Luigi Mangione appears for his arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court, Dec. 23, 2024, in New York. (Curtis Mean/Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Accused killer Luigi Mangione must be given civilian clothes to wear for his court appearance next month, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
Mangione is due in a Manhattan courtroom on Dec. 1, but his attorneys said he had nothing to wear.
“Mangione is currently housed in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and does not have civilian clothes to wear for the hearings,” defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo wrote in a court filing.
On Wednesday, Judge Margaret Garnett ordered the Bureau of Prisons to accept “2 suits; 3 shirts; 3 sweaters; 3 pairs of pants; 5 pairs of socks; and 1 pair of shoes (without laces)” and allow Mangione to wear those items when he is brought to court.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to federal and state charges in the December 2024 shooting death of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson. He is due in court on the state charges and is expected to argue certain evidence should be suppressed. Judge Gregory Caro may also set a trial date.
This is not the first sartorial matter to be discussed in connection with Mangione’s prosecution. Handwritten notes were secreted inside a pair of argyle socks Mangione was permitted to wear during an earlier court appearance.
At the time, prosecutors complained Mangione was given special accommodations for his “fashion needs.”
Former Olympic snowboarder and Canadian national Ryan Wedding is seen in photos released by the FBI. FBI
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department unsealed new charges against a former Canadian Olympian snowboarder who is allegedly the “largest distributor of cocaine” in Canada, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The charges allege Ryan Wedding ordered the killing of a witness who was set to testify against him in a U.S. federal trial in a drug trafficking case, prosecutors said.
“Wedding collaborates closely with the Sinaloa Cartel, a foreign terrorist organization, to flood not only American but also Canadian communities with cocaine coming from Colombia,” Bondi said at a press briefing Wednesday. “His organization is responsible for importing approximately six metric tons of cocaine a year into Los Angeles via semi trucks from Mexico.”
Wedding was previously indicted in Los Angeles federal court on multiple federal charges, including running a continuing criminal enterprise, committing murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and assorted drug crimes.
He and his alleged second-in-command, Canadian Andrew Clark, conspired to move hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Mexico to the Los Angeles area, where it was stored in stash houses before being transported to Canada and U.S. cities in long-haul semi-trucks, authorities said.
The two are also accused of ordering the murders of multiple people in Canada to achieve the organization’s aims, the FBI said.
Wedding is now newly charged in connection with the murder of a witness that occurred in January at a restaurant in Colombia, according to U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Los Angeles Bill Essayli.
The witness was shot five times in the head and died instantly, according to Essayli.
“Wedding placed a bounty on the victim’s head in the erroneous belief that the victim’s death would result in the dismissal of criminal charges against him and his international drug trafficking ring and would further ensure that he was not extradited to the United States,” Essayli said during the press briefing.
Wedding and 14 others, including his lawyer, are charged in the new indictment with orchestrating the murder, according to Essayli.
The lawyer is accused of advising Wedding that if he killed the witness, then criminal charges would be dropped, Essayli said. The lawyer was arrested Tuesday in Canada and will be extradited to the U.S., he said.
Authorities said they do not have the suspect who pulled the trigger in the murder and are currently searching for a suspect.
Wedding has been on the run for years and his whereabouts are unknown, authorities said.
The State Department is now offering a $15 million reward for information leading to his arrest, officials said Wednesday — up from the previously announced $10 million reward.
The Treasury Department has put sanctions on Wedding and his alleged enterprise, and said he uses a “complex” web of financials to launder money.
Wedding competed for Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where he placed 24th in the parallel giant slalom, before allegedly running the billion-dollar cocaine operation from Mexico for more than a dozen years, officials said.
FBI Director Kash Patel called Wedding a “modern-day” Pablo Escobar. He asked anyone with information on Wedding to speak up.
“Make no mistake, Ryan Wedding is extremely dangerous,” Assistant Director in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Office Akil Davis said during the briefing. “He’s extremely violent, and he’s extremely wealthy. He’s being protected by the Sinaloa cartel, along with others in the country of Mexico. We will find him, and we will bring him to justice.”
(NEW YORK) — Just a week before Thanksgiving, record-breaking heat is hitting parts of the South, with some cities setting daily records as temperatures rise 10 to 20 degrees above average.
