(MIAMI) — A hearing in former President Donald Trump’s federal classified documents case got heated at times on Wednesday as prosecutors with special counsel Jack’s Smith’s office became frustrated with what they called “nonsense” arguments presented by Trump’s co-defendant Walt Nauta in his effort to have the indictment against Nauta dismissed.
“That was difficult to sit through for lots of reasons,” prosecutor David Harbach said of arguments made by Nauta’s attorney Stanley Woodward. “It’s a garbage argument to begin with.”
Nauta, Trump’s longtime aide, and Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate pleaded not guilty last August to obstruction charges related to alleged attempts to delete Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage, after Trump pleaded not guilty in June to 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House.
Prosecutors have accused Nauta of lying to the FBI in May of 2022 when he told agents that that he was unaware of boxes being brought to Trump’s residence and said he didn’t know where they had been stored before they were taken there.
Nauta’s attorneys are seeking to have the charges against him dismissed on the basis that he is being “selectively” and “vindictively” prosecuted by investigators. At Wednesday’s hearing, Woodward said Nauta was being “selectively prosecuted,” as there were numerous others who also moved boxes at Mar-a-Lago but are not being prosecuted.
Harbach disputed that contention, saying there is “not a person who did everything Nauta did” — including allegations of perjury and efforts to destroy evidence.
“The only people who are comparable to him are his co-defendants,” Harbach said.
Woodward also claims that during an August 2022 meeting that he had with prosecutors, Woodward was pressured improperly by a member of Smith’s team over a pending judicial appointment.
By Woodward’s account, prosecutor Jay Bratt asked him about his pending appointment on the D.C. Superior Court and implied that Woodward’s affiliation with Trump might negatively affect his confirmation.
The special counsel wholeheartedly disputes these claims, and pointed out in court that Woodward’s account of what happened during the meeting has been inconsistent.
“Mr. Woodward’s story about what happened at that meeting is a fantasy; it did not happen,” Harbach exclaimed.
When U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon repeated certain quotes that Woodward claimed the prosecutors allegedly made during that August 2022 meeting, and pressed the prosecution on why those comments had to be made and whether those comments were professional, Harbach, after consulting his colleagues, did not dispute the comments but claimed they were “fragmented” and “out of context.”
At one point, Judge Cannon asked for Harbach to “just calm down” when he became emotional while answering her questions about whether there had been any effort to preserve evidence related to the meeting in question.
“That is not true!” Harbach said after Cannon suggested the government hadn’t made an any efforts to preserve evidence. “That is not what I said … the government has not done anything to destroy or obstruct evidence.”
Cannon, meanwhile, did not appear highly satisfied with Woodward’s argument, asking him multiple times if he could point to any evidence that suggests the alleged comments made to him in that meeting relate in any way to his client being unfairly prosecuted.
Cannon said she was not clear on the “connection between the allegations on comments made to you and how that affected Mr. Nauta not cooperating.”
The core of Woodward’s claim at the hearing was that his client is being “vindictively prosecuted” because of his refusal to testify before the grand jury and turn against Trump.
“Presumably, if Nauta had decided to cooperate, we’d all be friends here,” Woodward said.
There were also some disputes as to when Nauta was made aware of the possibility that he is a target of the investigation and not just a witness.
Woodward claimed the Nauta was unaware of possible obstruction charges until he received his target letter, while the prosecution claimed that a November 2022 search warrant on Nauta’s device was an indication of possible obstruction charges.
(NEW YORK) — One person died and at least 85 people were admitted to hospitals after a Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore experienced severe turbulence Tuesday.
Deaths from turbulence are extremely rare. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, 163 passengers and crew on U.S. flights have been seriously injured by turbulence between 2009 and 2022, out of what the FAA says is more than 2.9 million people who fly in the U.S. every day.
Most anyone who has ever flown in an aircraft has experienced turbulence, when the ride becomes bumpy due to turbulent air – a common occurrence in air travel. Yet what exactly causes turbulence, especially the kind as severe as what Singapore Airlines flight SQ 321 experienced? And why was there apparently little to no warning?
ABC News contributor Col. Stephen Ganyard, who is a retired Marine Corps fighter pilot, says the kind of turbulence that the Singapore Airlines flight encountered was most likely what’s known as clear-air turbulence. He also says if you’re planning to fly for Memorial Day weekend, fear of turbulence shouldn’t deter you from your plans.
Ganyard spoke with “Start Here,” about turbulence in general, and what likely happened to Singapore Airlines flight SQ 321.
START HERE: Col. Ganyard, this was an international flight right? What happened here?
GANYARD: So let’s talk about the facts as we know them now. It was a Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore. They had just come off the Indian Ocean, the Andaman Sea, and they were flying over Myanmar, over the Irrawaddy River valley, which is the north-south river within Myanmar. So, why is that important? Because it was hot. Tropical area. You have a river providing lots of moisture into the air. So hot, wet, rising air causes thunderstorms. We’ve seen the pictures of the area, both the radar returns and the overhead satellite returns. There was lots of major thunderstorm buildup in the area.
At some point, they hit turbulence. The turbulent incident resulted in a 100-foot drop and, just right after that, a 300-foot climb. So very rapid, negative G – negative G being less than gravity, meaning that’s what you feel on a roller coaster, when you go over the top you feel that negative G. But it wasn’t just zero G, it was one or two negative Gs, which would have forced people, slammed them onto the ceiling. And then as the airplane rapidly climbed up at those 300 feet, would have slammed them back down into the seats that they were supposedly supposed to be buckled into, or onto the cabin floor.
So it’s that very rapid, unload negative G, throwing people up in the air, and then the positive G that came very quickly after that threw them back down to the ground. So there’s two places where they get hurt: hitting the ceiling and coming back down to the ground.
