(BOULDER, Colo.) — The man suspected of carrying out an “act of terrorism” during a pro-Israel demonstration in Boulder, Colorado, leaving eight people in the hospital, is in the United States illegally, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The suspect, 45-year-old Mohammed Soliman, entered the U.S. in August 2022 on a B2 visa and he filed for asylum in September 2022, according to Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security.
His B2 visa — which is typically a tourism visa — expired in February 2023, McLaughlin said.
Soliman was granted a work permit after his B2 visa expired, a senior official told ABC News. That work permit expired on March 28, so he has been in the country illegally since then, the official said.
Soliman allegedly used a “makeshift flamethrower” and threw an incendiary device into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators on a pedestrian mall on Sunday afternoon, according to the FBI. He allegedly yelled “Free Palestine” during the attack, the FBI said.
The demonstration was a Run for Their Lives walk, which aims to raise awareness about the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and calls for their immediate release.
Eight victims were hospitalized with burns, including one person in critical condition, police said. The victims’ ages range from 52 to 88, police said.
Soliman was taken into custody and is being held on $10,000,000 bond, according to the Boulder County Jail, which listed a range of felony charges against him, including use of an incendiary device. The posted list of felony charges also appeared to include first-degree murder, although it was not immediately clear whether the charge was attempted murder. According to police, there have been no fatalities.
The attack comes at a time of heightened violence against the Jewish community.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Pride Month in the nation’s capital this year is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of participants across three weeks of programming consisting of over 300 events for World Pride 2025, an annual international festival that celebrates the LGBTQ+ community.
Organizers for the global celebration this year told ABC News they are emphasizing messages of resistance, resilience and, above all, hope at a time when LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly the transgender community, are being targeted on various fronts by the Trump administration.
World Pride 2025 makes its way back to the U.S. for the first time since 2019, when organizers chose New York City to host the festival the same year as the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.
World Pride 2025 events began May 17 and will culminate the weekend of June 7 and 8 with the annual parade and street festival. Included in the programming are events and partnerships with minority groups, including DC Latinx Pride, API Pride, Trans Pride, DC Black Pride, Youth Pride and DC Silver Pride for senior members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Ryan Bos is the executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance, which organizes Pride Month programming in D.C. each year. He has been spearheading the planning of World Pride since last year and says that the celebration this year is “more important than ever.”
“It’s surreal on days to think that the country that I was born into, the country that I have grown to have a lot of pride in — a country that I have devoted my professional and personal time in regards to creating spaces for people to feel welcome, to feel included, to make sure people feel seen and are valued — that in that country, we are now in a space where overtly, our federal government is saying certain people aren’t as valued,” Bos said. “And that hurts, and it’s scary.”
During his first weeks in office, Trump signed an executive order declaring that the U.S. government will only recognize a person’s gender assigned at birth. More executive orders targeted the transgender community in the military and in athletic spaces.
Marissa Miller, founder of the National Trans Visibility March, said that with attention focused on her community, this year, “humanity is on the line.”
“This is a revolutionary time,” she said. “We’ve been somewhere near here before, but I think that it’s been a while since we have been here.”
As a Black transgender woman, Miller emphasized that some members of the community have always felt like they had target on their backs.
“These are dangerous times — not unprecedented, dangerous times — for trans people, even more dangerous than they have been because there has been a permission set that says we do not exist,” Miller said.
In leading Pride Month planning this year, Bos said that security and safety have been at the forefront of many conversations. While D.C. is ready and welcoming, he said that it’s important for attendees and participants to understand any potential risks their international friends may have in travel.
Organizers and groups from several countries have already opted out of coming to World Pride this year, including those from Canada and some countries in Africa, Miller told ABC News.
Ry Schissler, a swimmer and cyclist from Toronto who decided not to travel to the United States for World Pride this year, citing decisions by the Trump administration. Schissler, who identifies as transgender and nonbinary, holds Canadian-American dual citizenship. Schissler’s team, the Toronto Purple Fins, a self-described “gender free” swimming group, had planned to come to D.C. in June for the IGLA+ Aquatic Championships and World Pride, but Schissler didn’t want to lead the team to a country where the group didn’t feel welcomed.
