(NEW YORK) — A federal judge has rejected an effort by former President Donald Trump to pause several civil lawsuits filed against him seeking to hold him accountable for his actions leading up to the Jan. 6 riot, according to a newly posted ruling.
Trump had asked D.C. District Judge Amit Mehta to stay proceedings in the lawsuits — brought by several members of Congress and police officers who protected the Capitol on Jan. 6 — while his federal criminal case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith was ongoing.
Trump’s attorneys reasoned that defending himself from the lawsuits could improperly impact his defense strategy in his criminal case, which Mehta rejected in his ruling Thursday afternoon.
Mehta wrote that while, “it is true in a sense—both cases center on the former President’s actions in the lead up to and on January 6, 2021… [Trump ] overstates the significance of that factual overlap in the present posture of these matters.”
Trump’s team also cited the Supreme Court’s upcoming arguments regarding the former president’s claims of immunity from prosecution in his criminal case, which they argue could impact how Mehta ultimately rules on Trump’s immunity claims for what he believes are “official acts” outlined in the civil lawsuits.
“…There is no reason to wait on the Supreme Court’s decision,” Mehta responded. “This court is unlikely to make an immunity determination before the end of the Supreme Court’s term. Thus, if the Court’s ruling on criminal immunity is relevant to the outcome here, it can easily be applied.”
Trump faces four felony charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction, in the indictment brought by Smith last year, in which prosecutors detailed what they said was his plot to remain in power after his electoral loss to President Joe Biden. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has denied any wrongdoing.
(LONDON) — In the wake of Iran’s unprecedented airstrikes on Israel, dozens of Iranians gathered in Tehran’s Palestine Square earlier this week to celebrate what the Iranian regime described as a retaliatory attack.
But interviews with women on the ground indicate that the scene, broadcast by Iranian state-run media in a country that lacks a free press, is not representative of how many other Iranians — particularly women — are feeling as Israel weighs its response.
ABC News spoke to several women in Iran who said the fear of an imminent war has been added to a long list of worries and hardships they have been grappling with for years. Their names have been changed due to concerns for their safety.
“The fear of the war is so crippling,” Ramesh, a 30-year-old designer and architect, told ABC News via telephone on Wednesday. “And imagine on top of that is the anxiety of getting arrested by the hijab police and the stress of not being able to afford the rent for our flat every single month.”
Iran sent a barrage of more than 300 different types of drones and missiles toward Israel late Saturday, days after a suspected Israeli airstrike hit the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria. The strike on the consulate killed seven people, including a top Iranian commander. Israel has not confirmed that it was behind the attack on the Iranian consulate but has not denied it.
All but a few of Iran’s missiles and drones were intercepted by Israel and its allies, including the United States, officials said.
The incident over the weekend came six months into a brutal war between Israel and Hamas, an Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist group that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas led a surprise incursion into neighboring Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 200 others hostage, with 129 believed to still remain in captivity in Gaza, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. Since Oct. 7, Israeli forces have killed almost 34,000 people and injured more than 76,000 others in Gaza amid ongoing ground operations and aerial bombardment of the strip, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health.
A few hours after Saturday’s retaliatory attack on Israel, Iranian authorities launched a new operation to arrest women who refuse to abide by the country’s law mandating they wear a hijab, covering their entire body except for their face, hands and feet. The operation, introduced by the police and dubbed “The Light Plan,” aims to detain women who have ignored previous warnings about their dress from the country’s so-called morality police, who regularly patrol the streets of Tehran and other cities, the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reported.
Images and videos of the latest hijab crackdown have surfaced on social media, with several Iranian women posting photos of what they say are bruises from being beaten by the morality police. One video purportedly shows Iranian police officers surrounding a woman and forcing her into a white van during a patrol.
“Imagine you turn on your TV to get news about the war and the danger you are living, and what you see is the news about the new round of the morality police operation,” Ramesh said. “It seems what the regime cares about most is that if there is a war and my house collapses over my head, my corpse is dragged out of the rubble with a scarf covering my hair.”
“We are on the verge of an all-out war and what is it that the state media tells us? A new round of the hijab police activities,” she added. “Iran says its attack on Israel was a retaliation for the 12 people Israel killed in Syria. But we know at the end we, 80 million Iranians, will be paying the price.”
