Judge wants info after witness may have lied in Trump fraud trial
NEW YORK — The judge in former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial is demanding more information after a key witness was reported to be in negotiations to plead guilty to perjury in connection with his testimony in the lawsuit.
In an email posted to the trial docket Tuesday, Judge Arthur Engoron asked lawyers in the case to provide him with a letter “detailing anything you know” about the situation involving Allen Weisselberg, the former longtime finance chief at Trump’s company, the Trump Organization.
“I do not want to ignore anything in a case of this magnitude,” Engoron wrote, suggesting he may disregard all of Weisselberg’s testimony if he were to admit to lying on the witness stand.
Engoron cited a Feb. 1 report in The New York Times that Weisselberg was in negotiations with the Manhattan district attorney’s office to plead guilty to perjury and “admit that he lied on the witness stand” when he testified at the civil fraud trial in October. The newspaper cited “people with knowledge of the matter.”
Engoron’s email went to lawyers for Trump, Weisselberg, the Trump Organization and other defendants, as well as counsel for the New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office, which brought the civil fraud case.
Weisselberg was one of 40 witnesses who testified over 2½ months at the civil fraud trial, answering questions for two days about allegations that Trump lied about his wealth on financial statements given to banks and insurance companies.
Project Veritas apology: The conservative group Project
Veritas and its former leader are taking the unusual step of publicly acknowledging that claims of ballot mishandling at a Pennsylvania post office in 2020 were untrue.
The statements from Project Veritas and founder James O’Keefe came as a lawsuit filed against them by a Pennsylvania postmaster was settled Monday.
The conservative nonprofit produced videos in the wake of the 2020 presidential election based on claims from postal worker Richard Hopkins in Erie, Pennsylvania, who said he had overheard a conversation between the postmaster and a supervisor about illegally backdating mail-in presidential ballots.
Pennsylvania had been a key target for unfounded claims of election fraud by former President Donald Trump and his supporters after he lost the election to Democrat Joe Biden. The claims about the Erie postmaster sparked calls for an investigation from Republicans.
The admission Monday was the latest evidence that Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election were baseless.
Hopkins said Monday that he was wrong and apologized to the postmaster and his family, as well as the Erie post office.
Both Project Veritas and O’Keefe said in statements posted on X, formerly Twitter, that they are not aware of any evidence or other allegation of election fraud in Erie during the 2020 election.
California storms: One of the wettest storms in Southern California history unleashed nearly 400 mudslides in the Los Angeles area after dumping more than half the amount of rainfall the city typically gets in a season in just two days, and
officials on Tuesday warned that the threat was not over yet.
Officials expressed relief that the storm hadn’t yet killed anyone or caused a major catastrophe in Los Angeles despite its size and intensity, though there were six deaths reported elsewhere, including one early Tuesday at the California-Mexico border when someone trying to enter the United States was swept up by a swollen Tijuana River channel, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Chile wildfires: The death toll from wildfires that ravaged central Chile for several days increased to 131 on Tuesday, and more than 300 people were still missing as the blazes appeared to be burning themselves out.
The fires in Valparaiso are said to be Chile’s deadliest disaster since an earthquake in 2010. Officials have suggested that some could have been intentionally set.
The fires began Friday on the mountainous eastern edge of Viña del Mar, a beach resort. Two other towns, Quilpé and Villa Alemana, also were hit hard as the fires spread quickly in dry weather and strong winds.
More sea attacks: Two ships traveling in Middle East waters were attacked by suspected Yemen Houthi rebel drones early on Tuesday, authorities said, the latest assaults in the Iranian-backed fighters’ campaign of targeting vessels over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The first attack happened in the southern part of the Red Sea, west of the Yemeni port of Hodeida, with the projectile causing “slight damage” to the vessel’s windows on the bridge, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said. A small craft had been nearby the ship before the attack, it added.
The private security
firm Ambrey identified the vessel as a Barbados-flagged, United Kingdom-owned cargo ship. No one was hurt onboard the vessel, which suffered “minor damage,” the firm said.
A second ship came under attack later Tuesday off Yemen’s southern port city of Aden, the UKMTO reported. Ambrey identified it as a Marshall Islandsflagged, Greek-owned vessel coming from the U.S. heading to India.
“The vessel reported an explosion 50 meters (55 yards) off its starboard side,” Ambrey said. “No injuries or damage were reported.”
War in Ukraine: Security at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant remains fragile amid worrying recent staff cuts enacted by Russian authorities occupying the facility, which is one of the 10 biggest atomic power plants in the world, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief said Tuesday.
International Atomic
Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi, who is in Kyiv, said his upcoming visit to the plant will aim to assess the impact of recent staff reductions. “This huge facility used to have around 12,000 staff. Now, this has been reduced to between 2,000 and 3,000,” Grossi said.
The plant’s six reactors have been shut down for months, but it still needs power and qualified staff to operate crucial cooling systems and other safety features.
Grossi’s visit coincided with the arrival of the European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, who said he was there to discuss military aid and financial support as well as Ukraine’s ambition to join the bloc.
The 27 EU countries agreed last week to provide Ukraine with $54 billion in support for its ailing economy. But the EU’s military backing is falling short, leaving Ukraine’s forces grappling with ammunition shortages.