START HERE: To look at the aftermath of this, I mean, there were images of, you had meals scattered all over the floor, debris everywhere. One passenger died of a suspected heart attack. Dozens more were injured. Some people are in critical condition. So how did this happen? One official described this is like a plane hitting an air pocket. I mean, what does that mean? How does turbulence work, I guess is what I’m asking you.
GANYARD: Yeah, don’t ever say air pocket around me. I’ve trained you better.
START HERE: That’s not a thing. Air pocket?
GANYARD: There’s no such thing as an air pocket. Air is air, and air doesn’t create pockets. But what people are talking about is that feeling of a drop. So we’ve had some of the passengers on board said, oh, we dropped thousands of feet. Well, this airplane did in fact descend – after this incident when people got hurt – several thousand feet. But it was a controlled descent.
But when you come back to turbulence, what is turbulence? The two primary kinds of turbulence are clear-air turbulence and convective turbulence, the turbulence that occurs in, say, thunderstorms or in big clouds, big lines of clouds. Clear-air turbulence is the kind of turbulence you get when, say, two jet streams come together. We know that the jet streams – you know, the pilots always talk about it, the meteorologists say the jet stream is pushing this weather across the country. So these are just big rivers of air between about 30,000 and 40,000 feet, that can be moving anywhere from 100 to 200 miles an hour.
When they run into each other, it’s like two streams running together. So you see two rapids coming together. It creates additional turbulence. That can’t be seen by radar on an airplane. So that is where the meteorologists before the flight come into play, where the meteorologists say, ooh, we see these two jet streams coming together, we see this area where there’s potential for clear turbulence, and they’ll brief the pilots before they even take off. So when the pilots get to a point in the journey where they say, we were told that there might be turbulence out here, they may preemptively flip on the fasten seatbelt.
So when we think about, well, what happened to the seatbelt sign? Apparently – and this is just a couple of reports from people on board the airplane – apparently that seatbelt sign went on only seconds before they hit the turbulence. Now, whether that was because the pilots didn’t see anything on their radar or were just doing it as a precaution, or this was more clear air turbulence, which can’t be detected by an airplane – that’ll be a question for the investigators. But almost a certainty that anybody who was injured in this airplane was due to not having a seatbelt on at the time they hit that turbulence.
START HERE: I guess I’m trying to figure out how scared should we be going into, like, Memorial Day travel weekend? Because again, I mean, it sounds like so much force exerted on an aircraft so potentially quickly.
GANYARD: If you think about this, here’s this airplane that went through this terrible turbulence, terrible injuries. But the airplane’s fine. Airplanes that are carbon fiber, like the 787 or the A350: extraordinarily strong, the kind of material they’re made out of is five times stronger than steel. So take comfort in the fact that this airplane went through this terrible, terrible set of turbulence and came out just fine because the airplane is designed to take it. If you have your seatbelt on, you’re going to be fine. And Singapore Airlines is no fly-by-night airline. It is one of the best airlines in the world. They have great, airplanes, great, well-trained crews. And so if it can happen to Singapore, can happen to any airline in the world.
START HERE: All right. I guess I’ve got more confidence in seat belts, maybe even planes. But I’m going to need you there, sitting next to me, grabbing my hand if we go through turbulence like this. Colonel Stephen Ganyard, thank you so much.
Continued severe weather threat on Wednesday, May 22, 2024. Via ABC News
(NEW YORK) — For the fourth straight day, residents of the Midwest and the Great Plains were bracing for dangerous tornado weather, a day after at least 20 twisters tore through three states, killing multiple people in Iowa, officials said.
As severe weather is forecast to move into the south and east and stretch from New York state to Texas on Wednesday, the town of Greenfield, Iowa, was left ripped to shreds with about half the town destroyed, officials said.
A “devastating” tornado hit Greenfield, southwest of Des Moines, causing fatalities and injuries in the area, Sgt. Alex Dinkla of the Iowa State Patrol said at a news conference Tuesday night.
“It’s just gut-wrenching. It’s horrific. It’s hard to describe until you can actually see it, the devastation,” Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said at a news conference in Greenfield Wednesday morning.
Reynolds said search-and-rescue crews are continuing to look for victims.
The number of people killed and injured and the amount of damage were still being tallied Wednesday morning.
“This is a search-and-rescue mission and it will continue to be throughout the day,” said Reynolds, adding that officials don’t want to give out any misinformation.
She said, however, that much of the town of Greenfield was flattened.
Asked if dozens of homes were damaged in Greenfield and throughout the state, Reynolds said, “That would be way underestimating.”
The Adair County Memorial Hospital, which serves Greenfield, sustained tornado damage, Dinkla said, but still managed to treat patients and transport some to nearby hospitals for further care.
State Rep. Ray Sorensen, who represents Greenfield, said he was painting at a church when the tornado struck around 3 p.m. Tuesday and rushed into town to find numerous homes damaged or completely demolished and nearly all the historic trees in Greenfield uprooted and stripped of limbs.
“It’s a completely different town now,” Sorensen said.
But he said that when he arrived at the scene of the devastation, people were already clearing the streets of debris to make way for emergency vehicles and helping those injured get medical attention at a makeshift triage center established at a lumber yard.
“Everybody became little makeshift ambulances,” Sorensen said. “We pulled a guy from the rubble and put him on a little makeshift stretcher that we made, threw him in the back of a truck of a guy that isn’t even from Iowa and we just made our way to the lumber yard, which was the makeshift hospital.”
At least 329 severe storms were reported Tuesday through the nation’s midsection from Texas to Michigan, even up in New England. At least 20 tornadoes were confirmed in three states, including Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Most of the twisters swept across Iowa.
More severe weather is on the way. The highest threat for tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail will be in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, including major cities such as Dallas, Waco, Abilene, Little Rock and Shreveport.
Some damaging winds could also develop in Memphis and Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Rochester, New York.
Severe weather is also expected to stretch into Thursday as the Memorial Day weekend gets underway. Dangerous weather is expected on Thursday through large parts of the Heartland and parts of the South from South Dakota to Texas and east to Tennessee.
