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(WASHINGTON) — Top administration officials met with Rep. Lauren Boebert Wednesday morning about the effort to force a House vote on the release of Justice Department’s Epstein files, multiple sources told ABC News.

The meeting, with top White House and Justice Department officials, was part of an effort to get Boebert to remove her name from the petition to release the files, the sources said.

It came just hours before House Speaker Mike Johnson was to swear in Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva, who has said she intends to add the final signature to that petition to force a vote on the release of the files.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy AG Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel were among those present for the meeting, which occurred at the White House, the sources said.

It wasn’t immediately clear following the meeting whether Boebert had decided to remove her name, the sources said.  Boebert is among four Republicans who have signed onto the petition. The others are Reps. Thomas Massie, Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The White House and Boebert’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

CNN was first to report that a meeting was planned for Wednesday.

The Trump administration has been dealing with the fallout from its decision not to release materials related to the investigation into Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide in jail in 2019, following the blowback it received from MAGA supporters after it announced in July that no additional files would be released.

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(NEW YORK) — At least 893 flights were canceled in the United States on Wednesday morning, with departures from the busy hubs of Chicago, Denver and Atlanta leading the list of the most cancellations, according to FlightAware.

Another 1,117 flights had been delayed as of about 1 p.m. ET, according to FlightAware.

Chicago O’Hare International topped the tracker’s list of cancellations, with 45 as of about 1 p.m. local time. Next was Denver with 43 and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson with 37.

Wednesday’s flight cancellations appeared set to continue a dayslong streak of headaches at American airports, which were operating under duress amid a federal government shutdown.

The cancellations and delays have slowly crept down throughout the week, however, as Congress appeared ready to end the shutdown. The House of Representatives was set to vote on the bill Wednesday night.

As of 8:30 a.m. ET, there were no staffing issues with the exception of the ongoing shortage unrelated to the shutdown at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company.

More than 1,200 flights in the U.S. were canceled on Tuesday, while another 2,600 were delayed. Winter weather that caused headaches in the Midwest and East on Monday and Tuesday were also no longer a factor for airports on Wednesday.

The Federal Aviation Administration continues to limit capacity at 40 major U.S. airports. Many federal employees, including Transportation Security Administration staffers, were working without pay as the partisan impasse dragged on in Washington.  

And while things have improved, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned the cancellations could cause major issues this weekend if the shutdown does not come to an end.

“If the government doesn’t open, it’s going to radically slow down,” Duffy said during a press conference on Tuesday. “If this doesn’t open, you might have airlines that say, ‘We’re going to ground our planes.’ That’s how serious this is.”

Airlines have not received any guidance on whether flight reductions will be adjusted once the shutdown ends, according to Chris Sununu, the president and CEO of Airlines for America, a trade association representing U.S. carriers.

Unless another directive is issued by the FAA, airlines plan to implement an 8% flight reduction on Thursday and a 10% reduction on Friday, Sununu said.

Once the government shutdown ends, it will take about a week before air travel operations return to normal, Sununu said. If the shutdown ends this week, smooth travel is expected over the Thanksgiving holiday, he said.

“There’s still plenty of time to make sure that everything over the Thanksgiving week goes off as originally planned,” Sununu said during a press conference on Wednesday.

ABC News’ Ayesha Ali contributed to this report.

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(SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif.) — Authorities said they are searching for an at-risk woman who was last seen at a bonfire on a California beach.

Danielle Staley, 35, of Utah, went missing while visiting the California Central Coast with a friend, according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office.

She was last seen with a group of people at a bonfire on Rio Del Mar State Beach in Aptos shortly before midnight on Nov. 6, according to the sheriff’s office.

She was reported missing the following day, the sheriff’s office said.

Investigators have not ruled out foul play, and Staley is considered at-risk due to the circumstances of her disappearance, according to the sheriff’s office.

“Staley’s personal belongings were found on the beach, and she has not been in contact with her family — behavior that is uncharacteristic and has raised additional concern,” the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “At this time, investigators are not ruling out foul play; however, the case is being treated as a missing person at risk due to the circumstances.”