Cities across Texas experienced record-high temperatures on Tuesday, with Waco reaching 87 degrees and Austin hitting 86 degrees. Dallas, which hit a high of 87 degrees on Tuesday, has not seen temperatures this warm this late into the year in 20 years.
Houston also shattered records on Tuesday, as it saw a temperature over 80 degrees for a record 245th day this year. The previous record of 243 days was set in 2012. This record could continue to grow, as Houston — which has only had 77 days of weather cooler than 80 degrees — will see temperatures in the low- to mid-80s for the rest of the week.
From Wednesday through Friday, record-high temperatures are possible from Houston to Charlotte, North Carolina, and areas farther south.
Other cities experiencing unseasonably warm weather include Jackson, Mississippi, which could see the temperature reach 81 degrees on Thursday, along with Atlanta, with highs consistently in the high 70s for the rest of the week.
This heat, which will move out of the South this weekend, will allow for a flood threat to develop from Texas to Missouri on Thursday.
While the heat lingers in the South, parts of the Southeast and Northeast will see temperatures “cooler than normal at times,” according to the National Weather Service.
This year, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation — a natural variation of warmer, neutral and cooler waters along the equatorial waters of the eastern Pacific — has been in the cooler pattern, or La Niña, since September and is expected to continue for much of winter.
This likely puts the U.S. in a dominant weather pattern for most of the winter, keeping the southern half of the country warmer and drier and the Pacific Northwest out to the Great Lakes cooler and wetter than average.
The family of 18-year-old Anna Kepner, who was reported dead while aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship on Saturday, says they will remember her as a happy, bubbly, straight-A student with a bright future ahead. (Kepner family)
(MIAMI) — Anna Kepner, a teen who died aboard a Carnival Horizon cruise ship earlier this month, was found dead under a bed, wrapped in a blanket and covered by life vests, according to a security source briefed on the investigation.
The 18-year-old cheerleader from Titusville, Florida, was reported dead while aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship on Nov. 8. The Miami-Dade medical examiner has not specified a cause or manner of her death.
Among the avenues investigators are looking at is whether there might have been some sort of altercation with her stepbrother prior to her death, the source told ABC News. Investigators are also looking at other possibilities, including a medical emergency or an overdose, the source said.
Investigators are poring over ship security records, including security camera footage and access-card swipes, to get a picture of who was where at the various times prior to her death, the source said.
A court filing in an unrelated family court matter noted Kepner’s stepsibling could face charges.
The filing said the FBI is conducting an investigation “arising out of the sudden death of 18 year old Anna Kepner.”
Shauntel Hudson — Kepner’s stepmother, who was also on the cruise along with her children and Kepner’s father — requested a delay in her custody hearing because one of her minor children may face criminal charges, according to the filing.
“The Respondent has been advised through discussions with FBI investigators and her attorneys, that a criminal case may be initiated against one of the minor children of this instant action,” the filing stated. “Any testimony the Respondent may give, either written or oral, could be prejudicial to her or her adolescent child in this pending criminal investigation, therefore the Respondent cannot be compelled to testify.”
The FBI declined to comment.
Carnival Cruise Line said in a statement after Kepner’s death, “Our focus is on supporting the family of our guest and cooperating with the FBI.”
Kepner’s family did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Larry Summers, president emeritus and professor at Harvard University, during an interview in New York, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. Summers earlier this month warned that while financial markets have so far shown limited concern with regard to the Federal Reserve’s independence, the situation “could turn very quickly.” (Photographer: Victor J. Blue Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Larry Summers, a former Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and the former president of Harvard University, has resigned from the board of the tech company OpenAI, according to statements released Wednesday.
“Larry has decided to resign from the OpenAI Board of Directors, and we respect his decision. We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board,” a statement from the OpenAI Board of Directors reads.
Summers’ resignation came just two days after he released a statement saying he was “deeply ashamed” of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Summers’ email exchanges with Epstein were released last week by the House Oversight Committee.
No Epstein survivor has alleged wrongdoing by Summers and there is no public record evidence to suggest Summers was involved in any of Epstein’s crimes.