On Tuesday, the National Weather Service issued tornado watches for parts of Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Nearly the entire state of Iowa was under a “Particularly Dangerous Situation,” according to the National Weather Service, which issued several tornado warnings before the town of Greenfield was slammed by a funnel cloud.
Gov. Reynolds authorized a proclamation of disaster emergency for 15 counties across the state. On Wednesday, she said the state will ask President Joe Biden to approve federal disaster relief.
The counties include Adair, Adams, Cass, Clay, Hardin, Harrison, Jasper, Kossuth, Marshall, Montgomery, Page, Palo Alto, Pottawattamie, Tama and Warren.
Gov. Reynolds authorized a proclamation of disaster emergency for 15 counties across the state. On Wednesday, she said the state will ask President Joe Biden to approve federal disaster relief.
Several videos obtained by ABC affiliate station WOI-DT in Des Moines captured a large funnel cloud on the ground in Greenfield.
On Tuesday, WOI reporter Dana Searles, surveying the damage in Des Moines, said, “This small community has a big chunk destroyed, but about half of it is still intact. From what I’ve seen, I’d estimate that maybe 75% of it is near to the ground right now.”
In Yuma, in northeast Colorado, hail ranging from golf ball to softball size pummeled the area, causing damage to cars and buildings. At one point, the hail was so deep it caused multiple vehicles to get stuck, JJ Unger, a volunteer Yuma firefighter, told ABC News Tuesday.
“It was like a blizzard hitting for a half hour because of the hail,” Unger said. “That’s the longest I’ve seen it hail like that.”
Unger said he and his fire crew were out spotting for possible tornadoes Monday evening when lightning struck.
“It was very intense,” said Unger, adding that he and his crew had to pull over and seek shelter as visibility went to almost zero.
Unger said that when the hail finally let up, a foot of hail was covering his fire engine and roads in the area.
He said the windshields of his pickup truck and his wife’s vehicle were shattered.
“Almost every home in town has broken windows and I’ve heard that over a thousand cars were damaged,” Unger said.
In Nebraska, hail measuring two inches in diameter fell in Dundy County in the southwest corner of the state, according to local emergency management officials. Winds of over 90 mph were also reported.
More than half a foot of rain was recorded in Omaha, Nebraska, on Tuesday, producing major flash flooding in the area.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Capitol Police said they temporarily locked down the Republican National Committee’s Washington, D.C., headquarters on Wednesday morning after a suspicious package containing two vials of blood was found.
Officers arrived on the scene around 7:45 a.m. after the package was found, according to police.
“The package was cleared by our Hazardous Incident Response Division,” Capitol Police said in a statement later in the morning.
Police lifted the lockdown shortly after the package was removed. An investigation into the incident and the package’s source is ongoing, according to police.
The RNC has not immediately commented on the situation.
ABC News’ John Parkinson and Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(HOUSTON) — Many states are adopting a drastic approach to address what they judge to be under-performing schools. They’re assuming control of how the schools are run, including appointing new administrators.
Texas did that this school year with the Houston Independent School District’s (HISD), when the Texas Education Agency, which oversees public education in the Lone Star State, disbanded the elected school board and appointed a new superintendent, Mike Miles. He’s been tasked with improving standardized test scores, particularly in math and reading, and especially in the wake of the pandemic, when remote learning saw those scores decline. The state also instituted new systems for evaluating the performance of educators and campus leaders.
Now that HISD is near the end of its first full year under state control, many teachers and community members say despite good intentions, it’s not working.
“It’s never been like this. It’s never felt so much like you’re being strangled,” HISD teacher Maria Benzon said. “I want everybody to love learning for the sake of learning. And it has become sadly a space of we are learning so we can pass the standardized tests.”
In recent years, 25 states, including Texas, have taken over school districts due to poor academic performance or fiscal mismanagement. Miles made one of the most significant changes by choosing 28 Texas schools and placing them under what he calls the New Education System, or NES model.
Among the changes Miles made was deciding that those schools no longer needed librarians. Cheryl Hensley is a librarian whose position was eliminated as part of those changes.
“My mission in life, I’m a librarian,” Hensley told ABC News. “I’m making sure that these kids love it too. I want to make sure that they go find something they want to read and find something that they love to read.”
She called the reality that kids no longer have a librarian “extremely heartbreaking.”
Miles also had officials and administrators monitor teachers’ lessons to ensure they are following the district’s course materials. What those monitors observe plays a key role in ensuring educators’ job security.
Some HISD teachers and principals have told ABC News that they have already started to receive termination notices before the end of the school year.
Benzon said that when she pulled two students to the back of the class to help them individually, she was told she shouldn’t be giving any students one-on-one instruction.
HISD addressed that incident in a statement to ABC News “As part of NES training, teachers are asked to ensure all kids are sitting in the front rows to maximize their engagement with their instructors and the content,” the statement said. “Students who need more instruction time on a given lesson get extra classroom time with their teacher in a smaller group and have access to teacher apprentices and learning coaches as necessary to support their learning.”
The HISD had the highest teacher turnover rate, with 600 leaving the this year, according to ABC station KTRK. That’s twice as many as the roughly 300 HISD teachers who left during the same timeframe last year.
HISD acknowledges that two-thirds of teachers who left this year were from NES schools, but according to KTRK, the model raises expectations and is not for everyone. Also, HISD said 55 of their school elected to opt in to NES, while others have adopted selected NES policies.
Among the latter is A-rated Barbara Bush Elementary, which has introduced a timed curriculum option used at NES schools. Teachers set a timer that allows students about four minutes to complete each session before moving on to the next one.
Henley Jackson, a fifth-grader with ADHD, finds the timed curriculum overwhelming.
“Once there’s a little bit of time left, I start panicking because I feel like I’m not going to finish in time,” Jackson said, adding that her grades are dropping.
