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(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York has ordered a vast unsealing of court documents in early 2024 that will make public the names of scores of Jeffrey Epstein’s associates.

The documents are part of a settled civil lawsuit alleging Epstein’s one-time paramour Ghislaine Maxwell facilitated the sexual abuse of Virginia Giuffre. Terms of the 2017 settlement were not disclosed.

Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after she was convicted of sex trafficking and procuring girls for Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

Anyone who did not successfully fight to keep their name out of the civil case could see their name become public — including Epstein’s victims, co-conspirators and innocent associates.

Judge Loretta Preska set the release for Jan. 1, giving anyone who objects to their documents becoming public time to object. Her ruling, though, said that since some of the individuals have given media interviews their names should not stay private.

The documents may not make clear why a certain individual became associated with Giuffre’s lawsuit, but more than 150 people are expected to be identified in hundreds of files that may expose more about Epstein’s sex trafficking of women and girls in New York, New Mexico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and elsewhere. Some of the names may simply have been included in depositions, email or legal documents.

Some of the people have already been publicly associated with Epstein. For instance, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz is publicly named in the judge’s order. Certain minor victims will remain redacted.

Maxwell, a longtime associate of Epstein, was convicted in 2021 of conspiring with Epstein to recruit, groom and abuse minors. In February, she asked the court to overturn her conviction and 20-year prison sentence.

Prosecutors subsequently urged a federal appeals court in June to uphold the conviction.

From 1994 to 2004, Maxwell and Epstein worked together to identify girls, groom them and then entice them to travel and transport them to Epstein’s properties in New York, Florida, New Mexico, and elsewhere, prosecutors said. The girls — some of whom were as young as 14 years old — were then sexually abused, often under the guise of a “massage,” they said.

Giuffre alleged in her lawsuit against Maxwell that Maxwell recruited her at the age of 16 to years of sexual servitude to Epstein. She also accused Maxwell and Epstein of directing her, between 2000 to 2002, to have sex with a number of their prominent associates, most famously Britain’s Prince Andrew. The lawsuit was settled in May 2017, just before a trial was to begin.

Prince Andrew had repeatedly denied the allegations and attacked Giuffre’s credibility and motives. He agreed to settle a sexual assault lawsuit from Giuffre last year for an undisclosed sum.

“Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks,” according to a letter filed from Giuffre’s lawyer. “It is known that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked countless young girls over many years. Prince Andrew regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others.”

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(NEW YORK) — Maine police are searching for two people who went missing after their car was swept away in floodwaters during the powerful storm that pummeled the Northeast on Monday.

The incident unfolded just before 5 p.m. Monday on Route 2 in Mexico, which is about 75 miles north of Portland, the Maine State Police said.

Four people were in the car when it was swept into the Swift River’s rising floodwaters, police said.

Three people escaped from the car, and two of them were rescued, police said. The third person who escaped the car, as well as the fourth person who remained in the car, are missing, police said.

The two rescued people were hospitalized to be treated for hypothermia, police said. Their conditions were not immediately clear..

Police said multiple roads in Mexico remain closed and some residential areas are completely closed off. Police said boats have been deployed to help trapped residents.

Police urged the public “to respect road closures and to avoid entering into flooded roadways.”

At least three people died during the massive storm that hammered the Northeast with rain and wind on Monday.

In upstate Greene County, New York, a driver died after their car was swept away in floodwaters, according to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.

In Windham, Maine, a man was struck and killed by a tree while he was on his roof trying to remove debris, Windham police said.

In Plymouth County, Massachusetts, an 89-year-old man was killed by a fallen tree that trapped him in a trailer, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office.

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(NEW YORK) — Indianola Police Sgt. Greg Capers is speaking out in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Good Morning America after a grand jury cleared him in the shooting of an unarmed 11-year-old boy inside his home.

Capers spoke out in an exclusive interview with co-anchor DeMarco Morgan that will air on Good Morning America and “ABC News Live,” with the full interview airing Tuesday on GMA3.

“People have their own opinion, and unless they’re in our shoes, you never know exactly what you may run into or encounter on a day’s time, within your 12-hour schedules,” Capers said when asked what he thinks about people who believe he acted poorly.

He continued, “You just never know what you may run into. Spur of the moment, it’s a split decision that has to be made.”

When asked if he has thought about the little boy since that day, Capers responded: “All the time. All the time.”

Michael Carr, an attorney with the Police Benevolent Association representing Capers, told ABC News that his client is “truly sorry” for what happened and has called the incident unfortunate. Carr said Capers remains under administrative nonpaid leave, although he said the mayor of Indianola will consider re-instating Capers to the police force.

