(NEW YORK) — A judge has declared a mistrial in the criminal case against 75-year-old Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly, accused of fatally shooting a migrant on his property near the U.S.-Mexico border, the court confirmed Monday night.
Jurors had been deliberating since Thursday afternoon.
Kelly was charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault in the Jan. 30, 2023, fatal shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, a migrant who lived across the border in Nogales, Mexico. He had pleaded not guilty.
Law enforcement officials said Cuen-Buitimea was traveling with a group of migrants who ran when they saw border patrol agents in the area. Cuen-Buitimea and another migrant were allegedly heading back to the southern side of the border when they passed through Kelly’s cattle ranch.
It’s then that prosecutors alleged Kelly recklessly fired his AK-47 from a distance of about 115 yards, fatally striking Cuen-Buitimea in the back.
During the trial, prosecutors pointed out inconsistent statements Kelly made to law enforcement officials throughout the investigation.
According to prosecutors, Kelly initially told Jeremy Marcel — a border patrol agent who worked as a ranch liaison — he was returning fire after being shot at by a group of five armed individuals who were wearing packs and running southbound.
Prosecutors claimed Kelly at first failed to tell law enforcement agents he shot his weapon. Prosecutors said his story changed minutes later when he told law enforcement officials it was a group of about 10-15 people armed with AR-style rifles.
Authorities say Cuen-Buitimea was unarmed and they were unable to find evidence that another weapon had been fired.
“When you see two unarmed migrants walking southbound beyond two fence lines and you take your AK-47, you walk out and don’t say a word, point it at them and you shoot, would that be what a reasonable person would do in that situation?” prosecutor Mike Jette asked the jury during his closing arguments. “The answer has to be no.”
Kelly’s lawyers tried to poke holes in the prosecutor’s account of the incident and accused law enforcement officials of failing to follow other leads that would have cleared their client of any wrongdoing. They also accused law enforcement of falsely claiming that Kelly admitted to shooting at multiple people.
“That was not true, Alan never said that. Law enforcement wasn’t listening and they didn’t care, they already decided that he was guilty,” said defense attorney Brenna Larkin.
The defense claimed Kelly was protecting himself and his wife and only fired warning shots several yards above the group.
Authorities were not able to find the bullet that struck Cuen-Buitimea. The defense claimed he was shot by another person in the group.
Lead detective Jorge Ainza testified during the trial and told Kelly’s attorneys he believed Kelly shot at Cuen-Buitimea.
“There is no other shot involved in this. The victim sustained a serious injury from a high-powered rifle, an AK-47 rifle with a trajectory directly from Mr. Kelly’s residence,” he said.
During the trial, jurors visited Kelly’s ranch. Investigators said they found a total of nine shell casings outside of his home that fit the pattern of shots fired in Cuen-Buitimea’s direction.
Jurors also heard testimony from Daniel Ramirez, a migrant who said he was with Cuen-Buitimea who he claimed grabbed his chest and said, “I’m hit” before dying.
Ramirez testified that they were being smuggled into the United States and were not trafficking drugs. Ramirez admitted to smuggling marijuana on one previous occasion to reduce the fee he owed smugglers to get him across the border.
Kelly was charged with aggravated assault against Ramirez.
Prosecutors also showed jurors text messages allegedly sent by Kelly, which prosecution claimed showed his state of mind in the weeks before the shooting.
“OVERUN WITH DRUG CARTEL. AK GTN A LOT OF WORK,” one text message read.
Court documents obtained by ABC News showed another text message exchange between Kelly and a friend on Nov. 23, 2022. The friend asked Kelly what his plans were for Thanksgiving.
(LOS ANGELES) — A woman was fatally stabbed on a Metro train in Los Angeles early Monday, police said, and a suspect has been detained.
The woman was attacked around 5 a.m. while on the train, “somewhere between the last stop and here at Universal City station,” Los Angeles police Detective Meghan Aguilar told reporters.
