Hochul says New York to invest in 3 offshore wind projects
New York will invest in three offshore wind projects as the state tries to meet its ambitious timetable to transition to renewable energy sources, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday.
The Democratic governor announced the conditional awards as high development costs affect other offshore wind projects for New York and around the globe. The state also announced awards to 22 land-based solar, wind and hydro projects. Combined, the projects will generate enough power for 2.6 million homes, with almost two-thirds of it coming from the three offshore wind projects.
“This is an historic investment to demonstrate our full commitment to renewables,” Hochul said at a ceremony announcing the investments.
DEVELOPERS MAKE PLEDGE TO FINISH NJ’S FIRST OFFSHORE WIND FARM BY 2025
Offshore wind is a crucial component of New York’s plan to transition to a carbon-free electricity system by 2040. State law sets goals for 70% of New York’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030, and 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035.
There is currently an offshore wind project under construction off of Long Island.
But offshore wind developers say they’re struggling with higher-than-expected prices for material such as steel, as well as increased borrowing costs and supply chain issues. That has led to developers working to terminate contracts in other states. New Jersey officials this summer approved a tax break to help a wind developer.
Hochul and the Democratic governors of five other northeastern states recently wrote a letter to the Biden administration calling for more federal funds for offshore wind projects, warning that a cornerstone of the fight against climate change could be in jeopardy.
Earlier this month, New York power regulators rejected requests for additional funding for four offshore projects that are to provide the state with 4,230 megawatts of power. Those developers said they would assess the viability of their projects in light of the regulators’ decision.
NAVIGATOR CANCELS PLANS FOR 1,300-MILE MIDWESTERN CO₂ PIPELINE
Now, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority will negotiate final contracts with three offshore wind projects totaling 4,032 megawatts: Attentive Energy One, Community Offshore Wind and Excelsior Wind.
The projects are expected to be operating by 2030.
Though offshore wind development costs have gone up, state energy officials said the three projects will still benefit consumers. The average bill increase for customers will be about $2.93 per month, according to the state.
The land-based renewable awards went to 14 new solar projects, six wind re-powering projects, one new wind project, and one hydroelectric project being returned to service.
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Biden busts century old tradition, won’t place name on New Hampshire’s presidential primary ballot
President Biden is breaking with 100 years of tradition with the news that he won’t file to place his name on New Hampshire’s Democratic presidential primary ballot.
The Biden 2024 re-election campaign announced on Tuesday that the president pass on filing, due to the pledge by the Democratic National Committee to discipline candidates who compete in unsanctioned primaries like the one New Hampshire is planning to hold next year.
“While the president wishes to participate in the Primary, he is obligated as a Democratic candidate for President to comply with the Delegate Selection Rules for the 2024 Democratic National Convention promulgated by the Democratic National Committee,” Biden 2024 campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez wrote in a letter to longtime New Hampshire Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley.
“In accordance with this guidance, Biden for President will refrain from submitting a Declaration of Candidacy for the Primary ahead of Friday’s candidate filing deadline for the Primary,” Rodriguez explained.
WILL DEAN PHILLIPS LAUNCH A DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY CHALLENGE AGAINST BIDEN FRIDAY IN NEW HAMPSHIRE?
New Hampshire has held the first presidential primary in both major political parties’ nominating calenders for a century, and Iowa’s held the lead-off caucuses for the Democrats and Republicans for half a century.
But Democrats for years have knocked both Iowa and New Hampshire as unrepresentative of the party as a whole, for being largely White with few major urban areas. Nevada and South Carolina, which in recent cycles have voted third and fourth on the calendar, are much more diverse than either Iowa or New Hampshire. Nevada and South Carolina were added to the Democratic calendar nearly two decades ago to increase the diversity of the early states electorate.
While Republicans aren’t making major changes to their schedule, the DNC earlier this year overwhelmingly approved a calendar proposed by President Biden to move South Carolina to the lead position, with a Feb. 3, 2024, primary. New Hampshire and Nevada are scheduled to hold primaries three days later The president and supporters of the plan have argued that it would empower minority voters, whom Democrats have long relied on but have at times taken for granted.