Capers shot Aderrien Murry in the chest on May 20 while responding to a domestic dispute. Aderrien has said he had called 911 when his mother’s ex-boyfriend showed up at their home. Aderrien’s mother, Nakala Murry, said she asked Aderrien to call the police.

Aderrien’s family alleged that Capers arrived at the home with his firearm drawn and that he fired at Aderrien without warning as the boy emerged from the room after he and his family members were ordered to leave their house.

“I came out of the room like this,” Aderrien said with his hands above his head as he reflected on the incident in a May interview on GMA3.

Aderrien’s family filed both a federal civil lawsuit and a criminal complaint against the officer following the incident. The complaint alleges that Aderrien was hospitalized for five days with a collapsed lung, lacerated liver and fractured ribs from the gunshot wound in his chest.

On Dec. 14, a Sunflower County grand jury found that Capers did not engage in criminal conduct in the shooting following an investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, according to the state Office of the Attorney General.

“The shooting was not intentional, it was not reckless, and [Capers] wishes none of this happened. It was a pure accident,” Carr separately told Good Morning America in a June interview.

After the grand jury declined to indict Capers, Aderrien’s attorney said the family “is determined to seek accountability and justice through both state and federal court civil suits.”

“While the grand jury has spoken, we firmly believe that there are unanswered questions and that the shooting of Aderrien Murry was not justified,” said attorney Carlos E. Moore. “We are committed to seeking justice for Aderrien and his family, and we will persist in our efforts to ensure accountability through the civil legal process.”

ABC News has requested the body camera footage, which is currently under judicial seal.

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(NEW YORK) — More than 600,000 customers were without power in seven Northeastern states on Tuesday morning as a powerful storm drenched the region.

The majority of the outages were in Maine, where about 429,000 customers were without power, followed by Massachusetts, where about 133,000 had lost power, according to poweroutage.us. Thousands of others in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York were without power, according to the site.

Residents across the region faced dangerous conditions on the roads due to heavy rain, flooding and strong winds. Up to 6 inches of rain was recorded in some areas.

At least three people died on Monday from the storm.

In Plymouth County, Massachusetts, an 89-year-old man was killed by a fallen tree that trapped him in a trailer, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office.

In Windham, Maine, a man was struck and killed by a tree while he was on his roof trying to remove debris, Windham police said.

In upstate Greene County, New York, a driver died after their car was swept away in floodwaters, according to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.

A flood advisory was issued in New York City, where residents faced power outages, downed trees and flooded roads on Monday.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams issued a travel advisory, urging New Yorkers to stay off the roads and take mass transit.

High wind alerts were also issued from North Carolina to Maine.

Over 500 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were canceled Monday. New York City’s LaGuardia Airport and Boston Logan International Airport were the hardest hit.

In Essex County, New York, where a state of emergency was declared due to road flooding, several schools closed early. In Worcester County, Massachusetts, dangerous roads and a loss of power has prompted classes to be canceled for the Blackstone-Millville Regional School District.

By Monday afternoon, the rain stopped in New York City but was ongoing in New England.

On Monday evening, the biggest threat will be strong winds along the coast. Dangerous, hurricane-force winds are possible in northern Maine.

The storm brought rain to Florida and record-breaking flooding to South Carolina over the weekend.

More than 16 inches of rain fell between Charleston and Georgetown, South Carolina, flooding neighborhoods and stalling cars. A few areas received about 6 inches of rain in six hours.

Charleston measured its highest “non-tropical” tide on record.

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(NEW YORK) — President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden will be arraigned on nine federal tax charges on Jan. 11, according to the Central District of California court website.

He will appear before Magistrate Judge Alka Sagar at the Edward R. Roybal courthouse in Los Angeles.

Special counsel David Weiss earlier this month filed nine tax-related charges against Hunter Biden, accusing him of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2020.

The indictment alleges that the younger Biden earned millions of dollars from foreign entities and “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle at the same time he chose not to pay his taxes.”

Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, claimed the 56-page indictment includes “no new evidence” and said, “Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought.”

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(MOSCOW, Idaho) — The judge overseeing the capital murder trial of Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four Idaho college students last fall, has denied both of his lawyers’ attempts to toss out the charges against him.

In new court documents filed Friday, and posted to the docket Monday, Judge John C. Judge said while some of the defense’s arguments were creative, they don’t pass muster.

In one of their two attempts to dismiss the indictment, Kohberger’s lawyers had argued that prosecutors withheld evidence that might aid Kohberger in defending himself, and biased the grand jury. The parties had a closed hearing about the issue in October.

Now offering his opinion, the judge said the defense “failed to successfully challenge the indictment” on those grounds.

