Reports reaching the desk of Africa Today News, New York has it that a Former President of United States, Donald Trump has decisively won the Iowa caucuses, cementing his Republican frontrunner status as he bids to retake the White House in 2024.
In a largely anticipated outcome on Monday, Trump easily defeated Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, moving him one step closer to clinching a third consecutive nomination for president.
Multiple US media outlets called the state-wide contest for Trump within 30 minutes of the start of voting.
Trump’s win indicates that he will still be able to dominate the Republican Party despite his growing legal problems, which now include four criminal indictments.
Iowa has a mixed record of predicting the eventual Republican nominee – George W Bush was the last GOP presidential candidate to win the state in 2000.
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But the largely rural Midwestern state is seen as an important springboard for candidates competing for delegates in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.
Iowans braved dangerously cold weather to gather at more than 1,600 schools, community centres and other sites in the first vote in the 2024 presidential race.
Ahead of the Iowa caucuses, Trump’s lock on the Republican grassroots was clear, with polls showing the businessman-turned-politician having a double-digit lead over his rivals.
Many Republican voters in Iowa cast Trump as the best candidate to address their concerns about the economy, record levels of migrant arrivals at the southern border and global instability.
In another report, Trump has been ordered to pay the New York Times nearly $400,000 (£313,900) in legal fees for a failed lawsuit, Africa Today News, New York reports.
Mr Trump’s $100m lawsuit accused the newspaper and Mr Trump’s estranged niece, Mary Trump, of “an insidious plot” to obtain his tax records.
A judge dismissed it last year, saying its claims “fail as a matter of constitutional law”.
The series of articles on Mr Trump’s financial affairs won a Pulitzer Prize.