Staley has been visiting the area with a friend, and they had been staying in a camper van near Rio Del Mar State Beach, according to the sheriff’s office.

The friend is cooperating with authorities, the sheriff’s office said.

Residents and businesses with surveillance video in the areas of Rio Del Mar Beach, Beach Drive, Treasure Island and Spreckels Drive have been asked to contact the sheriff’s office so deputies can review the footage.

“Detectives have been diligently working to track down any information and continue to do so,” the sheriff’s office said.

Authorities described Staley as 5’6″ and 120 pounds with blonde hair. She was last seen wearing a dark, hooded sweatshirt and leopard print leggings.

Anyone with information on Staley is urged to contact the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office at 831-471-1121.

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(NEW YORK) — Dazzling waves of color are lighting up the skies this week.

After green and pink displays of auroras lit up the sky Tuesday night, another Northern Light array is expected to bring a gleaming light show to the northern part of the U.S. Wednesday night.

The auroras are being caused by one of the strongest geomagnetic storms of the year, which occurs when electrons from the sun collide with Earth’s magnetic field to produce colored lights, according to NOAA.

“Aurora is the name given to the glow or light produced when electrons from space flow down Earth’s magnetic field and collide with atoms and molecules of the upper atmosphere in a ring or oval centered on the magnetic pole of Earth. The collisions produce light much like how electrons flowing through gas in a neon light collide with neon and other gasses to produce different colored light bulbs,” NOAA’s website reads.

Two dozen states could see the Northern Lights Wednesday night per NOAA’s aurora viewline map that includes Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

Mike Bettwy, a meteorologist at the Space Weather Prediction Center, told ABC News that the auroras on Wednesday could be as clear as the ones on Tuesday.

“We had three coronal mass ejections leave the Sun since late last week. The third and final one is expected to impact our atmosphere later today and tonight. It is difficult to predict with a high degree of certainty or precision, but it is possible this will be as impactful as last night’s event. There were reports of aurora as far south as Tampa, Florida, overnight,” Bettwy said.

“While not unprecedented, it is quite unusual for the aurora to be visible at these low latitudes; probably only occurring once or twice per solar cycle,” he added.

The best time to see the aurora is between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., according to NOAA.

NASA recommends going to the darkest area and using a long exposure to get the best photos of the light show, per their guidance.

NASA did not immediately reply to requests for comment from ABC News.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department prosecutor handpicked by President Donald Trump to lead the criminal cases against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey is now the subject of a bar complaint that alleges she is unfit to be an attorney and that her actions constitute an “abuse of power.” 

The progressive watchdog group Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint against Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan on Tuesday and requested that the state bars in Florida and Virginia initiate investigations into her conduct. 

The complaint alleges that Halligan repeatedly violated the professional and ethical rules that govern the legal profession, including by making false statements and by bringing cases that are unsupported by probable cause. 

“Weaponizing the DOJ to prosecute the president’s enemies could destroy the democratic principles at the foundation of our Constitution,” the complaint said. “Ms. Halligan’s active participation in this course of action is an abuse of her governmental authority and is prejudicial to the administration of justice, adversely reflecting on her fitness as a lawyer.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, which Trump named Halligan to lead on Sept. 20, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Trump tapped Halligan — a White House aide and former insurance lawyer with no prosecutorial experience — to the high-profile legal post after he forced out Trump-appointed U.S. attorney Erik Siebert who sources said had resisted bringing cases against Comey and James. Career prosecutors who investigated Comey and James recommending against bringing charges, ABC News previously reported. 

The indictments came after Trump, in a social media post, called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to act “NOW!!!” to prosecute James and Comey in what critics call a campaign of retribution against Trump’s perceived political foes. Vice President JD Vance has said any such prosecutions are “driven by law and not by politics.” 

“Ms. Halligan was well aware President Trump had installed her as Interim U.S. Attorney specifically to indict Mr. Comey and Ms. James and, within just a few days of joining the office, she did just that — despite career officials having found the cases insupportable,” the complaint said. 

