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Trump Pleads Not Guilty In Federal Classified Documents Case

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Former U.S. president Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 felony charges on Tuesday in connection with his handling of classified documents and alleged attempts to prevent the government from recovering them.

It marks the first time an American president has been charged with a federal crime.

If found guilty in the case, he could face a lengthy prison term.

Trump was brought in about 15 minutes before the hearing began and sat slumped over in his chair, hands clasped in his lap, as he waited for the judge to arrive, ABC News reported.

He looked down at the floor for most of the hearing and his lawyer waived a reading of the 49-page indictment.

Special counsel Jack Smith sat in the front row watching Trump closely, but didn’t speak, CBS News reported.

READ ALSO: Trump Campaigns, Calls Classified Documents Indictment ‘Ridiculous And Baseless’

“We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty,” Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche told federal Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman, who oversaw the arraignment.

Trump was released on his own recognisance, wasn’t asked to surrender his passport and is still allowed to travel internationally, according to news reports.

Goodman ordered Trump not to discuss the case with his personal aide and co-defendant Walt Nauta or witnesses.

Trump, who is again seeking the Republican presidential nomination, was scheduled to return to his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Tuesday night for a private fundraiser, where he planned to deliver live remarks.

It was not immediately clear whether the date of his next hearing had been set.

After a year-long investigation, the Justice Department on Friday unsealed the indictment of the former president, charging that he improperly took classified documents when his presidency ended and obstructed the government’s efforts to retrieve hundreds of secret documents – some of them related to U.S. nuclear weapons operations and national defense vulnerabilities.

READ ALSO: Trump Risks 10 Yrs In Prison Over Classified Documents Case Indictment

The indictment states that Trump kept them in unsecured areas of his Florida estate, including a bathroom, ballroom, and storage room.

The Mar-a-Lago property is a private club that hosts thousands of people each year.

According to the indictment, top-secret and other classified records the FBI recovered after a subpoena and a search of the property included details on U.S. and foreign nations’ nuclear and other defense and weapons capabilities, potential vulnerabilities of the U.S. and its allies to military attack, and plans for possible retaliation in response to such an attack.

The indictment also details two instances in which Trump discussed and showed classified documents to people who did not have security clearances.

Trump is charged with willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding documents or records, corruptly concealing documents in a federal investigation, scheming to conceal, and making false statements and representations.

In a Truth Social post hours before his appearance, Trump called Smith a “thug” and accused him, his friends, and his family of planting evidence in the case.

Trump also questioned why Smith had not reviewed allegations against President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which Smith doesn’t have the authority to review.

Nauta faces charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding documents or records, corruptly concealing documents in a federal investigation, scheming to conceal, and making false statements and representations.

 

His arraignment was delayed for several weeks after he was unable to secure local counsel.

This is the second time this spring that Trump has been in court to enter a not-guilty plea.

READ ALSO:President Biden Falls On Air Force Stage

He was indicted in New York City in March on charges related to an alleged hush money payment made to a porn actor in the final days of the 2016 campaign.

He also faces two ongoing criminal probes into his role in 2020 election interference.

The magistrate judge refused a request by media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, to allow photos and videos of the unprecedented proceedings.

Chief U.S. Judge for Southern District of Florida Cecilia Altonaga separately banned reporters from carrying any electronics into the courtroom.

Outside the courthouse, supporters of the former president chanted, “Free Donald Trump!” and “USA!” while waving “Make America Great Again” flags.

Opponents held up signs that read, “Trump, you are not above the law” and “31 counts of espionage; lock him up!”
(tca/dpa/NAN)

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400 Bodies Found In Mass Grave In Gaza Hospital

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The government in Gaza have concluded their search of mass graves at a hospital in the south of the strip and said they have uncovered a total of 392 bodies, including some still wearing surgical gowns.

Speaking at a Thursday news conference at Rafah, on April 25, an official from the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza said workers have identified 165 bodies at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area earlier this month.

According to Mohammed Al Mighayyer, they are still examining the remaining 227 bodies to determine their identities.

We found three mass graves, the first in front of the morgue, the second behind the morgue, and the third north of the dialysis building,” he added.

READ ALSO: Israel Bombs Gaza, Fights Hamas Around Hospitals

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said any suggestion that it had buried Palestinian bodies in mass graves was false, and that a grave at the Nasser complex was dug by Palestinians in Gaza some months ago.

The Gaza Civil Defense acknowledged that around 100 bodies were buried in graves at the Nasser hospital before the IDF operation there.

CNN reports that people had buried the bodies of family members who had been killed on the grounds of the hospital as a temporary measure in January but when they returned after the Israeli military withdrew on April 7, they discovered the bodies had been dug up and then placed in at least one collective grave, not all in the initial spots they were buried in.

The Palestinian Civil Defense also showed graphic images on a TV screen at the news conference showing several almost unrecognizable bodies at the complex and bodies of decomposed children.

