'It's Donald Trump's favorite interval,' Nicolle Wallace questions 2 week timeline for Iran decision
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19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US court drops hefty fine for Trump and sons, fraud conviction upheld
A New York appeals court on Thursday overturned a nearly half-billion-dollar fine against US President Donald Trump, saying it was "excessive," but upheld his guilty verdict for fraud. The judges found the hefty judgement in violation of the US Constitution, numerous US media outlets reported. A new penalty must now be determined. Trump, his sons, and several employees were ordered last year to pay $454 million in a New York fraud trial. With interest, the total amount continued to rise. The court found that Trump manipulated the value of his Trump Organization by billions of dollars over the years to secure more favourable loans and insurance contracts. The appeals court ruled that the actual link between profit and damage had not been sufficiently demonstrated. The fine, it said, was not based on a reasonable estimate. Eric Trump, one of the president's sons, portrayed the decision as a victory, particularly over New York Attorney General Letitia James. "Total victory in the sham NY Attorney General case!!! After 5 years of hell, justice prevailed!" he wrote. The court did not throw out the case, as the Trump family had wanted, but kept the fraud conviction, which the New York Times noted is "an ignominious distinction for a sitting American president."
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
State Department can't deny visas based on Trump travel ban, judge rules
A federal judge has ruled that the State Department cannot use President Donald Trump's latest travel ban to deny visas to foreigners who apply for them. The decision issued Thursday by U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan applies only to 82 would-be immigrants and comes with a major caveat: It still allows immigration authorities to deny the foreign citizens entry to the U.S. by turning them away at a port of entry or instructing airline officials to refuse them boarding. Sooknanan, a Biden appointee based in Washington, ruled that the federal law Trump invoked in June to limit entry to the U.S. by citizens of 19 countries does not give the State Department the power to deny visas. Lawyers for the Trump administration asked Sooknanan to accept the 'longstanding practice' of the State Department to refuse visas to people whose entry would be blocked by a presidential order. But the judge, citing a Supreme Court decision last year that limited the power of agencies to rely on their own interpretations of the law, said the State Department's historical tradition wasn't entitled to deference. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in July on behalf of people from Afghanistan, Burma, Togo, Somalia and Iran who won the right to apply for visas under the so-called diversity visa program. The immigration lawyer who filed the case, Curtis Morrison, said he viewed the ruling as a mixed bag even though it doesn't give his clients an immediate way to enter the U.S. Morrison noted that the ban Trump issued in June, a reboot of similar policies he issued during his first term, promises that the latest policy will be reviewed by September. 'There is a possibility that the ban goes away some day,' the attorney said. Sooknanan said that due to legal precedents she was powerless to grant relief to visa applicants whose applications were denied outright by consular officials in response to Trump's ban. The ruling extends only to those who were told their applications were on hold due to Trump's directive. Spokespeople for the State Department and Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Last month, a federal judge in Seattle ruled that Trump's latest travel ban could not be used to block refugees entitled to enter the U.S. as a result of previous orders in litigation challenging Trump's suspension of refugee admissions. However, a federal appeals court put that ruling on hold a few days later. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Israel's settlement plan to split the West Bank in 2 gains momentum
LONDON -- A controversial Israeli settlement plan that would effectively split the West Bank in two is gaining momentum after a key government committee -- the Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration under the Defense Ministry -- gave its approval. The settlement proposal approved by the Israel Defense Ministry on Wednesday consists of a plan to build 3,400 new housing units in an area known as E1 -- an area of land some 4.6 square miles in size separating Jerusalem from the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim. The E1 area is particularly significant, given it is one of the last areas linking the West Bank Palestinian cities of Ramallah in the north and Bethlehem in the south. The construction of Israeli settlements there -- which has been proposed for decades but until now not approved -- is considered by supporters and critics alike as a major obstacle to the establishment of a Palestinian state. MORE: 'Horror' in Gaza is 'incomprehensible,' says US doctor who treated patients there Any new settlement construction is expected to restrict the movement of Palestinians in the area. Israeli authorities maintain tight restrictions on Palestinian entry into and movement inside illegal settlements, as reported by the United Nations and a host of foreign, Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups. Bedouins – the descendants of historically semi-nomadic groups, many of whom now live in agricultural areas of the West Bank -- currently living in the area said this week that they have already received orders to leave. Atallah Al-Jahelin, the representative of the Bedouin community of Jabal Al-Baba to the west of Maale Adumim, said locals there had received notice of planned demolition works related to the plans. E1 is designated as part of Area C, which means Israel has full civil and security control there. Some 60% of the West Bank is designated as Area C, with only 18% classified as Area A, meaning it is under full Palestinian Authority control. Israel's far-right, pro-settlement Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the plan last week, saying it "definitively buries the idea of a Palestinian state, simply because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize." "The seal has broken," Smotrich said at a press conference in Maale Adumim. "Whoever in the world is trying to recognize a Palestinian state today, will receive our answer on the ground," he added, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "fully apply Israeli sovereignty" to the entire West Bank. Netanyahu has yet to comment on the plan. In a statement posted to X, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the E1 plan "undermines the prospects of implementing the two-state solution, embodying the Palestinian state on the ground, and fragments its geographical and demographic unity." "It entrenches the division of the occupied West Bank into isolated areas and cantons, disconnected from one another geographically, resembling actual prisons where movement between them is only possible through occupation checkpoints amidst the terror of armed settler militias spread throughout the West Bank," the ministry added. MORE: Israel begins attack on Gaza City, calling up to 60,000 reservists Locals have also condemned the move. Atallah Al-Jahelin, the representative of the Bedouin community of Jabal Al-Baba to the west of Maale Adumim, said some residents have already received orders to vacate their homes ahead of planned demolition works. Western governments have also expressed their opposition to the plan. British Foreign Minister David Lammy said of the proposal in a post to X, "If implemented, it would divide a Palestinian state in two, mark a flagrant breach of international law and critically undermine the two-state solution." The White House has not commented on the E1 settlement plan, but U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee this week signaled it will not interfere. "We will not dictate to Israel what to do, we will not interfere in the running of the country,' he said. 'It would be very strange to say that others can live in this area but Israelis cannot." Past U.S. administrations have opposed the construction of Israeli settlements in the E1 area. The German Foreign Ministry said Berlin opposed the plan as it "would further restrict the mobility of the Palestinian population in the West Bank, effectively divide the West Bank into two halves and cut East Jerusalem off from the rest of the West Bank." The French Foreign Ministry urged the Israeli government to abandon the plan, which it said "constitutes a serious violation of international law." British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the U.K. will recognize an independent Palestinian state in September when the U.N. General Assembly convenes in New York unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza and take other steps toward long-term peace. French President Emmanuel Macron has also announced that France will recognize a Palestinian state at the General Assembly. ABC News' Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
