(AKRON, Ohio) — The Akron Police Department has finished an internal investigation into the fatal police killing of Jayland Walker, following a car and foot chase by police on June 27, 2022.
Akron Chief of Police Stephen Mylett said the findings showed that “the use of deadly force was in compliance with the policies of the City of Akron Police Department” and officers did not violate department protocol in the fatal chase.
Walker’s death sparked protests and outrage from civil rights leaders nationwide.
Walker family attorney Bobby DiCello criticized the findings, calling for justice in his death.
“Everyone should be encouraged to read what the Chief of Police wrote. He said Jayland’s shooting ‘was in compliance with the policies of the Akron Police Department,'” said DiCello. “That says it all. While not unexpected, it is exactly this position that makes it critical for us to continue the lawsuit on behalf of Jayland Walker’s family. In fact, it is exactly because of this position, that we look forward to moving this case further through our justice system.”
Walker was killed after officers attempted to pull him over for a traffic violation and an equipment violation with his car. Walker refused to stop, according to officials, which set off a car chase, in which Walker allegedly fired a shot from his vehicle.
After later exiting his vehicle and running away on foot, Walker was fatally shot by eight officers. Walker had 46 gunshot wounds in his body, according to an autopsy report. Officials say the officers fired a total of 94 shots at Walker and that he was unarmed during the shooting. Following the shooting, a gun was recovered inside his car.
In Mylett’s executive summary of the report findings, he explained several potential policy violations presented in the investigation that have been deemed unintentionally violated or within department procedures.
“Once Mr. Walker discharged his weapon from his vehicle at or in the direction or in the presence of the pursuing officers, the dynamic of the routine traffic stop dramatically changed from a routine traffic stop to a significant public safety and officer safety issue,” Mylett said.
“When questioned about this, the officer stated that he was told by other members of the police department that it was permissible to add an extension to the magazine in his department issued weapon. He fired rounds that did not include training ammunition,” he said.
Another concern was that an officer was discovered to have added an extension to his department issue magazine, increasing its capacity up to six additional rounds, according to Mylett. He said the officer also inadvertently had two rounds of “training” ammunition in his magazine. However, the officer told investigators he did not knowingly violate department policies concerning such matters. The agency responded by acknowledging that it lacked clear language on the matter and adjusted accordingly.
“The officer stated he would not knowingly violate agency policies. A review of agency policies and procedures regarding this issue uncovered an absence of clear language addressing the topic. I find that the officer did not intentionally violate any policy or procedure when he added an extension to his department issued magazine. In response to this discovery, the agency conducted a policy review and adjusted policies where needed,” Mylett said.
One concern was raised about two patrol cruisers that pursued Walker without authorization from a supervisor — as well as the failure from two of officers in one of those cruisers in turning on their body cameras in accordance with APD policy, Mylett said.
“Given the totality of the circumstances at the time of the pursuit, to include the significant officer and public safety issues present and the dynamics of the situation, and based on the accounts of the officers involved, I find that no officer intentionally violated agency policies when they entered the vehicle pursuit nor did any officer intentionally fail to activate their body worn cameras,” Mylett said.
Another concern pointed to an officer’s use of a patrol vehicle’s push bumpers to close the driver’s door of Walker’s vehicle amid the car chase. Walker appeared to be trying to exit his vehicle at the time, according to the investigation.
“Based on the totality of the circumstances, and the information known to the officer at the time of his decision to use his patrol car in such a manner, I find his actions to be reasonable given the situation,” Mylett said.
The use of Tasers also came under scrutiny by the department. Two officers deployed their Tasers against Walker to detain him during the foot pursuit though the effort was unsuccessful. The use was found to be within the policies and procedures of the department, according to Mylett.
“While certainly tragic, after having reviewed the BCI investigation and Lt. Lieke’s investigation, and the City’s policy, similar to the Special Grand Jury, I find that the use of deadly force was objectively reasonable and the officers complied with the use of force policy,” Mylett said.
Walker’s family has continued to call for justice since his death and slammed what they say is a lack of accountability against the officers who shot him.
A Special Grand Jury decided not to file criminal charges against the eight officers involved in June 2023.
The Walker family has since filed a lawsuit against the city of Akron and its police department in Walker’s death.
“A year has passed since Jayland Walker was violently ripped away from his family, and still they have not been able to achieve justice and accountability,” said DiCello, in the June announcement of the lawsuit.
