(NEW YORK) –Former President Donald Trump will have to sit for a deposition sometime before Christmas as part of a defamation lawsuit filed by Summer Zervos, a former contestant on “Apprentice,” a judge’s law clerk said Monday.
Zervos has alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007 and defamed her during his campaign when he said she lied about it.
Earlier, in a 2016 statement, Trump had said that he had “never met her at a hotel or greeted her inappropriately a decade ago.”
The two parties are still haggling over disclosure of certain documents but Zervos’ side is eager to depose the former president.
“We just don’t believe our client can be further prejudiced in delaying this litigation any longer,” said Zervos’ attorney Moira Penza. “We do not believe there are any outstanding issues that would prohibit the parties from engaging in depositions.”
An attorney for Trump, Alina Habba, called it “completely ridiculous” to think depositions could occur immediately when Zervos has not turned over all relevant information.
“Ms. Zervos is claiming emotional damages and financial damages,” Habba said. “How can we, as defense counsel, provide any kind of quality deposition when we don’t have all the medical records?”
A law clerk for the judge overseeing the case said he saw no reason depositions could not occur before the end of the year.
“Now he’s a private citizen,” said clerk Michael Rand during a virtual status conference on Monday. “I’m sure like any other litigant, we can have mutually agreeable dates for depositions. I really don’t see a reason that before the end of the year, you’re not done with depositions.”
Rand set a close-of-fact date by Dec. 23, meaning depositions will have to be taken by then. He said he expected a trial date to be set sometime in the early part of 2022.
(WASHINGTON) — As the cry “Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!” rang out just after 10 a.m. Monday in Washington, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court emerged from behind a 44-foot velvet curtain wall, walking into their vaulted marble chamber for the first time in 18 months.
They entered a world — a courtroom, a docket, an American society — dramatically changed and charged with anticipation since they last convened in-person as major decisions loom on abortion, guns, the death penalty and religious freedom.
A chamber normally packed with hundreds of spectators is now limited to an audience of just five dozen clerks and members of the press — all covid-tested, N95-masked, and seated 6-feet apart. The lectern for attorneys, once 3 feet from the bench, now positioned 10-feet away.
Proceedings that for years were shielded from much of the public in real-time are now livestreamed on the Supreme Court website.
The justices took their seats in a new array for the first time since the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Chief Justice John Roberts, in the middle of the iconic mahogany bench, is now flanked by senior conservative Justice Clarence Thomas and senior liberal Justice Stephen Breyer.
Thomas, 73, who was famously silent for years during oral arguments before the pandemic, asked the first question of the new, in-person term and remained loquacious throughout. A sprightly Breyer, 83, repeatedly whispered to the chief with a smile from his new center-stage spot.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired from the court in 2018, was seated in a front box as special guest — a show of solidarity for the institution at a time when the court faces its lowest public approval rating in decades and a brewing crisis of credibility.
On the wings of the bench, the newest justices: Amy Coney Barrett on the right, appearing in-person for arguments for the first time; on the far left, an empty seat for Brett Kavanaugh, who dialed in by phone from home due to a COVID-19 diagnosis last week. (There were no audible signs of his illness; the court has said he is asymptomatic.)
Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the only justice to don a face mask. Justice Samuel Alito was seen slumped back in his chair sipping from a stainless-steel thermos; he was the only justice to remain silent for the entire first case.
For nearly two-and-a-half hours, the justices heard arguments in two opening disputes: the first, a suit brought by Mississippi against Tennessee over the pumping of groundwater from a massive aquifer that stretches across eight states. The second case addressed a criminal procedural matter involving the Armed Career Criminal Act.
Free-for-all questioning among the justices, which had been sidelined during virtual sessions, was back in full force but remained civil and polite. Chief Justice Roberts has implemented a new procedure at the conclusion of each round, calling on each justice by name to see if they have any additional questions.
The court was gaveled in and out by newly-sworn Court Marshal Gail Curley, a recently retired Army colonel and judge advocate general officer who joined the court this summer as its 11th marshal in history. She is responsible for court security and operations.
Meanwhile, outside the court building protests raged over abortion. That issue will get its first public hearing of the term next Tuesday Oct. 12, in a procedural case out of Kentucky. The marquee abortion case of the year out of Mississippi — which asks the justices to squarely consider nearly 50 years of precedent since Roe v. Wade — is set for December.
