Letitia James accuses Donald Trump of ‘weaponizing’ US justice system after her indictment – US politics live | US news

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Letitia James criminally charged in Trump’s latest effort to punish rivals

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you the latest news lines over the next few hours.

We begin with the news that a federal grand jury has indicted Letitia James, the New York attorney general, for bank fraud, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Lindsey Halligan, the US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, personally presented the case to the grand jury on Thursday, the person said. US attorneys do not typically present to a grand jury.

“This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system. He is forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding, all because I did my job as the New York state attorney general,” James said in a recorded video statement on Thursday.

“These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost. The president’s actions are a grave violation of our constitutional order and have drawn sharp criticism from members of both parties.”

Halligan was installed in the role last month after Donald Trump became frustrated with the pace of investigations against his rivals. “No one is above the law,” Halligan said in a statement.

“The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust. The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.”

Read the full story here:

In other developments:

A federal judge in Illinois issued a temporary restraining order blocking the deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago, saying in court that there was no evidence of a rebellion brewing in Illinois and that the Department of Homeland Security’s “narrative of events is simply unreliable.”
In a similar case unfolding in federal court in San Francisco, challenging Trump’s deployment of troops to Portland, Oregon, appellate judges heard arguments and seemed more likely to rule in Trump’s favor, allowing the deployment of troops.
Nearly half of the FBI agents working in the US’s major field offices have been reassigned to aid immigration enforcement, according to newly released data, a stunning shift in law enforcement priorities that has raised public safety concerns.
US troops have been sent to Israel as part of the peace deal approved on Thursday to support and help monitor the ceasefire, according to multiple news reports.
The US Senate remained deadlocked on legislation to end the government shutdown on Friday, as Donald Trump reiterated his threat to make Democrats pay for the funding lapse that has closed federal agencies and furloughed workers nationwide.
The chances of the US stock market crashing is far greater than many financiers believe, the head of America’s largest bank has said.
A Rutgers University professor who taught a course on anti-fascism was blocked from leaving the US for Spain, according to media reports.
Meanwhile, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is slated to be announced today. Donald Trump wants to win the prize this year, but probably won’t.

Key events

We’ll hear from Donald Trump at 10am ET today, when he heads to Walter Reed medical center for his “semi-annual” physical exam.

We’ll be keeping an ear out for any reaction he has to the indictment of Letitia James, his longtime political adversary.

Later we’ll also hear from the first lady, Melania Trump. She’ll make an announcement in the White House grand foyer.

Trump will also make an announcement at 5pm ET in the Oval Office, and we’ll bring you the latest as it happens.

Israeli police preparing for Trump visit on Monday

Israeli police said on Friday that they are preparing for a visit by US president Donald Trump to Israel on Monday.

More to follow.

White House says Nobel committee places ‘politics over peace’ as Trump misses out again

The White House on Friday criticized the Nobel Prize committee’s decision to award the peace prize to a Venezuelan opposition leader instead of Donald Trump.

“President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will,” White House spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a post on X.

“The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.”

Chris Stein

The US Senate remained deadlocked on legislation to end the government shutdown on Thursday, as Donald Trump reiterated his threat to make Democrats pay for the funding lapse that has closed federal agencies and furloughed workers nationwide.

The Senate took its seventh round of votes on competing Democratic and Republican proposals to restart the funding, but neither won enough bipartisan support to clear the 60-vote threshold for advancement in the chamber. In a sign that neither party had budged from its demands, no senators changed their votes from when the bills were last considered in recent days.

Government funding lapsed last Wednesday, and Republicans are insisting Senate Democrats approve a bill to continue operations through 21 November, which has already cleared the House of Representatives. But Democrats say any government funding deal must be paired with an extension of premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act health plans, which expire at the end of the year.

They are also demanding that funding for public media outlets be restored and cuts to the Medicaid health insurance program for poor and disabled Americans are reversed.

Congress’s Republican leaders have refused to negotiate over their demands until the government is reopened, and during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Trump repeated his threat to single out Democratic-led states and cities for retaliation, if their lawmakers do not back down.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has accused Donald Trump and his administration of turning the Department of Justice into “personal attack dogs against their political enemies”, after New York attorney general Letitia James was indicted for fraud in Virginia.

