Nikki Haley ramps up criticism of ‘thin-skinned’ and ‘easily distracted’ Trump: 2024 hopeful says he’s ‘weak in the knees’ on Ukraine in most direct attack on her rival – as she rises in the polls

• GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley said Thursday that history will remember former President Donald Trump as ‘thin-skinned and easily distracted’ 
• She’s touring New Hampshire as she rises in the polls in the Granite State
• Haley, who served as Trump’s U.N. ambassador, was asked how the ex-president will be remembered 100 years from now 

By Nikki Schwab, Senior U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.Com In Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Published: 15:26 EDT, 21 September 2023 | Updated: 15:28 EDT, 21 September 2023

Prince Harry turns 39 today and partied with Meghan in a traditional German bar last night where he washed down bratwurst sausage and wiener schnitzel with six beers, MailOnline can reveal.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex enjoyed a night out in Dusseldorf with friends as the Invictus Games draws to a close.

Bar staff said the royals were ‘lovely’ and left a ‘big tip’ as they enjoyed plates piled high with red cabbage and mashed potato. While Harry celebrated with six half-pints, his wife stuck to just one small drink.

Diners at the Im Goldenen Kessel restaurant and bar were asked not to take pictures but said they saw the prince laughing and joking as the food arrived at his table. He also looked thrilled when a birthday cake arrived at the end of the meal.

He and Meghan posed for photographs with the owner of the restaurant Thea Ungermann and head waiter Frank Wackers who has worked at the restaurant for 38 years. 

Ms Ungermann told MailOnline: ‘Harry was a lovely man and was having a very jolly time. Meghan was lovely.’ 

Meghan stuck with the white skinny jeans she wore to watch the volleyball match yesterday. She paired it with a red and white pinstriped shirt and nude ballet pumps. Meanwhile Harry wore dark jeans and a grey top. 

During his meal, Harry was presented with a birthday cake by staff at the restaurant, based in Dusseldorf’s old town.

He and his party took up two tables at the restaurant, which is part of the Schumacher brewery, and were served their food and beer by Mr Wackers.

Mr Wackers told MailOnline that Harry had six small beers – about half a pint rather than the litre sized beers most German breweries serve.

He said the group were served Wiener Schnitzel, pork knuckle, sausage and plates of roast and mashed potato.

Mr Wackers said: ‘They were very happy. He is a lovely man, and they were so nice.’

He also joked that Harry’s bodyguard asked what was the beer like.

‘He said that he would kill me if the beer was bad, but I know he was joking.’

Aides and staff sang Happy Birthday as the restaurant presented Harry with a white chocolate cake.  

After tucking in, the party then walked back to their waiting cars in the cobbled Altstadt area of the city. 

A source close to the prince said: ‘They drank local beer and ate family style dishes to experience a true German meal. Everyone was incredibly friendly, especially the waiters pictured in the photograph online. 

‘They did not dine in a private space and were in joyful spirits, toasting and laughing with the team.

After dinner, the group headed back to the hotel to sing Happy Birthday and eat cake just shy of midnight.’

The owner of the restaurant said Harry picked up the bill and left a big tip for the staff.

The restaurant is attached to the Schumacher brewery, one of two popular venues in Dusseldorf.

Both Ms Ungermann and the head waiter speak fluent English so were able to take Harry and Meghan’s orders without needing to translate them into German.

Harry and his party had driven from their hotel in the Media Harbour of the city and were dropped off by a pedestrian area.

They walked the 50 yards to the restaurant past other bars before occupying two tables in a raised section of the restaurant which is next door to a McDonalds.

The party drank the locally brewed beer called Alt Schumacher which is also served at the Merkur Spiel-Arena where the Invictus Games are held.

Ms Ungermann said: ‘The couple were very relaxed, they drank our beer, Schumacher Alt – it’s the same beer they are serving at the Invictus Games.

‘Harry and Meghan sat next to each other during the meal. I had goosebumps when they walked into the restaurant, I had watched his speech on the stage at the Invictus Games and couldn’t believe he was in my restaurant. Prince Harry was so lovely and gave me a hug.’

The restaurant posted the group photo of Harry and Meghan with staff on their social media. 

Harry is thought to have had an early 39th party as he will be busy with events at the games today.

Prince Harry was all smiles as he arrived for the opening ceremony of his Invictus Games in Germany – and a mix of royal fans and protestors gathered.

An excited crowed of royal fans eagerly awaited the arrival of Prince Harry at the ceremony being held in Dusseldorf Town Hall. He was joined by Stephen Keller, Mayor of Dusseldorf.

Over 500 people stood in the blazing sunshine as they stood behind barriers hoping the Prince would go on a walkabout and greet them. They shouted his name as he walked in a lightweight blue suit, white shirt and silver tie.

Representatives from the 21 nations competing in the Invictus Games waited inside the town hall for his arrival.

A small group of demonstrators shouted out anti military slogans but as soon as Harry’s car pulled into the market square in front of the town hall they were drowned out by cheers from his fans.

Prince Harry’s bodyguard, ex Secret Service agent Chris Sanchez kept a close eye on Harry as he walked the short distance from his car to the town hall.

Among the crowd was 20-year-old superfan Madeleine Durant who had driven two hours from her home in Dortmund to see Harry.

She held up a yellow banner saying ‘Harry, I came all the way to take a photo with you’. She said: ‘I am a big fan of Harry and hope that he sees the banner and comes over. I really do like him as he speaks the truth.’

