Ultra-wealthy Republican donors are rallying behind former US President Donald Trump following his historic trial and criminal conviction. 

Trump, the Republican candidate for this November's White House election, was found guilty of falsifying business records to conceal hush money paid to former adult-film star Stormy Daniels. 

While he has lagged behind Joe Biden and the Democrats' fundraising efforts, the conviction injected new life into his electoral bid - with his campaign announcing that it raised nearly $53m (£41.6m) in just 24 hours after the verdict. 

Israeli-American casino billionaire Miriam Adelson is expected to announce a multi-million dollar boost to Trump's campaign this week. 

According to US media reports, Mrs Adelson will donate to a political action committee called Preserve America. Political action committees can spend unlimited sums of money backing candidates for elected office. 

While it is unclear how much she plans to spend, Politico and other US news outlets have reported that the contribution is expected to exceed the $90m donation to Preserve America by Mrs Adelson and her late husband, Sheldon, ahead of the 2020 election.

Others are likely to follow suit. In the hours following the verdict last week, a number of wealthy billionaires posted messages of support for Trump. 

Among them was Silicon Valley investor David Sacks, who posted on X, formerly Twitter, that there "is now only one issue in this election: whether the American people will stand for the USA becoming a Banana Republic". 

On 6 June, Mr Sacks and fellow investor Chamath Palihapitiya, are planning to host a fundraiser for Trump in San Francisco. Attendees are reportedly being asked to contribute as much as $300,000. 

Another potential donor, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, is expected to make an announcement on X in the coming days about supporting Trump. 

While three years ago Mr Ackman said that Trump "should apologise to all Americans" in the wake of the US Capitol riot, the financier has since softened his tone and offered words of support to the former president online. 

Blackstone Group CEO Steve Schwarzman - one of the most prominent billionaires on Wall Street - has already announced he will support Trump in the election. 

Like Mr Ackman, Mr Schwarzman had previously distanced himself from the ex-president.

But in late May, Mr Schwarzman said that he shared "the concern of most Americans that our economic, immigration and foreign policies are taking the country in the wrong direction". 

He also said the "dramatic rise of antisemitism has led me to focus on the consequences of the upcoming election with greater urgency". 

Other prominent billionaires who have thrown their support behind Trump so far include hedge fund founders John Paulson and Robert Mercer, as well as fracking pioneer Harold Hamm and casino mogul Steve Wynn. 

Billionaire investor Nelson Peltz - who said after the US Capitol riot that he regretted voting for Trump in 2020 - has had a change of heart and hosted the former president at his oceanfront Florida mansion in March.

Elon Musk, on the other hand, has previously said he will not be donating to either candidate this electoral cycle, although he does plan to host a livestreamed town-hall style event with Trump. 

Similarly, billionaire tech financier and prominent Republican donor Peter Thiel has reportedly turned down requests to donate to the Trump campaign and was said not to be planning any contributions this electoral cycle. 

Shaun Maguire, a partner at prominent venture capital firm Sequoia, announced a $300,000 donation to Trump within minutes of last week's verdict, arguing that the trial was unfair. 

In a lengthy post on X, Mr Maguire outlined a number of reasons for supporting Trump, including the Biden administration's handling of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and "weakness" in the Middle East. 

The various legal cases against Trump, Mr Maguire added, also served as a "radicalising experience". 

"There's a real chance President Trump is convicted of felony charges and sentenced to prison," he wrote. "Bluntly, that's part of why I'm supporting him. I believe our justice system is being weaponised against him."

To date, the Biden campaign has largely surpassed the Trump campaign as far as fundraising. 

By the end of April, the campaign had a record $192m cash-on-hand, compared to the Trump campaign's $93.1m. 

That same month, however, the Trump campaign raised $76m, surpassing their Democratic rivals for the first time in this election cycle. The Biden campaign raised $51m in April, sharply down from the $90m-plus raised a month earlier.

But despite all the fundraising, Professor Justin Buchler, a campaign finance expert from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, told the BBC: "Money is not going to be determinative. 

"The primary role of money in a campaign is to increase name recognition. Everybody already knows who Donald Trump and Joe Biden are." 

A review of data from CBS, the BBC's US partner, has found that Trump's fundraising tends to enjoy a boost during key moments in his various legal battles. 

Before last week's conviction, his single best fundraising days were 4 April last year - the day of his arraignment in New York City - as well as 25 August, when a mugshot of him taken in Georgia was released. 

The BBC has contacted the Trump and Biden campaigns for comment on the fundraising.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckvvlv3lewxo

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BY RON PAUL

I’ve long criticized our current US justice system – on all levels – as becoming much more about political justice than blind justice. The bizarre trial and conviction of former President Donald Trump last week on 34 felonies only reinforces my concerns.

The New York District Attorney, Soros-backed Alvin Bragg, has been notorious for downgrading felony charges against others to misdemeanor charges. According to a recent article in the Daily Mail, Bragg had downgraded 60 percent of felony cases to lesser charges, resulting in violent criminals being released on the streets and a crime wave across New York City.

But when it came to Donald Trump, Bragg lurched in the other direction, upgrading what normally would have been misdemeanor charges against anyone else to 34 felony charges against the former president. How can this sudden “about-face” be explained other than politics?

