Middle East Experience

Since taking office in January 2017, President Donald Trump has been besieged by civil lawsuits and criminal investigations of his inner circle.With Democrat Joe Biden capturing the presidency on Saturday, according to all major US television networks, Trump’s legal woes are likely to deepen because in January he will lose the protections the US legal system affords to a sitting president, former prosecutors said.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Here are some of the lawsuits and criminal probes that may haunt Trump as he leaves office.A New York prosecutorManhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who enforces New York state laws, has been conducting a criminal investigation into Trump and the Trump Organization for more than two years.The probe originally focused on hush money payments that Trump’s former lawyer and self-described fixer Michael Cohen paid before the 2016 election to two women who said they had sexual encounters with Trump, which the president has denied.Vance, a Democrat, has suggested in recent court filings that his probe is now broader and could focus on bank, tax and insurance fraud, as well as falsification of business records.Republican Trump has called Vance’s case politically motivated harassment.The case has drawn attention because of Vance’s efforts to obtain eight years of Trump’s tax returns. In July, the U.S. Supreme Court, denying Trump’s bid to keep the returns under wraps, said the president was not immune from state criminal probes while in office, but could raise other defenses to Vance’s subpoena.Vance will likely ultimately prevail in obtaining Trump’s financial records, legal experts said.The U.S. Justice Department has said a sitting president cannot be indicted. Vance is not bound by that policy because he is not a federal prosecutor, but he may still have been reluctant to charge Trump because of uncertainty over whether the case was constitutional, said Harry Sandick, a former prosecutor in New York.“Those concerns will disappear when Trump leaves office,” Sandick said.The investigation poses a threat to Trump, said Corey Brettschneider, a professor of political science at Brown University.“The fact that they have issued the subpoenas and have litigated all the way to the Supreme Court suggests that this is a very serious criminal investigation of the president,” Brettschneider said.Justice department probe?Trump could conceivably face a criminal prosecution brought by the US Department of Justice, led by a new US Attorney General.Some legal experts have said Trump could face federal income tax evasion charges, pointing to a New York Times report that Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017.“You’ve got the stuff that has come out of the New York Times that has all kind of indicia of tax fraud,” Nick Akerman, a lawyer at Dorsey & Whitney and a former federal prosecutor.Akerman cautioned that it is not possible to know for certain until seeing all of the evidence.Trump has rejected findings from the Times report, tweeting that he had paid many millions of dollars in taxes but was entitled to depreciation and tax credits.Such a prosecution would be deeply controversial, and the Justice Department could decide charging Trump is not in the public interest even if there is evidence of criminal wrongdoing.Biden has approached that question very carefully, saying he would not interfere with his Justice Department’s judgment.Biden told National Public Radio in August that pursuing criminal charges against his predecessor would be “a very, very unusual thing and probably not very - how can I say it? - good for democracy.”A lawyer for Trump did not return requests for comment.New York civil fraud investigationNew York’s Attorney General, Letitia James, has an active tax fraud investigation into Trump and his family company, the Trump Organization.The inquiry by James, a Democrat, began after Trump’s former lawyer Cohen told Congress the president inflated asset values to save money on loans and insurance and deflated them to reduce real estate taxes.The Trump Organization has argued the case is politically motivated.The inquiry is a civil investigation, meaning it could result in financial penalties but not jail time.Trump’s son, Eric Trump, an executive vice president for the firm, was deposed in October because of what the attorney general described as his close involvement in one or more transactions being reviewed.E. Jean CarrollE. Jean Carroll, a former Elle magazine writer, sued Trump for defamation in 2019 after the president denied Carroll’s allegation that he raped her in the 1990s and accused her of lying to drum up sales for a book.In August, a state judge allowed the case to go forward, meaning Carroll’s lawyers could seek a DNA sample from Trump to match against a dress she said she wore at the New York City department store.A federal judge in Manhattan rejected a bid by the U.S. Justice Department to substitute the federal government for Trump as defendant in the case. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said that Trump did not make his statements about Carroll in the scope of his employment as president.Barbara McQuade, a law professor at the University of Michigan, said she expected Biden’s Justice Department to abandon the effort to shield Trump from the case.“It would seem unlikely for DOJ to continue to pursue what I see as a frivolous argument in a new administration,” said McQuade, a former federal prosecutor.Summer ZerovsTrump also faces a lawsuit by Summer Zervos, a 2005 contestant on Trump’s reality television show “The Apprentice,” who says Trump kissed her against her will at a 2007 meeting and later groped her at a hotel.After Trump called Zervos a liar, she sued him for defamation.Trump said he is immune from the lawsuit because he is president.The case here has been on hold while a New York state appeals court reviewed a March 2019 decision that Trump had to face the case while he is in office. Trump's immunity argument would no longer apply once he is out of office.Read more:Trump doesn't concede to President-elect Biden, says election 'far from over'Joe Biden defeats Donald Trump, becomes 46th president of United StatesTrump refuses to admit defeat, continues court battles as Biden prevails in election
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: US citizen Donald Trump will face his own legal woes as he leaves the White House