About six people demonstrating against the German military’s involved in the games for disabled and wounded military vets held a demonstration in a corner of the market square.

Police outnumbered the half dozen demonstrators who have claimed the Games will be used by the military to enlist new recruits.

One of the demonstrators held a banner with the words ‘Bomber Harry’ – a reference to his time in Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter gunner.

The estranged royal, who founded the sporting event for wounded and injured servicemen, also posed for a picture with volunteers and competitors just a day after he attended a private memorial for his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II.

Wearing a black T-shirt and looking relaxed Harry stood the middle of the group. The visit to the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Düsseldorf was unannounced.

The Duke of Sussex, who went on the solo whirlwind trip to the UK without his wife and children, was spotted leaving St George’s Chapel in Windsor at lunchtime yesterday.

The fifth in the line to the throne was photographed paying respects to the Queen by a tourist in a shock secret visit to the church, where the late monarch was laid to rest. 

He then flew last night to Dusseldorf in Germany for the opening ceremony of his Invictus Games. 

The Duke is booked into a £2,000 night suite with stunning views across The Rhine and will be joined later in the luxurious residence next week by his wife Meghan.

The expansive suite on the 17th floor of the Hyatt Regency hotel in Dusseldorf will be their base for the next eight days.

The Invictus Foundation posted a photo of the team group shot on their Twitter account. The group Harry posed with carry out assessments of the athletes and their recovery.

With temperatures expected to be in the high 80s there has been concern among organisers for those taking part in outdoor events, such as the athletics and archery.

Many of the sports for disabled and wounded military veterans will take place inside the indoor arena.

Tonight he will launch the sports event for wounded and disabled military veterans and attend the week long event, dropping in to cheer of competitors in events such as archery, swimming and wheelchair rugby. 

Over 500 competitors from 21 countries are taking part in the games which are sponsored by the US based Boeing firm.

Organisers predict up to 100,000 people will attend the games which will close with a speech from Prince Harry and a set of six songs from singer Rita Ora.

Teams from around the globe have all arrived in Dusseldorf and were met at the airport by the mascot of the Games, a brown bear with the name Buddy.

The UK team and friends and family flew from Birmingham on a RAF transport jet. The 59 members of the include 15 who are still serving in the military while the others are retired from service.

The team UK Captain, Lt Commander James Rogers said: ‘ Whether a veteran or still serving, we are one team heading into the Games and I am immensely proud of how much everyone has achieved in this process. It has brought with it a sense of camaraderie and excitement, as well as noticeable physical and mental health benefits.’

Wearing a white shirt and smart trousers, Harry looked sombre yesterday as he left a side entrance of St George’s Chapel as family, Britain and the world again mourned the Queen’s passing. It is not known if he went to Her Majesty’s grave in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, which sits within the walls of the church.

Harry was seen by the public leaving the church where his grandparents are both buried at around Midday. An executive Range Rover was waiting for him with his bodyguard waiting to open the door. 

A number of members of the Royal Family are understood to have visited the chapel yesterday. Harry remains close to his cousins Beatrice and Eugenie but it is not yet known if they and others paid their respects together. MailOnline has asked Buckingham Palace and a spokesman for the Duke of Sussex to comment. 

The warring brothers are spending the first anniversary of their grandmother’s death in the same country – but still couldn’t be farther apart and did not meet before Harry jetted off to Germany last night.

The Duke of Sussex was at his personable best in London on Thursday as he met winners of the WellChild Awards – a charity he has been patron of for 15 years and stayed with after his acrimonious departure from the Royal Family.

Harry flew in for the engagement from his home in California, making his first appearance in the UK since June.

But despite the long flight, the duke cut a relaxed figure as he sat with the youngsters and their families during a pre-ceremony reception at The Hurlingham Club in south-west London.

It was as Harry prepared for the awards this time last year that news began filtering through that his grandmother was seriously ill before passing away hours later. The duke took a flight to Scotland but landed too late to see the Queen before she passed away.

‘As you know, I was unable to attend the awards last year as my grandmother passed away,’ he told the audience.

‘As you also probably know, she would have been the first person to insist that I still come to be with you all instead of going to her. And that’s precisely why I know, exactly one year on, she is looking down on all of us tonight, happy we’re together continuing to spotlight such an incredible community.’

MEMOIR

POLITICS ON THE EDGE 

by Rory Stewart (Jonathan Cape £22, 464pp)

Anyone with the slightest interest in politics should get a copy of Rory Stewart’s political memoir.

Not because he had a particularly long or even influential career: just nine years in Parliament and only months in the Cabinet. But you will learn more about the nature of Westminster machinations and how government actually works (or doesn’t) from this volume than from those of many more illustrious politicians. In terms of the quality of writing, there has been nothing to approach it since the diaries of Alan Clark (who never made it to the Cabinet at all).

But whereas Clark was a genuinely bad person — part of the attraction, perhaps — Stewart is a fundamentally good man, even if his self-belief, touching on the messianic, occasionally made him appear preposterous. This, combined with his extraordinary career before entering Parliament in 2010 — becoming a deputy governor of two Iraqi provinces at 30, while a foreign office official, and the author of an international best-seller about his earlier experiences in Afghanistan — made him the subject of deep jealousy among much longer-serving Conservative MPs with none of his talent or connections.

