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Trump Cancels Planned Testimony in NY Civil Fraud Case

Former US President Donald Trump (AP)
Former US President Donald Trump (AP)
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Trump Cancels Planned Testimony in NY Civil Fraud Case

Former US President Donald Trump (AP)
Former US President Donald Trump (AP)

Former US President Donald Trump changed his mind about testifying in his defense in his New York fraud case on Monday, announcing that he did not take the stand as expected because he has already testified to everything.
“I have already testified to everything and have nothing more to say," Trump wrote in an all-capital-letters, multipart statement on his Truth Social platform less than 20 hours before the trial, that he described as “corrupt.”
Trump's lawyers were scheduled to present their final defense on Monday. The trial began last October.
The former president is accused of exaggerating the value of his real estate assets by billions of dollars to obtain more favorable bank loans and insurance terms.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who filed the lawsuit, showed that Trump had overstated his net worth on financial documents by millions of dollars.
Why Trump Cancelled his Testimony
Trump’s surprise decision not to attend the trial on Monday came as an "unusual and sudden turnaround.” For the past two months, he has been keen to attend the trial where he criticized the judge and court staff, describing the case as politically motivated to threaten his business empire.
Trump’s attorneys had recommended the former President not testify in the trial. They have expressed concerns about Trump testifying again, especially with the prospect of him criticizing the judge and going off script.
At one point during his previous testimony, Judge Arthur Engoron told Trump's lawyer, Christopher Kise, to “control your client.”
Judges have already fined Trump two times after he appeared to violate a gag order barring the former US president from speaking publicly about court staff during his civil fraud trial.
Engoron, the judge overseeing the trial, has already ruled that Trump and his adult sons manipulated financial statements to dupe banks and insurers into providing better loan and insurance terms.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking $250 million in damages and a permanent ban on Trump and his sons Donald Jr. and Eric running businesses in New York.
Trump Ahead of All his Competitors
Trump faces four unrelated federal and state criminal indictments, including two stemming from his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Still, neither the civil proceedings, nor the former president's criminal cases, have hurt him politically so far.
A new national Wall Street Journal poll found Trump at 59% among potential Republican primary voters nationally, with Haley and DeSantis effectively tied for a distant second place, at 15% and 14% respectively.
Also, the latest NBC News, Des Moines Register and Mediacom poll finds a whopping 73% of likely Republican party members believing Trump can win a general election against President Joe Biden despite the legal challenges Trump is facing — up from 65% who said this in October.

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Typhoon Gaemi Weakens to Tropical Storm as It Moves Inland Carrying Rain toward Central China

In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
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Typhoon Gaemi Weakens to Tropical Storm as It Moves Inland Carrying Rain toward Central China

In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)

Tropical storm Gaemi brought rain to central China on Saturday as it moved inland after making landfall at typhoon strength on the country's east coast Thursday night.

The storm felled trees, flooded streets and damaged crops in China but there were no reports of casualties or major damage. Eight people died in Taiwan, which Gaemi crossed at typhoon strength before heading over open waters to China.

The worst loss of life, however, was in a country that Gaemi earlier passed by but didn't strike directly: the Philippines. A steadily climbing death toll has reached 34, authorities there said Friday. The typhoon exacerbated seasonal monsoon rains in the Southeast Asian country, causing landslides and severe flooding that stranded people on rooftops as waters rose around them.

China Gaemi weakened to a tropical storm since coming ashore Thursday evening in coastal Fujian province, but it is still expected to bring heavy rains in the coming days as it moves northwest to Jiangxi, Hubei and Henan provinces.

About 85 hectares (210 acres) of crops were damaged in Fujian province and economic losses were estimated at 11.5 million yuan ($1.6 million), according to Chinese media reports. More than 290,000 people were relocated because of the storm.

Elsewhere in China, several days of heavy rains this week in Gansu province left one dead and three missing in the country's northwest, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Taiwan Residents and business owners swept out mud and mopped up water Friday after serious flooding that sent cars and scooters floating down streets in parts of southern and central Taiwan. Some towns remained inundated with waist-deep water.

Eight people died, several of them struck by falling trees and one by a landslide hitting their house. More than 850 people were injured and one person was missing, the emergency operations center said.

Visiting hard-hit Kaohsiung in the south Friday, President Lai Ching-te commended the city's efforts to improve flood control since a 2009 typhoon that brought a similar amount of rain and killed 681 people, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported.

Lai announced that cash payments of $20,000 New Taiwan Dollars ($610) would be given to households in severely flooded areas.

A cargo ship sank off the coast near Kaohsiung Harbor during the typhoon, and the captain's body was later pulled from the water, the Central News Agency said. A handful of other ships were beached by the storm.

Philippines At least 34 people died in the Philippines, mostly because of flooding and landslides triggered by days of monsoon rains that intensified when the typhoon — called Carina in the Philippines — passed by the archipelago’s east coast.

The victims included 11 people in the Manila metro area, where widespread flooding trapped people on the roofs and upper floors of their houses, police said. Some drowned or were electrocuted in their flooded communities.

Earlier in the week, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered authorities to speed up efforts in delivering food and other aid to isolated rural villages, saying people may not have eaten for days.

The bodies of a pregnant woman and three children were dug out Wednesday after a landslide buried a shanty in the rural mountainside town of Agoncillo in Batangas province.