But New Hampshire has a nearly half-century-old law that mandates that it hold the first presidential primary, a week ahead of any similar contest.
To comply with the DNC, New Hampshire needed to scrap its state law protecting its first-in-the-nation primary status and expand access to early voting. However, with Republicans in control of New Hampshire’s governor’s office and both houses of the state legislature, state Democrats repeatedly argued that is a non-starter.
While he’s yet to set the date of the primary, New Hampshire Secretary of State Dave Scanlan said recently that the contest would likely be held in late January.
That would make New Hampshire non-compliant, and the state could lose half of its delegates to next summer’s Democratic presidential nominating convention, under DNC penalties passed last year.
While top Democrats in the Granite State are expected to lead a write-in campaign for Biden in the primary, the president’s decision to skip putting his name on the ballot could lead to a protest vote in New Hampshire.
While the president’s the commanding front-runner for his party’s nomination, polls indicate Biden has faced plenty of concerns from Democrats over his age and physical and mental stamina.
The president is already facing a long-shot primary challenge from best-selling author spiritual adviser Marianne Williamson, who is making her second straight White House run.
Biden was also facing an uphill primary challenge from environmental lawyer and high-profile vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is a scion of arguably the nation’s most famous family political dynasty.
But Kennedy announced at a campaign event in Philadelphia earlier this month that he would now seek the White House as an independent candidate.
Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who’s seriously mulling a primary challenge against Biden, may head to New Hampshire on Friday to file and launch a 2024 Democratic presidential campaign.
Buckley, responding to the Biden campaign’s announcement, took to twitter on Tuesday evening to write, “The reality is that Joe Biden will win the NH FITN Primary in January, win renomination in Chicago and will be re-elected next November. NH voters know and trust Joe Biden that’s why he is leading Trump in NH by double digits.”
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US Department of Defense in planning stages of sending additional Iron Dome missile defense systems to Israel
A U.S. Department of Defense official confirmed with Fox News that the Pentagon is in the planning phase of sending Iron Dome missile defense systems to Israel as the country continues to fend off missiles fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip by Hamas terrorists.
“The U.S. will be flowing additional Iron Dome support to Israel,” the defense official said. “As a result, the Department of Defense is currently engaged in planning to support the provision of U.S. Iron Dome batteries to Israel.”
On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists conducted a surprise attack on Israel, making it the deadliest attack on the country in 50 years.
PENTAGON OFFICIALS SAY ATTACKS ON US TROOPS HAVE ‘IRANIAN FINGERPRINTS ALL OVER’
The attack included over 3,000 rockets, drones and commando raids that targeted Israeli cities, military bases and infrastructure.
Israel’s air defense system, the Iron Dome, neutralized about 90% of the incoming threats, the Israeli military said.
The system was created to protect Israeli civilians from rockets and mortars fired by militant groups in Gaza and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, making its debut in April 2011, when it stopped a Grad rocket heading toward Ashkelon that was fired from Gaza.
US NAVY INTERCEPTS MISSILES HEADING NORTH FROM YEMEN, ‘POTENTIALLY’ TOWARD ISRAEL: PENTAGON
Iron Dome operates using a sophisticated radar system that detects incoming projectiles from about 40 miles away. It then calculates the trajectories of the projectiles and discerns their potential threats by firing a launcher containing 20 interceptor missiles to intercept any rocket deemed dangerous.
Last week, U.S. Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Brian Mast, both Florida Democrats, announced they were spearheading a bipartisan coalition to urge the Department of Defense to transfer to Iron Dome systems to Israel.
The U.S. owns two Iron Dome systems that are “sitting idle and not being used,” according to a press release from Moskowitz and Mast, and that the units were purchased in accordance with the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.