He doesn’t say that himself, but it clearly explains the behaviour, described here, of one of his colleagues, after Stewart disagreed with him about Iraq, telling him in the House of Commons corridor: ‘If you dare to speak to me like that again, I am going to punch you,’ and then, after a pause, ‘on the nose.’ Stewart then ‘wondered what it was going to be like to roll around with a 200lb, 60-year-old man, behind the Speaker’s Chair.’

This particular MP is an extreme example, but it was just part of Stewart’s rapid disillusionment: ‘Too many of the jokes in the tea rooms seemed to have the tone of prisoners laughing . . . Even four weeks in, I sensed more impotence, suspicion, envy, resentment, claustrophobia and schadenfreude than I had seen in any other profession.’

Stewart was as ambitious as any of them, probably more than most. This comes out disarmingly when he records asking the then leader of the opposition, David Cameron, whether, if he became an MP, ‘I might at some point be promoted to a minister’.

His fellow Old Etonian lectures him: ‘If you are lucky enough to find a seat, and be elected, you will find being a backbench Member of Parliament the greatest honour you can have in life.

‘I may be lucky enough to become prime minister, but when I cease to be prime minister I will return with great pride to the back benches as Member of Parliament for Witney for the rest of my life.’

Stewart goes on to record that after Cameron resigned as PM ‘and then almost immediately resigned from his seat on the backbenches, I learnt something more about him’.

Cameron did, in fact, put Stewart into government, at the lowest level (parliamentary under-secretary of state). It was under Theresa May that he prospered — she was much more in tune with his high-mindedness.

But despite his previous career as an official in the diplomatic service, some of Stewart’s most devastating passages are about the failings of the civil service, as he encountered them when he was Secretary of State for International Development.

Their indifference to how British taxpayers’ money was frittered away by corruption on the ground is laid bare here. And there is an extraordinary episode when, on coming into the job, he discovers that some of our largesse is funding municipal councils in north-west Syria.

‘Are not these enclaves controlled by jihadi factions?’ Stewart asks, getting the response from a civil servant ‘in her early 20s, “I think, Minister, that there are many different groups in these areas.” “So we are not funding jihadis?” “No, Minister.” ‘

Stewart then asks if any of them have visited the area, or had any staff there. No and no. But still, these officials spend many weeks obstructing his efforts to stop the money.

Later, film footage emerges of one of those funded by HMG, appearing on stage at an Al-Qaeda event. Stewart concludes by observing that our funding to these jihadis then ceased, but his officials ‘made no acknowledgment’ of their resistance to his (correct) demands.

If those civil servants thought that Stewart was just another here-today, gone-tomorrow minister, they were right. Within three months he had resigned, as he had promised he would if Boris Johnson became prime minister (he was subsequently expelled by Johnson from the Conservative Party for saying he would vote in Parliament against a so-called ‘No Deal’ Brexit).

Stewart is blisteringly self-lacerating about his failure to make it to the last two of the 2019 Conservative leadership campaign, after a disastrous performance in the final TV debate between the various candidates: ‘I had just performed a suicide routine. In one hour I had destroyed my hope of beating Boris . . . I sat in the green room still not quite able to understand what had occurred.’

He would never have beaten Johnson in the ballot of Conservative Party members, anyway. But we should grieve that he didn’t get that far, if only because his account of a fight to the political death against a man he despised would have been the most fitting way to end this riveting memoir.

Orlando Sonza would likely be the youngest Republican in Congress if elected, and that isn’t slowing down the 32-year-old father of four from jumping into a contentious battle for a swing district in suburban Cincinnati. 

Sonza, the son of Filipino immigrants, told DailyMail.com that minority families like his own are tired of political extremism on both sides. He’s one of the diverse candidates with an impressive resume the House Republicans campaign arm is boosting early on this cycle. 

‘I think what you’re seeing now again, are Americans – in large part minority Americans – don’t ascribe to the polarization of politics,’ he said. 

‘I think it’s the principles behind conservatism,’ Sonza said of the recent trend among historically Democratic Asian Americans who have been voting for Republicans in recent elections. 

‘I think the conservative movement – the principle being portrayed by the other side – it’s equal outcomes versus equal opportunity, the role of big government in our daily lives, which then impacts individual liberty and the ability to change your life’s story through your own hard work and dedication. 

And Sonza knows something about that. 

The candidate met his wife Jessica while attending West Point, and in between settling in Cincinatti and having four kids, he’s served four years in the Army, gone back to school for accounting and worked on taxes for Ernst and Young, then earned a law degree and begun a career as a prosecutor in Hamilton County. 

‘My opponent is someone that appears to be more interested in attention grabbing headlines, like posing shirtless on the front page of The Cincinnati Enquirer to show off his personal tattoos than serious leadership that seeks to really solve the complex problems impacting our nation, and I intend to fully drive that contrasting message.’ 

Sonza is running against Democrat Greg Landsman, who unseated a GOP incumbent in the last election.

The Biden administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan exactly two years ago is a strong motivating factor behind his reason for running. 

When Kabul fell to the Taliban, Sonza said it triggered ‘heartache’ for him and his wife, both Army veterans. 

The ‘rushed’ U.S. withdrawal sent a message to the 2,400 Americans who lost their lives that their sacrifice had been in vain, the candidate said. 

The two decade-long war had gone on for most his life. But to properly withdraw would have taken more time, time President Biden claimed he didn’t have – saying he was bound by a treaty former President Trump had signed with the Taliban. 

‘The message that we sent to those brave men and women who were prepared to die and some did for in defense of our nation, is that we’ve abandoned you. Your effort was in vain,’ he said. 