Azam, a 35-year-old housewife and mother, said she “couldn’t sleep” the night she saw the news about Iran’s strikes on Israel.
“I went to my daughter’s room and held her and grabbed her from sleep, and then I went to my son’s room and held him,” Azam told ABC News via telephone on Tuesday. “All I am worried about now is that if there is a war and they attack us, we may get hurt or separated.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel “will make our own decisions [about its response to Iran’s attack] and the State of Israel will do everything necessary to defend itself.” U.S. and U.K. officials have said they don’t wish to see the situation escalate.
Maral, a 28-year-old website developer, said she and her family are living in “a horrible atmosphere of distress and anxiety,” fearing they are “just tools in the hands of those in power.”
“I am in shock and very worried about Israel’s response,” Maral told ABC News via telephone on Tuesday, adding that she has urged relatives who live in a town near one of Iran’s nuclear facilities to pack their things and come stay with them in case Israel decides to target such sites.
“Another bitter thing here is the divide between people,” she said. “The minority that are still supporters of the regime keep saying we need to stick together if the war happens, but many others are tired of the regime. Everything is so expensive and I am afraid of things getting even more expensive.”
Iran’s economy and, subsequently, its people have suffered under years of widespread corruption and international sanctions. The value of the country’s currency, the rial, has plummeted 22 times in the past 10 years. In 2019, following the failure of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers, one U.S. dollar was equal to 130,000 Iranian rials. This week, after the Iranian strikes on Israel, the rial fell to 650,000 per dollar.
The high inflation rate and currency devaluation have left many Iranians struggling to afford basic necessities, including food. Zahra, a 65-year-old housewife and grandmother, said a kilogram (just over 2 pounds) of beef currently costs 7 million rials (about $11), which is expensive for a household that only earns 100 million rials (about $150) per month.
“We don’t buy red meat or even chicken as much,” Zahra told ABC News via telephone on Wednesday.
Zahra said she fears things will get worse if Israel’s war in Gaza, which the United Nations warns has triggered a humanitarian crisis and imminent famine, spreads to her own doorstep in Iran. The concern of a wider war in the Middle East has been echoed by many regional analysts and experts.
“I have seen how innocent children are being killed, I have seen the hospitals being targeted in Gaza,” Zahra added. “I told my granddaughter that everything was going to be alright and I kept telling myself the same, too.”
(WASHINGTON) — A ban on the popular social media app TikTok in the United States is now lumped in with Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans’ $95 billion foreign aid package, which would provide funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
House Republican leaders late Wednesday posted legislative text on a fourth and final bill — the “21st Century Peace Through Strength Act” — that’s part of the proposed aid package. The bill includes a modified version of the TikTok ban that passed the House earlier this year, as well as the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act, mandatory sanctions on Iran and more.
The new bill would give TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance 270 days from the date of enactment to divest from the app or face a U.S. ban, according to the proposed legislation. It would also give the president flexibility to offer a one-time extension of 90 days, ultimately possibly providing ByteDance up to a year to divest from the app, according to the bill.
The previous TikTok bill that passed in the House in March gave ByteDance 180 days to divest from the app or face a ban.
Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell endorsed the changes to the proposed TikTok ban and said Wednesday in a statement: “I’m very happy that Speaker Johnson and House leaders incorporated my recommendation to extend the ByteDance divestment period from six months to a year. As I’ve said, extending the divestment period is necessary to ensure there is enough time for a new buyer to get a deal done. I support this updated legislation.”
In a post on X Wednesday night, TikTok said: “It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the U.S. economy, annually.”
What happens next?
In its latest guidance, House GOP leadership advised that votes on the four bills in the aid package are expected in the House on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with the last votes for the week expected late Saturday. The aid package includes $26.4 billion for Israel aid, including $4 billion to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome defense system; $60.8 billion for Ukraine aid, including $23 billion for replenishing weapons, and $8.1 billion for Indo-Pacific aid.
If each of the four bills passes and Johnson sends them to the Senate as one package — as he’s indicated he would do, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wouldn’t be able to take up the issue of foreign aid without the fourth bill that includes the proposed TikTok ban.
While senators could strip out the TikTok portion of the fourth bill, that would require sending the legislation back to the House for another vote.
While Schumer on Wednesday expressed overall support for the House foreign aid package — although not bringing up TikTok, he said he hasn’t looked closely at the text yet.