The victim got off the train at Universal City station and was taken to a hospital where she died, according to police.
The suspect also got off the train at Universal City and fled on foot, according to police.
Around 5:30 a.m., officers saw a person matching the suspect description and apprehended him, police said.
“Detectives are in the process of interviewing him,” police said in a statement. “They strongly believe he is the suspect based on witnesses and other evidence.”
A motive for the attack was not clear.
Crimes reported on Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority properties have increased by 65% since 2020 and average monthly violent crimes on MTA properties rose more than 15% between March 2023 and February 2024, according to LAPD data compiled by ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — Columbia University has been thrust into turmoil in the last week, reeling from a congressional hearing on antisemitism with President Nemat Shafik and NYPD’s arrest of more than 100 protesters in support of Palestinians on the university’s lawn.
Now, Columbia University’s classes are being held remotely due to the ongoing protests citing safety concerns and increased security on campus.
Here’s a timeline of the events as they continue to unfold:
Protests begin
On the morning of April 17, student protesters opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza have camped out throughout the Columbia University campus.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which states that it’s a coalition of more than 100 student groups, says it is calling for the university to financially divest from companies and institutions that “profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation in Palestine,” according to an online statement.
In March, the Columbia College Student Council approved a student referendum on the issue, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator.
“As a diverse group united by love and justice, we demand our voices be heard against the mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza,” the group stated.
Tensions have been high on college campuses nationwide since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel. The Israeli military then began its bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 33,000 people have been killed and more than 76,000 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.
In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to Israeli officials.
Multiple United Nations organizations have warned that Gaza is also experiencing “catastrophic” levels of hunger amid an ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Protesters camping on the university lawn say they believe the war in Gaza amounts to “genocide” of Palestinians.
“I’m here continuing the Jewish tradition of standing against oppression and injustice, especially as we approach Passover, a holiday that celebrates our own liberation and commits us to fighting for everyone else’s,” the Jewish Voices for Peace at Columbia said in an online statement.
The congressional testimony
On the same day as the protests, Columbia President Shafik testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which has been investigating antisemitism on college campuses. The hearing comes after two of Shafik’s counterparts at other elite colleges resigned amid a backlash over their responses at a previous hearing of the same panel.
In her opening statement, Shafik, who was appointed president of the Ivy League school in July 2023, told the committee that Columbia “strives to be a community free of discrimination and hate in all forms and we condemn the antisemitism that is so pervasive today.”
She said a “major challenge” has been reconciling free speech with the rights of Jewish students to go to school in an environment free of discrimination and harassment.
“Regrettably, the events of Oct. 7 brought to the fore an undercurrent of antisemitism that is a major challenge and, like many other universities, Columbia has seen a rise in antisemitic incidents,” Shafik said.
Shafik said she has taken actions since Oct. 7, including enhancing Columbia’s reporting channels, hiring staff to investigate complaints and forming an antisemitism task force.
Concerns from other student groups
Some other groups on Columbia’s campus, including Students Supporting Israel, say their needs for safety are not being met on campus.
The group described instances they say some Jewish, Israeli and Zionist students have faced, including intimidation and verbal attacks, saying the situation has become “untenable.”
“Students’ rights to peacefully attend their university courses without fear of being accosted or assaulted on their way to class were denied,” an online statement read.
An Arab-Israeli activist, Yoseph Haddad, was set to speak at the student group’s event on April 18 when he was allegedly punched by a protester just outside the campus. The event was canceled, the group said.
“It’s time we end this narrative and aim for a future where both Israelis and our Palestinian neighbors can accept each others’ fundamental right to live freely and without terrorism or war,” the group stated.
Student protesters have released a statement saying that “inflammatory individuals who do not represent us” have distracted from the group’s intentions.
“At universities across the nation, our movement is united in valuing every human life,” the statement from Columbia University Apartheid Divest continued.
The statement from Columbia University Apartheid Divest added that students have been misidentified, doxxed, arrested, locked out of campus housing and more, amid the protests.
