On the penultimate day before the New York primary contests - a high-stakes primary for the first time in a generation - the five remaining presidential candidates each attempted to prove their New York bona fides, with mixed success.
Here’s a rundown of the biggest political news from the Big Apple (and upstate, too):
- Director Spike Lee created a new video – it’s a bit more than an ad – for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, featuring celebrities, children and a whole lot of Sanders, describing a need for the scales of economic justice to be righted. Have a look:
- But it wasn’t all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows from Sanders: The Vermont senator is backing legislation that would let Americans sue Saudi Arabia over the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
- Billionaire frontrunner Donald Trump told reporters in New York that he doesn’t think there will be violence at the Republican convention in July, but warned that his supporters would be “angry” if he is not selected as the nominee. “You’re going to have a very, very upset and angry group of people,” he said, adding that the primary voting system is “rigged” and crooked.”
- In a letter written to Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Sanders’ presidential campaign has suggested serious campaign fundraising malpractice committed by the campaign of rival candidate Hillary Clinton. “I am writing to convey some extremely serious concerns that Bernie 2016 has regarding activities currently being conducted through the Hillary Victory Fund, the joint fundraising committee created by the Democratic National Committee... and Hillary for America,” wrote Brad Deutsch, Sanders’ campaign counsel. The letter alleges that the Hillary Victory Fund - a joint fundraising committee for Hillary for America, the Democratic National Committee and 33 state Democratic committees - is funding Clinton instead of state party committees or downballot races.
- An infamous nude of Donald Trump has attracted bids of more than £100,000 after it went on display at the Maddox Gallery in Mayfair, London, last week, but the artist is being anonymously threatened with legal action if she sells it, due to its resemblance to the Republican presidential hopeful.
- And then this happened:
— Scott Bixby (@scottbix)
April 18, 2016Donald Trump just called 9/11 "7-Eleven."That just happened.
That’s it for tonight - tune in tomorrow for our wall-to-wall coverage of the New York state primaries!
Jerry Greenfield and Ben Cohen, the cofounders of the Benn & Jerry’s Ice Cream empire, were arrested this afternoon on the steps of the US Capitol building in Washington, DC, the company announced via a statement.
“There are two trends that everyone from Greenpeace to the NAACP has realized are making it impossible for much good work to get done,” the company stated, in a posting headed Why Ben and Jerry Just Got arrested. “The first is the flood of unregulated cash flowing into campaigns and elections. And the second is the wave of attacks in many states on citizens’ right to vote.”
Greenfield and Cohen, along with hundreds of other protesters, were arrested during a civil action called Democracy Awakening which seeks to bring public awareness to the influence of big money in the American political process.
“We all have a role to play in the fight for justice,” the statement said. “Democracy belongs in the hands of all Americans, not in the pockets of a few billionaires. And no citizen who wants to vote should ever be kept from the polls. Democracy Awakening inspired hope and created excitement that all participants will carry back home with them to their own communities.”
“This is how real change happens.”
The co-founders have been longtime political advocates, often using their platforms as ice creamers to bolster causes that they favor. In 2015, the company launched Save Our Swirled to bring awareness to climate change and changed the name of one of its flavors to I Dough, I Dough to celebrate the supreme court decision that legalized same-sex marriage across the US.
“Sometimes, when something really matters, you have to put your body on the line,” the statement concluded. “You have to take a stand.”
Updated
The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs has more on the libel suit filed todayagainst billionaire Republican frontrunner Donald Trump:
Donald Trump’s campaign manager allegedly boasted that the Republican frontrunner “could do what they wanted with Fox” and that the cable news channel was on their side, according to a libel lawsuit filed by a Republican strategist.
In the $2m defamation lawsuit filed Monday in New York City, Republican strategist Cheri Jacobus says that Trump, his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and the Trump campaign attempted to smear her after she criticized the candidate as a television pundit.
In particular, Jacobus alleges that Trump and his campaign targeted her “with the purpose of making her an object lesson, to those who might question Trump and his fitness for office, to incite a virtual mob against her, to destroy her reputation, and to bully her”.
Jacobus said she had met with the campaign in 2015 about a potential job as communications director after a staffer approached her. After two meetings, she ended the conversation, deciding that she had no interest in a position after deciding Lewandowski was “unprofessional” and “a powder keg”. However, after she criticized Trump on television months later, the candidate started tweeting about her, saying
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