“In line with my announcement to step away from my public commitments, I have also decided to resign from the board of OpenAI,” a statement from Larry Summers said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company, and look forward to following their progress.”
Larry Summers previously announced that he was stepping back from public life after his apparent communications with Epstein were made public.
Summers is currently a member of Harvard’s faculty, according to the Harvard Crimson newspaper. But there have been calls, including from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, for Harvard to sever ties with him.
Harvard has announced that it will begin a new investigation into Summers’ association with Epstein, according to the Harvard Crimson. The university reviewed its ties to Epstein five years ago, including donations he made to the university.
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” Summers said in a statement on Monday.
He added, “While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me.”
It has been previously reported that Summers maintained a relationship with Epstein for many years, particularly during Summers’ term as president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006.
Summers flew at least four times on Epstein’s aircraft, according to flight records made public during litigation against Epstein, and he was the top official at Harvard during a time when the university received millions in gifts from Epstein.
All of those gifts were received prior to Epstein’s guilty plea in Florida in 2008 to charges of solicitation of prostitution with a minor, according to the university’s review of its Epstein connections.
President Donald Trump signs funding legislation to reopen the US government, November 12, 2025, in the Oval Office of the White House, ending the longest shutdown in U.S. history. (Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — According to the official White House government shutdown clock, the historic impasse ended on Tuesday.
While the federal government shutdown actually ended a week ago, the White House’s shutdown clock continued to tick on Tuesday until it was pointed out to the White House by ABC News.
The shutdown clock on the White House’s website had reached 48 days despite President Donald Trump signing funding legislation in the Oval Office on Nov. 12 to reopen the government.
The shutdown clock was removed shortly after ABC News asked the White House why the clock was still running. The clock was replaced with a page headlined, “Democrats Shut Down the Government for a Record 43 Days.”
The Trump administration’s shutdown clock was featured on a White House webpage as late as early Tuesday afternoon ET, right above a headline reading, “Democrats Have Shut Down the Government.”
The White House did not explain to ABC News why the clock had continued to run and be displayed online until Tuesday.
The federal government shutdown was the longest in U.S. history, officially lasting 43 days.
The impasse between Republicans and Democrats over a spending bill to reopen the government prompted widespread turmoil for thousands of furloughed federal employees and cut off Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to millions of Americans.
The shutdown was prolonged by a fight between Democrats and Republicans over the fate of enhanced tax credits for millions of Americans who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Those credits are set to expire at the end of the year.
An extension of the enhanced tax credits was not included in President Trump’s massive spending bill that he signed into law in July.
The tax credits were part of the original ACA legislation passed during the Obama administration and were enhanced in 2021 under the Biden administration to expand eligibility and lower income contribution caps.
To get enough Democrats to vote in favor of the spending bill to reopen the government, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., agreed to schedule a floor vote in December on extending the ACA tax credits. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has repeatedly refused to commit to a vote on the ACA subsidies, leaving the issue in limbo.
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.
Chicago police car is seen in Chicago, United States, on October 14, 2022. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(CHICAGO) — A man set a woman on fire while on a Chicago L train on Monday following a “verbal altercation,” leaving her in critical condition, authorities said.
A person of interest is in custody in connection with the incident, the Chicago Police Department said Tuesday.
The arson attack occurred Monday at approximately 9:25 p.m. near the Clark and Lake station, police said.
The 26-year-old woman was on a Chicago Transit Authority train “when she was involved in a verbal altercation with an approximately 45-year-old male,” the Chicago Police Department said.
“That altercation became physical when the offender poured a liquid on to the victim and ignited it, causing the victim to start on fire,” police said.
The man fled the scene when the train stopped, police said.
The woman fell to the ground upon exiting the train, police said. The fire was extinguished and she was transported to a local hospital in critical condition with severe burns, police said.
In this aerial view, salvage crews continue to remove wreckage from the Dali six weeks after the cargo ship collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge May 08, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(BALTIMORE) — The cargo ship that rammed into Baltimore’s Key Bridge in March 2024, shortly after experiencing two blackouts, initially lost power due to an improperly installed wire, the National Transportation Safety Board revealed on Tuesday.
The NTSB further found safety issues related to the Dali’s machinery and electrical systems that prevented the ship from fully recovering following the initial blackout, the agency said.