“There’s so many benefits to participating in sports, particularly team sports, and … trans people have been discouraged from that and actively banned from it,” Schissler said. “In a lot of cases, it’s so important to recognize how difficult it is for us to do that, much less travel internationally, to show up to an event where we’re clearly not wanted by a lot of people.”
Even though Schissler and the rest of the team planned to make the trip, they decided against it in the winter following Trump’s executive orders.
“Wherever I go, I have to be on my toes. And when I’m outside my comfort zone — the places that I go and know that there are people to support me — it’s hard,” Schissler added.
With the Trump administration’s executive orders targeting LGBTQ+ spaces and diversity equity and inclusion practices, Bos, the World Pride organizer, said that corporate partnerships this year have been more difficult to secure out of fear of losing federal funding.
Another one of Trump’s January executive orders not only banned DEI practices in the federal government, but also called on those in the private sector to end what the order calls “illegal DEI discrimination and preferences.”
According to Bos, some companies that had regularly sponsored Capital Pride in the past were “dragging their feet” to commit to World Pride 2025 as they waited for the outcome of the 2024 presidential election and some eventually backed out or lessened their support.
Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, Comcast and Darcars are some of the companies that previously supported the Capital Pride Alliance that will not be sponsors for World Pride 2025, according to Bos. ABC News has not received a response after reaching out to the companies for comment.
But Bos says that he hopes the community persists, believing that “human decency and respect will ultimately win out.”
“My hope is that we can show that through World Pride and letting, again, folks know that there are people standing in our corner, that there are people willing to stand up, to be visible, to be heard, and that they’re not alone. And that they see hope in the future,” he said.
Through the course of three weeks of testimony in the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, one man has loomed large even as he remains locked up in a prison, more than 2,500 miles away. That man is Marion “Suge” Knight, the rap impresario who was viewed by many as Combs’ chief competitor at the peak of Combs’ prominence atop the hip-hop world.
During hours of conversation with ABC News this weekend, Knight offered his reactions to the trial that has grabbed headlines and offered an often-disturbing portrait of the private life of a pop-culture icon and fashion tastemaker who could end up being sentenced to serve the rest of his life in federal prison, if convicted. Combs has pleaded not guilty and denied all wrongdoing.
Knight’s name has been mentioned in the Combs trial at least 50 times so far, with some of those references connected to the notorious Combs-Knight rivalry and others simply acknowledging that Knight once led Combs’ fierce competitor, Death Row Records. Their names are synonymous with the explosion of hip-hop, and the bad blood between the two moguls, and their record labels.
Speaking for himself in a series of phone interviews Saturday, Knight described what he saw as a toxic culture of abuse in some parts of the hip-hop industry that certainly did not start with Combs.
Knight is currently serving a 28-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter stemming from a 2015 fatal hit-and-run not connected to Combs’ case, to which he pleaded no contest in 2018. The famed founder of Death Row Records had an extensive criminal rap sheet that added time to his current sentence because it triggered California’s three strikes law. According to law enforcement, Knight has longstanding ties to LA’s infamous Bloods street gang.
On the phone, Knight said that, if Combs is the only one held accountable for alleged violence and abuse inside the world of rap, it won’t break the cycle.
“If you’re going to make Puffy answer, make everyone answer,” Knight said, referring to those who benefited from a system of trading sexual favors for advancement, or enabled the kind of behavior of which Combs is accused.
“Change the theme of the culture of the problems in hip-hop,” Knight said, repeatedly referring to Combs by his earlier street names “Puff” and “Puffy.”
“I think it’d be a great thing to let Puffy tell his truth. Tell the real truth, and bring everybody accountable,” Knight said.
Long before federal authorities charged Combs for alleged sex-trafficking and racketeering in connection with a lifestyle of allegedly forced sex sessions called “freak-offs,” Knight claimed there had long been rumors about Combs’ sex life back to the 1990s and 2000s.
“Everybody knew that,” Knight said, but that “Puffy didn’t just pop in the industry and say ‘hey, I want to have sex with everybody,’” Knight said. “I mean, we don’t have enough time to name all the names.”
