Judge Rejects Trump’s Attempt To Delay Hush Money Trial

Posted on 25/03/2024 by Boris Clair

NEW YORK — A New York state judge ruled on Monday that the criminal trial against former President Donald Trump stemming from a hush money payment he allegedly made to a porn actor can proceed, denying Trump’s request to have the case delayed further or altogether dismissed.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, sat alongside his lawyers as Judge Juan Merchan announced that jury selection in the case would begin on April 15.

The trial — the first-ever criminal trial of a former president — had originally been scheduled to start on Monday but was delayed one month after prosecutors agreed to allow Trump’s defence attorneys to review some 100,000 pages of documents of potential new evidence.

Trump’s lawyers had sought to have the trial delayed for an additional 90 days or to have the charges altogether dismissed over what they argued were “violations” of the discovery process, alleging the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had failed to hand over evidence to the defence team in a timely fashion. This, Trump’s lawyers alleged, was a deliberate attempt to bury potentially exculpatory evidence and amounted to “widespread misconduct”.

But prosecutors argued that the new tranche of documents contained little evidence relevant to the case and didn’t require a further postponement of the trial. Prosecutors received the documents in question earlier this month from the US Attorney’s office in Manhattan, the federal prosecutors who investigated Trump’s alleged hush money payments but decided not to charge the former president.

The documents are related to Michael Cohen, the former Trump lawyer and fixer turned state witness. Prosecutors allege Trump instructed Cohen to give porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 before the 2016 election to stop her from publicising a story about an extramarital sexual encounter she claims to have had with the former president a decade prior. Trump denies the tryst took place.

Trump was charged last year with 34 counts of falsifying business records in relation to the alleged hush money payments.

“This is a witch hunt, this is a hoax,” the former president told reporters before entering the courtroom Monday. During the hearing, his lawyers argued that the new batch of documents could contain evidence that would discredit Cohen as a witness, and that they needed more time to review Cohen’s emails and bank statements.

But Judge Merchan seemed unsympathetic to this argument, and appeared to grow frustrated with Trump’s lawyers when they couldn’t cite a single legal precedent to support the argument that the Manhattan DA’s could’ve forced the US Attorney’s office to fork over the documents earlier.

“The allegation you make about the people’s case is incredibly serious, unbelievably serious,” Merchan told Trump attorney Todd Blanche. “You’re literally accusing the Manhattan DA’s office of prosecutorial misconduct and trying to make me complicit in it and you don’t have a single [legal precedent to] cite.”

During a 45-minute recess in the court proceedings, news broke that a state appeals court had ruled in Trump’s favour in a separate case — the civil fraud case brought against Trump by New York Attorney General Letitia James. James had initially won a judgment against Trump, with a court finding that he’d committed fraud by falsely inflating his net worth. The appellate court decision Monday reduced his $464 million bond in the case, a potentially financially crippling sum, to $175 million.

Back inside the courtroom after the recess, Trump scowled as Merchan ruled that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office was “not at fault for the late production of documents” and the office had made a “diligent, good faith effort” during the discovery process.

Trump Hit With $350 Million Penalty In Civil Fraud Trial

Posted on 16/02/2024 by Boris Clair

Donald Trump owes the state of New York more than $350 million in damages for decades of fraudulent business practices in the state, a New York State Supreme Court judge ruled Friday.

The judgement made by Judge Arthur Engoron also forbids Trump, and two of his former associates, from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for three years.

Trump’s two sons, Eric and Donald Jr, are also banned from serving as executives for New York companies for two years. Both were also hit with $4 million fines.

Over the course of a 44-day civil trial, New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office accused Trump of grossly exaggerating his wealth in order to secure favorable business loans by deceiving banks and insurers.

That includes overvaluing Mar-a-Lago by as much as 2,300%, for example, and falsely claiming his penthouse in Trump Tower was three times larger than it actually was.

James initially argued Trump and his affiliated businesses should disgorge $250 million, only to increase the figure to $370 million in a post-trial brief.

