House lawmakers abandon Ukraine and Israel aid package vote as they head off on recess: Live

Judge Arthur Engoron is expected to deliver a verdict in Donald Trump’s New York civil fraud trial on Friday that could see the former president hit with millions of dollars in fines and sanctions.

The justice has already ruled that Trump inflated his wealth on financial statements that were given to banks and insurers to make deals and secure favourable loans.

New York attorney general Letitia James is seeking $370m and a ban on the defendant and his fellow Trump Organization executives from doing business in the state.

A penalty like that could potentially wound the real estate empire that helped Trump craft his image as a savvy billionaire businessman and vaulted him to fame and the White House.

Judge Engoron is set to rule after 10 weeks of testimony from 40 witnesses, including Trump. Closing arguments were held on 11 January. The judge is deciding the case because juries are not allowed in this type of lawsuit and neither James’ office nor Trump’s lawyers asked for one.

The justice is expected to release his decision today, barring unforeseen circumstances that would necessitate a delay, court officials said.

Unsurprisingly, Trump has been raging about his fate on Truth Social, insisting the whole sorry business is just another example of election interference in action.

Here’s more on what to expect today.

In the same South Carolina rally mentioned earlier, Trump tried to claim that he intentionally confused Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi during a rally address last month when he falsely stated that his rival for the Republican presidential nomination had been in charge of Capitol security in Washington, DC, on 6 January 2021, rather than the then-House speaker.

The former president made the original blunder in New Hampshire on 19 January ahead of that state’s GOP primary – which he nevertheless went on to win – wrongly telling the crowd during an anecdote about the Capitol riot: “Nikki Haley is in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guard, whatever they want. They turned it down.”

The gaffe came a day after Trump had confused Joe Biden with Barack Obama and prompted Haley, whom he has nicknamed “Birdbrain”, to question his mental wellbeing, given that she was not even in DC that day, let alone responsible for its policing.

The mistake also provided an ironic counterpoint to the candidate’s repeated attacks on President Biden, whom he has derided as too old to run for the White House again at 81, even though Trump himself is only four years younger.

But now Trump insists he knowingly mixed-up Haley and Pelosi so as to underline his contempt for both women, complaining about the subsequent adverse press coverage he received by observing bitterly: “It’s very hard to be sarcastic.”

Here’s more.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken has placed blame for the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny squarely on the shoulders of Russian president Vladimir Putin, leading a string of world leaders who have reacted in horror to the news.

In the hours after Navalny’s death was announced in Russian state media, Blinken reminded reporters travelling with him in Germany that Russia had “persecuted, poisoned, and imprisoned” the anti-corruption activist for decades and said the report of his death, if true, “underscores the weakness and rot at the heart of the system that Putin has built”.

“Russia is responsible for this,” Blinken said.

He added that he and other US officials would be “talking to the many other countries concerned about Alexei Navalny, especially if these reports turn out to be true”.

Kate Devlin and Andrew Feinberg have more.

The president’s granddaughter has attacked the right-wing broadcaster for his fawning interview with the Russian despot in Moscow last week as the news breaks of the less-than-mysterious death of brave opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison.

The House of Representatives has broken up for its winter recess without voting on the $95bn aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan passed by the Senate.

The Senate stayed in session last weekend to ensure the bill passed but House Republicans have expressed opposition over its failure to include provisions to address illegal immigration at the US southern border with Mexico, a subject they are incensed about and which inspired them to impeach homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earlier this week.

The upper chamber moved to pass a standalone bill after an earlier bipartisan deal including border security measures was rejected, allegedly at the insistence of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, who believes he can beat Joe Biden in November on that issue and therefore needs it to be kept alive.

The bill that was passed now faces an uncertain future in the House, where speaker Mike Johnson has said he will not bring it up for a vote.

“The Republican-led House will not be jammed or forced into passing a foreign aid bill that was opposed by most Republican senators and does nothing to secure our own border,” Speaker Johnson insisted at a press conference.

Donald Trump boasted that he did “nothing” to alter the Second Amendment during his time as president – just hours after a mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade left one person dead and dozens more injured.

Horror unfolded on Wednesday when gunfire broke out close to Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri.

Police said that 22 were shot including one woman – local radio DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan – who died from her injuries. Nine children were among those treated for gunshot wounds.

Three individuals, who have not been named, were detained by police for questioning.

Not long after the shooting, Trump appeared at his latest campaign rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday evening – where he was campaigning ahead of the Palmetto State’s upcoming primary on 24 February.