“Halligan’s actions appear to constitute an abuse of power and serve to undermine the integrity of the Department of Justice and erode public confidence in the legal profession and the fair administration of justice,” said the complaint. 

Comey pleaded not guilty in October to one count of false statements and one count of obstruction of a congressional proceeding related to his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020, while James, who successfully brought a civil fraud case against Trump last year, pleaded not guilty to charges of mortgage fraud.

A federal judge is already examining Halligan’s conduct after defense attorneys raised concerns with the legality of her appointment.

Most complaints to state bars result in no action or discipline being taken, although state bar investigations — which can take years — can result in suspension or disbarment.

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(NEW YORK) — Purdue Pharma begins several days of hearings Wednesday to finalize a $7.4 billion bankruptcy restricting plan that no longer fully protects the company’s owners, members of the Sackler families, from opioid litigation.

The U.S. Supreme Court last year blocked an earlier version of Purdue’s bankruptcy settlement because it gave the Sacklers immunity from lawsuits over the misleading marketing of OxyContin, the painkiller that Purdue began marketing in 1996.  

Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019 after thousands of cities, states, territories and individuals sued, alleging that the company and its owners fueled waves of addiction and overdose deaths.

Under the new plan, the Sacklers and Purdue boost their settlement contribution to $7.4 billion. The revised agreement settles all civil claims against Purdue, but individual creditors can choose to litigate claims against the Sacklers, who have long argued that although they regret their company’s role in the nation’s opioid epidemic, they are not directly or personally responsible for it.  

Purdue said the new plan received support from more than 99% of voting creditors.

“The high level of support for this Plan is gratifying after years of intense work with our creditors to craft a settlement that maximizes value for victims and communities and puts billions of dollars to work for the public good,” Purdue Chairman Steve Miller said in a statement last month. “Following the outcome of this vote, we are focused on preparing for the confirmation hearing and ultimately the emergence of a new company with a public-minded mission.” 

In addition to paying billions to creditors, the plan “will generate substantial further value” by creating a new company, Knoa Pharma, that “will provide millions of doses of lifesaving opioid use disorder treatments and overdose reversal medicines at no profit,” according to the Purdue statement.

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(DELAWARE COUNTY, Ind.) — A semitruck fatally struck a sheriff’s deputy in Indiana while he was assisting a stranded motorist along an interstate, according to local officials.

“This is a heartbreaking loss for our law enforcement family and for the entire Delaware County community,” Jeff Stanley, the chief deputy for the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The tragedy occurred in the early hours of Wednesday morning, after officials received calls at approximately 3:30 a.m. of a disabled vehicle along Interstate 69, officials said.

The Delaware County sheriff’s deputy, who was identified as Corporal Blake Reynolds, responded to the scene and found a semitruck partially in the roadway, officials said.

The deputy stopped behind the disabled vehicle to “provide protection for the driver” and activated his emergency lights, Indiana State Police Sgt. Scott Keegan said during a press conference on Wednesday.

While Reynolds was outside his vehicle, another semitruck traveling northbound “lost control and collided with the deputy’s vehicle and the disabled semi that was on the side of the road,” Keegan said, calling the crash a “tragic event.”

“Despite immediate emergency response efforts, the deputy did not survive his injuries,” Stanley said.

The driver who struck Reynolds was transported to a local hospital and was undergoing surgery, but Keegan said his medical condition is not known at this time.

The sheriff’s officials said no further details on the crash will be provided at this time “out of respect for the ongoing investigation and the family’s privacy.”

Reynolds joined the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office in 2022 and “quickly distinguished himself through his hard work, professionalism and leadership,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

“His passing is an immeasurable loss to his family, his brothers and sisters in uniform and the entire community he served with pride,” Stanley said.

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(NEW YORK) — At least 878 flights were canceled in the United States early on Wednesday, with the departures from the busy hubs of Chicago, Denver and Atlanta leading the list of the most cancellations, according to a flight-data tracker. 