The amount is no arbitrary figure: The attorney general’s office estimates Trump’s fraud yielded at least to $168 million in illegal gains on his loan to purchase 40 Wall Street, $139 million related to the sale of the Old Post Office in Washington, D.C., $60 million from the sale of Ferry Point golf club and $2.5 million in bonuses paid to accomplices.

Judge Arthur Engoron found in an earlier part of the trial that Trump had indeed committed fraud for years; all that remained was to tally up the damages.

“A discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud,” Engoron concluded in his 35-page September ruling.

“In defendants’ world: rent regulated apartments are worth the same as unregulated apartments; restricted land is worth the same as unrestricted land; restrictions can evaporate into thin air; a disclaimer by one party casting responsibility on another party exonerates the other party’s lies,” Engoron wrote. “That is a fantasy world, not the real world.”

Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media at a Washington hotel on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024.

Defence attorney Chris Kise blamed Trump’s accountants for the fraud, describing the case against his client as “manufactured to pursue a political agenda”.

“President Trump relied on multimillion-dollar accountants at Mazars,” Kise said in his closing statement. Kise suggested that, instead of punishing Trump, he “should get a medal” for his business acumen.

Mazars cut ties with Trump in 2022, warning at the time that the financial statements it prepared for Trump from 2011 through 2020 “should no longer be relied upon”.

While on the stand as a witness, Trump repeatedly pointed to what he called a “disclaimer clause” appended to those statements that he believed absolved him of all responsibility for their accuracy.

“We would call it a worthless statement clause,” he said at one point, seeking to diminish the value of the fraudulent documents. “They were not really documents that the banks paid much attention to.”

Engoron dismissed the argument in a pre-trial ruling.

“Defendants’ reliance on these ‘worthless’ disclaimers is worthless,” he wrote. “The ‘worthless clause’ does not say what the defendants say it says, does not rise to the level of an enforceable disclaimer, and cannot be used to insulate fraud.”

Over the course of the months-long trial, Trump complained frequently on social media about the lack of a jury, conveniently ignoring the fact that his lawyers hadn’t attempted to request one.

He also repeatedly called it a “hoax”, “unconstitutional” and a “witch hunt”, in addition to attacking Engoron and other court staffers on social media. Trump repeatedly violated a gag order intended to curtail those attacks, then demanded a mistrial, claiming in part that the order violated his First Amendment rights to free speech.

In additional attempts to dismiss the suit, Trump’s lawyers argued there wasn’t evidence that Trump’s actions had caused public harm and that the statute of limitations had expired for many of the allegations.

Trump declined to testify in his defence (despite claiming he would) and backed out of delivering his own closing argument after Engoron insisted that Trump address only the “relevant” matters of the case should he do so.

Trump will likely appeal the decision.

Donald Trump Serves Up A Delusional New Take On His Massive Legal Woes

Posted on 01/02/2024 by Boris Clair

Donald Trump bizarrely and falsely suggested on Wednesday that he had come out on top in his New York civil cases.

“Are you thinking of potentially trying to use campaign funds to pay some of the penalties?” a reporter asked the former president at a news conference following his meeting with Teamsters Union leaders in Washington, DC.

“What penalties?” Trump asked.

“In the New York fraud cause and the defamation case,” the reporter replied.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” said Trump. “I mean, that’s been proven as far as I’m concerned.”

He claimed that “actually, we won in the court of appeals”.

Actually, he didn’t.

In the defamation case, jurors awarded writer E Jean Carroll an astonishing $83.3 million in damages on Friday. She had accused him of defaming her after she came forward in 2019 with allegations he raped her in 1996.

In a separate trial in May last year, a jury concluded that Trump was liable for sexually abusing, but not raping, Carroll and for defaming her. He was ordered to pay $5 million in damages. He has denied all wrongdoing and appealed that verdict; there has been no outcome yet.

He has also vowed to appeal Friday’s decision.

Reporter: “Are you thinking of trying to use campaign funds to pay some of the penalties?”

Trump: “What penalties?”

Reporter: “In the New York fraud case and the defamation case.”

Trump: “I didn’t do anything wrong. I mean, that’s been proven as far as I’m concerned.” pic.twitter.com/pmw7AJt4Fh

— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) January 31, 2024

As for New York civil business case, Trump was found liable for fraud in that matter before the trial began.