‘It showcases a weakness of leadership,’ said Sonza. ‘It required more time. For the sake of the servicemen and women who sacrificed over the last two decades.’ 

The exact markers of Sonza’s 1st congressional district are yet unknown – the state’s high court is still looking at the redistricting map. But he’s sure to face a fierce political fight: in 2022, incumbent Greg Landsman had wrestled the swing district back from a Republican. 

Sonza refused to say who he would vote for in the 2024 GOP presidential primary but promised to vote Republican ‘whoever the nominee is.’ 

When it came to the now-four Trump indictments and the Biden family’s business deals, Sonza said he believes the Justice Department has been ‘weaponized’ against Trump. 

He’s perfectly on board with a potential Biden impeachment inquiry, despite the political implications such partisan efforts could have in moderate districts. 

In a referendum Democrats touted as a win, last week Ohioans voted 57 to 43 percent against Issue 1 – a proposition that would have raised the vote needed to amend the state’s constitution from a simple majority to 60 percent. 

The vote came ahead of a November referendum that would enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution – after the overturning of Roe v. Wade triggered a six-week abortion ban that has since been held up in lower courts. 

The amendment stipulates that abortion may only be restricted after viability – around 22 to 24 weeks – and only if it does not interfere with the life and health of the mother. Republicans claim that stipulation would allow abortions ‘until birth.’ 

Sonza insisted Issue 1’s failure should not be looked at as a bellwether of what’s to come. 

‘Ohioans spoke very clearly: they are content with the process of amending the constitution – the 50 percent plus one threshold. 

‘I believe that in these next within these next 90 days, Ohioans are going to be truly receptive to understanding what this November amendment means: that is the most extreme constitutional amendment that we will see in Ohio.’ 

He went on: ‘As a father of four kids believe that our country should be a place where there’s no abortion. From that personal conviction, I also understand the reality out there that a majority of Americans support having abortion legal to some degree.’ 

The candidate said he understands most Americans support abortion rights up until 14 weeks, but support drops off quickly in the third trimester. 

‘It comes down to is just educating voters of exactly what they’re voting for. And so I don’t see issue on failing as a harbinger of things to come for November,’ he added. 

Defiant Dreams

by Sola Mahfouz and Maliana Kapoor (Doubleday £16.99, 320pp)

At the beginning of her compelling memoir of escape from Afghanistan, Sola Mahfouz writes: ‘I began to grow up the day my mother told me to stop laughing.’

That abrupt end to Sola’s carefree childhood happened just before her 12th birthday in 2008. 

She and her female cousins were bicycling round and round the inner courtyard of the family’s compound in Kandahar, safely out of sight, but audible, as they were giggling and singing a popular Bollywood song. 

Suddenly, something came flying over the wall, and they heard a group of boys laughing and whooping. 

It was two large sacks stuffed with excrement. ‘After that day,’ Sola writes, ‘I listened to my mother’s warnings.’

Her mother was terrified that even a momentary giggle would bring a strange man to the door, ready to kidnap or kill to silence the sounds of a young woman.

And this was during the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, when you might have thought life would have become easier for women.

In hindsight, we know how short-lived that respite from Taliban rule was to be. 

None of us who watched the unfolding nightmare in 2021 can forget the traumatic sight of young Afghans so desperate to escape from the return of Taliban rule, with its medieval laws and barbaric punishments, that they clung to the sides and wings of a U.S. aircraft as it took off during the chaotic withdrawal of American and British troops.

But Sola’s fascinating book shows how, even during the Nato-controlled interlude, the terror for the citizens of Kandahar (the birthplace and spiritual home of the Taliban) never stopped.

Her mother carried on wearing her burqa, so as not to risk attacks when she went out shopping. And the Afghan burqa, Sola reminds us, is ‘the most confining covering for women in the world’. 

With no sleeves or face openings, except for tiny criss-cross slats to peer through, ‘it strips women of their sense of humanity, reducing them to sky-blue monoliths’.

Random suicide bombings by the Taliban, and abductions of children (their cut-off fingers sent to parents who wouldn’t pay up) made life in the city terrifying.

And it was not just this that made Sola long to escape from her homeland to a better life. ‘Every day,’ she writes, ‘I faced the prospect of two deaths: the death of my body, and the death of my personality, my independence, my girlhood.’

From the moment she turned 12, she was expected to be a full-time skivvy, spending all day in the kitchen cooking elaborate meals for the men and boys of the family, (not allowed to eat with them, subsisting on their leftovers), and also a potential bride, her mother entering into negotiations for her arranged mid-teens marriage.

Her whole soul recoiled from the prospect of surrendering her existence to a man she’d never met, and to living with his family as a domestic drudge and childbearer. 

And she’d seen enough of her own mother’s life under a tyrannical mother-in-law (her grandmother Ana Bibi) to know about mothers-in-law from hell. When Sola was born, Ana Bibi had refused to hold her because she was a girl.

Going to female cousins’ weddings, Sola watched with dismay as they were handed over like cheap bargains in their wedding gowns.

Just reading about Sola’s confined existence made me claustrophobic. Although she was allowed to go to school as a child, her teacher was a sadist, torturing and bullying the girls and whipping them with a long, thin pomegranate branch.

She watched with envy as her brothers got an education, enabling them to study at Western universities.

Seven words of her grandfather’s rang in her ears. ‘English,’ he said, ‘is the window to the world.’