The Dali, a Singaporean vessel, struck one of the piers on the Key Bridge early on the morning of March 26, 2024, causing the bridge to collapse and killing six construction workers who were filling potholes on the span.
“This tragedy should have never occurred,” National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said during a hearing on Tuesday on the findings of the agency’s 20-month investigation into the crash. “Lives should have never been lost, as with all accidents that we investigate, this was preventable.”
According to the NTSB, on the day of the crash, a wire that had loosened over time due to an unstable connection ultimately disconnected from its breaker, resulting in a loss of propulsion and steering. A label identifying what the wire powered prevented it from being fully inserted into the breaker, the agency found.
Homendy commended her staff for this discovery.
“Our investigators routinely accomplish the impossible, and this investigation is no different,” she said. “The Dali is almost 1,000 feet, and it’s as long as the Eiffel Tower is high with miles of wiring and thousands of electrical connections. Locating a single wire that is loose among thousands of wires is like looking for a loose bolt in the Eiffel Tower.”
The NTSB said the loose wire could have been identified during inspections, however the agencies said the inspections performed by the ship’s operator, Synergy Marine Group, were not adequate enough.
Following that initial power failure, the NTSB found that multiple parts of the back up systems that were supposed to restore power and functionality to the ship and prevent the loss of propulsion were not configured correctly.
A second blackout occurred due to insufficient fuel pressure after a flushing pump being used to supply fuel to two generators shut off during the initial blackout and wasn’t restarted, the NTSB said. Investigators found the crew’s operation of flushing pump was “inappropriate” because the pump was not able to restart automatically when power was restored following a blackout and had to be restarted manually.
“According to the vessel’s classification society, the operation of the pump as a fuel oil service pump did not meet classification requirements because it was not able to restart automatically,” Barton Barnum, an engineer with the NTSB’s Office of Marine Safety, said during the hearing.
The ship experienced two blackouts while docked the day before the crash, according to the NTSB. The initial blackout was caused by human error, while the second similarly occurred because the flushing pump had shut off, Barnum said.
The NTSB determined that Synergy provided inadequate oversight by not stopping the crew from using the flushing pump as a fuel service pump.
The Dali crew responded quickly and in a timely manner to the first blackout, the NTSB found.
Crews onboard the container ship were able to warn officials about the malfunction, giving them time to close the bridge to oncoming traffic before the crash.
The NTSB said Tuesday that the workers on the bridge, though, had not received any warnings of Dali’s emergency situation. Had they been notified, they “may have had sufficient time to drive to a portion of the bridge that did not collapse,” Scott Parent, an NTSB highway factors engineer, said.
There are no American National Standards Institute standards for highway workers to receive emergency information regarding life-threatening events in work zones, stressing the “need for effective and immediate communication,” he said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams listens as names of the victims of the 9/11 terror attack are read during the annual 9/11 Commemoration Ceremony at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum, Sept. 11, 2025, in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York on Tuesday sentenced Mohamed Bahi, the only member of Mayor Eric Adams’ administration convicted in an illegal donations scheme, to three years’ probation, including the first year under home confinement, after the Trump Justice Department forced the same judge to dismiss a criminal case against the mayor himself that involved the same scheme.
The sentence is less than prosecutors sought but the judge concluded Bahi was less culpable than his boss.
“It is hard to escape the impression that Mr. Bahi is left here holding the bag,” U.S. District Judge Dale Ho said, calling the dismissal of the charges against the mayor the “elephant in the room.”
Someone in the courtroom gallery briefly clapped when Judge Ho questioned a prosecutor about the decision to toss the case against Adams, which the Trump administration said was necessary to free him to cooperate with the president’s immigration agenda.
“What am I to make of a person above him, the mayor, had his indictment against him dismissed?” Ho asked.
The prosecutor, Rob Sobelman, urged the judge to “focus on Bahi,” who he said “committed a series of serious criminal acts” that warranted prison time beyond the zero-to-six month sentence called for by federal sentencing guidelines.
“We are not seeking a lengthy period of incarceration but a modest one is appropriate here,” Sobelman said.