Henley’s mother said she and other parents have voiced their concerns to the district, but they feel as if those concerns “are falling on deaf ears.”
Kristen Hall, the HISD chief academic officer, told ABC News that the primary focus of NES is enhancing classroom instruction, and also noted that HISD has raised salaries for NES teachers. Hall said their goal is simple: to improve student achievement in failing or near-failing schools.
Hall also said that while morale may be low for some teachers and parents, she doesn’t think that’s the case when she walks into classrooms, adding, “We’re out in the classrooms all of the time.”
“My message, if someone is experiencing something, is what we’re trying to say and what we continue to say as the thing we are here to do is stay committed to ensuring your student is receiving the best instruction and the best education that we can provide them,” Hall said.
Yet it’s not certain that such school takeovers accomplish what they set out to do, Josh Bleiberg, a researcher and assistant professor of education at the University of Pittsburgh, told ABC News. In 2021, Bleiberg and Beth Schueler, from the University of Virginia, conducted a national study of schools that were taken over by states.
“Overall, we find no evidence that state takeover improves academic achievement,” the study determined, in part.
“What we find is that test scores in math and English language arts were about the same before the takeover and after the takeover,” Bleiberg told ABC News.
While not all parents oppose the changes that came with NES, frustrated parents and teachers have been very vocal about their concerns.
“There are barriers to just up and leave and not to mention people’s socioeconomic levels in life and where they live alone, family obligations, and just life in general,” Marcus Edwards, a concerned parent, told ABC News.
Protests against the state takeover began this year, which led the Houston Federation of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union in Houston, to recently ratify a resolution calling for Superintendent Miles’s removal following a 98 percent vote of no confidence.
Officials state that their goal is to eventually return HISD to local control. However, the state plans to add as many as 40 more new schools to NES by next school year and expand it to just over half of HISD schools by 2025.
Jackie Anderson, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, wants to restore a democratically elected board.
“There’s a very diverse culture here,” Anderson said. “You cannot use a blanket, a cookie-cutter model for every child in this district.”
Yet state takeovers of school districts are happening more frequently, indicating that many other schools may be on the verge of significant changes, according to Bleiberg. He also suggests state officials would do well to listen to concerns.
“The pushback from community members, from teachers, from parents, those are valued stakeholders in any successful school turnaround effort,” Bleiberg said. “And if there isn’t that trust, it’s less likely will be a positive effect.”
(NEW YORK) — Elvis Presley’s home of Graceland will not be hitting the auction block on Thursday after all.
In a hearing Wednesday that only lasted about eight minutes, Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins adjourned the sale of Graceland, saying, “The notary has sworn that the notary did not notarize the signature of Lisa Marie Presley on the deed of trust, which brings into question the authenticity of the signature.”
The hearing on Wednesday in Tennessee was set to determine whether a dubious entity could proceed with an advertised plan to auction off the late singer’s estate in Memphis.
Actress Riley Keough, Presley’s granddaughter, was trying to stop a company called Naussany Investments and Private Lending LLC from conducting an auction outside the Shelby County Courthouse on Thursday at noon.
Keough is alleging the company presented fraudulent documents last September “purporting to show that Lisa Marie Presley had borrowed $3.8 million from Naussany Investments and gave a deed of trust encumbering Graceland as security,” according to the court documents obtained by Memphis ABC affiliate WATN.
Keough is being represented by attorneys based in Memphis and Jacksonville, Florida. Both lawyers declined to comment to ABC News. It is not yet clear whether Naussany Investments has an attorney.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
This weather map shows a sever weather threat for May 21, 2024. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — Millions of people in states from the Great Plains to the Midwest were under the threat of tornadoes Tuesday, including Iowa, where several twisters touched down near Des Moines, causing major damage.
A “devastating” tornado hit the town of Greenfield, Iowa, located southwest of Des Moines, causing fatalities and injuries in the area, Sgt. Alex Dinkla of the Iowa State Patrol said at a news conference Tuesday night.
The Adair County Memorial Hospital team, which serves Greenfield, sustained tornado damage, Dinkla said, but still managed to treat patients and transport some to nearby hospitals for further care.
Search efforts were underway Tuesday night, with officials working to provide a clear and accurate count of those affected, the officer said.
“We believe we have everyone accounted for, but we are conducting extensive searches to be thorough,” he said.
The National Weather Service had issued tornado watches for parts of Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas and Oklahoma through Tuesday night.
Nearly the entire state of Iowa was under a “Particularly Dangerous Situation,” according to the National Weather Service, which issued several tornado warnings.
On Tuesday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds authorized a proclamation of disaster emergency for 15 counties across the state.
The counties include Adair, Adams, Cass, Clay, Hardin, Harrison, Jasper, Kossuth, Marshall, Montgomery, Page, Palo Alto, Pottawattamie, Tama and Warren.
Several videos obtained by ABC affiliate station WOI-TV in Des Moines, captured a large funnel cloud on the ground in Greenfield.
On Tuesday, WOI reporter Dana Searles, surveying the damage in Des Moines, said, “This small community has a big chunk destroyed, but about half of it is still intact. From what I’ve seen, I’d estimate that maybe 75% of it is near to the ground right now.”
Damaging winds of 70 to 90 mph were forecast for Des Moines, Chicago and Milwaukee from Tuesday afternoon and into the evening.
Severe weather is in full swing across the Great Plains and the Midwest, with more than 100 severe storms reported Monday from Colorado to Michigan.
At least three tornadoes were reported Monday in Minnesota, Nebraska, and Colorado, but there was no significant damage.
In Yuma, in northeast Colorado, hail ranging from golf ball to softball size pummeled the area, causing damage to cars and buildings. At one point, the hail was so deep it caused multiple vehicles to get stuck, JJ Unger, a volunteer Yuma firefighter, told ABC News Tuesday.
“It was like a blizzard hitting for a half hour because of the hail,” Unger said. “That’s the longest I’ve seen it hail like that.”