“We have knowingly put ourselves in danger because we can no longer be complicit in Columbia funneling our tuition dollars and grant funding into companies that profit from death.”
Several university and local leaders have spoken out against instances of antisemitism amid the unrest.
“I have instructed the NYPD to investigate any violation of law that is reported,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said. “Rest assured, the NYPD will not hesitate to arrest anyone who is found to be breaking the law.”
Arrests begin at Columbia
On April 18, one day after Shafik’s testimony, more than 100 protesters at Columbia University were arrested and an on-campus tent encampment was removed after the school’s president gave the New York Police Department the green light to clear the protesters, officials said.
“Students have the right to free speech but do not have the right to violate university policies and disrupt learning on campus,” Adams told reporters during a press briefing that evening.
Around 1:30 p.m. ET, police moved in and arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters, placing their hands in zip ties and escorting them to buses. Other protesters chanted “Shame!” and “Let them go.”
Some 108 people were arrested for trespass without incident, officials said. Among those, two were also arrested for obstruction of governmental administration, officials said.
Isra Hirsi, the daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., was among those arrested for trespass and will be getting a summons, officials said. Hirsi said she was among several students suspended from Columbia’s Barnard College for participating in pro-Palestinian protests.
The terms of her suspension are unclear.
The tent encampment and protests have since resumed on campus in an ongoing, dayslong effort.
ABC News has reached out to Columbia University for comment.
Columbia cracks down
Columbia University announced Monday that all classes on Monday, April 22, would be held remotely and only essential personnel should report to work in person. She said campus tensions have been “exploited and amplified” by people unaffiliated with the university “who have come to campus to pursue their own agendas.”
“The decibel of our disagreements has only increased in recent days,” said Shafik. She said a group of administrators and faculty members will come together to come to a “resolution” on campus issues and also speak with student protesters. “We need a reset.”
A university public safety announcement on April 21 also outlined new resources to address “considerable disruption and distress” caused by ongoing gatherings at the campus, located in Manhattan’s Morningside Heights neighborhood.
The measures include increasing security patrol with 111 additional personnel — including more personnel for campus escort services and campus access point security — as well as improved ID checks at entry points and increased security at The Kraft Center, which houses aspects of Jewish life on campus, during the Passover holiday which begins on April 22.
NYPD told ABC News on Monday that there are no credible threats to any particular group or individual as a result of the protests at Columbia University.
The NYPD is working with the university to provide “safe corridors” for students — locations where officers will be stationed off-campus.
The department says it has not received any reports of physical harm toward any students.
Hochul comes to Columbia
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she met with the Columbia University president and NYPD officials early Monday morning to discuss public safety initiatives as student protests and unrest continue to play out on campus.
“Students are scared, they’re afraid to walk on campus, they don’t deserve that,” Hochul said in a video message posted to social media.
“I’m calling on everyone. People need to find their humanity, have the conversations, talk to each other, understand the different points of view. Because that’s what college students should be doing,” Hochul added.
ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson, Meredith Deliso and Ahmad Hemingway contributed to the report.
(NEW YORK) — Day 5 of Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial was also the first day of legal arguments before jurors.
Proceedings lasted little more than three hours on Monday, but both parties delivered opening statements, lifting the veil on arguments they plan to present over the coming weeks.
The former president is on trial in New York on felony charges of falsifying business records to hide the reimbursement of a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
Prosecutors on Monday framed the case as “election fraud, pure and simple” and implored jurors to exercise common sense as they digest the evidence. Defense attorneys sought to distance Trump from any alleged wrongdoing and laid the groundwork to undermine key government witnesses, including Cohen and Daniels.
Before court adjourned, prosecutors called their first witness: David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, who prosecutors allege engaged in a conspiracy with Trump and Cohen to help influence the election by killing negative stories about Trump.
Pecker is due to return to the stand Tuesday morning, after the judge in the case hears arguments about Trump’s alleged violation of a court-imposed limited gag order.