US MILITARY SHOOTS DOWN TURKISH DRONE AFTER COMING TOO CLOSE TO TROOPS IN SYRIA
“Every time the Iron Dome is used, it saves thousands of innocent Israeli and Palestinian lives from Hamas terrorists,” Moskowitz said. “Now more than ever, the United States must stand with Israel in their war against terrorists who wish nothing but to destroy Israel and the people that live there.”
The U.S. Department of Defense is in the process of bolstering forces in the Middle East to deter a wider conflict, but also bolster stability and defend national security interests.
The U.S. Navy announced last week it would be sending the USS Mount Whitney to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea as tensions in the Middle East rise amid the Israel-Hamas war.
MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT MOVES CLOSER TO ISRAEL VIA RED SEA
The USS Mount Whitney, the Navy’s command and control ship, left Gaeta, Italy, on Wednesday to join the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group in support of U.S. Operations in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, which was in the Eastern Mediterranean, is heading to the Persian Gulf, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Saturday.
Also in the area is a special operations capable Marine rapid response force of nearly 2,000 Marines and sailors known as the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is moving closer to Israel via the Red Sea. The group includes the amphibious ready groups USS Bataan and USS Carter Hall.
Kurt Knutsson of the CyberGuy Report and Fox News contributed to this report.
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War of words: DeSantis, Haley trade fire over who was more China-friendly governor
As they battle to be the top alternative to former President Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley are increasingly trading fire.
The latest flash-point is China.
In a Fox News Digital interview on Tuesday, DeSantis charged that Haley “rolled out the red carpet for China” during her tenure as South Carolina governor.
Haley’s campaign says DeSantis has “aggressively recruited Chinese companies to Florida.”
DESANTIS, HALEY, TARGET BIDEN OVER HUMANITARIAN AID TO PALESTINIANS
While Trump remains the commanding front-runner in the race for the GOP nomination, DeSantis for months had second place in the polls to himself, ahead of Haley and the rest of the field of Republican White House contenders.
But Haley’s seen her poll position rise the past two months and has leapfrogged DeSantis to stand in second place in some of the most recent polls in New Hampshire — which holds the first primary and second overall contest in the GOP nominating calendar — and in her home state of South Carolina, which holds the first southern contest.
Over the past week, the candidates, their campaigns and allied super PACs have traded fire over whether the U.S. should accept any Palestinian refugees who flee the fighting in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
Now comes new fireworks over China, which has increasingly become a prime target for Republicans as relations have dramatically worsened between Washington and Beijing.
TRUMP MAY NOT BE THE ONLY REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE TO SKIP THE NEXT GOP PRIMARY DEBATE
The DeSantis-aligned super PAC Never Back Down went up with a new spot — backed by a seven-figure ad buy — that criticized Haley for bringing Chinese businesses to the Palmetto State while she was governor.
“Nikki Haley: questionable judgment, dangerous on China,” the narrator of the ads says under pictures of Haley and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
While noting that his campaign wasn’t responsible for the commercial, DeSantis said that “it’s very jarring to see her in her own words talk about how … she wants to roll out the red carpet for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party).”
DeSantis added, “I did the opposite in Florida. We banned the CCP from purchasing land in Florida. We didn’t give them any free land. So, that’s an honest difference of policy.”
He asked, “[W]ho do you trust to lead — somebody that’s actually stood up to China or somebody that rolled out the red carpet for China?”
The Haley campaign in a statement to Fox News said the attacks are “more lies and hypocrisy from desperate and losing Ron DeSantis, who aggressively recruited Chinese companies to Florida, including a sanctioned Chinese military manufacturer. Nikki Haley took on the Chinese at the UN and she will as president.”
On the campaign trail this year, Haley’s repeatedly stated that China is the “No. 1 biggest national security threat.” And earlier this year, she released a comprehensive plan to combat China.
Haley also spotlighted that she would rescind federal funding for universities that accept money from China, take back land in the U.S. that China’s already purchased, and end “all normal trade relations with” China unless it stops flooding the U.S. with fentanyl.