“Kohberger was indicted by an impartial grand jury who had sufficient admissible evidence to find probable cause to believe Kohberger committed the crimes alleged by the State,” Judge said. “Further, the State did not engage in prosecutorial misconduct in presenting their case to the jury.”

In the other of their two attempts to dismiss the indictment, Kohberger’s lawyers argued that the grand jury was given inaccurate instructions — that they used the wrong standard of proof.

The defense claimed with a lengthy excavation of previous cases that the standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt” should have been used, rather than the lower threshold of “probable cause.”

At a public hearing on this issue in October, the judge had already signaled that he would deny this particular request, with a written opinion to follow.

Now released, the judge said there is “no dispute” that the correct standard was used here: probable cause.

“The grand jury is not a trial jury. Its function is to screen whether or not there is sufficient evidence to proceed to trial,” Judge wrote.

“The arguments from the defense for a ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ standard for the grand jury were historically interesting and creative,” Judge said, but those arguments “do not overturn” Idaho courts’ interpretation of the statute, case law and criminal rules.

Prosecutors allege that in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University, broke into an off-campus home and stabbed four University of Idaho students to death: Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21.

After a six-week hunt, police zeroed in on Kohberger as the suspect, arresting him at the end of last December at his family’s home in Pennsylvania. He was indicted in May and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. At his arraignment, he declined to offer a plea, so the judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

Kohberger could face the death penalty, if convicted.

His lawyers have said their client wasn’t in the home where the homicides occurred and was driving around alone that night.

In August, Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial, indefinitely delaying what was supposed to be an Oct. 2 start date.

A new trial date has not been set.

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(ATLANTA) — A federal appeals court in Georgia has rejected a bid by former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to remove his Fulton County election interference case into federal court, affirming a lower court’s decision that left it in state court.

In its opinion, the appeals court found that “the events giving rise to this criminal action were not related to Meadows’s official duties.”

The decision said that “even if Meadows were an ‘officer,’ his participation in an alleged conspiracy to overturn a presidential election was not related to his official duties.”

Meadows was seeking to remove the case based on a law that calls for the removal of criminal proceedings when someone is charged for actions they allegedly took as a federal official acting “under color” of their office.

In this opinion, the court also found that the statute does not apply to former federal officers.

Meadows, along with former President Donald Trump and 17 others, pleaded not guilty in August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.

Defendants Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jena Ellis and Scott Hall subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.

The former president has dismissed the case as being politically motivated.

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump, in a new court filing Monday, again urged a Georgia judge to dismiss his Fulton County election interference charges on First Amendment grounds, arguing that the indictment against him is “categorically invalid” because it seeks to criminalize “core political speech.”

“President Trump enjoys the same robust First Amendment rights as every other American,” said the new filing from Trump attorneys Steve Sadow and Jennifer Little. “The indictment here does not merely criminalize conduct with an incidental impact on protected speech; instead, it directly targets core protected political speech and activity.”

The new filing supports the arguments Trump’s attorneys previously made in court during a hearing earlier this month, in which they said the indictment “violates free speech.”

“The indictment needs to be dismissed,” Sadow told the court during the Dec. 1 hearing.

In Friday’s filing, Trump’s attorneys argue that the First Amendment “not only embraces but encourages” the type of actions Trump undertook in Georgia — including urging Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in his infamous phone call to “find” enough votes for Trump to overcome his loss in the state.

“Because the claim the 2020 election was rigged and stolen is protected by First Amendment when it is made in a public speech, it is equally protected by the First Amendment when it is made to government officials in an act of petitioning or advocacy,” the filing states.

Trump’s attorney also argue in the filing that the Fulton County indictment only charges Trump for speech and advocacy actions — all of which, they claim, is protected under the First Amendment.

“The Fulton County prosecutors have not identified any non-speech or non- advocacy conduct in the allegations against President Trump,” it said. “Every charge and overt act alleged against President Trump rests on core acts of political speech and advocacy that lie at the heart of the First Amendment.”

The speech is still protected, the attorneys argue, even if Trump’s statements were false.

“Under the First Amendment, the Government may not prohibit or criminalize speech on disputed social, political, and historical issues simply because the Government determines that some views are ‘true’ and others are ‘false,'” the filing said. “The fact that the prosecution alleges the speech was ‘false’ does not change that conclusion, particularly within the political context.”

Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty in August to all charges in the Fulton County district attorney’s sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Four co-defendants have subsequently taken plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.

The former president has dismissed the district attorney’s investigation as being politically motivated.

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(NEW YORK) — Holiday lights and the season of cheer may mask the fact that the darkest day of the year is fast approaching on Dec. 21.