Here are Monday’s top four takeaways.
Prosecutors allege election fraud
Prosecutors presented a detailed overview of the case they plan to present to jurors, which they described as a “criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election.”
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo described what he called a three-pronged scheme to promote Trump in the tabloid media, run negative stories about his opponents, and conspire to catch and kill negative stories about Trump.
Prosecutors said the release of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, in which Trump bragged of grabbing women, had an “explosive” effect on the campaign, and called the campaign’s efforts to quell potentially damning voices — like Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal — “election fraud, pure and simple.”
Defense says ‘none of this was a crime’
Todd Blanche, the lead attorney for Donald Trump, argued that the alleged conduct described by prosecutors was nothing more than politics as usual.
“I have a spoiler alert,” Blanche told jurors during his opening statement. “There is nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy.”
“There is nothing illegal about entering into a nondisclosure agreement,” he continued. “Period.”
Blanche, over objections from prosecutors, argued repeatedly that Trump had done nothing wrong. He argued that, while the Trump Organization was paying Michael Cohen for his services, Trump was busy “in the White House while he was running the country.”
Cohen’s credibility is addressed
One major theme emerged in both parties’ opening statements: the reliability of Michael Cohen.
How the jury perceives Cohen’s testimony could dictate the outcome of this trial — a reality that was reflected Monday in opening statements from both prosecutors and defense counsel.
“During this trial you’re going to hear a lot about Michael Cohen,” Colangelo said, in what was perhaps the biggest understatement of the day.
Prosecutors acknowledged that Cohen comes with “baggage” that includes lying under oath. But they encouraged jurors to put Cohen’s allegations in the context of other evidence and testimony they will hear.
Blanche argued that the jury cannot convict Trump “by relying on the words of Michael Cohen.”
“He has a goal, an obsession, with getting Trump. I submit to you he cannot be trusted,” Blanche said.
Pecker testifies about ‘checkbook journalism’
A smiling David Pecker took the stand as the government’s first witness, to testify about his role in the alleged hush payment scheme supposedly orchestrated at Trump’s behest.
Pecker, a longtime tabloid editor whom Trump has called a “close friend,” described the editorial process at the National Enquirer as “checkbook journalism.”
“I had the final say of the celebrity side of the magazine,” Pecker said. “We used checkbook journalism. We paid for stories.”
Pecker, who is testifying under subpoena and secured a non-prosecution agreement, will return to the stand on Tuesday.
Center for Islamic Life at Rutgers University (CILRU)
(NEW YORK) — Federal prosecutors charged a man with hate crimes Monday for allegedly breaking into and vandalizing the Center for Islamic Life at Rutgers University during Eid al-Fitr two weeks ago.
Jacob Beacher, 24, was arrested after investigators said they determined he broke into the center on the New Brunswick, New Jersey, campus on April 10 and vandalized several items, including Turbah prayer stones and art pieces with Quranic verses.
Beacher, who is not affiliated with the university, also allegedly stole a charity box and a Palestinian flag from the center, according to investigators.
The charity box was found four days later in a park near the campus, the criminal complaint said.
Some Muslim members of the campus told New York ABC station WABC they were in shock and horror over the vandalism.
“It’s so disheartening and scary because it just solidifies the fact that we aren’t safe here,” Nehad Ali told WABC a day after the incident.
The FBI used surveillance footage and cellphone data to determine Beacher was a suspect, according to the criminal complaint.
When investigators interviewed Beacher on April 12, he admitted to being in the area of the center during the incident but denied breaking into it, the complaint alleged.
Beacher was awaiting arraignment in Newark federal court on one count of intentional or attempted obstruction of religious practice and one count of making false statements to federal authorities, according to federal prosecutors.
State charges against Beacher are also pending, according to investigators. Attorney information for the suspect wasn’t immediately available.
The center received donations to help replace the damaged items, according to its administrators.