“Nobody took care of our Second Amendment, during that four-year period nothing happened with our Second Amendment,” Trump told his supporters.

He added: “We will protect innocent life and we will restore free speech.”

Some of the deadliest mass shootings in American history took place during Trump’s tenure in the White House from 2017 to 2021.

Here’s more.

The White House has said the shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade “cuts deep” into the soul of America.

“We pray for the families who lost loved ones and wish a speedy recovery to those who suffered injuries,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

More than half of the 22 victims who suffered gunshot injuries are under the age of 16, police said.

The incident, which killed one person, unfolded close to Union Station in Kansas City on Wednesday 14 February.

So far, police have detained three individuals, two of whom are juveniles.

Special counsel Jack Smith urged the Supreme Court for a quick start to the trial in Donald Trump’s federal election interference case and asked them to uphold a lower court’s decision rejecting the former president’s immunity claim.

In a filing submitted to the high court on Wednesday, Mr Smith emphasised the need for a prompt trial ahead of the 2024 presidential election saying a delay “threatens to frustrate the public interest in a speedy and fair verdict.”

The special counsel said the case poses a “unique national importance” since it involves Mr Trump, who is seeking re-election as the current Republican frontrunner, and his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

He asked the court to deny Mr Trump’s attempt to delay the trial until during or after the 2024 presidential election as they await a ruling from the Supreme Court on his presidential immunity defence.

Earlier this week, Mr Trump’s attorneys asked the Supreme Court to block a lower court ruling that struck down his immunity defence against prosecution for crimes allegedly committed while he was in office, potentially setting up another major constitutional question involving the former president’s campaign in front of the nation’s highest court.

Mr Trump’s team has been seeking to delay the trial, which was initially set for March 4th, until after the election. Should Mr Trump be re-elected and face the trial he could theoretically pardon himself or ask the Justice Department to drop the charges.

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As former president Donald Trump prepares for four trials on a total of 91 criminal charges in four separate jurisdictions, the disgraced, twice-impeached ex-chief executive is lashing out with new demands for his allies in Congress.

Mr Trump, who routinely and falsely accuses President Joe Biden of masterminding the prosecutions against him in New York and Georgia state courts, as well as two other sets of federal criminal charges in Washington, DC and Florida, called on his Republican friends in the House of Representatives to impeach Mr Biden as a matter of revenge.

Speaking at a Wednesday night rally in South Carolina ahead of the Palmetto State’s Republican presidential primary, Mr Trump said the House “ought to impeach” the 46th president for allegedly “weaponising the DOJ, the FBI, and even the local DAs and attorney generals against his political opponent”.

There is no evidence that Mr Biden has played any role in the criminal cases against Mr Trump in any way.

A set of charges he will be tried on in New York City next month stems from a years-long probe into whether he falsified business records, a crime in New York State, to cover up an affair with an adult film star ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The investigation was started while he was in office, when Mr Biden was a private citizen.

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Washington reacted like a bomb went off after news broke on Capitol Hill of a “national security threat” about which all members of Congress had received a classified briefing.

For hours on Wednesday morning, rumours churned on Twitter before details began to come together. An early leak indicating that the intelligence was related to both a “foreign” security threat as well as outer space even drew excited murmuring about the possible discovery of alien life.

But if you were hoping to see some little green men, you better stick to reruns of X-Files. A clearer picture of the issue emerged later Wednesday and early Thursday; US officials are concerned about a new Russian capability centred around what The New York Times called a “space-based nuclear weapon” with anti-satellite capabilities. The purpose of this system, the Times further reported, is alleged by US officials to be threatening America’s military, communications and private satellite network.

A few other details remain unclear as leaks trickle out. The capability was described as not based “in orbit” by several current and former US officials who spoke to Reuters. But others who spoke to the Times contended that the capability did indeed raise questions about whether Russia was prepared to violate an international ban on orbital nuclear weapons.

There’s reportedly no cause for alarm, not yet: Reuters separately reported on Thursday that a source who had received the briefing from US intelligence agencies on the matter described the threat as not “urgent”.

The language used to describe the classified information by those who have seen it has differed marginally; most agree with the description of the threat as “serious” but no cause for alarm. Reuters has also cited read-in sources as saying that the anti-satellite weaponry is not an “active” capability of the Russian military — likely meaning it is in early or late-stage testing.

The Times backed up that assertion, citing officials who said there was a “limited” window of time to prevent Russia from deploying this new weapons system.

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