As the Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice approaches, here is everything you need to know about the shortest day of the year for the more than 6 billion people living north of the equator.

Thursday, Dec. 21, will mark this year’s winter solstice for the Northern Hemisphere, bringing the shortest day and longest night of the year. Solstices occur twice a year when “the sun’s path appears farthest north or south, depending on which half of the planet you’re on,”according to NASA.

Because the Earth rotates on a tilt, the winter solstice occurs when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted the furthest away from the sun, which will occur at at 10:27 p.m. ET. The reciprocal event occurs at the same time for the Earth’s Southern Hemisphere, which experiences the most amount of direct sunlight.

Is Dec. 21 the shortest day of the year?

The lack of direct sunlight on Dec. 21 makes it the shortest day of the year for those in the United States. “All locations north of the equator see daylight shorter than 12 hours and all locations south see daylight longer than 12 hours,” according to NASA.

Why is the winter solstice known as the first day of winter?

The two solstices are considered to be the start of the astronomical winter and summer seasons.

According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, the astronomical seasons are marked by solstices and equinoxes, the points at which the sun aligns over the equator. Separate from astronomical seasons, meteorological seasons split the year into three-month groups based on temperature cycles and “are more closely tied to our monthly civil calendar than the astronomical seasons are.”

What happens after the winter solstice?

On the bright side, each day after the solstice in the Northern Hemisphere will get more daylight, until the summer solstice on June 20, 2024.

How have humans recognized the winter solstice?

Ancient civilizations have recognized the significance of solstices for thousands of years. Structures like Stonehenge and the Torreon in Machu Picchu, Peru, were designed to follow the sun’s path relative to the Earth, according to NASA.

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(NEW YORK) — Ruby Franke, the popular YouTube celebrity, pleaded guilty Monday to four of six charges against her in connection with a child abuse case that has garnered national attention.

Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse, all felonies, at the Washington County 5th District Court in Utah. The other two charges were dismissed, according to the Washington County Attorney’s Office.

“With my deepest regret and sorrow for my family and my children, guilty,” Franke responded on the final count.

Franke’s business partner and mental health counselor Jodi Hildebrant also faces six counts of aggravated child abuse. Both women were arrested Aug. 30 after Franke’s 12-year-old son, who had been staying at Hildebrandt’s house, climbed out of a window, ran to a neighbor’s home and told the neighbor that he had been abused.

Hildebrant has not yet entered a plea to the charges.

Franke is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 20, and will remain in jail until that date. She has agreed to serve a prison term, the Washington County Attorney’s Office said. She faces 1 to 15 years in jail, prosecutors said.

Franke also agreed to testify against Hildebrant, prosecutors said.

The Santa Clara-Ivins police in Utah said in a statement that the child “appeared to be emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around the extremities.” Upon searching the home, police said they found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter in the same condition. All of Franke’s four minor children were placed into state care, according to police.

Search warrants obtained by ABC News allege Hildebrandt used cayenne pepper and honey to dress the children’s wounds.

Both women have remained in custody since their arrest.

In a statement Saturday announcing Franke would plead guilty, her attorney, LaMar Winward, described Franke as a devoted mother committed to constant improvement. He said his client was a victim of “manipulation.”

“Initially, Ms. Franke believed that Jodi Hildebrant had the insight to offer a path to continual improvement. Ms. Hildebrant took advantage of this quest and twisted it into something heinous. Over an extended period, Ms. Hildebrant systematically isolated Ruby Franke from her extended family, older children, and her husband, Kevin Franke. This prolonged isolation resulted in Ms. Franke being subjected to a distorted sense of morality.”

Ruby Franke’s attorneys say that since her incarceration, she has been “actively engaged in an introspection that has allowed her to reset her moral compass and understand the full weight of her actions.” She is “committed to taking responsibility for the part she played” in the events that led to her arrest, and she is already communicating with family members “to mend relationships and contribute positively to the healing journey of her family,” according to the statement from her attorneys.

Franke and Hildebrandt were business partners in ConneXions, an organization that promises to “encourage healing and facilitate personal growth through impeccable honesty, rigorous personal responsibility and vulnerable humility,” according to its website. Hildebrandt is listed as the founder while Franke is listed as “a certified mental fitness trainer.” Franke also operated “8 Passengers,” a now defunct YouTube channel that offered parenting advice.

Attorneys for Hildebrandt and Kevin Franke did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.

Kevin Franke filed a petition for divorce last month. In an interview with “Good Morning America” in September, an attorney for the husband said he had been separated from his wife for over a year and had no knowledge of the alleged abuse.

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