“We are humbled by the amazing and generous outpouring from the Rutgers community and the community at large,” the center said in a statement released on its Facebook page Monday.
The center’s administrators thanked law enforcement for their work and warned of a rise in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian bigotry.
“This incident did not occur in a vacuum. We condemn those that are stoking lies and hate on our campus and those who are engaging in doublespeak that have led to this violence, other acts of hate and bigotry on our campus and in particular against our students,” the center said in its statement.
(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:
Apr 22, 5:55 AM Attorneys to present opening statements in historic trial
After a week-long selection process, the jurors in Donald Trump’s New York hush money case will hear opening statements Monday in the first criminal trial of a former United States president.
To prove their case, lawyers for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg need to convince 12 jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump repeatedly falsified records related to unlawfully influencing the 2016 presidential election.
“This case has nothing to do with your personal politics or your feelings about a particular political issue,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told potential jurors on Thursday. “It’s not a referendum on the Trump Presidency, a popularity contest, or any indication of who you plan to vote for this fall. This case is about whether this man broke the law.”
Trump’s lawyers are expected to focus their efforts on going after the credibility of prosecution witnesses, suggesting the case itself is politically motivated and arguing the former president never intended to commit a crime.
(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:
Apr 22, 5:55 AM Attorneys to present opening statements in historic trial
After a week-long selection process, the jurors in Donald Trump’s New York hush money case will hear opening statements Monday in the first criminal trial of a former United States president.
To prove their case, lawyers for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg need to convince 12 jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump repeatedly falsified records related to unlawfully influencing the 2016 presidential election.
“This case has nothing to do with your personal politics or your feelings about a particular political issue,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told potential jurors on Thursday. “It’s not a referendum on the Trump Presidency, a popularity contest, or any indication of who you plan to vote for this fall. This case is about whether this man broke the law.”
Trump’s lawyers are expected to focus their efforts on going after the credibility of prosecution witnesses, suggesting the case itself is politically motivated and arguing the former president never intended to commit a crime.
Former President Donald Trump sits at the defendant’s table during his criminal trial as jury selection continues at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 19, 2024 in New York City. (Sarah Yenesel-Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — After a week-long selection process, the jurors in Donald Trump’s New York hush money case will hear opening statements Monday in the first criminal trial of a former United States president.
To prove their case, lawyers for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg need to convince 12 jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump repeatedly falsified records related to unlawfully influencing the 2016 presidential election.
“This case has nothing to do with your personal politics or your feelings about a particular political issue,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told potential jurors on Thursday. “It’s not a referendum on the Trump Presidency, a popularity contest, or any indication of who you plan to vote for this fall. This case is about whether this man broke the law.”
Trump’s lawyers are expected to focus their efforts on going after the credibility of prosecution witnesses, suggesting the case itself is politically motivated and arguing the former president never intended to commit a crime.
The trial has thrust alleged illegality into the center of the 2024 presidential campaign, as Trump spends his days in a Manhattan courtroom to fight off one of the four criminal cases against him. The opening statements come the same week as Trump’s lawyers head to the Supreme Court to try to advance Trump’s claim of presidential immunity in his federal election interference case.
“This is a giant witch hunt to try and hurt a campaign that’s beating the worst president in history,” Trump said on Friday.
Eighteen jurors have been sworn in to hear the case, and prosecutors plan to present at least 15 days of testimony to prove their case.
What is the prosecution’s theory of the case?
The indictment against the former president focuses on 34 business records — 12 ledger entries, 11 checks, and 11 invoices — that Trump allegedly falsified in order to disguise payments to his former lawyer Michael Cohen. According to prosecutors, Trump had labeled the payments as legal expenses, but the payments were actually used in part to repay Cohen for a $130,000 payment to buy the silence of adult film actress Stormy Daniels regarding a long-denied affair with Trump.
Prosecutors allege that the payment was just one example of a broader scheme by Trump to hide information from voters ahead of the 2016 election.