The Haley-aligned super PAC Stand for America has also spotlighted the candidate’s China stance in a series of ads.
DeSantis was interviewed as he campaigned Tuesday in New Hampshire.
Speaking with reporters after mingling with the breakfast crowd at the Red Arrow Diner in Londonderry, DeSantis once against targeted Trump.
“What Donald Trump does now, he is wedded to the teleprompter,” DeSantis said. “This is a different Donald Trump than 2015 and ’16 – lost the zip on his fastball, has a sense of entitlement, all this stuff; doesn’t think he has to go through and earn it like other candidates. And that’s just not going fly in Iowa and New Hampshire.”
Responding, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement to Fox News that “Ron DeSantis is operating with a little league brain in a major league world. It’s not surprising to see him go full-blown Never Trump and anti-MAGA because that’s who he is deep down inside.”
DeSantis also pointed to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the environmental activist, high-profile vaccine skeptic and scion of the Kennedy political dynasty, who this month dropped his Democrat primary challenge against President Biden to launch an independent White house run.
DeSantis has repeatedly argued that Trump ceded control to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the long-time top federal infectious disease expert.
“RFK Jr. will be a vessel for anti-lockdown and anti-Fauci voters if Trump is the nominee. If I’m the nominee, they all go to me because I stood up against Fauci. I’m going to clean out [the] CDC and all those. It’s a big part of my platform. With Trump, though, he created Fauci. He elevated Fauci,” DeSantis said in his latest attack on Trump over the then-president’s management of the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking with Fox News, DeSantis added that “there are millions of voters out there who want to see accountability for the federal government’s COVID policies. I represent a vessel to do that. I’ve pledged to do that. Donald Trump will not do that. He said he did everything right. He doesn’t think there’s a need to go back and do any of that.”
Looking ahead to the 2024 election, DeSantis said that “those voters, those anti-lockdown voters, those anti Fauci voters, they’re going to want a vehicle. And I think that RFK is going to be able to peel those voters away from Trump.”
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Fox News Politics: Another one bites the dust
Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail.
Subscribe now to get Fox News Politics newsletter in your inbox.
What’s happening:
– Third GOP speaker nominee drops out of race after three weeks without House leader. Get the latest updates on the House speaker race from Fox News’ live blog
– House returns Tuesday evening to select another nominee for House speaker…
– US officials say at least 33 Americans have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war. Follow Fox News for the latest updates on the conflict.
The third House Republican to win his party’s nomination for speaker withdrew Tuesday hours after winning the title. Rep. Tom Emmer withdrew his name from the speaker race before calling a House floor vote.
Republicans remain divided about who should lead the party since Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s historic ousting three weeks ago. Emmer dropped out shortly after former President Trump called him a “globalist RINO.”
