PALM BEACH, Florida – A subdued former President Donald Trump lashed out on Tuesday at New York prosecutor Alvin Bragg for bringing criminal charges against him and declared himself the victim of election interference without offering evidence.

“I never thought anything like this could happen in America,” Trump told supporters gathered at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida. “The only crime that I’ve committed has been to fearlessly defend our nation against those who seek to destroy it.”

Earlier, Trump pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, as prosecutors accused him of orchestrating payments to two women before the 2016 election to suppress publication of their sexual encounters with him.

Trump, running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, on Tuesday night in Florida gave a relatively short speech, 25 minutes, compared to his rally speeches that can sometimes last two hours.

Despite launching a tirade against prosecutors, he did not call for new protests from his supporters. And while he is expected to return to the campaign trail soon, he gave no details of that.

Trump, 76, reached deep into his well of personal grievances to declare himself hounded by political opponents using the legal system against him to try to stop him from winning back the White House in 2024.

Trump accused Manhattan District Attorney Bragg of being out to get him “before he knew anything about me.” He said the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, is “a Trump-hating judge.” But he did not offer any evidence to support his claim that they were taking their actions in order to undermine his White House bid.

ATTACKS LEGAL CASES

Trump took fresh shots at all the various legal cases against him, from the handling of classified documents that were taken to Mar-a-Lago when Trump moved out of the White House in early 2021, the probe into the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol and the election interference case he is facing in Georgia from the 2020 election.

Trump expressed particular concern about the documents case being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith, who he called a “lunatic” several times.

He said the cases amount to an attempt to thwart his third run for the presidency, calling it “massive election interference at a scale never seen.”

Gathered before him in a gilt-edged ballroom at Mar-a-Lago were a number of combative, diehard Trump backers, including Republican lawmakers Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, long-time operative Roger Stone, pillow maker Mike Lindell, former US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell and Trump sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.

Trump’s wife, Melania, was not seen in the ballroom.

SHOW OF SUPPORT

Among the hundreds there was Nathan Mitchell, 18, the incoming president of the Florida Atlantic University’s college Republicans club.

He said he was there to support a man who represents “the best chance that America has to become great again.”

Of the accusations brought against Trump, Mitchell said, “It humiliates us all in front of the world.”

Wearing a black leather biker vest, with a “Born to Ride” patch above the number 45, Alex Gonzalez, 45, who operates a security company in Palm Beach said he was there to show the former president that the people believe in him.

“It’s all a charade, man, it’s all a witch hunt,” Gonzalez said of the indictment. “Trump should not be held above the law – if he does something wrong, he should be held liable like anybody else. But this is BS and everybody knows it.” — Reuters

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said on Tuesday that the US central bank likely has more interest rate rises ahead amid signs the recent banking sector troubles have been contained.

To keep inflation on a sustained downward path to 2% and keep inflation expectations anchored, Mester said she sees monetary policy moving “somewhat further into restrictive territory this year, with the fed funds rate moving above 5% and the real fed funds rate staying in positive territory for some time.”

“Precisely how much higher the federal funds rate will need to go from here and for how long policy will need to remain restrictive will depend on how much inflation and inflation expectations are moving down, and that will depend on how much demand is slowing, supply challenges are being resolved, and price pressures are easing,” Mester said in a speech before a group of economists in New York.

The Fed in late March raised rates by a quarter percentage point, to between 4.75% and 5%. The decision was haunted by banking sector troubles that led policymakers to say that a tightening in financial conditions would likely weigh on economic activity.

“I was very comfortable with moving ahead” with the rate rise, given that authorities had taken steps to manage risks coming from banking sector troubles, Mester said in remarks following her speech.

At the policy meeting, officials also penciled in a single additional rate rise for this year, as the Fed continues to boost the cost of short-term borrowing in a bid to lower inflation.

In her remarks, Mester, who does not have a vote on the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee this year, said, “My forecast is similar to the modal forecasts of FOMC participants released two weeks ago, although I see somewhat more persistent inflation pressures than the median forecast among participants.”

She also pushed back on market views that the Fed will need to cut rates much sooner than central bankers currently expect. “Can I come up with scenarios that would have the Fed cutting rates? Yes. Is it my modal forecast? No.”

Mester expressed confidence that banking sector woes should ultimately prove contained.