Combs’ alleged use of fear and force to get what he wanted has been a frequent theme in his criminal case, far beyond sexual favors. The prosecution of Combs hinges on the core accusation that Combs used coercion and force to get what he wanted. To make that point, prosecutors presented Combs’ former assistant, Capricorn Clark, who said she returned to work for Combs after leaving his employment because Combs allegedly made it impossible for her to work elsewhere in the music industry.
“He held all the power as it related to me,” Clark testified through sobs.
Clark told jurors she had worked for Knight before Combs – a connection that, she claimed, did not sit well with Combs.
“He told me he didn’t know that I had anything to do with Suge Knight and, if anything happened, he would have to kill me,” Clark testified.
On cross-examination, Combs’ defense attorney Marc Agnifilo attempted to undermine Clark’s overall portrayal of Combs — and why she would want to continue working for a man who had allegedly threatened her.
“I wanted my life back, sir,” Clark explained.
“You want to work with him again,” Agnifilo said. “I wanted to work in the music industry,” Clark replied.
In his comments to ABC News, Knight lamented how Clark had allegedly been treated.
“I feel bad for Capricorn,” Knight said, describing “a young woman who want to work hard and become successful in the world.”
“She did great things for Puffy. Anything he needed, she got it. Anything he wanted, if she didn’t have it, she made it happen,” Knight said. “A lot of people might say, well, Capricorn could have did anything else she wanted to do. She did try. If you go get a job at Universal and Puffy makes a phone call, you’re not getting that job. If you go get a job at a counter agency or in the movie business and Puff make that call, your career is over.”
Knight recalled Clark telling him she had been warned by another records executive not to “tell on Puffy,” and that she was allegedly paid for her silence, he said.
On the witness stand, Clark recalled one meeting where, she claimed, she was given such a warning.
“It wasn’t about job opportunities. They were there to tell me to leave Puff alone and that this wasn’t going to end well for me,” Clark testified. “The outcome of that meeting was that — well, no job, but it was a warning.”
In response to that testimony, Knight said “They put that woman in a situation where she didn’t have no choice but try to be cool with these people if she’s gonna be in the industry.”
Knight said Combs did not invent the hardball tactics he allegedly employed.
“Don’t get me wrong, he (Combs) did terrible things, but he just didn’t come up with those stuff and those ideas on his own,” Knight said. “I don’t feel that they should take Puffy and lock him up and throw away the key. I think he can do so much good right now, him telling the truth about the industry,” Knight said. “When you can pick and choose who to put on the fire pit, it’s not fair.”
Combs should tell “the whole truth, nothing but the truth so help him god. That way, everybody would – history won’t keep repeating itself,” Knight said. “It’s a long list of people in the industry that’s unhappy because of the things they were being put through. And that’s the sad part about it.”
Knight said he sympathizes with Combs’ position.
“I feel that people in Puffy’s life, going on his journey growing up, they failed him,” Knight said.
“Do I think he made some mistakes? I think he repeats what he’s seen. He repeats what he learnt,” Knight said.
“First thing I would tell Puffy is this – I’m not going through what he’s going through for his freak-offs. But I’ve been there sitting in those cells. And I know he feels that he don’t have a friend in the world,” Knight said. Of all those once in his glamorous orbit, “none have been to court. None of them have been a help. So I’m quite sure he’s in a lonely place right now,” Knight said.
Combs’ family has remained by his side, some even sitting in on trial proceedings; Knight noted that cannot be easy for his kids especially.
“If there’s a situation where he can do some time, but not a lot of time, go knock it out. Don’t keep torturing yourself,” Knight said. “Once he get where he going, to a real prison, he’ll be able to, you know, have a step closer to freedom.”
Knight suggested that, perhaps, Combs should plead out. (Knight himself pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to prison in 2018.) Combs declined a plea deal on the eve of trial last month.
“I think they should work out a deal with Puffy,” Knight said.
Though Combs and Knight are usually portrayed by the media and law enforcement as having been rivals, Knight said he saw it differently.
“I wouldn’t quite say we was rivals, because to say we rivals that means we had to be really really bad enemies,” Knight said.
“I do feel that he cared about the music industry. I think he do love the industry, and he did a great job with his artists, I do an incredible job with my artists,” Knight said, detailing a long history of competition as hip-hop went from being a street sound to a billion-dollar business. “I say it all the time, Puffy is known for making hit singles, like one song to go crazy. I’m known for making hit albums. Puffy can take an artist and make great music with them. I can take an artist and make them a superstar.”