Sources at TikTok told ABC News they were alarmed by how quickly this legislation is moving and were still trying to formulate their response late Wednesday.
TikTok, which has more than 170 million American users, has said the legislation passed in the House in March amounts to a “total ban.”
In response to ABC News’ request for comment in March, TikTok condemned the proposed bill as an infringement on the right to express oneself freely.
“This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a total ban of TikTok in the United States. The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression. This will damage millions of businesses, deny artists an audience and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country,” a TikTok spokesperson said at the time.
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — As Florida schools face a growing number of book ban attempts, Gov. Ron DeSantis is scaling back policies that made it easier for people to challenge materials in schools.
In 2022, DeSantis signed HB 1467, which required elementary schools to provide a searchable list of the books accessible to students in libraries or classrooms and allow for public comment on all new materials.
Other recent legislation signed by DeSantis, including the Parental Rights in Education Bill and the Stop WOKE Act, restricts content on race and LGBTQ identities in schools and has further impacted access to classroom materials.
Florida law also allows parents and residents to object to books and have them reviewed and potentially removed from schools.
Since the implementation of these laws, Florida has seen a rise in book banning attempts across the state, according to the American Library Association (ALA) and free speech advocacy group PEN America.
Now, DeSantis has signed HB 1285, which he said will limit the amount of book objections that can be made by people who don’t have a child who is accessing school materials. Parents of children in the school districts or using district materials will still be able to object to an unlimited amount of material.
According to DeSantis, the book transparency efforts were aimed at removing “explicit” material from schools. Critics of these policies argued their vague restrictions would lead to censorship.
In the first half of this school year alone, PEN America found that Florida experienced the highest number of ban cases with 3,135 attempts across 11 school districts.
More than 1,600 of those book banning attempts took place in Escambia County Public Schools, which is currently being sued by book publisher Penguin Random House, authors and PEN America for removing hundreds of books off shelves for review.
These groups found that political groups like Moms for Liberty and politicized individuals are behind large swaths of book challenges nationwide, sometimes demanding the censorship of multiple titles — often dozens or hundreds at a time.
The vast majority of the books impacted by these banning efforts are written by or about people of color and the LGBTQ community, according to the ALA.
DeSantis’ office said the recent change to these policies “protects schools from activists trying to politicize and disrupt a district’s book review process.”
“What’s happened though, is you have some people who are taking the curriculum transparency and are trying to weaponize that for political purposes that involves objecting to normal books,” said DeSantis in a Tuesday press conference. “Some of the books I saw in the teachers lounge, the classic books, there’s people that will try to get to that because they wanna create a narrative. It’s like, ‘oh, all these books, we don’t know what’s lawful or not to have.’ That’s nonsense.”
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Shinedown‘s Brent Smith and Jelly Roll go way back, and their friendship may extend to the studio.
In an interview with the Spout podcast, Smith was asked whether Shinedown would ever collaborate with the “Need a Favor” artist.
“Hundred percent,” Smith replies. “It might be in the works.”
Smith adds, “I don’t know what I’m talking about right now,” but smiles, “You never know!’
Jelly Roll has previously called Smith a mentor and “one of my best friends.”
“We just have a mutual love for one another,” Smith says of his relationship with Jelly Roll. “This man is the real thing on so many different levels, could not be a more genuine individual. Talented as all get out.”
“I’m so proud of that guy,” he continues. “I love his success and I love watching it.”
Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony says it’s been a while since he’s been in touch with the band’s original front man, David Lee Roth.
In a video recently posted to YouTube of a Q&A at a Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp that took place in March, Anthony says it’s been “quite some time” since he’s spoken to Roth.
He says that the last time they talked was when there was a discussion about “a possible reunion thing,” with Anthony saying Roth and Alex Van Halen called him from manager Irving Azoff’s office “some years back” asking what he thought about doing reunion with Joe Satriani on guitar.
He says, “And that was probably the last time I talked to Dave. That was, you know, God, I don’t know, about a few years ago now.”
But it sounds like Anthony doesn’t hold any ill will toward Dave, although he does describe him as “kind of a crazy guy.”
“It’s hard to explain Dave. We don’t have enough time,” he says. “I mean, I don’t have anything against Dave. And I’ve said this in the past to different people, whatever, that if the chance ever came up or whatever, I would definitely be willing to jam with him or whatever.”
