Trump to turn himself in, facing historic day in New York court

Former U.S. President Trump indicted by Manhattan grand jury, in New York City

Donald Trump, the former U.S. president and front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, will be formally charged on Tuesday in a watershed moment ahead of the 2024 presidential election as his supporters and detractors noisily rallied outside the Manhattan courthouse where he will appear.

Trump, 76, is the first sitting or former president to face criminal charges. He was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury last week in a case stemming from a 2016 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, though the specific charges have yet to be disclosed. Trump has said he is innocent and is due to plead not guilty.

"Today (Tuesday) is the day that a ruling political party ARRESTS its leading opponent for having committed NO CRIME," Trump, who flew to New York from his Florida home on Monday, said in a fundraising email sent out on Tuesday morning.

The arraignment, where Trump will be in court to hear charges and have a chance to enter a plea, was planned for 2:15 p.m. (1815 GMT).

On a cool and sunny early spring day in the most-populous U.S. city, Trump supporters and detractors were separated by barricades set up by police to try to keep order, though there were some confrontations.

"Let's keep it civil, folks," a police officer told them.

Hundreds of Trump supporters, at a park across from the Manhattan courthouse, cheered and blew whistles. His critics held signs including one of Trump dressed in a striped jail uniform behind bars and another that read, "Lock Him Up."

A limousine carrying a Trump impersonator wearing a red hat and giving a thumbs-up gesture drove past the scene near Trump Tower, flanked by a pickup truck flying pro-Trump flags.

Typically, people facing arraignment are fingerprinted and have mugshot photographs taken. The court appearance was likely to be brief.

"It won't be a long day in court," Joseph Tacopina, one of Trump's lawyers, said on ABC.

Yahoo News late on Monday reported that Trump would face 34 felony counts for falsification of business records.

Any trial is at least more than a year away, legal experts said. Being indicted or even convicted does not legally prevent Trump from running for president.

Anti-Trump protesters demonstrate facing Trump supporters outside Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on the day of former U.S. President Donald Trump's planned court appearance after his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury following a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, in New York City, U.S., April 4, 2023. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli

Five photographers will be admitted to the courtroom before the arraignment starts to take pictures for several minutes. Trump's lawyers had urged a judge to keep them out, arguing they would worsen "an already almost circus-like atmosphere."

The Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat who led the investigation, is set to give a news conference after the arraignment. Trump and his allies have portrayed the case as politically motivated.

TRUMP URGES VENUE CHANGE

In a social media post, Trump said Manhattan Criminal Court was a "very unfair venue" and urged that the case be moved to the New York City borough of Staten Island, which regularly votes Republican. It was unclear whether Trump's lawyers would argue in court on Tuesday for a change of venue.

Trump will return to Florida and deliver remarks from his Mar-a-Lago resort at 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday (0015 GMT on Wednesday), his office said.

Kim Britt, 69, was among the anti-Trump demonstrators.

"If anyone is above the law, then we're not going to get anywhere," said Britt, a retired nurse from Manhattan, holding a sign saying "Tick Tock Times Up!"

Bragg has faced harsh criticism from Trump and his office has received bomb threats in recent weeks. Security officials have said they were not aware of credible threats surrounding Trump's courtroom appearance.

Trump's lead has widened over rivals in the Republican Party's presidential nominating contest, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday, conducted after news broke that he would face criminal charges.

Some 48% of Republicans say they want Trump to be their party's presidential nominee, up from 44% last month. Second-place Florida Governor Ron DeSantis fell from 30% to around 19%. More than two-thirds of poll respondents said they believed that Trump paid hush money to Daniels, but half said they think the charges are politically motivated.

TRUMP FACES MULTIPLE LEGAL WOES

The Manhattan grand jury that indicted Trump heard evidence about a $130,000 payment to Daniels in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Daniels has said she was paid to keep silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump at a Lake Tahoe hotel in 2006.

Trump denies a sexual relationship but has acknowledged reimbursing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for the payment. In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance law violations and was sentenced to three years in prison. He testified in the Manhattan investigation last month.

Trump hired Todd Blanche, a prominent criminal defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, to join his legal team, two sources said.

Trump also face a separate criminal probe into whether he unlawfully tried to overturn his 2020 election defeat in the state of Georgia, and investigations by the Justice Department into the election and his handling of classified documents after leaving office.