According to prosecutors, the scheme began in August 2015, when Trump and Cohen met with the publisher of the National Enquirer, who agreed to act as the “eyes and ears” of the campaign to identify and kill negative stories.
Months later, the company behind the National Enquirer made a $30,000 payment to a doorman who was shopping around a false story that Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock, according to prosecutors. In June 2016 — one month before Trump became the Republican Party nominee — American Media Inc. made a $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who alleged to have had a lengthy affair with Trump, which he denies.
“That is a scheme to buy and suppress negative information to help Mr. Trump’s chances of winning the election,” Bragg said about the case at a press conference announcing the indictment in 2023.
Prosecutors say the payment to Daniels came as the Trump campaign was struggling with the aftermath of the release of the Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump can be heard bragging about grabbing women.
“Indeed, the evidence will demonstrate that the release of the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape caused a panic within the campaign about [the] defendant’s electoral prospects and ultimately served as the catalyst for consummating the Stormy Daniels payoff,” prosecutors wrote in a filing last month.
Prosecutors also plan to introduce evidence to demonstrate Trump’s “consciousness of guilt,” including an effort to allegedly intimidate witnesses like Cohen from cooperating with investigators.
“The defendant was attempting to intimidate the likely witnesses against him, but the jury doesn’t even have to work that hard because the defendant himself has publicly embraced the overt strategy of going after his perceived enemies,” Steinglass said Monday.
What is Trump’s defense?
Trump’s lawyers have suggested that one of their main defenses will be highlighting that the former president never intended to commit a crime, including the fact that he relied on lawyers to orchestrate the alleged payments.
“I was paying a lawyer and I marked it down as a legal expense, some accountant,” Trump said last week. “Legal expense — that’s what you’re supposed to call it.”
Trump’s lawyers are also expected to hammer the credibility of the state’s witnesses, including Cohen, who previously pleaded guilty to federal charges associated with the alleged scheme, as well as other charges including lying to Congress in what Cohen says was an effort to protect Trump.
“We are going to be very up-front about the fact that several of the witnesses in this case have what you might consider to be some baggage,” Steinglass told potential jurors last week.
Some of the witnesses, according to prosecutors, have made inconsistent statements about the alleged conduct, have received immunity for their testimony, or have made media appearances to discuss their conduct.
Trump has also suggested on three separate occasions that he intends to testify during the trial in his own defense.
If Trump takes the stand, prosecutors hope to question the former president about a dozen past court findings in an effort to damage his credibility.
Who are the jurors?
After a lengthy jury selection process last week, Judge Juan Merchan swore in 12 jurors and six alternatives to hear the case.
The jury is composed of seven men and five women, the majority of whom have college degrees. They work a variety of jobs, including investment banking, teaching, physical therapy, and corporate law.
If any of the jurors need to be dismissed during the trial, they would be replaced by one of the six alternate jurors, including a woman who works in creative operations for a clothing company, a contract specialist, an audio professional, and an asset manager.
Who are the first witnesses?
Prosecutors have mentioned a long list of potential witnesses — including Cohen, Daniels, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks, and others — but have not yet disclosed their first witness, who could take the stand as early as Monday.
Last week, prosecutors expressed concerns that Trump might attack the initial witness on social media if he learned who they are. Merchan declined to order prosecutors to disclose their identity, calling their concerns about Trump “understandable.”
Steinglass ultimately offered a compromise, promising to tell the defense team the name of the first witness on Sunday under one condition.
“If that should be tweeted, that will be the last time we extend that courtesy,” Steinglass said.
Former President Donald Trump speaks to guests at a rally, April 2, 2024, in Green Bay, Wis. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for Donald Trump are expected back in court on Monday to defend the $175 million bond in the former president’s civil fraud case, days after New York Attorney General Letitia James urged the court to reject the bond and give Trump seven days to find a new one.
