala-Uribe, who had lived in the US since he was four, fell ill while in an immigration detention centre in California.
Ismael Ayala-Uribe was well known in the local Latino community
He complained of a fever and had a persistent cough in the weeks before he died, according to his mother Lucia.
She said he was initially treated by medical staff inside the detention centre but was returned to his cell.
He was eventually taken to hospital for a scheduled surgery to remove an abscess on his buttocks, but died before he was able to have the operation.
His family were never told he was in hospital, learning of his death via a knock on the door from police.
“They’re the ones that notified us that he had passed,” his brother, Jose Ayala, told Sky News.
“We were not even aware that he was in the hospital or even had a scheduled surgery. Then we got a knock on our door a little after 5.30 one morning.
“I believe he would still be alive today if he was never detained. He got sick while in detention, and they did not seem to take care of him.”
Ismael’s brother Jose speaks to Sky News
Why was he detained?
Mr Ayala-Uribe’s death raises questions about the conditions inside the centre he was held in, and if a sudden surge of immigrants being detained by this administration has left the system stretched beyond breaking point.
He had moved to the US from Mexico with his family as a child.
He did have DACA – deferred action for childhood arrivals – status, granted to those who have arrived while under the age of 18. But this was removed in 2016, after he was convicted of drink-driving.
In August, he was arrested by immigration agents at a car wash in California where he had worked for 15 years.
He was held for five weeks at Adelanto, a privately owned, run-for-profit, immigrant detention centre. A lawyer for his family said he was, as far as they are aware, a healthy man before he was detained and had no medical need.
But Mr Ayala-Uribe’s mother, who was visiting him every eight days and speaking to him on the phone a couple of times a day, said she noticed him getting progressively unwell.
Ismael’s brother and mother, Lucia
“He started with lots of fever,” Ms Ayala said. “He said they weren’t listening to him. The last time I saw him his face was drained, he told me he was not OK, he told me he couldn’t take it any more.”
Beginning to cry, wiping away tears, she added: “I feel powerless that I couldn’t do anything to help my son.
“I never imagined I was going to bury one of my sons. It feels terrible, they took a piece of my heart away.
“I would like something to change. If we cannot save him, at least we can save others that are still inside.”
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Inside Trump’s immigration raids
ICE defends detention treatment
The cause of Mr Ayala-Uribe’s death is still under investigation.
Sky News requested comment from the company which owns the detention centre where he was held, and they deferred to ICE, the US immigration and customs enforcement agency.
In a statement, ICE said: “Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay.
“At no time during detention is a detained illegal alien denied emergency care.”
The Trump administration says it’s targeting criminals and people in the US illegally. But campaigners say Mr Ayala-Uribe’s death should not be viewed in isolation.
Images from Ismael’s funeral service
Since Donald Trump took office, at least 15 people have died in immigration detention.
Democrat senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock wrote a letter to the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, asking for more information about these deaths.
The senators claimed 10 people had died between January and June, and that it was the highest rate in the first six months of any year publicly available.
Sarah Houston, a lawyer for the Immigrant Defenders Law Centre, claims immigrants are being mistreated in custody.
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ICE raids: ‘This is like Vietnam’
“This administration’s main goal is to harm, to torture individuals and to try to force them out,” she said.
“The great increase we see in human rights abuses, in deaths, is a direct result of the administration’s decision to pack these detention centres as much as they can.”
Mr Ayala-Uribe’s funeral was held this week. Dozens of extended family and friends wore t-shirts bearing his face. A mariachi band played as his casket was lowered into the ground and his mother heaved with sobs.
As they absorb their loss, the effort to carry out the biggest mass deportation operation in US history continues.
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