LIVE UPDATES - Russian air defenses intercept three US-made HIMARS rockets in Ukraine operation

©EPA-EFE/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE, archive

Russian air defense forces intercepted three rockets of the US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system and destroyed three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Tuesday.

"Air defense capabilities intercepted three rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system, and also destroyed three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Krasnogorovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Kakhovka in the Kherson Region," the spokesman said.

Russian forces eliminate over 30 Ukrainian troops in Kupyansk area

Russian forces eliminated over 30 Ukrainian troops in the Kupyansk area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Kupyansk direction, aircraft and artillery of the western battlegroup inflicted damage on the Ukrainian army units in areas near the settlements of Dvurechnaya, Sinkovka and Berestovoye in the Kharkov Region and Stelmakhovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic. Over 30 Ukrainian personnel, two armored combat vehicles, a motor vehicle and a D-20 howitzer were destroyed," the spokesman said.

Russian forces eliminate 225 Ukrainian troops in Krasny Liman area

Russian forces eliminated roughly 225 Ukrainian troops in the Krasny Liman area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Krasny Liman direction, aircraft, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems of the battlegroup Center struck the Ukrainian army units near the settlements of Nevskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Yampolovka and Grigorovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.

The strikes eliminated as many as 225 Ukrainian personnel, three armored combat vehicles, a Gvozdika self-propelled artillery gun and a D-30 howitzer in that area in the past 24 hours, the general specified.

Russian forces destroy 65 Ukrainian troops in Donetsk area

Russian forces destroyed roughly 65 Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Donetsk direction, as many as 65 Ukrainian personnel, four armored combat vehicles, two motor vehicles and a D-30 howitzer were destroyed in the past 24 hours as a result of active operations by units, aircraft and artillery of the southern battlegroup," the spokesman said.

Russian forces destroy about 70 Ukrainian troops in southern Donetsk, Zaporozhye areas

Russian forces destroyed roughly 70 Ukrainian troops and a D-20 howitzer in the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye areas over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

In the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, operational/tactical and army aviation aircraft and artillery of the battlegroup East inflicted damage on the Ukrainian army units near the settlements of Ugledar and Novosyolka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Orekhov and Shcherbaki in the Zaporozhye Region, the spokesman specified.

"The enemy’s losses in those directions in the past 24 hours amounted to 70 Ukrainian personnel, two armored combat vehicles and a D-20 howitzer," the general said.

Russian forces eliminate 10 Ukrainian troops in Kherson area

Russian forces destroyed about 10 Ukrainian troops and two D-30 howitzers in the Kherson area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Kherson direction, as many as 10 Ukrainian personnel, two motor vehicles and two D-30 howitzers were destroyed as a result of damage inflicted on the enemy by firepower," the spokesman said.

Russian forces wipe out Ukrainian missile/artillery armament depot

Russian forces destroyed a missile/artillery armament depot and three artillery ammunition depots of the Ukrainian army over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"Three enemy artillery ammunition depots were obliterated in areas near the settlements of Ogurtsovo in the Kharkov Region, Kurakhovo in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Orekhov in the Zaporozhye Region. In the area of the settlement of Konstantinovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, a missile/artillery armament depot of the Ukrainian army was wiped out," the spokesman said.

Russian forces strike over 80 Ukrainian artillery units in past day

Russian forces struck over 80 Ukrainian artillery units in the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the past 24 hours, operational/tactical aircraft, missile troops and artillery of the Russian group of forces struck 83 Ukrainian artillery units at firing positions, manpower and equipment in 96 areas," the spokesman said.

Russian forces destroy over 4,500 field artillery guns in Ukraine operation Russian forces have destroyed over 4,500 Ukrainian field artillery guns and mortars over the period of the special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported.

"In all, the following targets have been destroyed since the start of the special military operation: 405 aircraft, 228 helicopters, 3,651 unmanned aerial vehicles, 415 surface-to-air missile systems, 8,534 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,078 multiple rocket launchers, 4,501 field artillery guns and mortars and 9,292 special military motor vehicles," the spokesman said.