HOUSE OF CHAOS: Republicans agree on needing speaker this week, divided on if they’ll get one …Read more
Quote of the day:
“So the consensus is unless it changes, you stay here all night until we pick somebody”
-Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C. on the Tuesday evening GOP conference meeting to find a speaker
FIVE PRINCIPLES: GOP speaker candidates calls on all contenders to follow these principles …Read more
DONALDS CLAPS BACK: Donalds fires back at AOC’s jab at his ‘experience’ …Read more
OBAMA’S WARNING: Ex-president says Israeli military action ‘could ultimately backfire’ if one thing not considered …Read more
‘ANTISEMITIC ACTIVITY’: GOP debuts resolution censuring Rashida Tlaib amid Israel crisis …Read more
POPE-ENDORSED PLAN: Biden claims Pope Francis ‘on the same page’, as US on Israel-Gaza war; Pontiff calls for peace …Read more
‘I CANNOT UNCRITICALLY ACCEPT’: Squad member continues suggesting Israel behind Gaza hospital explosion …Read more
GRAVE CONCERNS ON GAZA: Democrat Sen. Peter Welch warns against a ground invasion of Gaza …Read more
‘RESENT THOSE COMMENTS’: New York Democrat hits back at Ilhan Omar over Israel …Read more
‘LOST ME FOREVER’: Former DSA member trashes org for support of Palestinian resistance …Read more
‘LEAVE THEM ON THE FRINGE’: ADL CEO leaves no doubt about disgust for anti-Israel ‘Squad’ …Read more
WHY THE WAIT?: Why the NYT waited to correct their botched Gaza reporting …Read more
ALL TIED UP: New poll shows independent candidates threaten Trump, Biden presidential hopes …Read more
‘MENTALLY UNSTABLE’: New biography details tense exchange between Romney, 2024 GOP candidate …Read more
GAINS IN CAROLINA: GOP set to gain 3 seats in North Carolina’s Senate …Read more
BACKING OUT: Ramaswamy expresses support for US decreasing role on world stage …Read more
ELLIS TAKES DEAL: Former Trump attorney pleads guilty in Georgia election interference case …Read more
‘DESIGNED’ TO FAIL: Cruz says Biden funding request won’t help border crisis …Read more
TROJAN HORSE: China is rapidly expanding influence in US via green energy industry: report …Read more
‘COERCIVE INFLUENCE’: Gallagher warns university presidents to be ‘clear-eyed’ on China threat to campuses …Read more
‘CALAMITOUS’: US birth rate fell by 22% since 2007 …Read more
BOARDING PASS: TSA flub lands lawmaker in cuffs …Read more
‘TIME FOR ACTION’: Conservative group warns House GOP to push on border security …Read more
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
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Wisconsin Republicans advance election reform-centric constitutional amendments
Republicans who control the Wisconsin Legislature have advanced a series of constitutional amendments that would outlaw private funding for elections ahead of the 2024 presidential contest, bar municipalities from allowing non-U.S. citizens to vote in local elections and enshrine existing voter photo ID requirements in the state constitution.
The proposals debated Tuesday at a joint hearing of the Senate and Assembly elections committees stem from false claims made by former President Donald Trump and his supporters that widespread voter fraud tipped the 2020 presidential election in favor of President Joe Biden.
Constitutional amendments must be passed in two consecutive sessions of the state Legislature before being ratified by voters in a statewide election. The governor cannot veto a constitutional amendment.
EX-WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT JUSTICE FIGHTS SUBPOENA OVER PROTASIEWICZ IMPEACHMENT ADVICE
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has previously vetoed more than a dozen Republican-backed elections proposals, including a 2021 bill to outlaw private elections grants.
The Legislature approved the amendments requiring voters to be U.S. citizens and outlawing private elections grants in its last session. The voter ID amendment is a new proposal this year, which means the soonest it could be put on the ballot for voter approval is 2025.
Assembly Majority Leader Tyler August said Tuesday that he hopes to put the amendment outlawing election grants before voters in the statewide April 2024 election and put the citizenship requirements on the November 2024 ballot.
Conservatives were outraged in 2020 by a nonprofit that distributed hundreds of millions of dollars in grants, mostly funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, to local election offices. Opponents termed the money “Zuckerbucks” and claimed it was an attempt by the billionaire to tip the vote in favor of Democrats, although there was no evidence to support that. Since 2020, GOP lawmakers in at least 20 states have outlawed private elections grants.
There has also been a recent push for states to specifically make clear that only U.S. citizens can vote in state and local elections. Some cities and towns across the country have allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections. Federal law already requires U.S. citizenship to vote in national elections and no state constitutions explicitly allow noncitizens to vote in state or local elections.
The Wisconsin Constitution guarantees that every U.S. citizen age 18 and over is a qualified elector. But it does not specifically say that only U.S. citizens are qualified to vote in state or local elections.
“I don’t think anyone in this room believes noncitizens are going to gain the right to vote in the state of Wisconsin anytime soon,” said Jamie Lynn Crofts, policy director for Wisconsin Voices. “It should be up to people at the local level to decide if noncitizens should be able to vote in their local elections.”