So Sola decided to learn English. Her brother refused to help her. Far from putting her off, his refusal ‘lit a fire’ under her. 

She’d show him what she was capable of. After finishing her chores, she’d stay up half the night doing an online course. It didn’t stop with English. She joined the online Khan Academy to study maths and science from scratch.

On an online language-learning platform, she linked up with an undergraduate at the University of Iowa called Emily, and they became friends.

From the prison of her existence, Sola asked Emily how she could study in the U.S. She told her that she’d need to take the obligatory SAT and IELTS tests. But there was no test centre in Kandahar; the nearest was in Pakistan. 

And she didn’t have a passport (most Afghan women don’t, as they rarely leave the house, let alone the country).

The book becomes a real page-turner as Sola recounts the mental agonies she went through. Her father allowed her to apply for a passport, but on arrival in Pakistan, after a dusty journey, she was told that the exam registration was already full. 

Emily made it her business to make sure a slot was opened up for her.

She passed! And she was offered places at colleges in America. Now she needed a visa. An official at the U.S. embassy in Kabul rejected her. He didn’t believe she was really going there to study.

The New York Times picked up on the story — to Sola’s family’s horror, because they thought this would put them in danger. 

But nothing terrible happened to them — and for Sola, the publicity changed her life. The U.S. embassy rang to say her visa application had been approved.

As she disembarked from the plane at Chicago Airport, Sola removed her headscarf. Emily collected her. 

For the first time in her life, Sola sat in the front of a car, was driven by a woman, saw a man (Emily’s father) do the cooking, had a long, hot shower, saw people drinking alcohol, and cycled along a road rather than round in circles in a compound.

But she hadn’t predicted her acute homesickness, or the culture shock of living in a partying hall of residence. This was by no means an escape into instant happiness.

In 2021, she watched on TV with dismay as the Taliban retook Afghanistan, before the U.S. and UK had even withdrawn. 

Her parents managed to escape over the border in a car, but, horrifically, it flipped over, trapping her mother underneath, leaving her a quadriplegic.

Sola is now a quantum computing researcher at Tufts University in Massachusetts. Quite an achievement.

Families of the service men and women killed in Kabul two years ago gave the most damning verdict yet of President Joe Biden‘s response to the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

During a congressional hearing into what went wrong, they were asked whether the Biden administration had taken ownership of the botched exit.

They shook their heads in unison.

‘Neither do the American people,’ said Rep. Eli Crane, a former Navy S.E.A.L, who asked the question.

It is almost two years since a suicide bomber detonated his deadly payload amid the chaos of Kabul’s international airport.

He killed 13 Americans and at least 170 Afghans.

It brought a bloody conclusion to Biden’s decision to bring home the troops remaining in the country after 20 years of conflict. 

It followed weeks of turmoil as Taliban gunmen advanced on the capital Kabul while Afghanistan’s armed forces, built with billions of dollars in foreign aid, melted away.

The result was that thousands of desperate Afghans besieged Hamid Karzai International Airport as they sought safe passage from the country’s extremist overlords.

It marked Biden’s first major test as president and his administration is accused of failing to properly plan the withdrawal or predict a Taliban takeover, despite the fact the insurgents had been gaining territory for months.

With the House now in Republican hands, lawmakers are intent on probing what went wrong.

Thursday’s session of the House subcommittee on oversight and accountability began with Rep. Brian Mast, the chairman, recognizing the mother of Sgt. Nicole Gee, the mother of Cpl. Hunter Lopez, and the parents of Cpl. Humberto Sanchez, who all died in the blast at the airport’s Abbey Gate in August 2021.

‘Thank you for raising patriots and I’m sorry for your loss,’ he said.

In his opening remarks he said Biden was the ultimate decision maker in the process to withdraw.

‘The president’s withdraw was a complete and utter catastrophe,’ he said. 

‘The images of people hanging off of planes and desperate parents handing their babies over the airport walls to soldiers are seared into our country’s collective conscience.’

Colonel (Ret.) Seth Krummrich, former chief of staff at Special Operations Command Central, and Command Sergeant Major Jacob Smith, of the 10th Mountain Division, were the session’s witnesses.

But the most telling moment came when Rep. Mast addressed the families in the gallery.

‘To the families sitting behind you, that are still clearly morning, by nodding your head, yes or no,’ he asked: ‘Do you feel like this administration has taken ownership and accountability?’

They shook their heads.

‘I didn’t think so,’ he said.

Rep. Mike McCaul, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said true leaders own their mistakes.

‘Rather than prioritizing U.S. national security and the safety of thousands of Americans, they forced this rapid withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan on an artificial timeline,’ he said. 

‘And the number is going to be September the 11th. What an insult to the victims of 9/11.’

A 17-year-old boy from Afghanistan who was rescued from a sinking dinghy alongside 38 others in a tragedy which killed at least four told authorities that French fisherman ignored their desperate cries for help.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said those on board the vessel in the English Channel could see the dinghy passengers were drowning but ‘did nothing’.

The boy, whose uncle in Iran had paid people-smugglers 1,500 euros for him to make the illicit crossing from Calais in the early hours of December 14 last year, told police their boat, overcrowded with 46 people, appeared to ‘explode’.

The evidence was heard during the trial of boat pilot Ibrahima Bah, 19, who denies four counts of manslaughter and one count of facilitating a breach of UK immigration law by piloting the ill-fated small boat.

