Biden derides ‘feeble, confused and tired’ Trump for comparing himself to Jesus

Attorneys for Donald Trump failed to convince a judge that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office mishandled potential evidence in his criminal case stemming from an alleged hush money scheme to bury embarrassing stories of his affairs.

The former president arrived inside a 15th floor criminal courtroom in Manhattan on Monday morning for yet another pretrial hearing in the case, what was supposed to be the first day of jury selection for the first-ever criminal trial against a president.

Instead, New York Justice Juan Merchan presided over a hearing where Mr Trump’s attorneys levelled allegations of misconduct against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office over the production of thousands of pages of documents surrounding Michael Cohen, Mr Trump’s former attorney and a key witness in the case.

The judge grew increasingly frustrated with the former president’s legal team, saying at one point that he found it “odd that we’re even here”.

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Trump posted this on the aforementioned Truth Social yesterday, amid his time of trials.

It drew this delightfully withering response from the Biden campaign.

Incidentally, over on Fox News, it was Charles Manson, not Christ, to whom Trump was likened, unwisely, by pundit Marc Thiessen, who griped: “None of this would be happening if Donald Trump wasn’t running for president. They’ve issued 91 indictments against Donald Trump.

“Charles Manson faced 10… They’ve got multiple cases trying to bankrupt him.”

Tensions between the United States and Israel escalated further on Monday as Washington allowed the UN to pass a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, prompting a furious response from Benjamin Netanyahu.

The US abstained from the United Nations Security Council vote, enabling the first ceasefire resolution since the 7 October Hamas attacks. Applause broke out in the chamber as the vote was passed.

Israel’s prime minister cancelled the planned visit of a high-level delegation to Washington, DC, in protest, and accused the US of “retreating” from what he said had been a “principled position”.

A statement from Netanyahu’s office said the new resolution “regrettably” calls for a ceaseire “that is not contingent on the release of hostages.”

It added that the decision “constitutes a clear departure from the consistent US position in the Security Council since the beginning of the war.”

Here’s more from Richard Hall and Andrew Feinberg.

The Republican presidential contender has called on Israel to “finish up” its war in Gaza because it is losing support around the world.

In an interview with Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, the former president said he had watched images of bombs being dropped on residential buildings in Gaza every night, calling it a “big mistake”.

“You have to finish up your war... You gotta get it done. And I am sure you will do that. And we gotta get to peace, we can’t have this going on. And I will say, Israel has to be very careful, because you’re losing a lot of the world, you’re losing a lot of support,” he told the newspaper.

The former president has refrained from issuing running commentary on the war since the Hamas attacks of 7 October and the subsequent Israeli response.

The comments represent his most forceful intervention yet on the matter.

Here’s more from Richard Hall and Gustaf Kilander.

Alex Woodward reports on how healthcare providers and advocates re bracing for a right-wing legal group’s challenge to telemedicine and a widely used abortion drug that could upend access for millions of Americans two years after the end of Roe v Wade.

With oral arguments taking place before the Supreme Court today over the future of mifepristone, a widely used abortion drug that was approved by the federal government more than 20 years ago and used in more than half of all abortions nationwide, the American Civil Liberties Union released the following statement:

“As this case shows, overturning Roe v Wade wasn’t the end goal for extremists. They are trying to overrule the FDA and push mifepristone, a medication used in most abortions in this country, out of reach for people in every state in the nation. And astonishingly, next month they will be back before the court arguing for the right to force hospitals to turn away patients who need emergency abortions to protect their health. But they aren’t even stopping there: Politicians in some states have already moved on to attacking birth control and, as we saw in Alabama, they are also attacking IVF. We need to take these extremists seriously when they show us they’re coming for every aspect of our reproductive lives.”

— ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project director Jennifer Dalven:

Lisa Murkowski’s future in the GOP is now publicly in question as the Alaska senator says she is grappling with the reality that her party is set to nominate the twice-impeached former president who faces 88 criminal charges for the presidency.

The centrist Republican has broken with her party’s base several times in recent years, including in the second Trump impeachment trial, and now cannot stomach the prospect of him becoming the party’s presidential nominee.

John Bowden has more on her dilemma.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr is set to announce later today that he has picked attorney and entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan to be his running mate, NBC News reports citing two sources familiar with Mr Kennedy’s plans.

The RFK Jr campaign has scheduled an official announcement for today in Oakland, California.

The Independent’s Sheila Flynn filed this profile on Ms Shanahan last week:

Strong stuff from the former Trump administration aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who bravely spoke out to the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack about the then-president’s activities on that infamous day.