The photo ID amendment would enshrine the state’s current photo ID law, enacted in 2011, in the state constitution. The Legislature could still pass exceptions to the requirement.
WISCONSIN ALLOCATES $402M TO COMBAT PFAS, OTHER WATER POLLUTANTS
The move to make photo ID a constitutional requirement comes after the Wisconsin Supreme Court flipped to liberal control. There is no current legal challenge to the state’s voter ID requirement, which is one of the strictest in the country. But other election-related lawsuits challenging restrictions on absentee voting and ballot drop boxes could be taken up by the state Supreme Court.
Republican supporters at Tuesday’s hearing said the voter ID law is designed to ensure that only qualified voters cast ballots. But opponents say voter ID requirements make it more difficult for people to vote, particularly those with disabilities, the elderly and people who don’t have driver’s licenses.
Under current law, and the proposed amendment, voters must provide one of a list of approved photo IDs in order to cast their ballot. Acceptable IDs include a Wisconsin driver’s license, U.S. passport, tribal ID, U.S. military ID or student ID. Absentee voters must provide a photocopy of their ID when requesting a ballot.
Voters who do not have one of the required photo IDs can vote a provisional ballot and then return by the deadline with the identification to have the ballot counted. The ability to cast a provisional ballot does not change under the proposed amendment.
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Who is Mike Johnson, Republican candidate for speaker of the House?
After a dramatic day in the search for a House speaker, GOP Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson emerged as a leading contender for the nomination Tuesday, along with several other candidates.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s bid for the speaker’s gavel collapsed shortly after he secured the most votes in a conference meeting, and he removed himself from the race after another vote within the chamber made it clear he lacked enough votes among Republicans to win a majority on the floor.
Johnson has been in politics since 2015 when he was elected to the state House, where he stayed until 2017.
HOUSE GOP SPIRALS INTO CHAOS AS EMMER BECOMES THIRD SPEAKER NOMINEE DROPPED IN THREE WEEKS
The son of a firefighter, Johnson was elected to Congress in the 2016 election and serves on the House Judiciary and Armed Services Committees.
Johnson is currently in his second term as the vice chairman of the House Republican Conference, putting him in a leadership position that largely stays out of the limelight.
The Louisiana Republican — who would be the second Pelican State speaker nominee after the failed bid from House Majority Leader Steve Scalise — previously served one term as the influential Republican Study Committee chairman.
Prior to joining Congress, Johnson worked as a lawyer and was the senior spokesperson for the conservative Christian legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom.
Emmer dropped out of the race for speaker hours after being named the House Republicans’ nominee, Fox News Digital reported.
Emmer won a majority of the GOP Conference on Tuesday morning after five rounds of voting, against six other potential candidates.
But it quickly became clear that he did not have enough support to secure an outright win in a House-wide vote. With Republicans’ razor-thin majority, a GOP speaker-designate can only lose four members of their own party to win the gavel without Democratic support.
At least 25 Republicans said they would not support Emmer in a House floor vote after he won the designate title.
More GOP lawmakers indicated after the roll call that the conference needed to move on to a new nominee.
Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., called on Johnson and Rep. Kevin Hern to jump back into the race. Both lost to Emmer earlier in the day.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
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Trump faces off in court with Cohen as ex-lawyer testifies against him in Trump Organization civil trial
Former President Trump and his ex-attorney, Michael Cohen, found themselves in the same room Tuesday as the man who once famously said he’d “take a bullet” for his client testified against the Trump Organization in the civil trial that stems from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ years-long investigation.
Cohen appeared in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday and testified that during his time at the Trump Organization he inflated the former president’s assets to “whatever number Trump told us to.”
NEW YORK JUDGE FINES TRUMP $5K FOR VIOLATING PARTIAL GAG ORDER IN CIVIL FRAUD TRIAL
“I was tasked by Mr. Trump to increase the total assets, based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected,” Cohen said Tuesday in court.