Following an 11-week trial, Judge Arthur Engoron is expected to rule on six additional claims including falsifying business records and insurance fraud, and to rule on how much Trump and his co-defendants must pay, as well as whether they can continue to do business in New York.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has asked for $370 million in the lawsuit.

Engoron had previously ordered the dissolution of Trump’s businesses in the state, a decision which is on hold pending Trump’s appeal.

George Santos Pleads Not Guilty To 13 Federal Charges

Posted on 10/05/2023 by Boris Clair

George Santos, the New York Republican who became the subject of ridicule for the extent to which he lied about his background, appeared in federal court Wednesday to be arraigned on 13 counts after turning himself into authorities earlier in the day.

He pleaded not guilty, multiple outlets reported.

Santos, 34, was elected in November to represent portions of Long Island and Queens, but in the weeks and months afterward, a number of reports showed he was not exactly the wealthy young businessman he claimed to be. While he admitted in December certain details — that he attended two top colleges and worked at prestigious Wall Street firms — were false, he denied and even defended others while refusing calls to resign.

Santos entered the Long Island courtroom with a scowl, a New York Times reporter observed.

His lawyer, Joseph Murray, said that Santos plans to continue campaigning for reelection and asked that he be free to travel to do so, according to The Associated Press. He surrendered his passport and was released on a $500,000 bond.

Outside the courthouse, Santos asserted that he had “plenty of evidence” that would supposedly clear his name.

“The reality is, it’s a witch hunt,” Santos told a crowd of reporters angling for a comment. “Because it makes no sense that [after] four months, five months — I’m indicted.”

“I will not resign,” he said.

The charges against Santos span both his personal and public life.

Federal prosecutors allege that Santos pocketed $25,000 in donations to his campaign beginning in 2022, spending the money on luxury clothes, car payments and his credit cards instead of legitimate things like political ads. In 2020, Santos allegedly received pandemic-related unemployment benefits totaling more than $24,000 from the state of New York while earning a $120,000 salary from a company in Florida.

Prosecutors also say he lied when filling out financial disclosure forms needed to run for Congress ― both in his unsuccessful 2020 campaign and his successful 2022 campaign. Santos allegedly overstated his income and assets in the 2022 filing to the tune of millions.

The case against him is a product of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section and local agencies.

Authorities at the federal and local level promised to investigate Santos late last year amid public outcry over the new congressman’s apparent penchant for spinning yarns.

The list of Santos’ claims has become unwieldily and, in many instances, bizarre. He has said that he is Jewish (later amended to “Jew-ish”), that his mother was in the twin towers on 9/11, that several of his employees died in the mass shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, and that he survived a brain tumor — among many other tales.

A former roommate, Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha, alleged in a sworn statement earlier this year that Santos was the ringleader of a credit card scheme in 2017 that led to Trelha serving jail time before being deported back to Brazil. (Santos denies the accusation.) The scheme is not mentioned in the federal indictment, but Politico reported in March that the case remains open.

In yet another instance of alleged fraud, Santos reportedly agreed to a deal with Brazilian prosecutors who say he wrote fraudulent checks in 2008. Part of the deal included a formal admission that Santos did the crime and would pay damages to the elderly man whose checkbook was taken, according to CNN.

In the US, however, Santos has denied that he is lawbreaker.

“I am not a criminal here — not here or in Brazil or any jurisdiction in the world. Absolutely not. That didn’t happen,” he told The New York Post in December.

Ivanka Trump Is Focus Of New York Attorney General Lawsuit Claim

Posted on 04/05/2023 by Boris Clair

The New York attorney general’s office last week said Ivanka Trump was stonewalling in its fraud lawsuit against ex-president Donald Trump and his children.

A letter to the court, obtained by Forbes, alleged that the family is failing to turn over emails and other communications during the civil litigation’s discovery phase in a timely manner ― and one of the most “significant issues” was an “an unexplained drop-off in emails for Ivanka Trump”.

The former president’s daughter and ex-adviser hasn’t addressed why her volume of emails dropped from 1,200 per month in 2014 to 37 in 2016, according to a previous communique referenced in the letter.