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — Loved ones of Miya Marcano are demanding justice after a body believed to be the 19-year-old college student was found slain in a wooded area of Orlando. Investigators allege a maintenance man at her apartment complex is the “prime suspect” in her disappearance.
Family members are accusing the management of Arden Villas apartments where Marcano lived and worked of negligence for allowing Armando Caballero, 27, a maintenance man at the complex, to possess a master key fob that allowed him to access Marcano’s unit on the day she vanished. They claimed that several residents had complained of Caballero, who investigators said was found dead from suicide.
Marcano had told family members that Caballero made romantic advances toward her and she rebuffed him.
“You shouldn’t feel unsafe where you live,” Marcano’s cousin, Caili Sue, said during a news conference on Sunday in the parking lot of the Arden Villas apartments.
The family’s lawyer, Daryl K. Washington, said Marcano’s relatives are concerned that other residents of the apartment complex are in jeopardy due to what they describe as lapses in security.
“Death is something that is very difficult. But what makes death even more difficult is when it’s death that could have been prevented,” Washington said.
A body believed to be Marcano, a student at Valencia College in Orlando, was discovered around 10:45 a.m. on Saturday in a wooded area near the Tymber Skan apartment complex in Orlando, about 17 miles from where she lived.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina said investigators were led to the area based on Caballero’s cellphone records.
Mina said the records showed Caballero was near the Tymber Skan apartments around 8 or 9 p.m. on Sept. 25, the day Marcano went missing.
He said Marcano’s purse containing her identification was found near the body. While the Orange County medical examiner has yet to positively identify the remains as those of Marcano, Mina said investigators are “very certain” it’s her.
A key fob Caballero had to access apartments was used at Marcano’s unit just before her disappearance, authorities said. Following her disappearance, Marcano’s relatives said they found her usually tidy apartment a mess and that there were signs of a struggle.
Mina said police served a search warrant on Caballero’s apartment and vehicle within 24 hours of Marcano’s family reporting her missing. Police found Caballero dead in his apartment on Sept. 27 from an apparent suicide.
Washington said tenants of the Arden Villas apartment complex that he and family members spoke to expressed concern over alleged inappropriate behavior by Caballero. But the management of the Arden Villas complex said in a statement that it had received no complaints about Caballero “from any parties involved directly or indirectly with the situation.”
“The only way he was able to get access to (Marcano’s) apartment without permission was with the key fob. There need to be changes. We’re going to make sure another young girl doesn’t have to deal with what Miya had to deal with,” Washington said. “We feel had this apartment complex taken the proper steps, this person should not have even been employed at the complex.”
In its statement, the management of Arden Villas apartments said “all employees are vetted using a national background check service” and that Cabellero had “no record of burglary or sexual assault.”
The apartment complex, according to the statement from management, plans to beef up security, including posting a guard at the front gate.
“Additionally, we have upgraded our maintenance procedures to allow for appointment-only bookings,” the statement reads. “We are in the process of reviewing our entire security apparatus and will make changes or upgrades as warranted.”
(NEW YORK) — The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.
More than 701,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.8 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 65% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Oct 04, 9:19 am
NYC public school employees must now be vaccinated
All New York City public school employees must now be vaccinated or risk losing their jobs.
More than 97% of the city’s public school teachers are now vaccinated, according to the United Federation of Teachers.
The union estimated about 1,000 more teachers were vaccinated over the weekend following the 5 p.m. Friday deadline.
Protesting teachers will march across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall for a rally Monday afternoon.
(NEW YORK) — The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.
More than 701,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.8 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 65.4% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Oct 04, 10:24 am
NYC public school employees must now be vaccinated
All New York City public school employees must now be vaccinated or risk losing their jobs.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday that 95% of full-time employees are now vaccinated, including 96% of teachers and 99% of principals.
“It clearly works,” the mayor said of the mandate, which went into effect at 5 p.m. Friday.
Schools Chancellor Misha Porter said 18,000 new shots were given out since Friday. She said unvaccinated employees can still get their shots and return to work.
Protesting teachers will march across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall for a rally Monday afternoon.
(PHILADELPHIA) — An employee at Philadelphia’s Jefferson University Hospital was gunned down, allegedly by a coworker wearing scrubs, before the suspect shot and injured two officers during his capture, authorities said.
