The criminal prosecution of Donald Trump has become even more serious now that investigators have charged him with new crimes related to his handling of classified information after he left office in January 2021.
Central to many of the dozens of charges the former president faces is one particular document that prosecutors have described “as a plan of attack” against another country, widely reported to be Iran.
Here is what we know so far:
What was the document?
During a July 2021 interview with visitors to his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club, Mr Trump showed off the document to people who didn't have security clearance to see it, prosecutors say. Not only that, after his presidency, Mr Trump was not authorised to possess or retain classified documents.
The interview was for a memoir of his one-time chief of staff Mark Meadows. In his subsequent book, Mr Meadows said the country concerned was Iran.
The new charges against Mr Trump include an additional count of wilfully retaining national defence information related to a presentation about military activity in another country.
Details about that document and the meeting were included in the original indictment, but no charges had related to it until now.
Mr Trump didn't return that document to the US government until January 17, 2022 – nearly a year after he left office, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors allege that during the July 2021 meeting, Mr Trump had waved around the classified attack plan to his guests.
“This is secret information,” he said, according to a recording cited in the documents, claiming that, “as President I could have declassified it” but hadn’t.
Why was there a plan to attack Iran?
During his presidency, Mr Trump's administration took a hostile approach to Iran and worked with war hawks who were keen to bomb the country if it appeared to be getting too close to developing a nuclear weapon.
In 2018, Mr Trump announced that the US would be unilaterally withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action aimed at curtailing Iran's nuclear ambitions in return for economic relief. Negotiated under his predecessor Barack Obama, the deal enraged Republicans who saw it as providing legitimacy and resources to Tehran's regime.
After the US pulled out of the deal, Tehran ramped up its enrichment of uranium and increased hostilities across the Gulf region through Iran-backed militias.
Mr Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton is a well-known proponent of attacking Iran. He served under Mr Trump from 2018-2019 before being fired after the president derided him as a warmonger that would have started “World War Six” if he'd had his way.
The Pentagon has war plans to deal with just about any military contingency, so the fact it had options for military strikes against Iran is no surprise.
What does Trump say?
Mr Trump has denied he had secret documents before him when he spoke in Bedminster.
“There wasn’t a document. I had lots of paper. I had copies of newspaper articles, I had copies of magazines, I had copies of everything,” he said in an interview with Fox News host Bret Baier.
Of the latest charges, Mr Trump said on his Truth Social platform: “This is textbook Third World intimidation by rabid, lawless prosecutors.”
Mr Trump pleaded not guilty in Florida in June. He also faces an unrelated criminal case in New York and is the subject of at least two other investigations, one in Georgia and one in Washington.
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Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Buy farm-fresh food
The UAE is stepping up its game when it comes to platforms for local farms to show off and sell their produce.
In Dubai, visit Emirati Farmers Souq at The Pointe every Saturday from 8am to 2pm, which has produce from Al Ammar Farm, Omar Al Katri Farm, Hikarivege Vegetables, Rashed Farms and Al Khaleej Honey Trading, among others.
In Sharjah, the Aljada residential community will launch a new outdoor farmers’ market every Friday starting this weekend. Manbat will be held from 3pm to 8pm, and will host 30 farmers, local home-grown entrepreneurs and food stalls from the teams behind Badia Farms; Emirates Hydroponics Farms; Modern Organic Farm; Revolution Real; Astraea Farms; and Al Khaleej Food.
In Abu Dhabi, order farm produce from Food Crowd, an online grocery platform that supplies fresh and organic ingredients directly from farms such as Emirates Bio Farm, TFC, Armela Farms and mother company Al Dahra.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
The Indoor Cricket World Cup
When: September 16-23
Where: Insportz, Dubai
Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE fixtures:
Men
Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final
Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
Monday, September 18 – 5.30pm, v England
Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final