Bahi, 40, served as a Muslim liaison at New York City Hall until his 2024 arrest. He pleaded guilty to a conspiracy count for his role in the illegal donations scheme, telling donors to lie to the FBI and to deleting Signal from his phone as agents arrived to search him.
“Straw donor schemes like this are a serious offense,” Judge Ho said. “This is not the kind of conduct that merits a slap on the wrist.”
“Standing here today is painful but necessary,” Bahi told the judge. “I accept full responsibility for my actions.”
Bahi was the second person charged in the fundraising scheme to plead guilty after a businessman, Erden Arkan, admitted he laundered straw donations. Arkan was sentenced to probation.
The defense sought a year’s probation for Bahi, downplaying his role in the scheme.
“It’s a far cry from careful planning and execution,” defense attorney Derek Adams said. “This wasn’t some grand scheme of Bahi’s to get Adams elected.”
The scheme was outlined in the now-defunct indictment against Mayor Adams that alleged bribery and fraud offenses. Adams denied seeking and accepting straw donations that would help him reach the threshold for public matching funds for the 2021 campaign.
The directive to drop the case against the mayor prompted the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, to resign her position in protest. She has since joined a law firm started by former Solicitor General Paul Clement.
Mayor Adams celebrated the dismissal of the indictment but his political career did not recover. He dropped his bid for reelection and will leave office on Jan. 1 when mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is sworn in.
Danielle Bensky, a Jeffrey Epstein survivor, speaks during the news conference with survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, November 18, 2025. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Danielle Bensky, a survivor of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, said the push by members of Congress and, now, President Donald Trump, to release investigative files has led to a “moment of vulnerability” for herself and other survivors.
Bensky said on Monday in Washington that pending legislation amounted to a noticeable movement towards accountability for Epstein survivors. She called the moment “hopeful,” saying that it also felt like “unprecedented waters.”
“This is a moment of vulnerability,” Bensky said. “This is a moment, as you can see, when we are tapping into those youngest parts of ourselves and saying we’re doing it for that little person that used to exist. We’re doing it for women.”
ABC News spoke with Bensky, who goes by Dani, a day ahead of the long-awaited vote by the House to release the Epstein files. The House is expected to vote Tuesday, after Trump called on Republicans to release all the files, reversing his stance.
The House vote is just step one, though. If it passes as expected, Senate Majority Leader John Thune would then need to bring it up for a vote in the Senate. Passage in the Senate would then send it to Trump’s desk for possible signing.
House Democrats last week released emails subpoenaed from the Epstein estate that mentioned Trump by name multiple times. In one email, written in 2011, Epstein referred to Trump as the “dog that hasn’t barked” and he told accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell that an alleged victim had “spent hours at my house” with Trump.
Trump, who was friendly with Epstein for years, said after Epstein’s arrest in 2019 that they hadn’t spoken in more than a decade after having a falling out. The president on Monday said he would sign a bill to compel the Justice Department to release all files relating to Epstein if it reaches his desk.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week that emails related to convicted sex offender Epstein released by House Democrats “prove absolutely nothing, other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.” Trump has denied all wrongdoing and denied having any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
Bensky has claimed she was recruited in 2004 when she was an aspiring ballerina in New York City. She alleges she was sexually exploited by Epstein for more than a year.
Bensky was among a group of survivors of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his convicted accomplice, holding a demonstration Monday evening at the National Gallery of Art — a couple of blocks from the Capitol — at which they displayed a looped video of several survivors holding pictures of themselves at the age they met Epstein.
Maxwell was found guilty in December 2021 of conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors to participate in illegal sex acts, transporting a minor to participate in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor. She is serving 20 years in prison.
Bensky said that being there at the National Gallery of Art gave her a bigger sense of meaning to “make the world safer” for the young kids and teenagers she works with as a dance choreographer.
Rachel Foster, co-founder and executive council chair of World Without Exploitation, an anti-sex trafficking coalition, described on Monday the fight to release the files as “truly bipartisan.”
“Truly a bipartisan effort. It’s not political,” Foster said. “This is about transparency, and this is a moment, if there’s any moment for people from both sides of the aisle to come together and say that victims who have sexual abuse need to have justice, and we all need transparency when it comes to either standing with victims, standing with women and children who have been abused or you’re protecting perpetrators.”