Calling the move “outrageous”, Schumer was among those labelling the move as Trump’s latest effort to weaponize the department to punish political rivals.

James first attracted Trump’s ire after she led a civil fraud case against the president and his business that resulted in a $500m fine – a fine recently overturned by an appellate court.

Senator Adam Schiff said it was “exceedingly dangerous” to have a justice department that responds to the president’s orders to target his political enemies.

“But I can tell you this,” he added. “Those of us on the president’s enemies list – and it is a long and growing list – will not be intimidated. We will not be deterred. We will do our jobs. We will stand up to this president.”

The sheriff’s office for metro Phoenix spent millions of dollars budgeted for compliance costs in a racial profiling case over Joe Arpaio’s immigration crackdowns on things that had little or nothing to do with a court-ordered overhaul of the agency, according to an expert’s report.

The report released on Wednesday criticized the use of compliance money by the Maricopa county sheriff’s office to fund personnel costs and tasks, either in part or in full, that are not connected to the overhaul.

It also pointed out inappropriate spending: $2.8m for surplus body-worn camera licenses that went beyond the court’s orders; $1.5m in renovations in the relocation of an internal affairs office; over $1.3m to buy 42 vehicles; and an $11,000 golf cart to bring staff from headquarters to the internal affairs operation, even though the department was leasing parking space at the latter location.

For over a decade, Maricopa county taxpayers have picked up the bill for remedying constitutional violations found in a 2013 profiling verdict over then sheriff Arpaio’s traffic patrols targeting immigrants.

The racial profiling case centered on 20 large-scale traffic patrols launched by Arpaio that targeted immigrants from January 2008 through October 2011. That led to the profiling verdict and expensive court-ordered overhauls of the agency’s traffic patrol operations and, later, its internal affairs unit.

The county says $323m has been spent so far on legal expenditures, a staff that monitors the sheriff’s department’s progress and the agency’s compliance costs. The county has said the total is expected to reach $352m by July 2026.

US to send 200 troops to Israel to support and monitor ceasefire deal, reports say

Gabrielle Canon

US troops have been sent to Israel as part of the peace deal approved on Thursday to support and help monitor the ceasefire, according to multiple news reports.

Senior US officials told reporters that 200 troops will initially be on the ground with a “civil-military coordination center” operated by US Central Command to help facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid as well as logistical and security assistance into the territory wracked by two years of war, the Associated Press reported, citing two officials who confirmed the report on the condition of anonymity to discuss details not authorized for release.

Reuters and ABC News also reported on military troops being sent to Israel.

The troops are part of a broader team that also includes partner nations, non-governmental organizations and private-sector entities there to help monitor the peace deal and the transition to a civilian government in Gaza, US officials said.

US service members have already begun arriving in the region from around the globe, according to one of the officials, and will continue to travel to the region over the weekend to begin planning and establishing the center.

American troops will not be sent into Gaza, they said, and the coordination center will be staffed by about 200 US service members who have expertise in transportation, planning, security, logistics and engineering.

Federal appeals court hears arguments on whether Trump can federalize Oregon national guard

A federal appeals court heard arguments on whether Donald Trump had authority to take control of 200 Oregon national guard troops. The president had planned to deploy them in Portland, where protesters have shown up wearing frog and chicken costumes at the mostly small, nightly demonstrations outside an Ice building.

A three-judge panel in San Francisco on Thursday appeared likely to set aside the ruling blocking Trump’s Portland deployment, which would clear the way for hundreds of soldiers to enter that city.

A judge on Sunday granted a temporary restraining order blocking the move. Trump had mobilized California troops for Portland just hours after the judge first blocked him from using Oregon’s guard.

Stacy Chaffin, an Oregon assistant attorney general, echoed the language of the lower court judge who blocked Trump’s deployment, saying the president’s descriptions of Portland as riven by violence were “untethered from reality”.

The judges questioned whether they should only consider the current circumstances or take into account more active protests earlier this year that temporarily shut down Ice’s Portland headquarters.