The shooting was reported at 12:13 a.m. local time at the hospital’s Gibbon Building, according to an internal law enforcement briefing reviewed by ABC News. No one else at the hospital was hurt.
Philadelphia police said they believe the slain employee was targeted.
Police found the suspect outside a school about 4 miles from the hospital at 1:29 a.m. local time, the briefing said.
The gunman shot at police, striking two officers, before the suspect was injured and taken into custody, according to law enforcement.
One officer was hit in the elbow and the other suffered a graze wound to the face, the briefing said. Both officers are in stable condition, law enforcement said.
The suspect is in the hospital and is expected to survive, Philadelphia police said.
Police searched a box truck the suspect was driving and found a gun, scrub pants and body armor, law enforcement said.
(HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.) — A major oil spill off the coast of Southern California has forced Huntington Beach and activities scheduled to take place in the region to shut down.
A leak from an offshore oil production facility leaked 3,000 barrels of oil, which is about 126,000 gallons, on Saturday, Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr said. The leak is expected to have occurred about 4.5 miles offshore, officials said.
The U.S. Coast Guard was notified of the spill around 9 a.m. Saturday, Carr said. By early Sunday morning, the oil had reached the shore. It had entered the Talbert Marshlands and the Santa Ana River Trail, fanning out over an area of about 5.8 nautical miles, the city of Huntington Beach announced in a press release Sunday morning.
The size of the spill “demanded prompt and aggressive action,” officials said, but the pipeline has been capped and is no longer leaking into the ocean.
Skimming equipment and booms have been deployed to prevent the oil from flowing into the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve and Huntington Beach Wetlands, according to the city.
On Sunday night, Laguna Beach closed all its beaches, asking that “all individuals remain clear of the beach and pay close attention to any beach closure or warning signs,” according to a statement released by the city.
“Some bad news for my Laguna Beach constituents (and everyone else). I just learned projections have the #HuntingtonBeachOilSpill reaching Crystal Cove around 10pm tonight. We need more resources deployed ASAP. And then we need to end all offshore oil drilling off the CA coast,” California Sen. Dave Min tweeted.
The Coast Guard has recovered 3,150 gallons of oil from the water as of Sunday night, and 5,360 feet of boom have been deployed, they said in a statement.
The shoreside response was conducted by 105 government agency personnel. Fourteen boats conducted oil recovery operations while three Coast Guard boats enforced a safety zone off 1,000 yards around the oil spill boats. Also, four aircrafts were dispatched for overflight assessments.
It is not yet clear what caused the spill.
The final day of the Pacific Airshow was canceled in order to facilitate cleanup operations, city officials announced Sunday morning. In addition, residents were advised not to swim, surf or exercise near the beach due to the potential health hazards, such as toxic fumes.
The oil spill is already affecting wildlife, with dead birds and fish already washing up on the beaches, Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley tweeted.
Newport Beach Mayor Brad Avery reported to Foley that he saw dolphins swimming through the slick oil plumes as he headed back to shore from Catalina, Foley tweeted.
Foley told ABC News she believes the spill is “irreversible.”
“You can’t get wildlife back that are killed in this process, and some of the habitat the plant species, they’re going to be impacted for years to come,” she said.
She added that the damage to the environment isn’t the only thing she fears as she has received reports of surfers getting sick.
“It feels like you have a thick coating in your mouth, if you’re out there too long. It’s definitely the vapors in the air, and they’re impacting the environment,” she said.
Marine animals will be taken to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, where they will be triaged and later sent to Sea World San Diego for rehabilitation, animal rescuers told ABC News.
The Pacific Marine Mammal Center is currently in a “holding pattern” as it awaits the arrival of oiled animals in the next hours, days and weeks, Krysta Higuchi, communications representative for the organization, told ABC News.
The center is “preparing for the worst, hoping for the best,” Higuchi said.
Ocean conservation nonprofit Oceana urged policymakers to begin a widespread shift to clean energy and to end offshore drilling to prevent future spills.
“This is just the latest tragedy of the oil industry,” Jacqueline Savitz, chief policy officer for, told ABC News. “The reality of our reliance on oil and gas is on full display here.”
