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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Luca Ittimani

Afternoon Update: Donald Trump found guilty; ‘leniency over’ for e-scooters; and why a Bridgerton star is facing backlash

Donald Trump walks to make comments to members of the media after being found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Donald Trump walks to make comments to members of the media after being found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Photograph: Seth Wenig/Reuters

Good afternoon.

Donald Trump has been found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in a criminal hush-money scheme to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.

The New York jury deliberated for less than 12 hours in the unprecedented criminal trial against the former US president before delivering the guilty verdict, which Trump will appeal.

Could Trump go to prison? Guardian reporters have analysed what happens next and what the verdict means for Trump’s campaign.

In Australia, the Nationals senator Matt Canavan said the prosecution was a “witch-hunt” while the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, said Trump was “unfit to be president”. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the verdict was “the global story of the day” but refused to weigh in.

You can watch Guardian Australia’s whiteboard explainer of the hush-money trial here and listen to our US reporters discuss it on the Full Story podcast.

Top news

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  • E-scooter riders fined in Melbourne crackdown | Victorian police have warned “the time for leniency is over” after fining almost 300 riders for travelling on footpaths or without helmets in a two-day blitz.

  • Queensland premier calls on Townsville mayor to resign | The Queensland premier says the embattled mayor of Townsville should resign after he claimed he had exaggerated his military service due to “100-plus” concussions. The Townsville mayor and former One Nation candidate, Troy Thompson, was referred to the state’s Crime and Corruption Commission last week after allegations he embellished his military record by stating he spent five years in the army, including time with “SAS Swanbourne”.

  • OpenAI says Russian and Israeli groups used it for disinformation | OpenAI on Thursday released its first ever report on how its artificial intelligence tools are being used for covert influence operations, revealing that the company had disrupted disinformation campaigns originating from Russia, China, Israel and Iran.

  • Biden allows Ukraine to fire US-supplied weapons into Russia | Joe Biden has changed policy to allow Ukraine to use some US-made weapons over part of the Russian border. The change is meant to enable Kyiv’s forces to defend the city of Kharkiv and prohibits long-range attacks inside of Russia.

  • ‘Purge’ of Labour leftwingers must end, Keir Starmer told | Keir Starmer is under mounting pressure to end what his critics say is a “purge” of those on the Labour left before a meeting of the party’s governing body next week.

  • Cut in ship pollution sparked global heating spurt | The slashing of pollution from shipping in 2020 led to a big “termination shock” that is estimated to have pushed the rate of global heating to double the long-term average, according to research.

  • BoM forecasts a warmer than usual winter across Australia | The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted an 80% chance of above median temperatures across the country, with capitals likely to see days in the highest 20% of records for the season. The unusually warm weather will follow an autumn of above-average temperatures for Australia.

Full Story

Trump guilty on all counts – so what happens next?

Donald Trump has made history again, becoming the first US president, sitting or former, to be a convicted criminal. Late on Thursday a New York jury found him guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal. Within minutes of leaving the courtroom, Trump said he would appeal.

On a historic night for US politics, Politics Weekly America host Jonathan Freedland speaks to Guardian US reporter Sam Levine about what the hush-money trial verdict will mean – both for Trump and for the election in November.

What they said …

***

“How many foursomes have you done? […] I mean, what is the point of the conversation we’re having?” – Baz Luhrmann, mid-interview with a TikToker who didn’t know who he was

The Australian director discussed marriage and group sex in an impromptu video with Sydney comedian Georgia Godworth, who was seemingly unaware of who she was speaking to.

In numbers

Florida’s Bruhat Soma won in a dramatic tiebreaker, correctly spelling words such as brouette, giclee and hyporcheme.

Before bed read

Nicola Coughlan has faced backlash for her character Penelope Featherington’s sex scenes in TV show Bridgerton. Is it because cousins make love? Or because someone’s wooden tooth fall out at an inopportune moment? No, the issue is that Nicola is a little bit fat.

Rebecca Shaw dreams of the day when we no longer talk have to talk about a funny and outspoken celebrity’s very normal-sized body.

Daily word game

Today’s starter word is: CHAR. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.

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And check out the full list of our local and international newsletters, including The Stakes, your guide to the twists and turns of the US presidential election.

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