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden for winning the US presidential election on Sunday, while also thanking predecessor Donald Trump.“Congratulations @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. Joe, we’ve had a long & warm personal relationship for nearly 40 years, and I know you as a great friend of Israel. I look forward to working with both of you to further strengthen the special alliance between the U.S. and Israel.Netanyahu also thanked Trump, his close personal and political ally, in a follow up tweet.“Thank you @realDonaldTrump for the friendship you have shown the state of Israel and me personally, for recognizing Jerusalem and the Golan, for standing up to Iran, for the historic peace accords and for bringing the American-Israeli alliance to unprecedented heights.”Netanyahu's close relationship with Trump has led some to speculate that he may struggle to build a similar rapport with a Biden administration in the White House.Netanyahu had a notoriously difficult relationship with President Barack Obama, during which time Biden was vice-president.Biden has pledged to reengage with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal - fiercely opposed by Netanyahu - and is considered to be more likely to criticize Israel's settlement policy in the West Bank than Trump.Read more: Incoming US President Biden may differ with Israel’s Netanyahu on Iran, settlementsIsraeli, Palestinian reactions to BidenWhile Netanyahu's response to the election result came almost a day after many Arab leaders congrulated Biden, several Israeli ministers did tweet their support immediately.Israeli Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn - a member of Netanyahu’s ruling coalition belonging to the centrist Blue and White party - swiftly congratulated Biden.“Congratulations to US President-elect Joe Biden! Congratulations to Kamala Harris, the first woman to serve as vice president and congratulations to the American people on the proper democratic process,” Nissenkorn said on Twitter.Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid also offered his congratulations to the Democrat on Twitter.“The relationship between our countries is based on deeply held values and critical shared interests which I know will be at the heart of your administration,” Lapid wrote.Like Netanyahu, Palestinian National Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas also did not comment immediately on the election.Abbas' government cut off ties with the Trump administration following the US decision to move its embassy to the disputed city of Jerusalem.Other Palestinians expressed mixed feelings at Biden's election.“We don't expect miraculous transformation, but at least we expect the dangerous destructive policies of Trump to totally stop,” Hanan Ashrawi, a veteran negotiator and member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee, told Reuters.“It is time to change course,” she added. “They should change course and deal with the Palestinian question on the bases of legality, equality and justice and not on the basis of responding to special interests of pro-Israeli lobbies or whatever.”Read more: Palestinians welcome Trump exit, but are cautious about newly elected BidenWith Reuters.
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Israeli PM Netanyahu congratulates ‘great friend of Israel’ Joe Biden, thanks Trump

Al-Monitor spent the day with Muhannad Salah and his family, some of the few remaining residents of the historic Shushahla village in Area C that has struggled to survive amid settlement expansion.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Families of ancient Palestinian village struggle to survive settler attacks

In a lengthy interview with Al-Monitor, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Ahmed al-Mandhari warns the coronavirus "remains a cause for concern," as he discussed his organization’s efforts to help the countries of the region cope with the pandemic.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: WHO regional director says COVID-19 threat far from over, despite vaccine progress

Abdelkrim Zeghileche, head of the web-based Radio-Sarbacane, was sentenced in August to two years in prison for..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Algerian court reduces jail sentence for journalist

Jean-Yves Le Drian met with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and will also meet Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, Egypt's highest Muslim authority..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: France FM in Egypt affirms 'deep respect for Islam'

Described as a noble act by many religions, organ donation continues to save more lives. A deceased organ donor’s selfless act has helped save the lives of three people awaiting organ transplants in the first procedures performed since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) announced on Saturday. The deceased, a 26-year-old ..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Deceased organ donor helps save three lives – Doha News

He left without taking his passport, wallet and his mobile phone. All he had was a black cloth mask..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Indian job seeker in Dubai missing for nine days found

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri Sunday congratulated Joe Biden for his election as US president, saying he was confident the friendship between the two countries would continue..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Hariri congratulates Biden, hails 'historic friendship' between two countries

Sources close to Ben Ari said she was fully satisfied with her decision.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Lead prosecutor in Netanyahu cases not running for state attorney post