The dinghy had already been taking on water and one passenger was so scared he had performed last rites, Canterbury Crown Court, Kent, heard.

But the teen said the African driver of the home-built craft reassured them they would be saved if they continued into English waters.

In a police video-recorded interview played today in court, he described how the treacherous journey turned to tragedy.

‘Water was pouring into our boat. We knew that we were going to go down and there were French fishermen circling us, looking at us, ignoring us and doing nothing,’ he said, assisted by a Dari interpreter.

‘They could see we were dying and going down and they were doing nothing. We were still in French waters.

‘The African was saying: “It’s not very serious, we can still get to the other (English) boats where they could help us because these ones are looking and letting us die but we can get there”.

‘There was water everywhere and we were screaming, shouting and saying “We are going down”.

‘We kept screaming and asking: “Help, help, help”, but they were coming and looking and saying “No” and just going away.

‘The guy who was controlling the engine was trying to reassure us, saying: “Don’t panic, stay calm, we will do something. These guys are not doing anything but we can get to the other boats and they might help us”.’

The boy said they were ‘some distance’ into the crossing and described being in ‘no-man’s land’ as one Afghani tried to bail out the water.

But he told police he and the 45 others were ‘packed in’ the boat, which then collapsed into itself under the extra weight.

The 17-year-old said how the inflatable ring ‘exploded’ because there were ‘too many’ people on board. 

A total of 39 people were eventually rescued by an English fishing boat, the Arcturus, assisted by HMS Severn, lifeboat crews and the air ambulance.

The boy did not have a life vest and said he could feel himself losing sensation in his body as he held onto a rope in the icy water before being pulled onboard.

Bah, 19, was among those rescued. He faces four charges of manslaughter in relation to the four men who drowned. One has been identified as Hajratullah Ahmadi while the others remain unknown.

The court heard he accepts he drove the boat but denies all five offences.

At the start of his trial, jurors were told Bah allegedly joked to one passenger: ‘I will either take you there or kill you all’.

He later told police he had been assaulted and threatened into taking control of the inflatable in return for free travel by the Kurdish agents in charge of the human trafficking operation.

Those on board had paid thousands to make the trip, one as much as 8,000 euros, the court heard.

But prosecutor Duncan Atkinson said despite being untrained and unlicensed to pilot a boat, by law Bah had a duty of care to his passengers and that his actions amounted to manslaughter by gross negligence.

He said the risks of such a ‘a home-built inflatable made from low quality materials’ being put to sea were ‘present and obvious’.

‘The inflatable carried with it an obvious and serious risk to the life and limb of each of those on board,’ Mr Atkinson told the court.

‘Whilst the defendant, like the others, was a migrant seeking a better life in the UK, he had also, like those others, voluntarily consorted with the agents of organised crime who profited from that quest.

‘More than that, he accepted, in return for a free crossing, responsibility for his fellow passengers.’

The small craft, just 25 to 28ft in length, was neither ‘typically designed nor manufactured’ to undertake a journey in what is the world’s busiest shipping lane, said the prosecutor.

There was insufficient lifejackets, no safety equipment such as flares or a radio, no deckboards and was being navigated without lights and by mobile phone.

It was also carrying more than double its maximum passenger capacity of 20.

The Afghani teenager told police he had been in a Jungle camp in Dunkirk for about six weeks when he made the crossing, the court heard.

He had left his home in Afghanistan about 18 months earlier and reached France via Austria and Switzerland.

But he said he wanted to reach the UK to study and ‘make a better life’.

The crossing in December last year was his second by boat in a month, the first having failed when they got lost after spending 13 hours at sea.

He described how three Kurdish men drove the migrants in vehicles to the beach at about 1am, inflated the boat and then ordered them to carry it to the water.

The court heard they were punched, kicked and beaten for not hurrying up.

One of those beaten was an African, said the teenager.

‘This was human trafficking so you have to follow their instructions because if you don’t follow or fall behind or are slow, they beat you up,’ he explained.

Once the boat was in the water, the migrants scrambled for a position.

‘There wasn’t any space to move. All 46 were packed, squeezed to fit into that,’ added the boy.

He said the Kurds got the engine going and the inflatable set off.

Asked who controlled the engine during the crossing, he told police ‘one of the Africans’ but he never spoke to him personally.

‘Everyone was thinking of themselves. Everyone was praying to make it with our lives,’ said the boy.

He added that the agents had decided who was to drive, something the Afghanis would ‘shy away’ from.

‘They don’t give us any safety instructions on what to do or how to do things. Any instructions would have been given to the driver,’ he said.

The teen also told police it was ‘common knowledge’ that once in British waters migrants would be rescued, regardless of whether they were drowning or not.

Asked if the driver had any assistance from others on the boat he said: ‘They (the Kurds) would have given him which direction to take. There were other Africans there but I didn’t see any working as his deputy or helping him or assisting him.’

Jurors at Canterbury Crown Court were previously told to put any ‘bias, emotion, sympathy and prejudice’ aside while deciding the case. 

Donald Trump blasted President Joe Biden‘s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan while dropping his strongest hint yet that of a potential 2024 presidential bid.

The former president told fellow Republicans ‘the time is coming’ for him to make a formal announcement about his next bid for the White House.

Trump said he believes ‘people are going to be very happy’ with his decision while noting that America has ‘lost everything’ under Biden’s leadership. 

His proclamation comes as a prominent GOP donor who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns told DailyMail.com he does not believe former president will run for president again.