But Anthony hasn’t given up playing Van Halen music. He’s set to join the band’s other lead singer, Sammy Hagar,on The Best of All World Tour, where they plan to delve into the Van Halen catalog. The tour, which also features Satriani and drummer Jason Bonham,kicks off July 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida. A complete list of dates can be found at redrocker.com.
(NEW YORK) — Trader Joe’s shoppers with an affinity for homemade pesto, Caprese salad or other dishes that utilize fresh basil should check their fridge for a newly recalled plastic clamshell container of the organic herb.
“Do not eat Infinite Herbs-brand organic basil sold at Trader Joe’s stores in 29 states and D.C.,” the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned on Wednesday amid an ongoing salmonella investigation being carried out in tandem with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This product should no longer be for sale at Trader Joe’s and is likely past shelf-life. If you already bought organic basil from Trader Joe’s and removed it from the packaging or froze it and cannot tell if it was Infinite Herbs-brand, do not eat or use it and throw it away,” the FDA urged consumers.
The popular grocer announced a voluntary recall of its 2.5-ounce plastic clamshell containers of organic basil on April 17 “as the product may have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.”
The product is marked with the UPC code 8 18042 02147 7 and was sold between Feb. 1 and April 6, 2024, in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
“If you purchased the product during this date range, please discard it or return it to any Trader Joe’s for a full refund,” the retailer said in its recall announcement.
Those with questions about the recall can contact Trader Joe’s customer relations at (626) 599-3817 or by emailing the company through the product feedback form on its site.
Trader Joe’s did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for additional comment.
As of time of publication, based on epidemiological information collected by CDC, 12 people have been infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium reported in seven states and linked to the Infinite Herbs organic basil.
“Seven of eight cases with information available reported exposure to fresh organic basil purchased from Trader Joe’s before becoming ill,” the FDA stated this week. “Additionally, traceback data collected by FDA determined that Infinite Herbs, LLC, in Miami, FL, was the supplier of the 2.5-oz packages of organic basil sold at Trader Joe’s stores.”
According to the CDC, most people infected with salmonella experience diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps, and symptoms typically begin six hours to six days after swallowing the bacteria.
Most people recover without treatment after four to seven days. But some — especially children younger than 5 years and adults 65 years and older, or people with weakened immune systems — may experience more severe illnesses that require medical treatment or hospitalization, the CDC states.
According to the FDA, Infinite Herbs, LLC is cooperating with the agency’s investigation and agreed to initiate the voluntary recall.
In a post on the company’s website, Infinite Herbs CEO Gregorio Berliavsky wrote, “I am heartbroken at the thought that any item we sold may have caused illness or discomfort. We simply will not rest until we can once again be confident in the safety of this product.”
He continued, “All farms we source from must comply with U.S. food safety regulations, meet buyer requirements, and submit documentation verifying food safety practices. We sourced the recalled basil from a single farm, which is no longer in production, and we are working with the farmer to conduct an internal investigation of the food safety practices. Through this investigation, our goal is to determine the cause of this recall and apply measures to prevent it from happening again.”
“Your safety and satisfaction are of utmost importance to us, and we deeply regret any concerns this may have caused,” he added.
According to Berliavsky, customers impacted by the recall may contact the company’s customer service team at 305-599-9255 (extension 148) Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET, or via email at customer_service@infiniteherbs.com.
The FDA and CDC investigation is ongoing to determine the source of contamination and whether additional products are linked to illnesses. The FDA said it would post updates via its online advisory.
(LOS ANGELES) — Two couples have filed lawsuits against in vitro fertilization provider Ovation Fertility alleging its clinic destroyed their embryos when a lab employee wrongly used hydrogen peroxide instead of a sterile solution in an incubator.
The couples allege that the clinic still used the embryos despite knowing they were nonviable. Neither woman got pregnant.
In two nearly identical lawsuits filed on Thursday against Ovation Fertility in Newport Beach, California, two unnamed couples are asserting multiple claims, including negligent misrepresentation, fraud, negligence and medical battery. The couples are not revealing their names in the lawsuits to protect their privacy, according to the suits.