“Not only have defendants failed to offer any substantive response to this inquiry, but there have been no documents produced by Ms Trump,” the attorney general’s office told Judge Arthur Engoron in the April 25 missive.

The judge set a deadline of May 12 for the Trumps to submit outstanding documents, Forbes reported.

Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump make their way to board Air Force One on January 4, 2021.

The family’s defiance was an issue well before the attorney general sued.

In May 2022, Engoron ordered Donald Trump to pay a $110,000 fine to have a contempt charge lifted after he ignored a subpoena from the attorney general’s office during its investigation.

In September 2022, the attorney general’s office sued Trump and his three oldest children, alleging they valued assets incorrectly to scam lenders and tax officials. New York Attorney General Letitia James said the level of fraud was “astounding”.

Ivanka Trump has distanced herself from political association with her father as he seeks to return to the White House in 2024. She was reportedly subpoenaed to testify in the U.S. attorney general’s January 6 probe into the insurrection.

The former president has been indicted in New York on charges involving a hush-money payoff to a porn star. He also faces criminal investigations into his alleged attempts to reverse his 2020 election defeat in Georgia and his mishandling of classified documents he took to Mar-a-Lago.

A spokesperson for Ivanka Trump didn’t immediately reply to HuffPost’s request for comment.

Donald Trump Turns Himself In At New York Court

Posted on 04/04/2023 by Boris Clair

Former US president Donald Trump has surrendered at a New York courthouse following his indictment on criminal charges after a probe into hush money paid to a porn star.

Trump, 76, was formally charged on Tuesday in a watershed moment for the country as his supporters and detractors noisily rallied outside.

Wearing a dark blue suit and red tie, he exhibited little emotion on his face as he waved to a crowd assembled outside the courthouse after he was driven in a motorcade from his New York residence at Trump Tower. Trump held his fist in the air in a gesture to reporters as he departed his New York residence.

From his motorcade, Trump posted on social media: “Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse. Seems so SURREAL – WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America.”

Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg has charged Trump with crimes related to a $130,000 payment made to Stormy Daniels in the final days of his 2016 run for the presidency.

Daniels claims these alleged payments, made by Trump’s then lawyer Michael Cohen, were meant to stop her from talking about her affair with Trump prior to the presidential election.

The hush money in itself is not a crime, but Trump recorded his reimbursement to Cohen as legal fees. If prosecutors prove this was a falsification of records, it could count as a misdemeanour in New York.

It could also mean Trump violated campaign finance laws because it happened just before the 2016 election, and so it could indicate that he didn’t want his voters to know about her – that would be a class E felony.

US media has reported that there are more than 30 counts related to business fraud, although the details of the charges have not been made public yet.

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, claims the affair did not happen and has alleged that the indictment is “political persecution” from the Democrats to impact the election.

He also alleged that the Democrats have “done the unthinkable” and indicted a “completely innocent person”.

In a statement, his lawyer said: “He did not commit any crime. We will vigorously fight this political prosecution in court.”

Trump’s indictment involved him travelling to the district attorney’s office in downtown New York to surrender.

Trump will have his fingerprints taken and is to appear for the charges to be read before him in court. It’s unclear whether a mugshot will be taken. He is likely to be released and allowed to head home.

It marks the first instance in American history of a former president facing criminal charges, and comes after years of investigations into the 76-year-old’s business, political and personal dealings.

Any trial of the former US president would still be more than a year away, legal experts say, and could coincide with the final months of the 2024 presidential campaign as Trump seeks a return to the White House.

The Manhattan case is the least serious of the potential criminal cases targetting Trump. A federal special prosecutor, Jack Smith, is investigating both Trump’s handling of classified documents and his role in the January 6 Capitol riot. And a grand jury in Georgia could soon hand up charges related to Trump’s efforts to change election results there.

Trump Heads To New York Amid Tight Security Ahead Of His Surrender

Posted on 03/04/2023 by Boris Clair

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Former president Donald Trump boarded his private plane Monday and flew from Florida toward New York ahead of his expected booking and arraignment, as the nation’s largest city bolstered security and warned potential agitators that it is “not a playground for your misplaced anger”.