He continued, “The City of Akron and its police department have been given every opportunity to participate in a fair process to address what went wrong last June 27. At every turn, they protect their officers from accountability. Now, we must engage the judicial process to accomplish what the city was unwilling to do—hold these officers accountable for their actions. We will use the judicial system to ensure that Jayland Walker and his family get the justice they deserve.”
The Akron Police Department declined to comment on pending litigation. The City of Akron and the mayor’s office declined ABC News’ request for comment following the lawsuit’s filing.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York in a $250 million civil lawsuit that could alter the personal fortune and real estate empire that helped propel Trump to the White House.
Trump, his sons Eric Trump and and Donald Trump Jr., and other top Trump Organization executives are accused by New York Attorney General Letitia James of engaging in a decade-long scheme in which they used “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” to inflate Trump’s net worth in order get more favorable loan terms. The trial comes after the judge in the case ruled in a partial summary judgment that Trump had submitted “fraudulent valuations” for his assets, leaving the trial to determine additional actions and what penalty, if any, the defendants should receive.
The former president has denied all wrongdoing and his attorneys have argued that Trump’s alleged inflated valuations were a product of his business skill.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 28, 6:34 PM EST
Judge appears dubious of defense’s latest argument
Court was adjourned for the day following an afternoon in which Judge Engoron appeared to shoot down one of the defense’s main remaining arguments following defense attorneys’ request for a directed verdict.
Defense lawyer Chris Kise argued that the state failed to prove that Trump’s lenders would have acted differently had they known about the fraud alleged by the New York attorney general — but Engoron said “the mere fact that the lenders were happy doesn’t mean the statute wasn’t violated.”
Earlier this month, during testimony from the defense’s first expert witness Steven Witkoff, Trump’s lawyers attempted to argue that Trump had undervalued some of his properties, which balanced out the alleged inflated properties in his statement of financial condition. Engoron, however, declined to allow testimony related to that argument, saying, “The reader of the financial statement has the right to know whether each particular number was accurate.”
That same day, Trump’s lawyers also presented testimony from expert witness Jason Flemmons that Trump disclosed that the values of nearly 95% of the assets in his financial statements departed from generally accepted accounting practices.
But Engoron said Flemmons only addressed the methods used in the statements, rather than the numbers themselves, which could have been incorrect.
Defense attorneys are scheduled to call additional witnesses over the next week before Eric Trump and Donald Trump return to the stand as the defense wraps up its case in the next two weeks.
Nov 28, 5:37 PM EST
Ex-Deutsche Bank VP can’t describe Trump’s due diligence
Former Deutsche Bank vice president Emily Pereless, testifying for the defense, appeared reluctant to offer details about the process of reviewing Donald Trump’s bank and brokerage statements between 2011 and 2014.
Pereless physically reviewed Trump’s bank and brokerage statements with a colleague, according to documents shown at trial, and signed Deutsche Bank credit reports. Despite being called as a defense witness, she struggled to recall any details about the process and appeared uncooperative on the witness stand.
“I analyzed and compiled the information provided,” Pereless testified about a 2014 credit report, saying could not recall the specific steps she took in detail.
Defense attorney Jesus Suarez attempted to refresh her recollection by showing her a document titled “DT Due Diligence Items” that listed steps that included reviewing Trump’s personal tax reports, understanding ownership structures for assets, and learning of Trump’s financial commitments.
Pereless still said she could not recall specific steps cited in the document, and even struggled to confirm who the aforementioned “DT” was.
“I am assuming it means Donald Trump, but I don’t recall specifically,” Pereless said.
Trump’s attorneys said they planned to shorten their remaining direct examination when Pereless returns to the stand tomorrow.
Nov 28, 4:20 PM EST
For 3rd time, defense asks for directed verdict
Defense attorney Christopher Kise requested Judge Engoron issue a directed verdict at the conclusion of testimony from Deutsche Bank managing director Dave Williams — marking the third time the defense has asked the judge to stop the proceedings and decide the case in their favor.
“Was an event of default ever declared by Deutsche Bank on the loans to the Trump Organization?” defense attorney Jesus Suarez asked Williams at the end of Williams’ testimony.
“No,” Williams replied, prompting Kise to jump up and make his request.
“This witness has again testified the bank conducted its own due diligence” and was not defrauded by Trump’s statements of financial condition, Kise argued.