Unger said he and his fire crew were out spotting for possible tornadoes Monday evening when lightning struck, and hail began to pour.
“It was very intense,” said Unger, adding that he and his crew had to pull over and seek shelter as visibility went to almost zero.
Unger said that when the hail finally let up, a foot of hail was covering his fire engine and roads in the area.
He said the windshields of his pickup truck and his wife’s vehicle were shattered.
“Almost every home in town has broken windows and I’ve heard that over a thousand cars were damaged,” Unger said.
In Nebraska, hail measuring two inches in diameter fell in Dundy County in the southwest corner of the state, according to local emergency management officials. Winds of over 90 mph were also reported in Dundy County.
As severe weather is expected through Thursday across the Great Plains and Midwest, potential record heat is moving into Texas and the Northeast.
Temperatures could flirt with 90 degrees in Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, D.C., by the middle of this week.
(NEW YORK) — Millions of people in multiple states from the Great Plains to the Midwest were under the threat of tornadoes Tuesday afternoon, including Iowa where several twisters had touched down near Des Moines and authorities were asking residents to seek shelter.
The National Weather Service issued tornado watches for parts of Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas and Oklahoma through Tuesday night.
Nearly the entire state of Iowa was under a “Particularly Dangerous Situation,” according to the National Weather Service, which issued several tornado warnings near Des Moines.
A line of powerful storms was moving in the direction of Des Moines and had already produced multiple tornadoes Tuesday afternoon, according to the weather service.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
Several videos obtained by ABC affiliate station WOI in Des Moines captured a large funnel cloud on the ground in Greenfield about 63 miles southwest of Des Moines.
The NWS tornado watch covers eight counties in Iowa and 23 in Nebraska, including Lincoln and Omaha.
Damaging winds of 70 to 90 mph are also being forecast for Des Moines, Chicago and Milwaukee from Tuesday afternoon and into the evening.
Des Moines, a city of more than 200,000 people, is expected to get a triple dose of bad weather with large hail, high winds and tornadoes converging in the area.
Severe weather is in full swing across the Great Plains and the Midwest, with more than 100 severe storms reported Monday from Colorado to Michigan.
At least three tornadoes were reported on Monday in Minnesota, Nebraska and Colorado, but caused no significant damage.
In Yuma, in northeast Colorado, hail ranging from golf ball to softball size pummeled the area, causing damage to cars and buildings. At one point, the hail was so deep it caused multiple vehicles to get stuck, JJ Unger, a volunteer Yuma firefighter, told ABC News Tuesday.
“It was like a blizzard hitting for a half hour because of the hail,” Unger said. “That’s the longest I’ve seen it hail like that.”
Unger said he and his fire crew were out spotting for possible tornadoes Monday evening when lightning struck and hail began to pour.
“It was very intense,” said Unger, adding that he and his crew had to pull over and seek shelter as visibility went to almost zero.
Unger said that when the hail finally let up, a foot of hail was covering his fire engine and roads in the area.
He said the windshields of his pickup truck and his wife’s vehicle were shattered.
“Almost every home in town has broken windows and I’ve heard that over a thousand cars were damaged,” Unger said.
In Nebraska, hail measuring two inches in diameter fell in Dundy County in the southwest corner of the state, according to local emergency management officials. Winds of over 90 mph were also reported in Dundy County.
As severe weather is expected through Thursday across the Great Plains and Midwest, potential record heat is moving into Texas and the Northeast.
Temperatures could flirt with 90 degrees in Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, D.C., by the middle of this week.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York City, where he is facing felony charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been tried on criminal charges.
Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
Here’s how the news is developing:
May 21, 4:25 PM Judge will keep original instructions on Cohen’s guilty plea
The defense returned to the question of Michael Cohen’s 2018 guilty plea and AMI’s non-prosecution agreement with the federal government.
Defense attorney Emil Bove called it a “critical issue” the jury could infer Trump’s guilt based on his association with Cohen and AMI executive David Pecker.
Prosecutor Josh Steinglass called the curative language the defense suggested “outrageous,” and Judge Merchan said he would stick to what he told the jury during the evidentiary phase of the trial: That the guilty plea of Cohen and the non-prosecution agreement of AMI could be used to judge witness credibility — but could not be used as an inference of the defendant’s guilt.
May 21, 4:18 PM Defense seeks clarification on effect of ‘Access Hollywood’ tape
Defense lawyers asked Judge Merchan to include an instruction for jurors that clarifies how prominent Republicans and members of the public reacted to the release of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape.
Witnesses like Trump aides Hope Hicks and Madeleine Westerhout testified about the effect of the video, which led prominent Republicans like John McCain withdrawing their endorsement of Trump and the Republican National Committee considering finding a new candidate.
Prosecutors pushed back on the defense request, describing it as “confusing” and “unnecessary.”
“The nature of the reaction by the Republican Party by other prominent Republican senators by other members of the public — the fact that was the reaction — had an impact on the listener being the defendant,” prosecutor Josh Steinglass argued.
Prosecutors have argued that the immense public backlash to the Access Hollywood motivated Trump to kill the Stormy Daniels story in the days before the election.
Judge Merchan said he would review the relevant portions of the transcript before making a decision, but said he was inclined to agree with the state, suggesting the proposed instruction would be denied.
May 21, 4:09 PM Attorneys hash out additional jury instructions
Following a break, Judge Merchan told the parties that he had worked through his own notes and asked the lawyers for each side to weigh in on what he might have missed.
The defense sought an instruction about former President Trump regarding bias.
“We don’t think that this is necessary, this charge,” prosecutor Josh Steinglass said in response. “I don’t think instructing the jury that they shouldn’t hold bias against the defendant is necessary — voir dire has satisfied this problem, I think.”
The defense also sought an instruction that hush money payments are not inherently illegal. Prosecutors opposed it, arguing the request amounts to the judge making the defense argument for them.