In two nearly identical lawsuits filed on Thursday, two unnamed couples are accusing Ovation Fertility in Newport Beach, California, of negligent misrepresentation fraud, negligence and medical battery. The couples are not revealing their names in the lawsuits to protect their privacy, according to the suits.
Embryos belonging to likely dozens of patients were destroyed by hydrogen peroxide in the latter half of January 2024, the couples’ attorney, Adam Wolf, said in a press conference Thursday.
The clinic did not realize there was a problem with the embryos until they saw low success rates for implantation in January and investigated why, Wolf told ABC News. Wolf said Ovation Fertility then reached out to at least some of the impacted patients.
Ovation Fertility did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment regarding the suits.
The couples allege they may not be able to have children who are biologically related to them — since they say they have no more viable embryos — because of Ovation Fertility’s actions.
In the suits, the couples claim the hydrogen peroxide killed their embryos before they were transferred and that there was no chance they would become pregnant.
The suits, filed in California Superior Court, seek jury trials and are asking for an unspecified amount of damages.
The couples allege that the clinic put an extremely unsafe amount of hydrogen peroxide in an incubator used to store the embryos and failed to have the proper procedures and protocols in place to ensure the toxic incubator would not harm their embryos despite the clinic’s claims to the contrary.
“Hydrogen peroxide is something that can be in the lab of a fertility clinic; there is nothing wrong with that,” Wolf said. “What was entirely wrong about this was the levels and concentration of hydrogen peroxide that was used in this incubator apparently having mixed up hydrogen peroxide and a sterile solution,” Wolf said at the press conference.
“This was an error that had massive implications for likely dozens of patients,” Wolf said. “This killed their embryos. In certain states, those are human beings.”
They also allege that the clinic did not properly train their employees on how to operate, manage or maintain the embryo incubator.
The couples also allege they were told their embryos were viable and had not been harmed at the time of the transfer, despite allegedly knowing that this was not true.
One couple said they only had one genetically normal embryo and it was destroyed in the incubator.
The other couple said they underwent two separate egg retrievals and had two high-quality embryos that were destroyed in the toxic incubator.
Billie Eilish has released the track list for her new album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, which is coming out May 17.
Billie had already given us a sneak peek of one of the tracks, “CHIHIRO,” during an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music. It’s named after the main character in the anime film Spirited Away. Billie also revealed another track name, “LUNCH,” during the interview.
There are 10 tracks on the record, Billie’s third. One of them is called “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE,” which means “the love of my life” in French. Another one is called “BITTERSUITE,” with the “SUITE” part spelled like a hotel suite, not a sweet candy.
Here’s the track list in full:
“SKINNY” “LUNCH” “CHIHIRO” “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” “WILDFLOWER” “THE GREATEST” “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE” “THE DINER” “BITTERSUITE” “BLUE”
Kelly Clarkson has confirmed the April 19 release of “From the Jump,” a duet with English singer James Arthur, best known for his hit “Say You Won’t Let Go.” She wrote on Instagram, “I love singing with artists that inspire me and vocalists that I adore! So when@jamesarthur23sent me this song, I quite literally jumped to be on it (see what I did there). I hope you enjoy this beautiful song.” James replied in the comments, “Can’t believe this is happening. thanks for blessing this song Kelly!”
Melissa Etheridge‘s new Paramount+ docuseries I’m Not Broken will premiere during the 2024 Tribeca Festival, taking place June 5-16 in New York City. The two-part series features Melissa writing a song inspired by correspondence from incarcerated women at the Topeka Correctional Facility in Kansas, then performing it for them at the prison. The premiere will be followed by Melissa playing a short acoustic set at New York’s Beacon Theatre.
Variety reports that Melissa is also one of the co-chairs of Mobilize Recovery Across America 2024, a bus tour kicking off September 20. At each stop, partners, volunteers and members of the recovery community will offer training and listening sessions, overdose prevention education and talks about addiction, recovery and mental health. Melissa lost her son Beckett to opioid addiction in 2020.
Not only has Taylor Swift revealed that the first single from her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, is “Fortnight,” she also revealed a mysterious #ForaFortnightChallenge on YouTube Shorts. A fortnight is a period of 14 days, in case you don’t know. Oh, and that Taylor Swift Apple Music lyrics search has revealed the sentence, “We hereby conduct this post mortem.” But of what? Her relationship? We’ll know in a few hours.