Trump’s ground journey from his Mar-a-Lago club to his red, white and blue Boeing 757, emblazoned with “TRUMP” in gold letters was carried live on national television and took him past supporters waving banners and cheering the former president. Trump and his supporters criticize the case against him — stemming from hush money payments during his 2016 campaign —as politically motivated.

The scene was quite different in New York, where Trump built a national profile in business and entertainment but became deeply unpopular as he moved into politics.

His return to the city opens an unprecedented chapter in American history, with Trump being the first former president to face criminal charges even as he is in the midst of a third campaign for the White House. It’s causing major legal, political and cultural events collide in unprecedented ways.

The former president planned to spend the night at Trump Tower, then surrender to authorities on Tuesday for booking and a likely afternoon arraignment. So far, officials have not seen an influx of people coming into the city, as was the case in Washington in the days before the January 6, 2021, insurrection.

Still, authorities warned that possessing a weapon in certain areas of the city, including near courthouses, is a crime.

“While there may be some rabble rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow, our message is clear and simple: control yourselves,” said New York mayor Eric Adams. “New York City is our home, not a playground for your misplaced anger. We are the safest large city in America because we respect the rule of law in New York City.”

Trump Tower was open on Monday, but authorities were planning to close nearby streets as Trump came and went, and additional security was also in the works. They’ve taken steps to close and secure the courthouse floor where the former president is set to appear for an arraignment Tuesday afternoon.

Trump supporters, including one of his staunchest defenders in Congress, Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, planned a rally in New York late on Tuesday morning, probably before Trump would have to stand before a judge as part of the arraignment. Adams took the unusual step of calling out the congresswoman by name.

“Although we have no specific threats, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is known to spread misinformation and hate speech, she’s stated she’s coming to town,” Adams said. “While you’re in town, be on your best behaviour.”

The former president and his aides were eagerly embracing the expected media circus. After initially being caught off guard by news of the indictment when it broke on Thursday evening, Trump and his team are focused on using what they call a weak case against Trump to his advantage.

A police bus sits outside of Trump Tower.

STEFANI REYNOLDS via Getty Images

Members of the press gather outside of Trump Tower.

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS via Getty Images

Trump supporters hold flags outside the Trump Tower on April 3, 2023 in New York City.

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS via Getty Images

More than 1,200 miles away in Florida, demonstrators supporting Trump began gathered before dawn at a West Palm Beach shopping center on the way to the airport, hours before he was set to pass along the route.

Boca Raton firefighter Erik Solensten and his retired colleague, John Fischer, got an early start putting up banners. One was 30 by 6 feet (9 by 2 meters), picturing police officers and firefighters saying, “Thanks for having our backs, president Trump.”

“We are fire-rescue. We are prepared and don’t like to wait for things to happen,” said Solensten, who took a vacation day to show support for Trump. “He needs morale just like everyone else needs morale. He’s done more for this country than any 10 presidents combined.”

Trump is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offence, in the indictment handed down by a Manhattan grand jury last week. The investigation is scrutinising six-figure payments made to porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Both say they had sexual encounters with the married Trump years before he got into politics. Trump denies having sexual liaisons with either woman and has denied any wrongdoing involving payments, arguing that the case against him is politically motivated.

No former president has ever been indicted and trump’s active campaign for the presidency during next year’s election only further raises the political stakes. Trump spent the weekend golfing and meeting advisers but his campaign says it has raised more than $5 million since word of the indictment broke. One Trump fundraising email Monday carried the subject line, “Tomorrow, I will be arrested”.

Top Republicans, including some of Trump’s potential rivals in next year’s GOP presidential primary, have decried the case against him. President Joe Biden and leading Democrats have largely had little to say about it.

Solensten said it is wrong that Trump is being charged with a crime stemming from an alleged tryst with a porn star long before he was in office. He said investigators should instead be looking at Biden’s son, Hunter, and his business dealings, which committees in the Republican-controlled House have already begun examining.

“To me, those acts are treasonable,” Solensten said of the Bidens. “But it’s a walk.”