Defense attorney Emil Bove also asked for an instruction that “hush money is not illegal.”
“What the defense is asking,” Colangelo responded, “is for you to make their argument for them.”
The judge agreed with Colangelo, saying that including that language would be “taking it too far.”
Defense attorney Emil Bove argued that the jury should not consider Michael Cohen’s tax crimes as one of the crimes Trump advanced by allegedly falsifying business records when he repaid Cohen for the Stormy Daniels hush payment.
Bove argued that Cohen was unaware of the alleged tax crimes when then-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg “grossed up” his reimbursement to accommodate for taxes on the payment.
Cohen testified he did not think of the tax law at the time, telling jurors, “I just wanted to get my money back.”
May 21, 3:51 PM I won’t ‘change the law,’ judge tells defense regarding jury charge
Defense attorney Emil Bove tried to make the argument that this particular case is unusual because Trump is not a typical defendant.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo responded that’s precisely why the standard language should be used.
“No one is above the law,” he said.
Judge Merchan settled the matter and ruled against the defense.
“I understand what you mean when you say it’s an important case,” he said. “But what you’re asking me to do is to change the law, and I’m not going to do that.”
May 21, 3:44 PM Parties argue about Trump’s presence at 2015 meeting
Discussing the August 2015 meeting in Trump Tower where prosecutors say Trump, Michael Cohen and then-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker agreed to the criminal conspiracy, defense attorney Emil Bove argued Trump’s “mere presence” at a 2015 meeting at Trump Tower with David Pecker and Michael Cohen where the alleged conspiracy was hatched “could very much be part of the defense here.”
Bove said “there’s nothing criminal about that at all,” despite prosecutors arguing it’s where the catch-and-kill scheme originated.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo argued there is no way the jury could interpret the meeting as a “high minded conversation about democracy.”
May 21, 3:28 PM Merchan rules state doesn’t have to prove 2 separate intents
The defense failed to convince Judge Merchan to add a layer of intent that prosecutors have to prove.
Merchan told the parties he was “concerned about” a proposed addition by defense attorneys related to Trump’s intent to defraud.
The defense proposed including an instruction that the state “must establish beyond a reasonable doubt two separate intents” for Trump to commit crimes — for both falsifying records and the other crime Trump furthered with the falsification.
“This proposed language is just inconsistent with the text of the statute,” defense attorney Matthew Colangelo argued.
Merchan said he was inclined to use the standard instruction, excluding the proposed defense addition.
“That second level of intent … is incorporated by reference to the first,” Merchan said.
May 21, 3:15 PM Judge reserves decision on ‘accomplice liability’
The debate over jury instructions turned to the definition of “accomplice liability.”
Prosecutors argued that jury should be told that Trump can be convicted because he caused false leger entries to be created by Trump Organization employees Jeff McConney and Deb Tarasoff.
Prosecutors said it’s a necessary instruction because the defense argued in opening statements that Trump himself did not enter accounting records.
Merchan reserved his decision about “accessorial liability” but said he was inclined to strike the proposed language related to the issue from the final charge.
As the lawyers continue their debate, Trump is flipping through a three-inch stack of papers, some of which appear to be press clippings.
May 21, 3:05 PM Judge rejects defense request related to ‘intent’
Judge Merchan turned to what he called “the most challenging issue facing us all”: how to pronounce “eleemosynary,” which he said means “relating to charity.” The quip got a laugh from both sides.
Merchan moved to delete the word from the jury instructions, and neither side objected.
The judge moved on to discussing the definition of “intent” as it relates to Trump’s conduct.
Defense attorney Emil Bove requested that the jury instruction place “more emphasis” on the elements needed to prove Trump had an intent to defraud when he allegedly falsified documents.
“I am going to stick with the standard language,” Merchan replied, shooting down the request.
May 21, 3:00 PM Judge mulls how Cohen’s guilty plea should be described
Judge Merchan heard arguments over how former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s 2018 guilty plea on charges related to the Stormy Daniels payment should be described to the jury — whether Cohen “participated” in crimes or was “convicted” of crimes.
The judge said echoed a defense concern that Cohen’s convictions could be used to infer that Trump, by proxy, should also be found guilty.
“It seems like to me right now we are really playing with fire and getting close to that,” Merchan said.
In general, Merchan reminded the parties, “Where there are standard pattern jury instructions, I don’t deviate”
May 21, 2:50 PM Judge considers whether Daniels payment was campaign expense
The defense is arguing a candidate’s expenses arising from controversies are not necessarily campaign expenses.
Merchan suggests the language should be as follows: “If the payment would have been made, even in the absence of the candidacy, the payment should not be treated as a contribution.”
Prosecutors have argued the payment to Stormy Daniels should have been labeled a campaign expenditure because it was meant to protect Trump’s electoral prospects in 2016
Merchan reserves his decision on the issue but suggests he would include both proposed sentences from the parties.
May 21, 2:43 PM Judge says he wants jury instructions ‘as easy as possible’
Defense attorney Emil Bove argued that Judge Merchan should tell the jury it must find Trump acted willfully in order to convict.
The district attorney’s office argued the jury must find Trump acted unlawfully, not necessarily criminally.
Trump was alert and attentive at the start of this afternoon’s session, whispering to his attorney Todd Blanche. Now his eyes are closed.
Judge Merchan, ticking through each of the proposed edits to the jury instructions, appears to be focused on making sure the instructions are clear and understandable for the jury.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for the jury,” he said.
May 21, 2:37 PM Judge declines to tell jury about lack of contribution limits
Judge Merchan declined to add a sentence to the jury charge that there was no limit on Trump’s personal contributions to his political campaign in 2015 and 2016.
Defense attorney Emil Bove argued that the line would have told the jury that Trump “could have paid this out of his personal expenses without issue.”
But prosecutors argued that the line was “extraneous” because Trump made the Stormy Daniels payment reimbursement from the Trump Organization, not out of his personal funds.