Judge Arthur Engoron ordered the hearing earlier this month after James took exception to the bond and asked the company behind the bond — Knight Specialty Insurance Company — to prove they are sufficiently collateralized to pay the bond if Trump’s appeal of the $464 million judgment fails.
The bond hearing presents a legal double-header for the former president, who is required to attend the opening statements in his criminal hush money trial on Monday morning. Down the street from the criminal courthouse, Judge Engoron will hear arguments that could place the former president in financial dire straits if the bond is rejected.
Trump’s bond saga began in February when Engoron ordered the former president and his co-defendants to pay $464 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest for engaging in what he found to be a decade of business fraud. Trump attempted to delay the fine, telling an appellate court that finding a surety willing to handle a half-billion-dollar bond was a “practical impossibility.”
James vowed to begin seizing Trump’s assets, including his namesake buildings, if he did not pay the judgment in time.
“If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” James said in an interview with ABC News.
At the deadline for Trump to pay the judgment, New York’s Appellate Division First Department granted the former president’s 11th-hour request to reduce the size of his bond, permitting the him to post a bond of $175 million.
Days later, Trump and his co-defendants posted a $175 million bond collateralized using $175,304,075 held in a Charles Schwab brokerage account controlled by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust.
Because the company behind the bond was not admitted in New York, James filed a notice that requires Knight Speciality Insurance to demonstrate they are capable of paying the bond if needed.
“KSIC is a respected, well-capitalized, Delaware-domiciled insurer that has long underwritten surety bonds and other types of insurance placed around the country,” attorneys for Knight Speciality Insurance and Trump wrote in a filing last week.
The filing specified that the bond was secured by more than $175 billion held in a brokerage account controlled by Knight, which independently maintained more than $539 million in their own assets. The filing also stated that the company has access to more than $2 billion in assets through their parent company.
“By any standard, KSIC has therefore provided assurance to the Plaintiff judgment creditor that she can collect the designated amount if the award is affirmed on appeal,” the filing said.
In a filing on Friday, the New York Attorney General argued that the bond itself should be rejected because the defendants failed to prove that Knight could handle “this extraordinarily large undertaking” and that the bond was sufficiently collateralized.
According to James’ filing, Knight does not have the exclusive right to control the money in Trump’s brokerage account, which could become problematic if the value of Trump’s assets in the account dips below $175 million. James also raised issues with Knight’s business practices, which she argued should make the company ineligible to do business in New York.
“KSIC is not qualified to act as the surety under this standard because its management has been found by federal authorities to have operated affiliated companies within KSIC’s holding company structure in violation of federal law on multiple occasions within the past several years,” the filing said.
Don Hankey — the chairman of Knight Specialty’s parent company — declined to comment on the attorney general’s recent filing on Friday.
In an interview with ABC News on April 4, he said he had “no concerns at all” about the bond.
“Seldom do our applications or our bonds get turned down. I imagine it is being scrutinized very carefully, and they’re checking to make sure all the i’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed,” Hankey said. “It’s a large amount for anybody.”
(LOS ANGELES) — A suspected intruder was arrested early Sunday morning after a break-in at the home of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, according to police.
“Around 6:40 AM this morning an individual smashed a window to gain entry into the Getty House while occupied,” the LAPD PIO said in a statement on X.
Bass and her family reside at the Getty House in the Hancock Park neighborhood in Los Angeles.
The mayor’s office tells ABC News Bass was one of the occupants who was at home when the intruder broke in, but did not specify if she had an interaction with the suspect.
“There were no injuries to the occupants during this incident,” LAPD wrote, adding, “The suspect was taken into custody without incident.”
Authorities said late Sunday night that the suspect, who was identified as Ephraim Matthew Hunter, 29, was booked on a felony burglary charge. His bail was set at $100,000.
It was not immediately clear if Hunter had a legal representative.
Police said the investigation is ongoing.
Following the break-in, Bass’ Deputy Mayor of Communications Zach Seidl released a statement, saying, “The Mayor is grateful to LAPD for responding and arresting the suspect.”