The alleged grudge between Combs and Knight was a focus of early testimony in Combs’ trial. Combs’ former personal assistant, David James, said that, one night in 2008, he spotted Knight and his entourage eating at Mel’s Drive-in diner in Hollywood, and said Combs, upon hearing that, wanted to go confront Knight and the rival group.
Knight responded to that testimony this way:
“If there’s anything suggesting that I was doing anything illegal, I’m gonna say, definitely not,” Knight said chuckling. “I’m’a put it to you like this — I’m quite sure I remember some of that.”
“Anybody that know me — from 2 o’clock in the morning or 3 o’clock in the morning, to almost 6 o’clock in the morning, I’m always at Mel’s with six or seven [pretty women] enjoying myself. Until I finally was in a relationship with someone,” Knight said. “I’m a real West Coast man, and I have different stuff that I like to eat, but Mel’s was one of my places, because, Mel’s was open 24 hours, you know?”
If Combs did insist on returning to the diner to confront Knight, as James testified, Knight said perhaps it’s because “he’s got to show power.”
Of the competition between the two record-label bosses, Knight said he was told Combs would listen to Death Row music.
“I was surprised about that,” Knight said, making a reference to the late Death Row rap star Tupac Shakur. “He’d put on Death Row music, he’d put on Tupac, they’d go to the boat in the marina, the yacht, whatever it was, and get the Death Row music going again.”
“I hope he wasn’t jealous of me, ’cause if he was jealous of me, that means he was liking me too much, loving me too much,” Knight said.
“I don’t put myself in his head – or no one else’s head – because the man is on trial fighting for his life,” Knight said.
ABC News’ Peter Charalambous and Kaitlyn Morris contributed to this report.
A suspect was booked on a range of charges after allegedly carrying out an “act of terrorism” on a pedestrian mall in Boulder, Colorado, on Sunday afternoon, using what police are describing as a “makeshift flamethrower” against a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators.
Eight people were hospitalized with burns, Boulder Police said in an update Sunday night. The victims’ ages ranged from 52 to 88, and they were all taken to local hospitals, police said.
One victim was in critical condition, police said.
The suspect, identified by the FBI as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was allegedly heard yelling “Free Palestine” while using a “makeshift flamethrower” and throwing an incendiary device at the crowd, according to Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek.
Soliman was taken into custody without incident and transferred to a hospital where he was examined, police said.
Soliman is being held on $10,000,000 bond, according to the Boulder County Jail, which listed a range of felony charges against him, including use of an incendiary device.
FBI Director Kash Patel said officials were investigating the incident as a “targeted terror attack.” The FBI believes the attack was “ideologically motivated violence,” according to “early information, the evidence and witness accounts,” Deputy Director Dan Bongino added.
The attack in Boulder comes at a time of heightened violence, including high-profile incidents against the Jewish community.
The pro-Israel demonstration was a Run for Their Lives walk, aiming to raise awareness about the remaining hostages in Gaza. The organization hosts global run and walk events, “calling for the immediate release of the hostages held by Hamas,” according to its website.
Leo Terrell, head of the antisemitism task force at the Justice Department, said that an “incendiary device” was thrown at participants in the walk.
“This was not an isolated incident,” Terrell continued. “This antisemitic terrorist attack is part of a horrific and escalating wave of violence targeting Jews and their supporters simply for being Jewish or standing up for Jewish lives,” he said.
The attack happened on the eve of a Jewish holiday, Shavuot, “making it all the more chilling and cruel,” Terrell said.
A spokesperson for the organization, Miri Kornfeld, said in a statement to ABC News said a man who was leading the walk described the scene as “the floor burning beneath them.”
All upcoming Run for Their Lives events have been canceled until further notice, Kornfeld said, who was not at the walk in Boulder.
President Donald Trump has been briefed on the “targeted terror attack,” a senior White House official told ABC News.
“Hate-filled acts of any kind are unacceptable. While details emerge, the state works with local and federal law enforcement to support this investigation,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis wrote on X, describing the incident as a “heinous act of terror.”
