US envoy supports Trump's claim on Netanyahu trial as witch hunt
Netanyahu has consistently denied wrongdoing, while his allies argue the trial is politically driven.
Huckabee attended the proceedings and later posted on social media, stating, 'I stopped by the trial of [Netanyahu] in Tel Aviv today. My conclusion? [Trump] is right... again.'
His post linked to Trump's earlier statement on Truth Social, where the former president compared Netanyahu's legal troubles to his own, calling it a 'political witch hunt.'
Trump has frequently accused opponents of weaponizing the justice system against him.
In May 2024, he was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments.
He also faces federal cases tied to alleged election interference.
Netanyahu and his wife Sara are accused of accepting luxury gifts worth over $260,000 from billionaires in exchange for political favors.
In separate cases, he allegedly sought favorable media coverage from Israeli outlets.
Since returning to power in late 2022, Netanyahu's government has pursued judicial reforms critics say weaken the courts, sparking mass protests before the Gaza war shifted public focus. – AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
3 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
California sues to challenge Trump's US$4bil high-speed rail clawback
WASHINGTON: California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday vowed to fight the "illegal" move by President Donald Trump's administration to cancel more than US$4 billion in federal grants for the state's ambitious but much-delayed high-speed rail project. A lawsuit challenging the rescission as an "arbitrary and capricious" abuse of authority was filed on Thursday in US District Court in Los Angeles by the California High Speed Rail Authority, which oversees the project. Trump's announcement on Wednesday added yet another hurdle to the 16-year effort to link Los Angeles and San Francisco by a three-hour train ride, a project that would deliver the fastest passenger rail service in the United States. Newsom said the move by Trump's Transportation Department came as the high-speed rail project was on the verge of laying track, with "active construction" under way on the initial 171-mile segment between Bakersfield and Merced in California's politically conservative Central Valley. The governor said termination of the grants amounted to "petty, political retribution, motivated by President Trump's personal animus toward California and the high-speed rail project, not the facts on the ground." The rail system, whose first US$10 billion bond issue was approved by California voters in 2008, has built more than 50 major railway structures, including bridges, overpasses and viaducts, and completed more than 60 miles (97 km) of guideway, the governor said. "California is putting all options on the table to fight this illegal action," Newsom said in a statement hours before the lawsuit was filed. The funding cancellation marked the latest confrontation between the Republican president and a Democratic governor widely viewed as a leading contender for his party's 2028 White House nomination. The two men have clashed over issues from transgender athletes and electric car rules to the use of National Guard troops during Los Angeles protests and even egg prices. 'LEGALLY BINDING AGREEMENTS' Ian Choudri, chief executive officer of the California High Speed Rail Authority, said that canceling the federal rail grants "without cause isn't just wrong, it's illegal." "These are legally binding agreements, and the authority has met every obligation, as confirmed by repeated federal reviews, as recently as February 2025," Choudri said, adding that the program has created some 15,500 jobs. The Federal Railroad Administration issued a 315-page report last month finding the project was plagued by missed deadlines, budget shortfalls and questionable ridership projections. Choudri's rail authority has called those conclusions "misguided," saying they failed to reflect "substantial progress made to deliver high-speed rail in California." Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy chided the project for having failed to lay a single mile of track after spending US$15 billion over 16 years. But Choudri said installing track is a final step after land acquisition, environmental clearances and construction of supporting structures. Still, the project has faced its share of setbacks. The San Francisco-to-Los Angeles route was initially supposed to be completed by 2020 for US$33 billion. But the projected cost has since risen to US$89 billion to US$128 billion, and the start of service is estimated no sooner than 2030. As designed, the system would feature electric locomotives traveling at up to 220 mph (354 kph), powered entirely by renewable energy. Planners said it would eliminate 200 million miles driven by vehicles on highways. 'WE HAVE TO PULL THE PLUG' A second phase of the project called for extending the rail line north to Sacramento and south to San Diego. A separate project plans to link Los Angeles and Las Vegas with high-speed rail. Duffy said on Thursday that he was confident the Trump administration will defeat any lawsuit challenging the department's move. "We have to pull the plug," he told reporters outside the department's headquarters. In 2021, Democratic President Joe Biden restored a US$929 million grant for the project that Trump revoked in 2019 during his first term in office after calling the project a "disaster." State Assembly member Corey Jackson, a Southern California Democrat who has questioned the project's soaring costs, said Newsom's call to fight the funding cut could galvanize support for Democrats from organized labor and voters in the area where the first railway jobs would be created despite its Republican leanings. "The people of San Joaquin Valley will now know that their economic engine is coming from the Democratic Party," Jackson said. "This is also a message to our labor friends. Democrats continue to deliver these high-paying jobs. Republicans continue to try to kill them." Rufus Jeffris, senior vice president of the Bay Area Council, a business-sponsored policy group in the San Francisco area, pointed to economic benefits associated with high-speed rail and called the funding cut unfortunate.