Cohen also testified that he and former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg worked to “reverse-engineer the various different asset classes, increase those assets, in order to achieve a number that Mr. Trump had tasked us.”
Weisselberg, in a separate case out of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in 2022, pleaded guilty to tax violations that spanned more than decade.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has repeatedly said his assets were actually undervalued. Trump has repeatedly said his financial statements had disclaimers, requesting that the numbers be evaluated by the banks.
Trump, who has sat in court on certain days of the civil trial, attended proceedings on Tuesday and blasted Cohen as a “proven liar.”
“I’m not worried at all about his testimony,” Trump said. “He’s not a credible witness.”
TRUMP DROPS LAWSUIT AGAINST MICHAEL COHEN, VOWS TO REFILE AFTER HE HAS ‘PREVAILED’ IN OTHER CASES
Cohen, in 2018, pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, making false statements to Congress, making false statements to Congress and tax evasion. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
Trump, throughout Cohen’s testimony, was seen shaking his head.
Earlier this month, Trump voluntarily dismissed his lawsuit against Cohen but vowed to refile against him once he “prevailed” in the “witch hunts against him.”
Trump had sued Cohen for $500 million in April. The more than 30-page federal lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging Cohen breached his attorney-client relationship by “spreading falsehoods” about Trump that were “likely to be embarrassing or detrimental, and partook in other misconduct” while also breaching contractual terms of a confidentiality agreement he signed as a condition of employment with Trump.
TRUMP SUES FORMER ATTORNEY MICHAEL COHEN FOR $500 MILLION
The lawsuit alleged that Cohen spread falsehoods about Trump “with malicious intent and to wholly self-serving ends.”
The lawsuit detailed Cohen’s “myriad of public statements, including the publication of two books, a podcast series, and innumerable mainstream media appearances,” while ignoring “cease and desist” orders.
“Once President Trump has prevailed in dealing with the witch hunts against him, he will continue to pursue his claims against Michael Cohen, who rightfully deserves to, and will be held accountable for his unlawful words and actions just as the Southern District of New York held him accountable for numerous non-Trump related acts and crimes, making Cohen a very ‘proud’ felon,” a Trump spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement.
Cohen’s testimony Tuesday comes amid the civil trial that stems from James’ investigation.
James, a Democrat, brought a lawsuit against Trump last year, alleging that he and his company misled banks and others about the value of his assets. James said the Trump family, as well as his associates and businesses, committed “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” on their financial statements. She also alleged that Trump “inflated his net worth by billions of dollars” and said his children helped him to do so.
New York Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the trial, last month ruled that Trump and the Trump Organization committed fraud while building his real estate empire by deceiving banks, insurers and others by overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing financing.
Meanwhile, Engoron fined Trump $5,000 for violating the partial gag order he imposed this month and warned the former president and current GOP front-runner that future violations could result in imprisonment.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Pennsylvania Republican hit by car while placing yard signs
A Pennsylvania judicial candidate was struck by a car and injured while putting out yard signs on Sunday evening, her campaign said Tuesday.
Maria Battista, a Republican running for Pennsylvania’s Superior Court, was hospitalized overnight. Her campaign said she was released Monday after being treated for injuries that included a hairline fracture of her collarbone.
PENNSYLVANIA POLICE UPDATE NUMBER OF VICTIMS FROM DEVASTATING TANKER FIRE
Her campaign did not immediately disclose where the crash occurred or whether anyone was charged.
PennLive first reported on the crash after she did not attend a candidate forum hosted by the publication on Monday.
PENN STATE POLICE ARREST MAN ACCUSED OF RECORDING WOMEN SHOWERING IN DORM BATHROOM
Battista is running for Superior Court in the Nov. 7 general election. Voters will choose two candidates to serve in the court out of a pool of two Republicans and two Democrats.
She previously served as an assistant district attorney and was counsel for the state’s Health and State departments.
Her campaign said she expects to be back on the campaign trail in a few days.
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