Donald Trump branded Vladimir Putin’s ‘buddy In vileness’ by Nancy Pelosi
Donald Trump’s campaign claims he will have won the majority of delegates and can claim victory in the Republican Party primaries on 12 March. In a memo, they called Nikki Haley’s rival campaign “broken down, out of ideas, out of gas, and completely outperformed”.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Trump-allied lawyers who faced legal sanctions for promoting bogus litigation surrounding his 2020 presidential election loss.
This will leave in place a 2023 ruling from a federal appeals court in Michigan that upheld the sanctions against them.
Sidney Powell and Lin Wood – among a team of so-called “Kraken” attorneys who pursued bogus legal efforts to overturn Mr Trump’s loss in 2020 – faced legal consequences in federal court in 2021 for a spurious lawsuit to reject Michigan’s results.
Mr Trump continues to stew about Friday’s ruling in his New York fraud case that saw him ordered to pay almost $355m plus interest in financial penalties as his lawyers fight his legal battles on multiple fronts.
He is due to address the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland this week before facing off against Ms Haley in Saturday’s South Carolina primary.
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Another weekend, another series of worrying blunders by Trump
At one point the presidential hopeful reminded voters of the “very important date” of the Michigan state primary – and proceeded to get it wrong.
Mike Bedigan has the details.
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2024 22:00
In pictures: Trump films Fox News town hall in Greenville, South Carolina
Donald Trump arrives at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport
(AFP via Getty Images)
Mr Trump speaks with moderator Laura Ingraham of Fox News
(AP)
South Carolina’s Republican primary takes place this Saturday
(Getty Images)
(AP)
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2024 21:45
Who is voting for Haley over Trump in South Carolina?
Undeterred by a series of legal battles, former president Donald Trump maintains a substantial lead over Nikki Haley, his last remaining 2024 GOP competitor, in her home state of South Carolina, a new poll shows.
The Suffolk University/USA Today poll shows the former president with 63 per cent support from South Carolina primary voters — or those who said they are “very likely” to vote. The former South Carolina governor had 35 per cent support.
Mr Trump has an overall lead in the state but certain populations prefer Ms Haley over the Republican frontrunner, according to the poll.
Kelly Rissman looks at the numbers:
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2024 21:30
Trump campaign says he will wrap up nomination by 12 March
Having widened his polling lead over fellow candidate Nikki Haley in her home state of South Carolina, Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign has released a memo saying they expect him to wrap up the Republican Party’s nomination by 12 March, moving up their initial prediction by a week.
In the memo published on Tuesday, the campaign projects he will exceed the 1,215-delegate threshold on that date, which is after Super Tuesday but coincides with primaries in Hawaii, Washington, Mississippi, and Georgia. There are a total of 2,429 Republican delegates nationwide.
Back in December, the campaign said it believed Mr Trump would seal the deal on 19 March when Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, and Ohio hold their primaries.
They also predict he will take all 50 delegates in Saturday’s primary in South Carolina.
Ms Haley’s campaign is described as “broken down” in the memo and the former governor is referred to as a “wailing loser hell-bent on an alternative reality”.
Should Mr Trump have secured the majority of the delegates by 12 March, he still wouldn’t be the official candidate until the Republican National Convention on 15-18 July in Milwaukee.
Ms Haley has vowed to stay in the race until at least Super Tuesday.
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2024 21:15
Navalny issued chilling warning about second Trump term
The staunch opponent of Vladmir Putin also read voraciously from Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov and Solzhenitsyn to occupy his mind and prevent himself from sinking into despair amid the brutal conditions in which he was held.
In one 3 December letter to Evgeny Feldman, a photographer who covered his attempted run for president in 2018 and now lives in exile in Latvia, Navalny wrote that he feared that if anything should happen to President Joe Biden – a distinct possibility, he felt, given the American’s advanced age – “Trump will become president”.
To Navalny, a second Mr Trump term was a “really scary” prospect for the wider world.
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2024 21:00
Watch: Haley hits Trump over comparison to Navalny
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2024 20:45
Haley doubles down on vow to stay in presidential race: ‘I’m not going anywhere’
Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley delivered a defiant speech ahead of her home state’s primary on Saturday and insisted that she will not leave even if she loses the primary.
Ms Haley, who won two terms as governor of South Carolina, insisted that even if she loses the primary, she does not fear former president Donald Trump’s retribution.
“That’s why I refuse to quit. South Carolina will vote on Saturday. But on Sunday, I’ll still be running for president. I’m not going anywhere,” she said at a speech in Greenville on Tuesday.
Eric Garcia watched her remarks:
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2024 20:30
What leverage might Putin have over Trump?
Nancy Pelosi has suggested that Vladimir Putin probably has financial leverage over Donald Trump in damning allegations against the former president who failed to condemn the Russian leader following Alexei Navalny’s mysterious death in a Siberian prison.
“What does he have on Donald Trump that he has to constantly be catering to Putin?” the former speaker asked as she appeared on MSNBC on Monday night after returning from Munich in Germany where she met Navalny’s wife.
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2024 20:00
Report says Trump-branded condos sell for less than properties that remove his name
The 2024 GOP frontrunner was ordered to pay a hefty fine of nearly $350m — plus interest — in a civil fraud case against him, his two sons and Trump Organization associates. His sons were also ordered to pay $4m each.
Units in Trump-branded properties across Manhattan have declined in value since he was elected president in 2016, the New York Times reported.
Kelly Rissman has the story:
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2024 19:30
ICYMI: Trump finally breaks silence on Navalny’s death – to claim himself a victim
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2024 19:00