Saturday’s spill is just the latest in American waters this past month. After Hurricane Ida tore through the Gulf Coast in early September, it left a trail of oil in its wake, with nearly 350 oil spills reported to the Coast Guard in the days after the storm made landfall.
An analysis by the organization also found that ending new leasing for offshore oil and gas in the U.S. could prevent over 19 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions as well as more than $720 billion in damages to people, property and the environment in the country.
The risk of oil spills may rise a climate change creates stronger offshore disturbances, experts told ABC News.
The California Department of Wildlife has set up a hotline to report wildlife impacted by the oil. Individuals are advised not to handle the wildlife but to report incidents to 877-823-6926.
(ORLANDO) — A body believed to be 19-year-old college student Miya Marcano, who has been missing for just over a week, was discovered Saturday morning, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office announced.
Authorities searched around the Tymber Skan apartments in Orange County, Florida, on Saturday and discovered a body in a wooded area nearby “that we believe to be that of Miya Marcano,” Sheriff John Mina said.
Marcano, a student at Valencia College, was last seen at the Arden Villas apartments complex in Orlando where she lived on Sept. 24.
“Although we are very certain of the identity, the positive identification will have to come from the medical examiner’s office. At this time we cannot confirm a cause of death,” Mina said.
Mina said Marcano’s family has been notified about the discovery of the body, which was found around 10:45 a.m. Saturday. He said a purse with Marcano’s identification was found near the body as well.
Police were led to the area based on cellphone records of “prime suspect” Armando Caballero, 27, a maintenance worker at Arden Villas who was found dead Monday from an apparent suicide, authorities said.
The records showed Caballero was near Tymber Skan apartments the day Marcano went missing around 8 or 9 p.m. Mina said that Caballero had lived at the Tymber Skan apartments at one time.
Authorities said Caballero had expressed a romantic interest in Marcano but she rebuffed his advances. Caballero possessed a key fob to access apartments and his was used at Marcano’s unit just before her disappearance, authorities said.
“We believe Armando Caballero is solely responsible for this crime,” Sheriff Mina said Saturday.
“This is not the update I wanted to give everyone,” Mina added. “Our hearts our broken. Everyone wanted this outcome to be different.”
(WASHINGTON) — Women’s rights advocates are marching again in Washington, D.C., and other cities across the U.S. Saturday, with a focus on reproductive rights.
The fifth annual Women’s March is being held on a date specifically chosen for its proximity to the start of the U.S. Supreme Court’s new term on Monday.
Women’s March organizers said the restrictive abortion law that went into effect in Texas in September motivated them to act now.
The law, which bans nearly all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, went into effect after the Supreme Court rejected a request by Texas abortion providers to block the law as legal challenges continued.
The Department of Justice and the state of Texas faced off in court over the law on Friday, but the judge did not give any specific timeline on when he would make his decision on the DOJ’s request for an emergency injunction.
“When the Supreme Court rejected an emergency request to block Texas’s abortion ban, they effectively took the next step towards overturning Roe v. Wade. Simply put: We are witnessing the most dire threat to abortion access in our lifetime,” reads a statement on the Women’s March website.
The Supreme Court also is scheduled to hear in December oral arguments in a case that could be the most consequential abortion rights case in decades. The state of Mississippi is asking the justices to overturn longstanding legal precedent that restrictions on abortion access before a fetus is viable outside the womb — around 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy — are categorically unconstitutional. Mississippi wants to ban abortions after 15 weeks, or even earlier.
Reproductive rights advocates call the case, which centers around Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Mississippi’s last remaining abortion clinic, an existential threat to American abortion rights not seen in nearly 50 years.
This year’s protest follows in the footsteps of Women’s March protests that have taken place every year since 2017, when the first march drew more than a million people to various locations across the U.S. the day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
The protests have dwindled in size since the first march, but have continued across the country.
As women take to the streets this year to march, in addition to battles over reproductive rights, women have also experienced disproportionate job loss during the coronavirus pandemic and faced greater caregiving burdens than male counterparts, data shows.
Women’s March organizers said that in addition to the Washington, D.C., march, smaller marches are planned from Bangor, Maine, all the way to Seattle.
The Washington march began at Freedom Plaza and is continuing along Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Supreme Court building.
Busy Phillips, who has spoken publicly about having an abortion at age 15, is among the speakers confirmed for the Washington march.