Boulder Police, while calling the attack a “tragedy” and “unacceptable,” initially stopped short of calling the incident terrorism and did not want to speculate on the suspect’s move, according to Chief Stephen Redfearn.
The incident occurred just before 1:30 p.m. on Sunday at the intersection of 13th Street and Pearl Street.
Police responded to reports of a man with a weapon and that people were being set on fire.
When they arrived, there were multiple victims at the scene with injuries consistent with burns, police said. Police said four of the victims were taken to Boulder Community Hospital and two others were airlifted to a burn unit in Aurora. Apart from the victim with serious injuries, the others were believed to be more minor, Redfearn said.
Last month, two Israeli Embassy staffers were shot and killed in Washington, D.C. in what was labeled as an “act of terror.”
The shooting sparked outrage and has been condemned as an “unspeakable” act of antisemitism after officials said the suspect, who is in custody, shouted “free, free Palestine” following the shooting.
In April, the residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, was targeted by an arsonist who allegedly made two Molotov cocktails from Heineken bottles he had at home and threw them inside the governor’s mansion after breaking a window with a hammer, according to court documents.
The attack happened after the governor had posted about celebrating Passover with his family.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW ORLEANS) — A third person has been arrested in connection with the death of Adan Manzano, a Telemundo reporter who was found dead in his hotel room while in Louisiana to cover the Super Bowl, authorities announced Friday.
Christian Anderson, of New Orleans, was arrested “for his alleged involvement in the scheme that ultimately led to Manzano’s death,” the Kenner Police Department said in a press release.
Manzano, a reporter for KGKC Telemundo Kansas City and Tico Sports, was found dead face-down on a pillow in his hotel room in Kenner on Feb. 5, police said. He died from the combined effects of Xanax — an anti-anxiety medication — and alcohol along with positional asphyxia, according to the Jefferson Parish coroner.
A woman who police said was seen going into Manzano’s hotel room hours before he was found dead — Danette Colbert — and an alleged accomplice were previously arrested in connection with his death. Manzano’s cellphone and credit card were found in her home, Kenner police said.
Police said a review of text messages and digital communications shows that Anderson, 33, and the two suspects “played an active role in a coordinated pattern of targeting victims, drugging them, and stealing personal property.”
Anderson rented a car that was used by Colbert on the day of Manzano’s death, according to police.
“Further evidence showed that Anderson provided logistical support, engaged in post-crime communication, and assisted in attempts to financially benefit from the victim’s stolen assets,” Kenner police said. “Additionally, records show Anderson and Colbert communicated extensively following the incident, and that he played a role in the group’s recurring criminal behavior.”
Anderson faces charges of principal to simple robbery, purse snatching, access device fraud, illegal transmission of monetary funds, bank fraud and computer fraud.
He is in custody at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center.
Colbert was arrested in the days following Manzano’s death and initially charged with property crimes, including theft and fraud-related offenses. She was subsequently charged with second-degree murder in his death following the autopsy.
The other suspect in the case, Rickey White, faces the same property crime charges as Colbert.
Earlier this month, Colbert was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a previous fraud conviction, according to the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office. She was given a suspended 10-year sentence after being found guilty last year of theft, computer fraud and illegal transmission of monetary funds. The attorney general’s office said it argued for a harsher sentence due to her prior fraud felony convictions, and a judge subsequently sentenced her to 25 years.
“The evidence was overwhelming that this woman was a serial fraudster and took advantage of multiple tourists and innocent people over many years in the French Quarter,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement following the sentencing. “I wish we could have saved the life of Adam Manzano.”
“I’m hopeful and confident justice will be served in Jefferson Parish as well, where Colbert is also facing charges of second-degree murder for Manzano’s death,” she added.
(MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz.) — Officials are investigating a possible homicide after two teenagers were found dead in an isolated area of Arizona, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
On Tuesday morning, deputies responded to a call for service in the area of Mount Ord, a remote hiking and camping area between the cities of Mesa and Payson.
Once on the scene, officials located “two deceased individuals,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Officials said they are thoroughly looking at the circumstances surrounding this incident as part of a homicide investigation.