Special operation, 3 April. Main:

▪️The fighting is going on in the central part of Artemovsk, Russian units have approached almost the railway station, Pushilin said;

▪️The volume of military assistance to Ukraine from NATO countries exceeded $65 billion, Stoltenberg said;

▪️Poland handed over several MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, the Office of the President said;

▪️Putin posthumously awarded military commissar Vladlen Tatarsky with the Order of Courage;

▪️The UN responded with "concern" to a report about an explosion in St. Petersburg, where military commander Tatarsky died, said a representative of the Secretary General of the organization;

▪️The case of the murder of military commissar Tatarsky was reclassified to a more serious article - about a terrorist attack, the Investigative Committee said, the suspect was detained;

▪️It has been established that the terrorist attack against Tatarsky was planned by the Ukrainian special services, the NAC reported;

▪️Kyiv supports terrorist actions and may be behind the murder of Tatarsky, like many other people since 2014 - that is why the special operation is being carried out, Peskov said;

▪️In a car explosion in Melitopol, the ex-head of the administration of the village Akimovka Zubarev was injured, his condition is assessed as serious, the emergency services of the region reported;

▪️Five wounded Ukrainian soldiers were repatriated to Ukraine today, Moskalkova said;

▪️Putin signed a decree on the creation of the state fund "Defenders of the Fatherland" to support the participants in the special operation.

Hungary’s Orban Tweets Encouraging Message to Trump as Arraignment Looms

©BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI

Last week, Donald Trump became the first former president in US history to be brought up on criminal charges. The charges reportedly center on the illegal use of campaign funds to make a hush money payment to a porn star. Trump has vociferously denied any wrongdoing, insisting the charges are part of a wider political “witch hunt” against him.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban expressed his support for Donald Trump on Monday, tweeting an image of the two men shaking hands and accompanying the photo with the words “Keep on fighting, Mr. President! We are with you, @realDonaldTrump.”

Keep on fighting, Mr. President! We are with you, @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/EZFMYHDRzl

— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) April 3, 2023

Orban is one of a handful of European leaders with whom Trump struck up a warm relationship during his presidency, with Trump giving the Hungarian leader the highest form of praise possible at a meeting in 2019, saying that Orban was “probably like me.”

The prime minister has not shied away from tweeting at his conservative comrade from across the Atlantic from time to time, seemingly ignoring the implications regarding Budapest’s relations with Washington and the current US president, Joe Biden.

Last year, Trump endorsed Orban ahead of Hungary’s parliamentary elections, saying the prime minister had his “complete support.” Orban, who joined Twitter only last October, returned the favor in a meme tweet, writing shortly after joining the social media platform that there was “one question” on his mind – “where is my good friend, @realDonald Trump?”

After my first day on Twitter, there’s one question on my mind. Where is my good friend, @realDonaldTrump? pic.twitter.com/vCzWfAy2sh

— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) October 11, 2022

Trump’s Twitter account was restored after a nearly two-year-long permaban was lifted by new Twitter boss Elon Musk in November, but Trump has yet to post, preferring his own platform – Truth Social.

Orban has used his Twitter presence to post a series of mostly English-language messages addressed to international audiences, including Hungary’s position on the conflict in Ukraine, photos from meetings with European leaders, and Budapest’s viewpoints at EU venues.

Monday’s tweet earned Orban praise from Trump’s supporters, but sparked outrage among liberals and Trump-haters, who castigated the Hungarian leader and Trump as “bad people” and “two Russophile homophobic racist hate spreaders grinning at the world.”

Orban’s show of support comes a day before Trump’s expected arraignment at a New York court on about three dozen federal charges related to the alleged illegal payment of hush money to Stormy Daniels, an ex-porn star, ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing, called his accuser a “horseface,” accused her of extortion, and charged the New York district attorney of going after him to try to knock him out of the 2024 race on false pretenses, similar to Russiagate or his twin failed impeachments. The former president has vowed to fight the charges. He is expected to give public remarks on the case from his Mar-a-Lago estate hours after his arraignment.

Donald Trump Is Being Encouraged to Exit the 2024 Presidential Race Because His Indictment Is 'Too Much of a Sideshow

Donald Trump isn’t having the best week with his arraignment looming large on Tuesday, April 4. The former president is doing his best to leverage the event with a “media spectacle” to encourage campaign donations, but not everyone in the Republican Party is thrilled with this idea

While many members of the GOP Party have voiced their opposition to the indictment, one presidential candidate went in a different direction. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is also running for president in 2024, believes it is time for Donald Trump to exit the race. “I do think that’s too much of a sideshow and distraction,” he told ABC’s This Week. “And he needs to be able to concentrate on his due process, and there is a presumption of innocence.”