“This is a subjective exercise. There isn’t a right answer. There isn’t an ‘Ah-ha, you picked the wrong number,'” Kise said. “The bank is in a relationship whose job it is to make these determinations. It’s not the attorney general’s job to insert herself into a private transaction ten years later.”
Judge Engoron took the defense’s motion under advisement but signaled he was unmoved.
“The mere fact that the lenders were happy doesn’t mean the statute wasn’t violated,” Engoron said.
Kevin Wallace, an attorney for the state, took issue with the Kise’s analysis of the testimony.
“The witness did not say none of this matters. The witness said he expects clients to tell the truth,” Wallace said.
Nov 28, 2:19 PM EST
Trump easily met Deutsche Bank loan requirements, banker says
Deutsche Bank did its own due diligence to estimate Trump’s net worth, landing on a figure that differed from Trump’s reported net worth by over $2 billion — but the difference didn’t concern the bank, according to testimony from managing director Dave Williams.
Trump reported a net worth of nearly $5 billion in 2013, according to documents shown at trial. The bank’s own Valuation Services Group produced an estimate of only $2.6 billion, a difference that Williams described as “not unusual or atypical.”
“My reaction was probably pretty measured,” Williams said about learning that the bank determined that Trump’s net worth was nearly half the estimate provided by Trump. “We are expected to conduct due diligence and verify information to the extent that is possible.”
Even with Deutsche Bank’s lower estimate, the former president easily met the bank’s $100 million net-worth requirement for high-net-worth individuals, according to Williams.
“He reported both a net worth and investable assets well in excess of our minimum requirements,” Williams said, confirming that the bank set the interest rate for Trump’s commercial loans between 2%-2.5%.
The testimony also appeared to bolster Trump’s arguments that his lenders did their own due diligence, diminishing the importance of his statements of financial condition that are at the center of the case.
Nov 28, 12:16 PM EST
Trump never risked defaulting on loan covenants, banker suggests
Deutsche Bank managing director Dave Williams downplayed the possibility that Donald Trump could have defaulted on the net-worth covenants included in his loans.
While both parties agree that Trump never defaulted on his loans, New York Attorney General Letitia James alleges that had Trump accurately reported the value of his assets, he could have risked defaulting on a loan covenant that required he maintain a net worth of $2.5 billion.
Defense attorney Jesus Suarez pushed back on that allegation by asking Williams about the severity of a covenant default — i.e., breaching the terms of the loan — compared to a payment default triggered by a missed payment.
“Generally speaking, a payment default is a more material default than a covenant default,” Williams said. “It speaks definitively to the repayment of the loan.”
Williams described a loan covenant as a “guardrail,” and suggested that breaching the covenant would have brought Trump back to the negotiating table to adjust the loan terms.
Williams also reiterated that he was not aware of any loan or covenant defaults by Trump.
James is expected to request a fine of nearly $400 million for Trump’s allegedly ill-gotten gains, including over $140 million based on the potential interest she says was lost by Deutsche Bank. By proving that the loan agreements were lawful, Trump’s lawyers could significantly lower the fine Trump faces.
Nov 28, 11:44 AM EST
Net worth is subjective, banker says
The managing director of Deutsche Bank, which was Trump’s primary lender in the 2010s, testified that it would be impossible for the bank to calculate their client’s net worth with mathematical certainty.
“I don’t believe that is possible,” said Dave Williams, testifying for the defense. “I think an individual’s net worth as reported is largely subjective, or subject to the use of estimates.”
The assertion bolsters a recurring theme of the defense’s case — that determining the value of Trump’s assets was less of a science than an art form.
Williams said that, regardless of what Trump reported, Deutsche Bank made more conservative estimates about the value of his assets.
“I think it’s a difference of opinion. We expect clients provide information to be accurate. At the same time, it’s not an industry standard that these financial statements are audited,” Williams said.
Nov 28, 9:24 AM EST
Deutsche Bank executives to testify for defense
A day after Trump lawyer Chris Kise asserted that the only person who believes the former president committed fraud in his business transactions is New York Attorney General Letitia James, that claim will face a key test over the next two days as Trump’s lawyers call four executives from Deutsche Bank, Trump’s primary lender at the time of the alleged conduct.
Trump’s lawyers claim that the executives will prove that the bank would have still done business with Trump despite his inflated claims about his assets.
“They’re skipping over the part where they have to establish that the gains are ill-gotten, meaning that the loans would not have been issued in the first place or that the terms would have been different,” Kise said in November during an argument for a directed verdict.