Another 404 flights had been delayed as of about 5 a.m. ET, according to FlightAware. 

Chicago O’Hare International topped the tracker’s list of cancellations, with 44 as of about 4 a.m. local time. Next was Denver with 43 and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson with 37. 

Wednesday’s flight cancellations appeared set to continue a dayslong streak of chaos at American airports, which were operating under duress amid a federal government shutdown.

The Federal Aviation Administration continues to limit capacity at 40 major U.S. airports. Many federal employees, including Transportation Security Administration staffers, were working without pay as the partisan impasse dragged on in Washington.  

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — Millions of Americans from the Midwest to the Northeast to the South are facing the first deep freeze and snow of the season.

Parts of Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan saw more than 1 foot of lake effect snow on Monday, with the Indiana State Police saying it “responded to hundreds of calls for assistance.”

Flurries even fell in Nashville, Tennessee, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The snow moved east on Tuesday, hitting Buffalo and Syracuse in upstate New York, as well parts of Pennsylvania. Hydetown, Pennsylvania, recorded more than 12 inches of snow while Central Square, New York, near Syracuse, saw more than 11 inches.

New York City saw light snow on Tuesday, and local emergency officials warned of reduced visibility on Tuesday afternoon due to the combined gusty winds and snow showers.

The lake effect snow will continue across western New York and northern New England through Wednesday. A winter weather advisory is in effect in Buffalo for an additional 3 to 5 inches of snow through Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, freezing temperatures are invading the Northeast and the South.

The cold blast brought record low temperatures to dozens of Southern cities, from Knoxville, Tennessee, to the Florida Keys.

Wednesday will be another chilly morning for the South. The wind chill — how cold it feels — will drop to 34 degrees in Jacksonville, Florida; 36 degrees in Charleston, South Carolina; 30 in Atlanta; 35 in Nashville, Tennessee, and Montgomery, Alabama; and 29 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Northeast will also be feeling the freeze, with temperatures feeling like the 20s to low 30s.

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(NEW YORK) — Rescuers are racing to find a miner who’s been trapped in a flooded West Virginia coal mine for days.

Crews are pumping out thousands of gallons of water per minute at the Rolling Thunder Mine to help locate the miner after the site flooded Saturday, according to West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey.

“Rescue operations continue at the Rolling Thunder Mine in Nicholas County, where crews are now pumping water at a rate of approximately 6,000 gallons per minute – a significant increase from earlier efforts as additional pumps became available,” Gov. Morrisey posted Tuesday on X.

“This is another step forward in the ongoing effort to reach the missing miner. As water levels continue to drop, crews are also advancing on the drilling portion of the rescue as they prepare for additional heavy equipment to arrive,” he added.

The identity of the miner has not been publicly released.

At a press conference Monday, Morrisey said dive teams were working to find pockets of air where the miner may be located.

“This has been an around-the-clock response since Saturday, and we’re going to continue to do everything imaginable to help,” said Morrisey. “We’re going to continue to push because we want to make sure that we give the miner every opportunity to live.”

Nicholas County Commissioner Garrett Cole posted a statement on Facebook Sunday night, saying that the missing miner was helping his crew escape to safety.

“According to state wide reporting, the missing miner is said to be a foreman of a crew who worked to ensure that everyone on his crew was getting out of the mine but got trapped behind,” he said.

Rolling Thunder Mine is operated by Tennessee-based Alpha Metallurgical Resources, which operates 19 underground and surfaces mines across West Virginia and Virginia, according to its website.

A spokesperson for Alpha Metallurgical Resources did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.

The weekend episode at Rolling Thunder Mine is the second mining incident in West Virginia this month, following the death of a miner at a different mine on Thursday, according to Morrisey.

“Our coal miners are among the hardest-working and most courageous people in our state. They represent the strength, humility, and resolve that define West Virginia. We owe these men and women an enduring debt of gratitude for the sacrifices they make every day to power our communities and our nation,” Morrisey posted on Facebook.

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