“It has nothing to do with the case,” Colangelo said.
May 21, 2:30 PM Defense argues prosecutors have failed to show criminality
Defense attorney Emil Bove began the conference by arguing for a jury instruction describing the alleged conspiracy as civil, not criminal.
According to Bove, prosecutors have failed to show that the alleged conspiracy had a criminal object.
“It’s only a crime if it has a criminal object,” Bove said. “To be a criminal conspiracy, there must be a criminal object.”
May 21, 2:24 PM Parties are back in court for pre-charge conference
Judge Merchan is back on the bench, and the parties — including Trump — are seated at the counsel tables for the pre-charge conference that will help determine the jury instructions.
Trump, seated next to attorney Susan Necheles, has a pile of papers in front of him.
May 21, 2:17 PM ‘This next couple hours is very important,’ Trump says
Donald Trump, addressing the media ahead of this afternoon’s pre-charge conference, told reporters, “This next couple of hours is very important.”
Judge Juan Merchan is preparing to hear arguments from attorneys regarding the instructions the judge will provide jurors about the law and evidence in the case when the jury begins deliberating next week.
Trump declined to answer questions from the reporters about why he decided not to testify in the case, and whether he is nervous about a possible conviction.
May 21, 10:35 AM Judge will hold pre-charge conference this afternoon
Judge Merchan asked the parties to return to the courtroom at 2:15 p.m. ET. for the previously scheduled pre-charge conference.
It will provide an opportunity for the parties to weigh in on the instructions Merchan will provide the jury about the law and evidence in the case.
Trump and his entourage then filed out of the courtroom.
May 21, 10:23 AM Judge adjourns proceedings until next Tuesday
Following the defense resting its case, Judge Juan Merchan told the parties that “summations will not be quick” and that they “will take at least a day.” Jury instructions will then take at least an hour, he said.
“At the end of the day, I think the best thing we can do is to adjourn now until next Tuesday. At that time you will hear summations from the attorneys,” Merchan said.
Merchan says that deliberations could begin as early as next Wednesday.
Merchan told the jury he opted to delay the summations because of this week’s abbreviated schedule and his belief that “it’s always ideal or best not to break up summations.”
Trump’s eyes were closed, his head titled back, as Merchan instructed the jury to return on Tuesday.
The jury then left the courtroom.
May 21, 10:15 AM Defense rests its case following Costello testimony
“You still have a lot of animosity against Michael Cohen,” prosecutor Susan Cohen Hoffinger asked Michael Cohen’s then-legal adviser Robert Costello after displaying emails from 2018.
“I don’t have animosity but –,” Costello replied before being cut off.
“Yes or no,” Hoffinger said.
Hoffinger then asked Costello bluntly if he was trying to “intimidate” Cohen regarding his 2018 congressional testimony.
“Intimidate Michael Cohen?” Costello asked incredulously.
“Yes, that’s my question,” Hoffinger repeated firmly.
“Ridiculous, no,” Costello responded.
Hoffinger then concluded her cross-examination, which was followed by a brief redirect.
“Your honor, the defense rests,” the defense team told Judge Merchan.
Former President Trump did not end up taking the stand in his own defense.
May 21, 10:06 AM Jurors see Costello emails critical of Cohen
Seeking to painting a picture of the machinations behind what Michael Cohen called a “pressure campaign” to keep him in the Trump fold as investigators closed in on him, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger displayed an email from Michael Cohen’s then-legal adviser Robert Costello to Costello’s law partner in which Costello wrote that Cohen “continues to slow play us and the president — is he totally nuts???”
“I am in a golf tournament tomorrow early and again on Sunday. What should I say to this a—— ? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet,” Costello wrote.
“That email certainly speaks for itself, does it not, Mr. Costello?” Hoffiner asked.
“Yes it does,” Costello said.
Costello insisted that he was not working to advance Trump’s interests and denied the suggestion that he “lost control” of Cohen.
May 21, 9:55 AM Costello email discussed getting ‘Cohen on the right page’
Prosecutors displayed an email from Michael Cohen’s then-legal adviser Robert Costello to Costello’s law partner Jeffrey Citron from Aug. 8, 2018, in which Costello shared a link to a Fox News story about Rudy Giuliani joining Trump’s legal team.
“All the more reason for Cohen to hire me because of my connection to Giuliani, which I mentioned to him in our meeting,” he wrote.
In another email, Costello said, “Our issue is to get Cohen on the right page without giving him the appearance that we are following instructions from Giuliani or the President. In my opinion this is the clear correct strategy.”
Questioned on the witness stand about that email, Costello told prosecutor Susan Hoffinger that he wanted “to get everybody on the same page because Michael Cohen had been complaining incessantly that Rudy Giuliani, was making statements in the press that Michael Cohen didn’t approve of.”
Costello told Hoffinger he has other emails clarifying that, “which I’d be delighted to tell you.”
“That’s all right,” Hoffinger replied snarkily.
The gallery laughed, prompting a court officer to yell “Quiet!”
May 21, 9:43 AM Costello’s cross-examination already appearing tense
Only a few minutes into prosecutor Susan Hoffinger’s cross-examination of Michael Cohen’s former legal adviser Robert Costello, their exchanges are already sounding tense.
Hoffinger attempted to confirm that Costello boasted about his relationship with Rudy Giuliani, but Costello denied he did so during his first meeting with Cohen.
“You are quoting from an email that is much later,” Costello said.
“I am not quoting from an email,” Hoffinger replied.
Hoffinger then asked Costello about his relationship with Giuliani.
“He’s been to your wedding?” Hoffinger asked.
“Yes he was,” Costello said.
May 21, 9:35 AM Costello retakes the stand
“Let’s get the witness please,” Judge Juan Merchan said after taking the bench.
Michael Cohen’s one-time legal adviser Robert Costello entered the courtroom and took the witness stand to continue his cross-examination.