James, however, says that the banks lost millions in potential interest based on Trump’s inflated valuations.
Nov 27, 6:52 PM EST
Trump Organization VP returns to witness stand
Trump Organization Vice President Patrick Birney returned to the witness stand to describe his role preparing Trump’s statement of financial condition between 2016 and 2021.
“Every new year, I would just copy and paste the spreadsheet from the year before,” Birney said, testifying this time for the defense.
Birney largely testified about the spreadsheets of supporting data he prepared, as well as the supporting data he cited from year to year.
Court was adjourned for the day following Birney’s testimony. He is set to return to the witness stand later this week after the court hears from witnesses from Deutsche Bank.
Nov 27, 5:59 PM EST
Trump exec disputes independent monitor’s findings
Trump Hotels chief operating officer Mark Hawthorn disputed an August 2023 report from the Trump Organization’s independent monitor that said the company continued to provide incomplete information to lenders.
Hawthorn had earlier testified that the monitor never communicated that they “uncovered fraud or any irregularities.”
State attorney Andrew Amer confronted Hawthorn with the letter from the Trump Organization’s independent monitor Barbara Jones flagging inconsistencies.
“Were you aware that Judge Jones had identified such inconsistencies?” Amer asked.
“Yes,” Hawthorn answered — but said that he stood by his initial statement that the monitor never uncovered fraud, claiming that the flagged issues were consistent with accounting practices.
“Did the monitor accuse the Trump Organization of disseminating false and misleading information?” defense attorney Clifford Robert asked on redirect examination.
“No,” Hawthorne said.
Trump defense attorney Chris Kise used the disagreement about the monitor’s findings to renew his request to question Jones, which Judge Engoron denied earlier in the afternoon.
“What the monitor thinks is clearly and squarely at issue,” Kise said, describing the Trump Organization’s issues as “minor accounting discrepancies which happen in a large corporation all the time.”
“Every time you talk, there’s a campaign speech,” Engoron quipped following Kise’s lengthy argument.
Engoron ultimately stood by his initial ruling, but said he would allow Kise to present cases, if they exist, supporting the defense’s right to call the monitor.
“I will decide what reports mean and what implications there are,” Engoron said about the monitor’s findings.
Nov 27, 3:44 PM EST
Donald Trump to return to witness stand in December
Defense lawyers plan to call Donald Trump as their final witnesses in the former president’s civil fraud trial.
Asked to confirm the final witnesses for the defense’s case, defense attorney Chris Kise said that Trump is likely to testify on Dec. 11.
“I think we can make that work,” Kise said, adding that Trump’s exact schedule might change.
Eric Trump will also return to the witness stand on Dec. 6, according to Kise.
Those dates might change if Judge Engoron limits testimony from any of the remaining witnesses.
State attorney Kevin Wallace said that the New York attorney general may present a “minimal” rebuttal case.
Nov 27, 2:43 PM EST
Judge blocks testimony from independent monitor
Judge Arthur Engoron blocked the defense team’s plan to call the Trump Organization’s independent monitor, describing the last-minute change to the defense’s witness list as “untimely” and “inappropriate.”
The judge’s ruling came after defense lawyer Clifford Robert announced the plan to call former federal Judge Barbara Jones and her associate to testify for the defense.
Before Engoron issuing his ruling from the bench, attorneys from both sides appeared to privately meet with the judge in his chambers.
“I hereby preclude their testimony,” Engoron said from the bench, regarding Jones and her associate.
Engoron said that he determined that Jones and her staff are effectively “arms of the court” and thus cannot be called to testify.
He also expressed concern that Jones’ testimony could create conflicts of interest that force her to step away from her role overseeing the Trump Organization’s finances.
Nov 27, 2:27 PM EST
Defense plans to call Trump Organization’s independent monitor
Donald Trump’s lawyers plan to call former federal Judge Barbara Jones — who has served as the Trump Organization’s independent monitor since 2022 — as a witness for the defense case, according to defense attorney Clifford Robert.
Jones was installed as the firm’s independent monitor last November at the request of New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Though Jones was not originally included in the defense’s witness list, Robert flagged the change to the court near the end of the direct examination of Trump Hotels chief operating officer Mark Hawthorn.
Hawthorn testified that he has regularly met with Jones since her appointment, and that the two have a transparent and cooperative relationship.
“We believe everything they deemed as an objection we have responded to diligently and very accurately,” Hawthorn said. “No one from that team has ever communicated to us that they have uncovered fraud or any irregularities.”