Instead, the donor said he could see Trump anointing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to take on the national MAGA torch. 

Trump, giving the keynote address at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas this weekend, confirmed he will be making his plans to run for office public in the near future.

‘It’s certainly not a very long period, the time is coming,’ Trump said Saturday when Fox News asked when Republicans could expect a formal announcement.

‘I think people are going to be very happy, our country has never been in a position like this, we’ve lost everything.’

He argued the nation was facing both domestic and foreign policy crises, stating America lost its ‘prestige’ when Biden withdrew US troops from Afghanistan last year.

‘Our country has never been at a worse point,’ Trump said. 

‘They gave away $85 billion worth of equipment, dead soldiers, you still have Americans over there probably as hostages, eventually will be hostages, there has never been a time like this.’

He also claimed the US is a ‘nation that allowed Russia to devastate a country, Ukraine, killing hundreds of thousands of people, and it will only get worse.’

Trump complained that Biden turned ‘the safest border in US history by far’ into ‘the worst border ever in history.’

 ‘Just last month, an illegal alien here in Texas was indicted for the cold blooded murders of four elderly women throughout the state. And he’s been linked to the deaths of at least 24 people,’ he said.

‘What we do in the next few months and the next few years will determine whether American civilization will collapse and fail or whether it will thrive, frankly like never before.’ 

He added: ‘We’ll be making an announcement in the not too distant future.’ 

Trump also commented on the 2020 election, which he continues to maintain was ‘rigged and stolen.’

‘The election was rigged and stolen, and now our country is being systematically destroyed. And everybody knows it. … I ran twice and won twice,’ he declared. 

‘America is on the edge of an abyss. And our movement is the only force on Earth that can save it. We have to seize this opportunity to deal with the radical left socialists and fascists.’

His remarks came shortly after the CPAC unveiled a poll showing the former president as an ‘overwhelming favorite’ for the 2024 Republican nomination.

Trump captured nearly 70 percent of the ballots cast at the conference. DeSantis was a distant second at 23.7 percent. 

Since leaving office, Trump has remained active within the Republican party, including having endorsed a long list of candidates for all levels of government – local, state and even the US Senate. 

However, some analysts suspect that Trump may actually endorse DeSantis in 2024 instead of running for office himself. 

Dallas businessman Doug Deason spoke to DailyMail.com’s senior political reporter, Rob Crilly, in the offices of his financial empire in Dallas shortly before the former president arrived to speak at CPAC. 

Although, Trump delighted the crowd by trailing the idea of a 2024 run, Deason said the former president had a lot to lose by running. 

‘I think Donald Trump is enjoying life,’ he said. ‘And I think that he is in a position as the power broker. 

‘He’s the kingmaker and why would he want to go back and get the crap beat out of him all the time, and have all the responsibility and not be building his empire?

‘He’s had to go back and help rebuild it and you know, why let it deteriorate? 

‘Why would it fall apart again? Because he’s just gonna get attacked just like he was.

‘And he can be the kingmaker without being the king.’

Trump retains a strong hold on the grassroots of the Republican Party.

So Deason’s comments will be seen as a hint to the former president that powerful party backers would rather see him step aside rather than risk defeat. 

Deason was a key player in helping Trump secure Texas. He was co-chair of the state’s Trump Victory fund in 2020 and in 2016 he and his father Darwin Deason donated more than $900,000 to help elect Trump and other Republicans.

This time around, he said he was not turning his back on Trump, who he said would still likely win the Republican nomination if he decided to run. 

But he talked up the appeal of DeSantis and his wife Casey. 

‘I think Ron DeSantis would be Donald Trump without all the baggage.

‘I mean Donald J. Trump had the best policies of any president in my lifetime, including President Reagan. 

‘But you know he could be petty about things, and he wouldn’t let things go. And you know, you love it and hate it.’

Deason has held fundraisers for DeSantis as he campaigns for another term as Florida governor. 

43-year-old DeSantis’s emergence on the national scene has triggered talk that he could represent a changing of the generational guard. 

His efforts to keep Florida open through the pandemic and his leading role in the nation’s culture wars have kept him in the headlines.

As a result, polls consistently place him second to Trump (albeit a distant one) when Republicans are asked who they want as their nominee in 2024.

Deason, who advised Trump on criminal justice reform, said DeSantis would be a more inclusive leader.

‘He’ll sit and listen and let people engage, and he won’t dominate a conversation,’ he said, contrasting that approach with Trump.  ‘I think Ron would be a wonderful president.’

Donald Trump posted late Monday night an eerie apocalyptic ad calling America ‘a nation in decline’ – while also still promising a political future for himself where he says ‘the best is yet to come’ just hours after the FBI raided his Florida home.

The ad was posted to Truth Social, Trump’s own alternative social media platform, in the aftermath of a raid on his Mar-a-Lago home by the FBI – reportedly as part of an investigation into whether he took classified documents with him when he left the White House.

The former president’s voice narrates the video ad, which opens with a jolting clap of thunder over black and white photos of America.

‘We are a nation in decline,’ Trump said.

‘We are a failing nation,’ he continues, pointing to high inflation , high energy costs and leaving behind soldiers in Afghanistan.

The ad was posted late Monday night after Lara Trump appeared on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight and blasted the FBI’s raid. She claimed it was about weaponizing the justice system and added that people are terrified that her father-in-law is going to run for president in 2024. 

Lara’s husband Eric Trump also appeared on Fox News’ Hannity on Monday night to explain he was the person who received the call Monday morning informing of the impending raid on his father’s home.