READ ALSO: Gunfire, Air Strikes As Israel Pushes South Against Gaza Militants

Al Mighayyer said the Civil Defense “witnessed the presence of children’s bodies in the mass graves at the Nasser Medical Complex, which proves crimes of genocide.” While the group says it is still examining the bodies, they suspect at least 20 civilians were buried alive in the complex, but it did not explain how it knows this, or offer proof.

Al Mighayyer also claimed there had been cases of executions of patients who had been receiving treatment at the hospital. He said several bodies were found with gunshot wounds to their heads and injuries to their bodies.

Al Mighayyer said at the news conference that the Palestinian Gaza Civil Defense in Gaza “discovered torture marks on [some] bodies.” CNN cannot independently verify these claims.

Israeli forces buried several bodies in plastic bags at a depth of three meters, which made them decompose quickly.”

READ ALSO: JUST IN: Gas Explosion Rocks Abeokuta

“The occupation deliberately concealed evidence of its crimes in the Nasser Complex by changing the plastic shrouds more than once,” he claimed. Video recorded by CNN shows bodies wrapped in three different coloured shrouds: white, black and blue.

Amnesty International has also called for an investigation into the mass graves at the two Gaza hospitals.

I’m response, the Israeli Defense Forces, IDF said:“During the IDF’s operation in the area of Nasser Hospital, in accordance with the effort to locate hostages and missing persons, corpses buried by Palestinians in the area of Nasser Hospital were examined. The examination was conducted in a careful manner and exclusively in places where intelligence indicated the possible presence of hostages.”

The IDF continued: “At the end of February, IDF forces conducted a precise and targeted operation against the terrorist organization Hamas in the Nasser Hospital area. During the operation, about 200 terrorists who were in the hospital were apprehended, medicines intended for Israeli hostages were found undelivered and unused, and a great deal of ammunition was confiscated. The activity was done in a targeted manner and without harming the hospital, the patients and the medical staff.”

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Watch Of Richest Titanic Passenger Sells For £1.17m

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A gold watch found on the body of the richest passenger on the Titanic was auctioned in England for £1.17 million ($1.46 million) on Saturday.

It was a record sum for an object linked to the notorious 1912 shipping disaster, said auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son.

A US buyer won the bidding war, smashing the auctioneer’s pre-sale estimate of between £100,000 and £150,000.

The watch, engraved with the initials JJA, belonged to the US business magnate John Jacob Astor.

READ ALSO: Popular Iraqi TikToker Umm Fahad Gunned Down Outside Baghdad Home

Astor was 47 when he died as the Titanic sank in the early hours of April 15, 1912. He was reputed to be one of the richest men in the world at the time.

He died after having helped his wife, Madeleine, on board one of the lifeboats. She survived the disaster.

Astor’s body was found a week after the disaster, with the watch among his personal belongings.

The watch itself was completely restored after being returned to Colonel Astor’s family and worn by his son,” said a statement from the auction house.

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Popular Iraqi TikToker Umm Fahad Gunned Down Outside Baghdad Home

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Popular Iraqi social media star Ghufran Sawadi, better known as Umm Fahad, was shot dead outside her home in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, on Friday night.

According to CNN, a Baghdad police source disclosed that the attack occurred in the Zayouna area east of Baghdad.

The source added that the tragic incident was captured on video by a surveillance camera and shared on social media.

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The video showed a gunman riding a motorcycle shooting and killing Sawadi on the spot. A Baghdad police source confirmed the authenticity of the video to CNN.

The country’s Interior Minister announced on Friday that it was “forming a specialized work team to find out the circumstances of the killing of a woman known on social media by unknown assailants.”

Sawadi was popular on TikTok, where she shared videos of herself dancing to pop music in form-fitting clothes. In the past, these videos were deemed inappropriate by Iraq’s judiciary.

READ ALSO: Tinubu Appoints Jim Ovia As Student Loan Fund Chairman

Sawadi was sentenced to six months in prison for “the crime of producing and publishing several films and videos containing obscene and indecent language, violating public decency and morals,” an Iraqi judiciary statement said.

Other Iraqi social media personalities have previously been targeted in deadly attacks.

Most recently, another popular Iraqi TikTok personality, Noor Alsaffar, known as Noor BM, was shot dead in Baghdad in September 2023, an Iraqi security source told CNN at the time.

READ ALSO: JUST IN: Tinubu Arrives Riyadh For World Economic Forum⁣⁣

Alsaffar, who had over 370,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok, posted short videos about fashion, hair, and makeup, also often dancing to music.

Following news of the shooting, many posted comments lamenting Alsaffar’s death, though others applauded it, celebrating the man who fired the shot.

Alsaffar’s killing came as Iraq cracked down on LGBTQ expression and moved to criminalize it in law.

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