“At this time, our focus is conducting a comprehensive and meticulous investigation to ensure justice for the victims and their loved ones. We are coordinating closely with our law enforcement partners and ask for patience and respect for the investigative process as we work through the facts,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The victims were identified as 18-year-old Pandora Kjolsrud and an unnamed 17-year-old, the sheriff’s office said. At a memorial for the two teenagers, friends and family identified the 17-year-old as Evan Clark, according to ABC Phoenix affiliate KNXV.
In a statement, a representative for Kjolsrud told KNXV the family is “heartbroken to confirm the tragic loss of our beloved Pandora, whose life was taken from us far too soon.”
Kjolsrud’s mother said her daughter was a “bright light in this world who loved every single person she met and had an unusual ability to make every person she met feel special and loved.”
“She was a friend to many and a beloved daughter. She lived life in a big way and was always up for an adventure,” her mother told KNXV on Thursday.
The two teens were students at Arcadia High School in Phoenix, according to a letter the principal wrote to parents on Thursday. The school said it is providing a team of psychologists and counselors on campus to offer support and resources for students.
Authorities said anyone with any additional information regarding this incident should contact the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office at 602-876-TIPS.
(WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ky) — At least one person is dead and multiple people have been injured as severe weather swept through Kentucky on Friday, authorities said.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office reported a fatality and multiple injuries, with “severe damage” throughout the county.
A possible tornado was reported in Washington County on Friday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said on social media, adding that the “level of severe weather was unexpected.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — An IT specialist employed by the Defense Intelligence Agency was arrested Thursday and charged with attempting to provide classified information to a friendly foreign government, the Justice Department announced.
The FBI said it began an investigation into 28-year-old Nathan Laatsch in March after receiving a tip he offered to provide classified information to a foreign government because — according to the tipster — Laatsch did not “agree or align with the values of this administration” and was willing to share “completed intelligence products, some unprocessed intelligence, and other assorted classified documentation.”
The foreign country Laatsch is accused of trying to contact is not identified in court documents.
In communications with an undercover agent with the FBI, posing as an emissary of the foreign country, Laatsch is alleged to have transcribed classified information into a notepad at his desk over a three-day period that he told the agent he was ready to provide.
Video from inside the DIA facility where Laatsch worked showed him writing multiple pages of notes, which he folded into squares and hid in his socks, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Another DIA employee saw Laatsch placing multiple notebook pages in the bottom of his lunchbox, according to the affidavit.
The FBI then conducted an operation on May 1 in which Laatsch agreed to drop the classified information via thumb drive at a designated spot in a public park in northern Virginia, according to the charging documents.
The drive allegedly contained information that was designated at both the Secret and Top Secret classification levels. Laatsch contacted the agent roughly a week later and said he was interested in citizenship to the unnamed country because he did not “expect things here to improve in the long term,” according to the documents.
Laatsch again then allegedly attempted to prepare classified information to provide to the agent and in an operation earlier Thursday, he arrived at a location in northern Virginia where he was taken into custody, according to the documents.
Laatsch’s arrest comes amid broader concern among current and former intelligence officials that individuals with access to high-value classified information may use the current moment of disarray and consternation in the intel community to try and sell information to foreign governments for profit.
Laatsch, who was hired by the Defense Intelligence Agency in August 2019, most recently worked as a data scientist and IT specialist for information security in the agency’s Insider Threat Division, according to court documents.
Online court records do not yet list an attorney for Laatsch.
(NEW YORK) — One year ago today, a jury of 12 New Yorkers convicted Donald Trump for falsifying business records as part of an alleged hush money scheme to influence the 2016 election.
The conviction left an indelible mark on Trump — making him the first president or former president to be found guilty of a crime — and his fight to erase that legacy continues to this day.
On June 11, a federal appeals court in Manhattan is set to hear oral arguments in the president’s renewed legal fight to move his criminal case from state to federal court.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg opposes the move — arguing that a case can’t be removed to federal court after conviction — but Trump’s lawyers have argued the “unprecedented criminal prosecution of a former and current president of the United States belongs in federal court.”
Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts after prosecutors alleged that he engaged in a “scheme” to boost his chances during the 2016 presidential election through a series of hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and the falsification of New York business records to cover up that alleged criminal conduct.