“The US banking system is sound and resilient,” she said. “The stresses experienced in the banking system in March have eased, but the Fed continues to carefully monitor conditions and is prepared to take further steps as necessary to ensure financial stability.”

In her remarks, Mester said she expects growth and hiring to slow and inflation pressures to ease.

There should be a “meaningful improvement” in inflation with price pressures easing from their current 5% year-over-year increase to 3.75% this year and 2% by 2025, Mester said.

She said growth should slow to below-trend levels this year before ticking up next year. Unemployment, now at 3.6%, should rise to between 4.5% and 4.75% by the close of 2023, she said. — Reuters

WASHINGTON – The US unveiled $2.6 billion worth of military assistance that includes three air surveillance radars, anti-tank rockets and fuel trucks, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday, as Ukraine prepares a spring offensive against invading Russian forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday told the US National Governors Association that the United States could protect its values by helping Ukraine.

“Our cooperation will allow for the new enhancement of your security, for our economy and yours, for jobs in both our countries,” Zelenskiy said by video link.

“The main thing is not to lose time, not to lose the chance we have. Act now, help now. Ukrainians act so that Americans don’t have to fight – and together we gain new strength for our countries,” he continued.

The Russian embassy in Washington reacted to the announcement by accusing the United States of wanting to drag out the conflict as long as possible, Russian news agency TASS said.

“The decision to supply weapons to Kyiv is a step towards escalating the Ukrainian crisis and increasing the number of civilian casualties,” it cited an embassy statement as saying.

The weapons aid package was comprised of $2.1 billion from Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funding which allows President Joe Biden’s administration to buy weapons from industry rather than from US weapons stocks.

The USAI package included additional munitions for NASAMS air defenses that the US and allies have given to Kyiv, precision aerial munitions, Soviet-era GRAD rockets, anti-tank rockets, armored bridging systems used in assaults, and 105 fuel trailers, along with funding for training and maintenance.

The remaining $500 million came from Presidential Drawdown Authority funds, which allows the president to take from current US stocks in an emergency.

That segment of the package included a half a dozen types of munitions, including munitions for Patriot air defense systems, tank munitions, and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).

Last month, Leopard 2 battle tanks pledged by Germany and Portugal reached Ukraine. The package announced on Tuesday includes 61 heavy fuel tankers and recovery vehicles to help disabled heavy equipment like tanks.

The US has now pledged more than $35.2 billion worth of security assistance to Ukraine since the Feb. 24, 2022, invasion. On Monday, Ambassador Julianne Smith, the US permanent representative to NATO, said that Washington expects Ukraine “to put forward or begin some sort of their own spring offensive in the weeks ahead.” — Reuters

WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday it remains to be seen whether artificial intelligence (AI) is dangerous, but underscored that technology companies had a responsibility to ensure their products were safe before making them public.

Biden told science and technology advisers that AI could help in addressing disease and climate change, but it was also important to address potential risks to society, national security and the economy.

“Tech companies have a responsibility, in my view, to make sure their products are safe before making them public,” he said at the start of a meeting of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). When asked if AI was dangerous, he said, “It remains to be seen. It could be.”

He spoke on the same day his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, surrendered in New York over charges stemming from a probe into hush money paid to a porn star.

Biden declined to comment on Trump’s legal woes, and Democratic strategists say his focus on governing will create a politically advantageous split screen of sorts as his former rival, a Republican, deals with his legal challenges.

The president said social media had already illustrated the harm that powerful technologies can do without the right safeguards.

“Absent safeguards, we see the impact on the mental health and self-images and feelings and hopelessness, especially among young people,” Biden said.

He reiterated a call for Congress to pass bipartisan privacy legislation to put limits on personal data that technology companies collect, ban advertising targeted at children, and to prioritize health and safety in product development.

Shares of companies that employ AI dropped sharply before Biden’s meeting, although the broader market was also selling off on Tuesday.

Shares of AI software company C3.ai Inc were down 24%, more than halving a four-session winning streak of nearly 40% through Monday. Thailand security firm Guardforce AI fell 29%, data analytics firm BigBear.ai was down 16% and conversation intelligence company SoundHound AI was down 13% late on Tuesday.

AI is becoming a hot topic for policy makers.

The tech ethics group Center for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy has asked the US Federal Trade Commission to stop OpenAI from issuing new commercial releases of GPT-4, which has wowed and appalled users with its human-like abilities to generate written responses to requests.

Democratic US Senator Chris Murphy has urged society to pause as it considers the ramifications of AI.