“Good Morning, Mr. Costello. Welcome back,” Judge Merchan said.
May 21, 9:28 AM Trump, Don Jr. are in the courtroom
Former President Trump has arrived in the courtroom.
His son Don Jr., accompanying him to this trial for the first time, is seated in the front row of the gallery.
May 21, 9:21 AM Trump, prosecutors arrive for proceedings
The prosecution team has entered the courtroom for today’s proceedings.
Former President Trump has arrived at the courthouse.
May 21, 8:28 AM Trump not expected to testify, sources say
Former President Trump is not expected to take the stand in his criminal hush money trial, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
It’s possible that Trump could make a last-minute decision to testify, so sources caution that nothing is final until the defense rests its case.
Trump’s lawyers have indicated publicly that Robert Costello, Michael Cohen’s one-time legal adviser, is expected to be their last witness before they rest their case today.
May 21, 8:14 AM Trump’s son Don Jr. expected to attend trial
Former President Donald Trump is expected to be joined by his son Don Jr. in court today.
It would mark the first time Don Jr. has attended the trial.
As has been the case over the last several days in court, a number of Republican lawmakers are expected to attend today’s proceedings in support of Trump.
May 21, 7:29 AM Costello to resume testimony, defense expected to rest its case
A day after Judge Judge Juan Merchan threatened to remove him from the witness stand, former federal prosecutor Robert Costello will resume his testimony this morning as the second witness in Donald Trump’s defense case.
Costello is expected to be the final defense witness before Trump’s lawyers rest their case today.
Yesterday, Costello told jurors about his meetings and phone calls with Michael Cohen in 2018 after FBI agents raided his office and hotel room. Costello advised Cohen and helped pass messages to the Trump, according to Cohen, but never formally represented him as his lawyer.
“Michael Cohen said, numerous times, that President Trump knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own, and he repeated that numerous times,” Costello testified about the hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels that sits at the center of the case.
Cohen told the jury that he lied to Costello about Trump’s involvement in the scheme to use hush-money payments to hide information from voters.
Costello’s reactions to Judge Merchan after taking the stand yesterday afternoon — responding “jeez” to a sustained objection, rolling his eyes at the judge, and appearing to staring him down — prompted Merchan to clear the courtroom before threatening to remove Costello from the witness stand.
While defense lawyers suggested yesterday that they would not call Trump to the witness stand, they will likely have to confirm a final decision about the defendant’s testimony — or lack thereof — before they rest their case.
Judge Merchan has scheduled a charge conference at 2:15 p.m. ET to hear arguments over how to instruct the jury about the law in the case.
(TOPEKA, Kan.) — Kansas physicians are legally challenging a new state law that would require them to ask and publicly report patients’ reasons for seeking abortion care as well as other personal information.
A lawsuit claims the law “directly interferes with Kansans’ bodily autonomy and their fundamental right to make their own decisions about health care,” according the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing the physicians.
The new law is lawmakers’ latest attempt to regulate the procedure after Kansas voters, defying expectations, voted to protect abortion rights by upholding a state constitutional right to abortion — with an overwhelming majority — in a 2022 ballot initiative.
Abortion care is allowed in Kansas up to 22 weeks of pregnancy.
The new legal challenge has been added to an ongoing lawsuit against the state attorney general and district attorneys over other abortion restrictions in the state, including state-mandated abortion counseling they claim is medically inaccurate; a law requiring physicians tell patients the “false and dangerous” claim that it is possible to reverse medication abortions; and a state-required 24-hour waiting period before patients can access care, according to the CRR.
Anti-abortion lawmakers in the state House and Senate bypassed a veto from Gov. Laura Kelly, advancing House Bill 2749 into law without her signature.
“There is no valid medical reason to force a woman to disclose to the legislature if they have been a victim of abuse, rape, or incest prior to obtaining an abortion. There is no valid medical reason to force a woman to disclose to the legislature why she is seeking an abortion,” Kelly said in a letter to the legislature.
“I refuse to sign legislation that goes against the will of the majority of Kansans who spoke loudly on Aug. 2, 2022: Kansans don’t want politicians involved in their private medical decisions,” Kelly wrote.
Kansas Right to Life, an anti-abortion group that requested the legislation be introduced, and the state attorney general did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
What’s in the new law?
The law requires physicians to collect personal information about patients receiving abortion care and provide them to the state in a public report twice a year.
While the report of abortions will not include the names of patients who sought or received the care, it requires other personal information including their age, marital status, state or country of residence, race and highest level of education.
Under the new law, physicians are required to ask patients seeking abortion care what the most important factor was in determining why they sought care, except in cases of medical emergencies.
A list of factors for physicians to read patients include: “Having a baby would interfere with the patient’s education, employment or career; the patient cannot provide for the child; the patient already has enough, or too many, children; the patient’s husband or partner is abusive to such patient or such patient’s children,” according to the law.
Other reasons include rape, incest, risk to the health of the mother and that the child would have a disability.
The law requires “the reporting of the reasons for each abortion performed at a medical care facility or by a healthcare provider in the state,” according to the law.
Medical facilities will have to keep written records of all “lawfully terminated” pregnancies and submit a written report twice a year to the secretary of health and environment, the law said. The reports must also include sworn statements by physicians who perform abortions.
The reports will have to include the medical diagnosis and condition that would result in a “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function or the medical diagnosis and condition that necessitated performance of an abortion to preserve the life of the patient,” according to the law.
Other information physicians will need to fill out in the report include method of abortion care, whether the patient has received financial assistance from a nonprofit that supports pregnant women in the last 30 days, whether the patient has experienced domestic violence in the last 12 months and if the patient is living in a safe, stable and affordable place, according to the law.
The identities of physicians and medical facilities who fill out the report are to remain confidential unless the secretary of health and environment finds reasonable cause that the law was violated, is requesting disciplinary action and reveals the information to the state board of healing arts or a state attorney general.