It’s unlikely that Donald Trump would even consider such a move given the fact that he’s working the indictment to his advantage. According to a press release sent out on Friday, he raised $4 million in 24 hours. “This incredible surge of grassroots contributions confirms that the American people see the indictment of President Trump as a disgraceful weaponization of our justice system by a Soros-funded prosecutor,” the statement reads.

Ahead of Trump indictment, war of words erupts between Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and NYC Mayor Adams

Spencer Platt/Getty Images; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene fired back at Mayor Adams’ Monday admonition for her and others planning to protest Donald Trump’s pending indictment to “be on your best behavior.”

“Delusional @NYCMayor is trying to intimidate, threaten, and stop me from using my 1st amendment rights to peacefully protest the Democrat’s unconstitutional weaponization of our justice system against our top Republican Presidential candidate, President Trump,” the Republican firebrand wrote on Twitter.

“Mayor Adams should be more concerned about NY citizens and taxpayers being murdered, raped, robbed, and carjacked than an elected Member of Congress coming to town,” she added, repeating a popular right-wing talking point.

“Or should I be the one concerned that the mayor of NYC will weaponize his government or maybe his thugs like DA Alvin Bragg against me?” Greene concluded.

I’m here in NY to protest with my voice against the weaponization of the justice system on innocent President Trump, but the counter protestors are coming to commit assault that can cause audible damage to everyone’s ears including NYPD.
But Mayor Adams warns me by name!
If… pic.twitter.com/zt9wKr5Twt

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) April 4, 2023

Her social media outburst came after Adams, a Democrat, warned “rabble rousers” planning to protest Trump’s expected arraignment outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday.

“While there may be some rabble rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow, our message is clear and simple: Control yourselves,” the mayor said at a City Hall press conference. “New York City’s our home — not a playground for your misplaced anger.

“Although we have no specific threats, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is known to spread misinformation and hate speech, she stated she’s coming to town. While you’re in town, be on your best behavior,” he added.

Adams said he wasn’t worried about public safety ahead of Tuesday.

“I really have a lack of concern,” he said. “We are prepared.’’

"People stir stuff up all the time,” Hizzoner added.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) warned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to "be on your best behavior" after the Republican firebrand said she will travel to the city to protest former President Donald Trump's indictment.

In response, Greene accused Adams of “threatening” her, and claimed a “delusional” Adams was “trying to intimidate, threaten, and stop me from using my 1st amendment rights to peacefully protest the Democrat’s unconstitutional weaponization of our justice system against our top Republican Presidential candidate, President Trump

Delusional @NYCMayor is trying to intimidate, threaten, and stop me from using my 1st amendment rights to peacefully protest the Democrat’s unconstitutional weaponization of our justice system against our top Republican Presidential candidate, President Trump.

Mayor Adams should…

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) April 3, 2023

“Should I be the one concerned that the mayor of NYC will weaponize his government or maybe his thugs like DA Alvin Bragg against me?” Greene added

Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

In the aftermath of Trump’s indictment, Greene has publicly called for protests on his behalf, and will be leading her own protest near the New York City courthouse on Tuesday afternoon. Adams’ fear that protests may turn violent is not unfounded. Prominent Republican pundits have characterized the charges against Trump as a ploy to goad his supporters into recreating Jan. 6. As previously reported by Rolling Stone, law enforcement agencies have seen an uptick in threats of violence in the weeks leading up to the indictment.  

On the day of the indictment, Greene accused Democrats of targeting Trump in order to engineer civil war. “They want to push us into reacting so they can use their weaponized government to lock us all up,” she railed on Twitter. “Democrats want civil war.” 

“As emotions run high and we see a politicization of the legal process by the Manhattan DA’s office, Rep. William’s believes his time, energy, and focus is best suited on serving the needs of Central New York and the Mohawk Valley and will be spending the day in-district with his constituents,” said Taylor Weyeneth, a spokesperson for Williams, in an email to Gothamist.