“I did my job, and we did our job,” Bragg said following Trump’s conviction. “There are many voices out there, but the only voice that matters is the voice of the jury, and the jury has spoken.”
Ten days before Trump was sworn in as president last November, New York Judge Juan Merchan sentenced him to an unconditional discharge — without prison, fines or probation — saying it was the “only lawful sentence” to prevent “encroaching upon the highest office in the land.”
“I won the election in a massive landslide, and the people of this country understand what’s gone on. This has been a weaponization of government,” Trump told the court during his sentencing.
Trump continues to vehemently deny any wrongdoing, and his lawyers have argued that his conviction relied on evidence and testimony that related to his official acts as president, including social media posts from his official Twitter account as president and testimony from his former communications director Hope Hicks.
The trial took place one month before the Supreme Court delivered a landmark ruling expanding the scope of presidential immunity, and Trump’s lawyers have argued that the evidence would have not been permitted based on the high court’s ruling.
Trump’s lawyers attempted to use that argument to throw out the case before Trump’s January sentencing, but the argument was rejected by Judge Juan Merchan, two New York appeals courts, and the Supreme Court.
“The alleged evidentiary violations at President-Elect Trump’s state-court trial can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal,” the Supreme Court said in a brief unsigned opinion, though four justices said they would have granted Trump’s application.
For Trump’s criminal defense, he relied on then-defense attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who now serve as the deputy attorney general and principal associate deputy attorney general. Earlier this week, Trump announced that he plans to nominate Bove — who led a purge of career law enforcement officials before the Senate confirmed his nomination to help run the DOJ — to the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.
With his former defense attorneys now working for the government, Trump earlier this year tapped the elite Manhattan law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell to handle his criminal appeal.
Lawyers with the Department of Justice also filed an amicus brief in the case this week to argue that the case should be heard — and thrown out — by a federal court because the jury’s conviction relied on evidence that was covered by presidential immunity.
“That President Trump’s defense in fact takes the form of a new constitutional immunity announced by the Supreme Court after his trial ended, rather than a new statute enacted by Congress, should if anything cut in the President’s favor,” lawyers with the Department of Justice argued in a brief submitted on Tuesday.
The appeal — as well as the ongoing appeal of Trump’s $83 million judgment in the E. Jean Carroll civil case and half-billion-dollar civil fraud case — is proceeding on uncharted legal grounds as Trump wields the power of the presidency in his defense. He has characterized the prosecutors who pursued the cases against him as politically motivated, and has touted his electoral victory last November as a political acquittal.
“The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people,” Trump told reporters as he left court following his conviction last year. “And they know what happened here, and everybody knows what happened here.”
(EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo.) — In a stunning repeat of a February incident, a vehicle crashed into the Clay-Ray Veterans Memorial Hall in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, on Wednesday morning, damaging the same section of roof that had only recently been repaired.
Emergency crews responded to 208 Veterans Memorial Drive just before 7:30 a.m., where they found a vehicle that had driven off Sycamore Street and crashed into the building’s roof.
“Though it might seem like a recurring issue, these are very unique situations,” said Lt. Ryan Dowdy of the Excelsior Springs Police Department, who has served on the force for 13 years. “One was during a police chase from a driver trying to evade capture; the other was possibly due to a medical condition.”
Unlike the previous incident, the vehicle didn’t completely penetrate the roof, but the crash’s impact was severe enough that the car’s engine was ejected, landing near the building’s flagpole.
According to Dowdy, while the incident is dramatic, it is being investigated as a traffic crash.
“If during that investigation we determine that a crime has occurred and believe there is probable cause to support charging an individual, we will not hesitate to file those charges if applicable,” he said.
The February crash resulted in arrests and charges after a 22-year-old man crashed while fleeing police during a traffic stop. That incident left two teenage passengers with serious injuries, while the driver sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
“The representative of the VFW stated that they have had that property for over 80 years, and this is only the second time this has happened,” Lt. Dowdy noted, addressing concerns about the location’s safety.
The Clay-Ray Vets Club, which manages the building, had been in the process of rebuilding and restoration following the February incident, according to their Facebook post.
Authorities have not yet released the identity of the driver or additional details about the most recent crash. The investigation is ongoing.