Last year the Biden administration released a blueprint “Bill of Rights” to help ensure users’ rights are protected as technology companies design and develop AI systems. — Reuters

LOS ANGELES – China, Taiwan, and the United States all share a common interest in ensuring this week’s California stopover by Taiwan’s president gets the focus each thinks it deserves, but without setting off a new crisis.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is due in Los Angeles on Wednesday when she will meet US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the first such meeting on US soil.

It is sure to elicit a forceful reaction from Beijing, which considers Taiwan part of its territory. China’s military conducted large-scale exercises, fired missiles over Taiwan and cut military contacts with Washington after McCarthy’s predecessor Nancy Pelosi visited the self-governed island last August.

But China’s response this time may be less extreme. The US side and Taiwan have both taken steps to make the trip less provocative for China’s leaders, sources familiar with the planning say. These include holding the Tsai-McCarthy meeting in California rather than closer to Washington or in Taiwan itself, and setting up an agenda for Tsai with few public appearances.

China has a strong incentive to temper its reaction at a moment when it is trying to rebuild ties with Europe and as Taiwan prepares for an early 2024 presidential election, analysts say.

McCarthy, as House speaker, is third in line to the US leadership and he has said publicly that he does not rule out a future visit to Taiwan.

Xu Xueyuan, charge d’affaires at China’s Washington embassy, said last week that McCarthy meeting Tsai “could lead to another serious confrontation in the China-US relationship.” On Tuesday China’s foreign ministry said it would “closely monitor” the meeting and “resolutely defend” Chinese sovereignty.

Jacob Stokes of Washington’s Center for a New American Security think tank said it was “clear that Taipei and Washington — as well as Beijing to some extent — are trying to carefully manage both the substance and optics of President Tsai’s transit.”

Washington has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but is bound by law to provide it with the means to defend itself. Beijing has never renounced using force to bring Taiwan under its control and Western officials fear a conflict over the island is increasingly likely.

Tsai’s Los Angeles stop comes after a 48-hour stopover in New York last week en route to Central America to visit two of Taiwan’s few remaining diplomatic allies.

LOW PROFILE

A US official told Reuters the State Department had negotiated the US portions of Tsai’s trip carefully with her team to ensure, among other things, that the New York stop would be low profile and do little to provoke Beijing.

There was a similar discussion for the California leg, according to a person familiar with the planning for the McCarthy meeting.

“The Taiwanese said ‘Let’s go low-key,’ said the person, adding that Tsai and her ruling Democratic Progressive Party are concerned about the impact on next year’s presidential election in Taiwan.

Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang party (KMT) favors stable relations with China and some analysts believe soaring tensions between Taipei and Beijing would favor the KMT.

Tsai’s New York activities were largely closed to the media and in press briefings US officials have sought to portray her stopovers as routine.

Asked about the planning, a State Department spokesperson said Tsai’s transit was “consistent with longstanding US practice, consistent with the unofficial nature of our relations with Taiwan,” and China should “not use it as a pretext to overreact.”

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, which represents Taiwan’s interests in the United States, also did not comment on trip details but said the transit was “in line with long standing practice.”

BEIJING’S CALCULATION

China’s ruling Communist Party has its own considerations that could moderate its reaction.

With an eye the Taiwan election, China invited former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou of the KMT party for a visit coinciding with Tsai’s US stopovers.

And this week Beijing also hosts French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as China seeks to improve its strained relations with Europe.

A European official said the European visits may temper Beijing’s reaction given Chinese President Xi Jinping is trying to present itself as a peacemaker in Ukraine.

“It would look very bad for Xi in European eyes if he staged more war games around Taiwan,” the official said, while a Taipei-based Asian diplomat said Beijing would also not want to embarrass Ma with war games.

“Beijing does indeed have multiple audiences to consider,” said Douglas Paal, a former US representative in Taiwan.

“The tough calibration will be for China to find something that signals displeasure with Tsai meeting a (House) Speaker for the first time on American soil, while not looking insane in reacting as strongly as when Pelosi became the first speaker to travel to Taiwan.”

Ivan Kanapathy, a former US National Security Council staffer for Asia, said Beijing would hope with Ma’s visit to convince Taiwanese that closer ties with China would bring stability and prosperity and that it was also trying to resuscitate European foreign investment.

“Taken together, this means that further retaliation will likely be relatively mild,” he said. — Reuters