‘To have 30 FBI agents – actually more than that – descend on Mar-a-Lago, give absolutely, you know, no notice, go through the gates, start ransacking an office, ransacking a closet – you know, they broke into a safe. He didn’t even have anything in the safe. I mean, give me a break.’ 

A search warrant does not suggest that criminal charges are near or even expected – but it would have to be court authorized.

Attorney General Merrick Garland and his Justice Department are under heavy political pressure from Democrats who want the former president indicted and from Republicans who will blast any probe as election-year politics.

Republicans lashed out Monday evening at Garland, the DOJ and Biden administration for the raid.

President Joe Biden and his staff had no heads up on the matter, with senior White House officials finding out about the raid via Twitter, according to The New York Times.

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy warned Garland of payback for the move and pledged to investigate the raid if Republicans win control of the House in November, which they are expected to do.

‘Attorney General Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar,’ he said in a statement on Monday night.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded Tuesday morning in an interview with NBC’s Today program.

‘Whatever the leader is saying is idle,’ Pelosi said, insisting that Democrats will maintain their majority despite a dim outlook.

‘We believe in the rule of law, and that’s what our country is about,’ she continued when asked about the raid and McCarthy’s response. ‘And no person is above the law, not even the President of the United States – not even a former President of the United States.’

The raid comes as Trump is considering another bid for the presidency and his actions after the 2020 election, where he tried to invalidate Joe Biden’s victory, are under investigation by lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

‘We are a nation that in many ways has become a joke,’ Trump said in the ad. ‘But soon we will have greatness again.’

Donald Trump said in a statement Monday evening that his Florida home was ‘under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents’.

Hoards of angry Trump supporters descended on his Mar-a-Lago home Monday night shortly after it emerged that the FBI had searched the ex-president’s estate, likely in search of documents he reportedly took from the White House to his Florida residence.

Many of his supporters were angered by the raid and a raucous crowd – many of whom wearing Trump-themed clothing – gathered outside his Florida home to back the former president.

The avid Trump supporters held pro-Trump signs, including ones for a presumptive 2024 campaign and even one for Trump’s previous campaign with former Vice President Mike Pence’s name crossed out.

One supporter was publicly identified as a member of the far right group Proud Boys.

Lara told Fox News: ‘Look, my father-in-law, as anybody knows, who’s been around him a lot, loves to save things like newspaper clippings, magazine clippings, photographs, documents that he had every authority … to take from the White House.’

The raid began Monday morning and took several hours.

It is highly unusual for a federal raid to take place at the residence of a former commander in chief.

‘These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents. Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before,’ Trump said in a shocking statement released on Monday night.

‘After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate.’

‘It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024,’ said the former president, who was not present during the raid, according to The New York Times.

‘Such an assault could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries. Sadly, America has now become one of those Countries,’ Trump said, adding: ‘They even broke into my safe!’

Multiple US media outlets cited sources close to the investigation as saying that agents were conducting a court-authorized search related to the potential mishandling of classified documents that had been sent to Mar-a-Lago.

The National Archives said in February it had recovered 15 boxes of documents from Trump’s Florida estate, which The Washington Post reported included highly classified texts, taken with him when he left Washington following his re-election defeat.

‘This is about weaponizing the justice system, as it has been so many times in the past against somebody who you politically do not like,’ Lara Trump said Monday night. 

‘They detest Donald Trump, not just on the Democrat side, but the general establishment, because he’s not one of them, because he doesn’t play their game. They are terrified. He’s going to announce any day that he’s running for president in 2024. And this is a very convenient way to just throw a little more mud on Donald Trump as though they haven’t already done enough.’

‘Think about this. If this is what they’re able to do to the former president of the United States, think about what they could do to you, to anybody in America. The bottom line here is that these documents that have been in question have been, everybody’s been cooperating.’

‘Everybody from my father-in-law’s team has been cooperating with the FBI with any authority that asks for anything up until now and there was no need to make such a big scene, to do something this insane, quite frankly, to a former president. But I think everybody clearly knows, Will, what is going on here. This is about weaponizing the justice system, as it has been so many times in the past against somebody who you politically do not like.’

Trump has not yet officially declared his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election, though he has dropped strong hints over the past few months.

Just prior to posting his new ad on the Truth Social platform, Trump was spotted leaving Trump Tower in New York around 8:00 p.m. on Monday night.

He waved and gave his signature thumbs’ up to the gathered bystanders, but didn’t comment on the investigation as he got into his SUV, surrounded by Secret Service agents.

Eric Trump was also spotted at Trump Tower on Monday.

In his first public remarks since news of the search surfaced, Trump made no mention of the raid during a tele-town hall on behalf of Leora Levy, the Connecticut Republican he has endorsed in Tuesday’s U.S. Senate primary to pick a general election opponent against Democratic U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal. Trump gave his public backing to Levy late last week, calling her on Monday the best pick ‘to replace Connecticut’s joke of a senator.’

But in a social media post Monday night, he was much more unguarded, calling the search a ‘weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024.’

Truth Social was officially launched on February 21, 2022 and immediately saw a slew of bugs and glitches, including a lengthy waiting list to get approved for an account on the platform. 

When Trump was indefinitely banned from Twitter in the days following the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, he vowed that he would create a ‘free speech’ social media platform that did not censure its users. It came after several conservative voices were seeing themselves suspended, censored or kicked off social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.