They embraced big government when it came to public lands in the American West
Payne is a conservative Idaho outdoorsman who voted for United States President Donald Trump.
Lee is a Republican senator from Utah.
The group was organised by an acquaintance Payne made online, and the
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RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
Trump hails 'total victory' as US court quashes US$464m civil penalty
By Gregory Walton , with Aurelia End , AFP A hefty civil penalty against Donald Trump has been thrown out by a US court, even though the judgment against him still stands. Photo: ANNA MONEYMAKER A US court threw out a $464 million (NZ$797m) civil penalty against President Donald Trump imposed by a judge who found he fraudulently inflated his personal worth, calling the sum "excessive" but upholding the judgment against him. Judge Arthur Engoron ruled against Trump in February 2024 at the height of his campaign to retake the White House, which coincided with several active criminal prosecutions that the Republican slammed as "lawfare". "It was a Political Witch Hunt, in a business sense, the likes of which no one has ever seen before," Trump said on his Truth Social platform on Thursday (US time), adding that "everything I did was absolutely CORRECT and, even, PERFECT". When Engoron originally ruled against Trump, he ordered the mogul-turned-politician to pay $464m (NZ$797m), including interest, while his sons Eric and Don Jr were told to hand over more than $4m (NZ$6.9m) each. The judge found that Trump and his company had unlawfully inflated his wealth and manipulated the value of properties to obtain favourable bank loans or insurance terms. Alongside the financial hit to Trump, the judge also banned him from running businesses for three years, which the president repeatedly referred to as a "corporate death penalty". On Thursday (local time), five judges of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court upheld the verdict, but ruled that the size of the fine was "excessive" and that it "violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution". The Eighth Amendment prohibits excessive or cruel punishments and penalties. State Attorney General Letitia James is promising to appeal the decision. Photo: AFP State Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the initial case, vowed to take Thursday's ruling to the state's highest court, the New York Court of Appeals. Thursday's appeals court ruling "affirmed the well-supported finding of the trial court: Donald Trump, his company, and two of his children are liable for fraud," James added. Following the initial verdict, Trump subsequently sought to challenge the civil ruling as well as the scale and terms of the penalty, which has continued to accrue interest while he appeals. He repeatedly condemned the case and the penalty as politically motivated. His son Don Jr termed the appellate court ruling a "massive win!!!". "New York Appeals Court has just THROWN OUT President Trump's $500+ Million civil fraud penalty! It was always a witch hunt, election interference, and a total miscarriage of justice... and even a left leaning NY appeals court agrees! NO MORE LAWFARE!" he wrote on X. During hearings, conducted without a jury under state law, Trump accused then-president Joe Biden of driving the case, calling it "weaponization against a political opponent who's up a lot in the polls". As the case was civil, not criminal, there was no threat of imprisonment. Trump's economic advisor Peter Navarro said at the White House Thursday that "James is another one that belongs in jail," referring to the New York attorney general. "The Democrats really overplayed their hand on this because they thought they could take Donald Trump out," he said. - AFP
RNZ News
16 hours ago
- RNZ News
Texas Republicans advance map that reignited US redistricting wars
Protesters yell at members of the National Guard outside Union Station on 19 August 19 in Washington, DC after Trump deployed federal officers and the US National Guard in the capital. Photo: Alex Wong / Getty via AFP The Texas legislature's lower chamber passed a contentious new electoral map on Wednesday that aims to help Donald Trump's Republican Party retain its razor-thin US House majority in the 2026 midterm elections. The vote had been delayed by two weeks after Democratic legislators fled the southern state to halt the redistricting drive, which carves out five new Republican-friendly districts. More than 50 Democrats walked out, stalling legislative business and generating national headlines as they sought to draw attention to the rare mid-decade redistricting push. The Democratic lawmakers returned this week, but not before their protest had set off a national map-drawing war, with Trump pressuring his party's state-level officials to do everything they can to protect the majority in the US House of Representatives. The stakes are sky-high for Trump, who will be bogged down in investigations into almost every aspect of his second term if Democrats manage to flip the handful of districts nationwide needed to win back the House in next year's midterm elections. Trump hailed the "Big WIN for the Great State of Texas" on Wednesday night. "Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself," he wrote on his Truth Social platform. "Texas never lets us down." The president also suggested Florida, Indiana and other states were looking into pursuing similar redistricting to benefit Republicans while once again calling to "STOP MAIL-IN VOTING." Trump - who has long railed against postal ballots, even though they have benefited his party and he has voted by mail - said in a separate post: "END MAIL-IN VOTING, AND GO TO PAPER BALLOTS. 