Jonathan Turley, who is no fan of Donald Trump, has been covering the trial closely and has found more than a little disturbing the exuberant celebrations of Trump’s conviction among the mainstream media and his political opponents. Recently, he wrote:

“The conviction of former President Donald Trump in Manhattan of 34 felonies produced citywide celebrations [which] extended to the media, where former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace that it was ‘majestic day’ and ‘a day to celebrate.’ When I left the courthouse after watching the verdict come in, I was floored by the celebrations outside by both the public and some of the media.”

Regardless of one’s view of Donald Trump, it is a disturbing development in our society when justice is treated more like a football game where you root for your “team” rather than a way of preserving our freedom and liberty in an equal way for all.

The real goal of the trial was political. None other than George Soros’ son Alex let the cat out of the bag recently when he advised fellow Trump-haters how to take advantage of the trial result. He posted on Twitter after the verdict, “Democrats should refer to Trump as a convicted felon at every opportunity. Repetition is the key to a successful message and we want people to wrestle with the notion of hiring a convicted felon for the most important job in the country!”

It was not about justice in any way. It was all about being able to call the likely Republican presidential nominee a “felon” so as to undermine his support among voters. In other words, election interference.

The market has a way of prevailing, however. The repeated attempts at using “lawfare” to remove Trump from the political scene have all backfired and actually have served to make the former president even more popular among voters. Immediately after Trump’s conviction on the 34 charges he began sending out fundraising appeals based on his “persecution” by the state of New York. As of this writing, he has, according to press reports, raised over $200 million for his campaign.

The politicization of justice is not limited to the Democratic Party. The wind sown by political opponents of Donald Trump may well become the whirlwind they reap when their own political opponents are in positions of power. When that is the case, we all lose.

https://ronpaulinstitute.org/the-trump-trial-and-our-injustice-system/

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On June 3, the former Marine Corps intelligence officer and Sputnik contributor was removed by US Customs and Border Protection officers from a plane bound for Russia, where he was to attend the 2024 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

The US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) does not have the authority to seize passports without probable cause, former Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter told Sputnik, commenting on Monday's incident.

Ritter recalled that as he prepared to board the plane, he was pulled out of line by three armed CBP officers who took control of his passport. He said that when he asked them "on what authority," they cited orders from the US Department of State.

"They provided no warrant, no documentation, nor did they provide a receipt for my passport. They provided no explanation of what they were doing. They just did it," the Sputnik contributor pointed out.

Ritter stressed that his constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment were violated because the document requires CBP officers to provide a warrant or some other form of authority upon which to conduct the seizure of his passport.

"Under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution and others, I'm free to travel. The US government cannot restrict my travel without specific justification, none of which was articulated to me and none of which I believe exists. So it's a violation of my Fifth Amendment," the former Marine Corps intelligence officer added.

He suggested that "the real reason" behind all this "appears to be to prevent" him from participating in the SPIEF 2024 and to prevent the work he planned to do as a journalist with his documentary film crew. According to him, he was planning to make a documentary about "the reality of Russia".

"This is my First Amendment right under freedom of speech and a free press. And this right was likewise violated by the US government, by the Biden administration," Ritter noted.

The Sputnik contributor recounted that he had traveled to Russia "two times in the last year using this same passport," and that on each time, the US government was notified in advance of his intent to travel and of his itinerary.

In an apparent reference to his planned trip to Russia to attend SPIEF 2024, Ritter said he was "not off on a secret mission" and that the US government "knew full well" what he was up to.

"And this is why I believe they acted in the way they did. This has a chilling effect, not just on me and the work I was doing, but on all Americans who choose to speak out against the policies of the United States that they disagree with and to travel abroad at the same time that they are criticizing the US government. And what the US government is saying is that we can control your movement. We can control your life. We can punish you for what you've been saying that we disagree with," the former Marine Corps intelligence officer emphasized.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240605/scott-ritter-ponders-on-real-reason-behind-us-move-to-stop-him-from-traveling-to-russia--1118773670.html

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More than 17,000 participants from 130 countries have already confirmed their attendance at the event, which will be held in St. Petersburg - Russia’s “northern capital” – between June 5 and June 8.

The clock is already ticking for the beginning of the 2024 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), touted as one of the biggest and most important business events in the world, which has been held annually since 1997.

This year, the forum’s main theme is the Foundations of a Multipolar World – the Formation of New Areas of Growth.

According to the SPIEF’s website, "Over the past 26 years, the forum has cemented its status as a leading international event focusing on key issues on the global economic agenda, providing a platform for participants to exchange best practices and expertise in the interests of sustainable development."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240604/spief-2024-what-will-be-on-forums-radar-1118763843.html

SEE ALSO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xumhwhm7848

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xV5qVEV-HY

Col. (ret.) Lawrence Wilkerson's last positions in government were as Secretary of State Colin Powell's Chief of Staff (2002-05), Associate Director of the State Department's Policy Planning staff under the directorship of Ambassador Richard N. Haass, and member of that staff responsible for East Asia and the Pacific, political-military and legislative affairs (2001-02).
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Before serving at the State Department, Wilkerson served 31 years in the U.S. Army. During that time, he was a member of the faculty of the U.S. Naval War College (1987 to 1989), Special Assistant to General Powell when he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-93), and Director and Deputy Director of the U.S. Marine Corps War College at Quantico, Virginia (1993-97). Wilkerson retired in 1997 and began work as an advisor to General Powell. He has also taught national security affairs at the George Washington University.

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