China warns US House Speaker not to meet Taiwan president

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) wields the speaker's gavel as members of Congress gather on the House floor to attend U.S. President Joe Biden's State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., February 7, 2023. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

China warned US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday (Apr 4) not to "repeat disastrous past mistakes" and meet Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, saying it would not help regional peace and stability, but only unite the Chinese people behind a common enemy.

The Republican McCarthy, the third most senior US leader after the president and vice president, will host a meeting in California on Wednesday with Tsai, during a sensitive stopover in the US that has prompted Chinese threats of retaliation.

China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, staged war games around the island last August after then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, visited the capital, Taipei.

Tsai will make what is formally called a "transit" in Los Angeles on her way back to Taipei after a trip to Central America. The US says such stopovers are common practice and there is no need for China to overreact.

But China's consulate in Los Angeles said it was "false" to claim it as a transit, adding that Tsai was engaging in official exchanges to "put on a political show".

No matter in what capacity McCarthy meets Tsai, the gesture would greatly harm the feelings of the Chinese people, send a serious wrong signal to Taiwan separatist forces, and affect the political foundation of Sino-US ties, it said in a statement.

"It is not conducive to regional peace, security nor stability, and is not in the common interests of the people of China and the United States," the consulate added.

McCarthy is ignoring the lessons from the mistakes of his predecessor, it said, in a veiled reference to Pelosi's Taipei visit, and is insisting on playing the "Taiwan card".

"He will undoubtedly repeat disastrous past mistakes and further damage Sino-US relations. It will only strengthen the Chinese people's strong will and determination to share a common enemy and support national unity."

Speaking to reporters in Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China will closely follow developments and resolutely and vigorously defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, without giving details.

CHINESE MILITARY ACTIVITIES

Although Taiwan has not reported unusual Chinese movements in the run-up to the meeting, China's military has continued activities around the island.

Taiwan's defence ministry on Tuesday morning reported that in the previous 24 hours it had spotted nine Chinese military aircraft in its air defence identification zone, in an area between Taiwan's southwest coast and the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands at the top of the South China Sea.

In a statement on Tuesday, Taiwan's foreign ministry said China had no right to complain, as the People's Republic of China has never ruled the island.

China's recent criticism of Tsai's trip "has become increasingly absurd", it added.

"Even if the authoritarian government continues with its expansion and intensifies coercion, Taiwan will not back down," the statement said.

In China, prominent commentator Hu Xijin wrote on his widely followed Twitter account "the Chinese mainland will definitely react, and make the Tsai Ing-wen regime lose much more than what they can gain from this meeting."

Hu, who had voiced his concerns over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan last year, also wrote "The US side is definitely not getting any real advantage either," on his Weibo account, a Twitter-like social media platform in China.

Hu is former editor-in-chief of Chinese state-backed tabloid the Global Times, known for its strident nationalistic stance.

Taiwan has lived with the threat of a Chinese attack since the defeated Republic of China government fled to the island in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists.

Life in Taiwan has continued as normal, with shops, restaurants and tourist spots in Taipei packed during a long holiday weekend that ends on Wednesday.

"They will certainly get angry and there will be some actions, but we are actually used to this," said social worker Sunny Lai, 42.

Intelligence chief slams ICC warrant for Russian president’s arrest as 'shameful'

Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin (L) and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (R)
©BelTA/TASS

Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin slammed as ‘shameful’ the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue a warrant for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"This, of course, is a shameful decision on the part of this ‘kangaroo court’-style justice that is under the thumb of the West. This decision, in my opinion, has turned the International Criminal Court, the authority of which was already minimal, into a literal garbage dump of propaganda," Naryshkin told reporters on Tuesday in Minsk.

"What effect will this have on other countries?" the Russian intelligence chief pointed out. "If we’re speaking not about the Western world, but about the countries of the so-called Global South, I’m sure that the situation there will be quite the opposite to the expectations of the Western capitals," Naryshkin continued. In his opinion, the ICC’s credibility will continue to decline for these countries and they will try to get as far away from this ‘kangaroo court’-style body as possible.

On March 17, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on charges of the "unlawful deportation" of Ukrainian children. Commenting on the decision, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that Moscow did not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC. In turn, Zakharova said that the decisions of the ICC had no authority for Russia whatsoever, while any potential arrest warrants would be legally void.

Bombshell Report Debunks ICC Warrant for Putin, and Mainstream Media Sidesteps It

There’s radio silence from legacy media as a new exposé completely undermines "the allegation by the ICC… that Russia is running a network of camps that are holding children as hostages and committing a war crime by illegally deporting Ukrainian children."