Malaysiakini
3 minutes ago
- Malaysiakini
UN: Israeli strikes displace over 737k in Gaza since March
The United Nations (UN) said yesterday that more than 737,000 people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip since an escalation of Israeli attacks in March, underscoring the scale of the humanitarian crisis facing the population, Anadolu Ajansi reported. Citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay reported at a news conference that "between July 8 and 15, more than 11,500 people were newly displaced"....
Malaysian Reserve
27 minutes ago
- Malaysian Reserve
US House passes landmark crypto measures in win for Trump
WASHINGTON — The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed three landmark cryptocurrency bills, fulfilling the Trump administration's commitment to the once-controversial industry. Lawmakers easily approved the CLARITY Act, which aims to establish a clearer regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. The bill is designed to clarify industry rules and divide regulatory authority between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It will now advance to the Senate, where Republicans hold a slim majority. House legislators also readily passed the GENIUS Act, which codifies the use of stablecoins — cryptocurrencies pegged to stable assets like the US dollar or US bonds. This bill is expected to go directly to President Trump for his signature to become law. The Senate passed the GENIUS Act last month, and it sets requirements such as mandating that issuers hold reserves of assets equal in value to their outstanding cryptocurrency. 'This historic legislation will bring our payment system into the 21st century. It will ensure the dominance of the US dollar. It will increase demand for US Treasuries,' said Senator Bill Hagerty, the measure's sponsor in the Senate. This wave of legislation follows years of skepticism towards crypto, driven by the belief that the sector, born from bitcoin's success, should be tightly controlled and kept separate from mainstream investors. However, after crypto investors contributed millions of dollars to his presidential campaign last year, Trump reversed his previous doubts about the industry. He even launched a Trump meme coin and other ventures as he prepared for his return to the White House and hosted a gala dinner for the coin's top buyers once he was in office. And according to the Financial Times, Trump is now preparing to open the $9 trillion US retirement market to cryptocurrency investments as well as gold, and private equity. Notably, both the CLARITY Act and the GENIUS Act garnered significant bipartisan support, with Democrats also having seen an increase in lobbying and contributions from the crypto industry. 'It's critically important we bring more certainty to the marketplace with clear rules of the road,' said congressman Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat who supported the bills. Since taking office, Trump has made several moves to support the crypto sector, including appointing crypto advocate Paul Atkins to lead the SEC. He also established a federal 'Strategic Bitcoin Reserve' to audit the government's bitcoin holdings, primarily accumulated through law enforcement's judicial seizures. Forbes magazine estimates that the president's foray into the crypto business has doubled his wealth to $5.3 billion in just one year. In a largely partisan vote, the Republican-led House also passed the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act. It aims to block the issuance of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) — a digital dollar issued by the US Federal Reserve — even if there currently are no plans for such an endeavor. Republicans argue that a CBDC could enable the federal government to monitor, track, and potentially control private citizens' financial transactions, thereby undermining privacy and civil liberties. Passage of this measure in the Senate is far from guaranteed before it can go to the president's desk. An earlier attempt to set aside the anti-CBDC bill caused a significant stir among a small group of Republicans and delayed passage of the other two bills until eleventh-hour lobbying by Trump helped resolve the issue. — AFP