100 additional seats will go to Republicans!!!" As lawmakers in Texas debated the electoral map, Democratic representative Chris Turner called it a "clear violation of the Voting Rights Act and the constitution," according to Austin-based news site The Texas Tribune. Republican leaders of the Texas House sped up the normal legislative process, bringing the new map to a final vote Wednesday evening. It passed along party lines 88-52. After the state House's green light, it moves to the state Senate, where it has passed in a previous session, before heading to Republican Governor Greg Abbott's desk. Individual states redraw their own congressional districts, usually only once every 10 years, after the US Census. But "redistricting can be done at any point in time," argued the Texas map's sponsor, Republican Todd Hunter, according to the Tribune . "The underlying goal of this plan is straightforward: improve Republican political performance." There is little Democrats in Texas can do to thwart the map change, but it has prompted retaliation in California, and serious discussions in other Democratic-led states alarmed that the Texas maneuver could be replicated nationwide. California Governor Gavin Newsom says they'll fight fire with fire. Photo: AFP Republicans are mulling drawing at least 10 new seats and are targeting Ohio, Missouri, New Hampshire, Indiana, South Carolina and Florida. Trump on Monday posted the proposed map of Texas on Truth Social, calling it "one of the most popular initiatives I have ever supported." State lawmakers in Democratic stronghold California - the most populated and richest US state - introduced three bills on Monday to create a voter referendum this year for a new congressional map that would effectively counteract Texas. If approved, the referendum would appear on California's November 4 ballot. "Nothing about this is normal, and so we're not going to act as if anything is normal any longer," Governor Gavin Newsom told reporters Wednesday. "Yes, we'll fight fire with fire. Yes, we will push back. It's not about whether we play hardball anymore, it's about how we play hardball." New York Democrats may follow suit, with Governor Kathy Hochul calling the Texas redistricting plan nothing short of a "legal insurrection." - AFP
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
Epstein grand jury records to remain sealed
A US judge says the Trump administration is in a better position than federal courts to release materials that would satisfy public curiosity about the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking case. In rejecting the Justice Department's bid to unseal records from the grand jury that indicted Epstein in 2019, Manhattan-based US District Judge Richard Berman wrote that the 70-odd pages of materials the grand jury saw paled in comparison to the 100,000 pages the government has from its Epstein investigation but is not releasing. The judge said the bid to persuade him to unseal the records was an apparent distraction from the Justice Department's decision in July not to release its files and directly cited another judge's decision earlier this month not to release similar materials from the grand jury that indicted Epstein's longtime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. "The instant grand jury motion appears to be a 'diversion' from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the Government's possession," Berman wrote. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Berman's decision came as President Donald Trump has faced criticism from his conservative base of supporters and congressional Democrats over the Justice Department's decision not to release the files from its Epstein investigation. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty. His death in jail and his friendships with the wealthy and powerful sparked conspiracy theories that other prominent people were involved in his alleged crimes and that he was murdered. Trump, a Republican, had campaigned for a second term in 2024 with promises to make public Epstein-related files, and accused Democrats of covering up the truth. But in July, the Justice Department declined to release any more material from its investigation of the case and said a previously touted Epstein client list did not exist, angering Trump's supporters. 'DIVERSION' To try to quell the discontent, Trump in July instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek court approval for the release of grand jury material from Epstein's case. Evidence seen and heard by grand juries, which operate behind closed doors to prevent interference in criminal investigations, cannot be released without a judge's approval. Justice Department investigations typically collect more material than prosecutors ultimately present to grand juries. Some of that evidence is sometimes eventually disclosed to the public during criminal trials. The Justice Department does not routinely disclose its evidence in cases where a defendant pleads guilty or, like Epstein, never faces trial, but it would not require judicial approval to release such materials. The grand jury that indicted Epstein heard from just one witness, an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and saw a PowerPoint presentation and call logs, Berman wrote. On August 11, a different Manhattan-based judge, Paul Engelmayer, denied the Justice Department's request to unseal grand jury testimony and exhibits from Maxwell's case, writing that the material was duplicative of public testimony at her 2021 trial. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence following her conviction for recruiting underage girls for Epstein. "A member of the public, appreciating that the Maxwell grand jury materials do not contribute anything to public knowledge, might conclude that the Government's motion for their unsealing was aimed not at 'transparency' but at diversion - aimed not at full disclosure but at the illusion of such," Engelmayer wrote. Maxwell had pleaded not guilty. After losing an appeal, she asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review her case.