A stunning new report has debunked the narrative that camps in Russia for children from the Donbass constitute ‘crimes against humanity,’ completely undermining the allegations that serve as the basis for the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Russian President Vladmir Putin.

In late March, the Prosecutor General for the ICC claimed that President Putin had personally committed a "war crime," citing what it insisted was the "unlawful deportation" and "unlawful transfer" of children from the regions of the Donbass that the Kiev regime claims as its own.

The ICC prosecutor "appeared to have based his arrest warrant on research produced by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL)," a State Department-funded entity whose executive director, Nathaniel Raymond, recently claimed on CNN that "thousands of children are in a hostage situation," per The Grayzone, an independent American investigative outlet.

State Department spokesman Ned Price seized on that report, which his employer funded, to condemn what he called "Russia's system of forced relocation, re-education and adoption of Ukraine's children," an allegation which was later echoed by the ICC.

But "according to the Yale Lab," Grayzone journalist Jeremy Loffredo explained in a new video report, the outrageous allegations of war crimes on the part of the Russian President were based on simple Google searches, involved "zero interviews with actual victims… [and] the researchers didn’t even attempt to see any of the camps in person."

Now the Grayzone has unveiled never-before-seen footage, captured by Jeremy Loffredo in Russia last year, showing the alleged "re-education" camps – and they’re nothing like what the State Department claims.

ICC arrest warrant for Putin based on State Department-funded report that debunked itself

Read our expose of the flawed, US-sponsored report and watch @loffredojeremy's video report from inside a Russian youth program the ICC calls a "re-education camp" https://t.co/Tbv8Y6ndOs

— The Grayzone (@TheGrayzoneNews) March 31, 2023

Although the Yale researchers and the International Criminal Court "are probably under the impression that no Western journalist has been to these so-called ‘re-education camps,’" Loffredo explains in a new video report, "that assumption would be wrong." Indeed, the journalist says, "I visited one of these camps four months ago – unaware that it would be so important to future war propaganda."

Rather than a re-education camp, Loffredo explains with his co-author, Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal, he found "a hotel full of happy campers receiving free classical music lessons in their native Russian language from first-class instructors."

Loffredo interviewed one of the camp’s instructors, violin teacher Peter Lundstrom, who said that many of the 80 children from the Donetsk and Lugansk region who came to the music camp had first-hand experience with the war that’s been raging in the backyard for over nine years: "Some of them lost their relatives and friends," he notes. "In the conflict zone, they cannot continue their professional music studies."

In a subsequent interview with the Grayzone, HRL’s executive director admitted the camps were actually less Third Reich and more "teddy bear." In other words, the lead author of the report used to justify an ICC arrest warrant for the Russian president seemed to acknowledge that the kids aren’t being stolen, but are merely being given respite from the trauma of life in a conflict zone.

Detailing his findings in comments given to Sputnik News, Blumenthal says their report "completely demolishes the entire case" against the Russian President and "exposes it as a public relations stunt that is driven by a hyper-politicized [ICC] prosecutor captured by the US and a State Department-funded report."

Between Loffredo’s trip to one of the camps in question, the original text of the report at the center of the allegations, and the Grayzone’s interview with the director of the group which authored it, Blumenthal says the "three layers of journalistic inquiry" totally debunk "the allegation by the ICC… that Russia is running a network of camps that are holding children as hostages and committing a war crime by illegally deporting Ukrainian children."

But despite the groundbreaking nature of their findings, Blumenthal says not a single mainstream media has reached out to him in the 24 hours since publishing the report: "Western media is doing all it can to ignore this devastating debunking of the Yale HRL report that inspired the ICC arrest warrant," he noted.

But this shouldn’t as a surprise, the award-winning journalist says, because mainstreams outlets are seeking to "prevent the populations of countries whose governments are sponsoring this proxy war from learning the truth – which is that this is a politicized warrant driven by a bogus investigation that relied on no field research, whose own report debunks itself."

Ironically, concludes Blumenthal, it’s clear the ICC warrant and the US government-sponsored report it’s based on were both "designed to obstruct diplomacy with the Russian government in order to prolong the war, and therefore to increase the level of human rights abuses that have been taking place."