A former Kremlin official has said that Putin needs Trump to win the Ukraine war. More information in the news blog.
The USA will elect a new president in November. The party primaries are currently underway, at the end of which one candidate will be nominated. It is considered likely that the Democrats will become the incumbent Joe Biden and the Republicans put up the former president Donald Trump will be sent into the race. Here you will find an overview of the polls and the US electoral system; you can read all new developments here:
Former Kremlin employee: “Trump is Putin’s last hope”
5:42 p.m.: A former speechwriter for Russian President Vladimir Putin claims that, if in doubt, Putin will intervene in the US election campaign to help Donald Trump win. “Trump is Putin’s last hope,” says former speechwriter Abbas Gallyamov to the US newspaper Daily Express US. Gallyamov wrote speeches for Putin when he was Russian prime minister from 2008 to 2012. But now Gallyamov is a critic of the Kremlin and lives in Israel.
According to him, Putin is under pressure from the Russian elite. They expected the Russian president to do something to win the war against Ukraine. If Trump loses the election, Putin will lose everything, says Gallyamov.
A week ago, the Kremlin chief said on Russian television that he would prefer Joe Biden as president to Donald Trump: “He (Biden) is the more experienced, he is predictable, he is an old-school politician,” Putin said in an interview for Russian television. But he wants to work with any president that US citizens elect. Here you can read more about it.
Economics about Trump: “Everyone has to arm themselves”
8:07 a.m.: From the perspective of economist Ulrike Malmendier, if Donald Trump wins the US presidential election, Europe could face new trouble in transatlantic trade. During his previous presidency, Trump had already relied on “tariffs and trade wars,” she said in an interview with the Reuters news agency. This protectionist strategy has damaged the US export economy and has not kept jobs in the country: “The big problem is that all of these results will be of no use to convince him that it is not a good direction,” says the in the Professor working in the USA about Trump. As long as it works in a populist manner and this strategy leads to approval and vote shares, America First supporters will continue to rely on it.
When it comes to tariffs, it can affect all industries, says Malmendier. She could certainly imagine that the automotive industry could also be targeted by Trump. This is particularly to be expected given the change towards more climate-friendly drives: The premise under a US President Trump could be to be at the forefront of electromobility and to squeeze “every last cent” out of conventional combustion engines: “I wouldn’t single out any industry “I think everyone has to prepare themselves,” she added, referring to possible trade conflicts with the USA after the election.
Report: Trump misses deadline to object to trial
3:53 a.m.: According to a media report, former US President Donald Trump is said to have failed to observe an objection deadline in a legal proceeding against him. The proceedings concern his alleged involvement in the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
As NBC reports, Trump’s lawyers are said to have not used the appeal deadline, which ended on Thursday, February 15, to assert their objection. This would have resulted in the civil case being referred to the US Supreme Court. In the proceedings, Trump referred to his immunity, which in his opinion protected him from prosecution.
Nevertheless, the appeals court announced that Trump still had further opportunities to object to the proceedings in three cases. These are charges that were brought by police officers and members of the US Congress.