Will Donald Trump’s Mugshot Be Released?

Posted on 03/04/2023 by Boris Clair

Donald Trump is expected to voluntarily turn himself in to a New York district attorney’s office on Tuesday over charges related to hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels.

The former president will have his fingerprints and mugshot taken and appear for arraignment in court. He will likely be released and allowed to head home, experts have said.

Mugshots are not public record under New York state law, though they have leaked in the past.

Trump could seek to have the picture released himself in the hopes of a political boost as he makes another bid for the White House.

Within minutes of word of his indictment breaking, his 2024 presidential campaign was sending fundraising messages off the back of the news. His campaign has said it has raised more than $5 million and logged more than 16,000 volunteer signups since the indictment.

Trump could follow the path of other politicians. Texas governor Rick Perry posed for a mugshot photo in August 2014 after he was indicted on felony charges of abuse of power and coercion of a public servant.

Perry was looking to build momentum for a 2016 presidential run that ultimately fizzled out in a matter of months – much like the case against him, which never went to trial.

An attorney for Trump has said they are against the former president’s mugshot being released.

Alina Habba told CNN: “I like transparency. I think that in certain situations, it’s a good thing. I do have a problem with leaking of pictures. I think that because we’re in a campaign, because he’s the leading GOP candidate, it’s not going to help anything.”

Trump’s campaign has announced he will deliver remarks on Tuesday night from his Mar-a-Lago club after returning from Manhattan. He is expected to be joined in Florida by supporters as he tries to project an image of strength and defiance to boost his presidential run.

The Associated Press has reported Trump is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records in the indictment handed up by a Manhattan grand jury last week. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has blasted the investigation as a “witch hunt”.

Despite Disagreements, Biden Tells Truss The UK Is ‘Our Closest Ally In The World’

Posted on 21/09/2022 by Boris Clair

US president Joe Biden has told Liz Truss the UK is “our closest ally in the world”, despite sharp disagreements between the leaders of the two countries.

Ahead of a one-to-one meeting at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Biden and the new UK prime ministers spoke to reporters before sitting down to talks centring on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the energy crisis it has provoked.

Though Biden’s words were reassuring, the president told Truss he is “looking forward to hearing what’s on your mind” about the row over the Northern Ireland Protocol, which prevents a hard border on the island of Ireland, underlining tensions over post-Brexit arrangements.

The prime minister sought to reassure the US president by telling him how she would be explaining how the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to the island would be upheld.

Biden and Truss were meeting after the president sent a tweet just as the PM was discussing her economic policy, which said he was “sick and tired of trickle-down economics”.

“It has never worked,” he said.

The comments underlined the differences between the two leaders’ stances after Truss made clear her economic agenda had the trickle-down theory – tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations will benefit everyone – at its heart.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said it was “ludicrous” to suggest Biden was criticising UK policy, arguing each country is facing different economic challenges.

The prime minister is pushing ahead with the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol Bill which the EU and other critics say will breach international law by suspending elements of the agreement.

There have also been suggestions she could unilaterally trigger Article 16 of the protocol, to override parts of the agreement brokered as part of the Brexit divorce deal.

In opening marks at the top of their meeting, the US president told Truss: “We are both committed to protecting the Good Friday Agreement of Northern Ireland.

“And I’m looking forward to hearing what’s on your mind.”

He congratulated her on becoming prime minister, adding: “I look forward to working closely with you. You’re our closest ally in the world and there’s a lot we can continue to do together.”

Truss told the president the UK and the US are “steadfast allies” as she thanked him for his support following the death of the Queen.

“Of course I’m looking forward to discussing the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and how we make sure that’s upheld into the future,” she added.

Biden said their “full agenda” for the meeting includes Ukraine’s defence against Vladimir Putin’s invasion, China and preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

“We also want to talk about energy, which understandably is of significant consequence to all of Europe and the United Kingdom in particular,” he added.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan made it clear Biden would discuss the protocol “in some detail” with Truss.

Sullivan told reporters the president “will encourage the UK and the European Union to work out an effective outcome that ensures there is no threat to the fundamental principles of the Good Friday Agreement”.

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