Jones, however, wrote in an August 2023 report that the Trump Organization provided “incomplete” information and did not consistently provide necessary certifications to lenders, prompting Judge Engoron to chastise the defendants in his summary judgment order.
“Even with a preliminary injunction in place, and with an independent monitor overseeing their compliance, defendants have continued to disseminate false and misleading information while conducting business,” Engoron wrote.
Robert did not provide a timeline for when Jones might testify, and state attorney Andrew Amer reserved a right to object to the defense team calling Jones as a witness.
Nov 27, 1:53 PM EST
Threats against clerk are ‘just part of the game,’ said Trump lawyer
In their filing this morning arguing against the trial’s limited gag order, Trump attorneys Clifford Robert, Chris Kise, and Alina Habba downplayed Trump’s connection to the threats against Judge Engoron and his clerk, and argued that they do not justify the gag order’s limit on Trump’s constitutional right to free speech.
The arguments appeared to be foreshadowed by remarks made to reporters earlier this month by Habba, who has been a forceful voice for the former president both in and out of court.
“The president has never threatened her safety,” Habba said of Engoron’s clerk. “This is a high profile case, and unfortunately, this is what comes with it. There is not a day that I don’t get a threat. It’s just part of the game.”
“If she had a real threat, she should get off the bench and stop having her photograph taken, but she hasn’t done that,” Habba added.
Nov 27, 12:54 PM EST
Trump’s lawyers disavow threats against judge, clerk
Donald Trump’s lawyers, in a court filing this morning, doubled down on their criticism of the trial’s limited gag order while distancing Trump and his co-defendants from what they called the “vile and reprehensible” threats against Judge Arthur Engoron and his principal law clerk.
In a filing arguing against the limited gag order, defense lawyer Clifford Robert said that the attacks — which he said Trump neither condoned nor directed — do not justify the gag order’s unconstitutional restraint on Trump’s free speech.
“Respondents’ sole cognizable justification for the Gag Orders is that an unknown third party may react in a hostile or offensive manner to Petitioners’ speech,” Robert wrote.
While Robert characterized the threats as “disturbing, derogatory, and indefensible,” he argued that it could not be proven that Trump’s Truth Social post on Oct. 3 — which prompted the limited gag order prohibiting statements about the judge’s staff — led to an increase in threats. Trump and his lawyers have never called for violence, condoned the attacks, or encouraged threatening behavior, Robert said.
The threatening behavior “merits appropriate security measures,” Robert wrote. “However, it does not justify the wholesale abrogation of Petitioners’ First Amendment rights in a proceeding of immense stakes to Petitioners,” which Robert argued has been “compromised by the introduction of partisan bias on the bench.”
Nov 27, 11:58 AM EST
Eric Trump asked hotel exec to revamp firm’s outdated bookkeeping
Eric Trump needed help with the Trump Organization’s finances after the company’s chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg was removed from his role following his indictment in 2021, according to Trump Hotels executive Mark Hawthorn.
According to Hawthorn’s testimony, the company relied on an outdated and inefficient approach to bookkeeping, including authorizing only three individuals — Weisselberg, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump — to write checks for the Trump Organization until as late as 2021.
Weisselberg signed most of the company’s disbursements, leaving Eric and Don Jr. in uncharted waters once Weisselberg was removed, Hawthorn said.
“He had a stack of checks [on his desk] to sign that was very high,” Hawthorn recalled regarding a summer 2021 meeting during which he said Eric Trump requested Hawthorn’s help applying his experience running Trump’s hotel division.
“Mark, how do you do this in the hotel division?” Eric asked, according to Hawthorn.
“We don’t do it like this,” Hawthorn said he replied.
The meeting, according to Hawthorn, prompted him to begin an effort to revise the Trump’s Organization’s bookkeeping policies to replicate his work in Trump’s hotel division, which he ran as its chief operating officer. Following Eric Trump’s request, he imposed a standardized paperless approach to bookkeeping, so entities could be compared on an “apples to apples basis,” Hawthorn testified.
Nov 27, 9:26 AM EST
Trump Organization execs to return to witness stand
Two current Trump Organization executives are scheduled to return to the witness stand today as part of the defense’s case as the trial resumes following the Thanksgiving holiday.
Mark Hawthorn, Trump Hotels’ chief financial officer, initially testified for the state’s case in October. State attorney Andrew Amer used his testimony as an opportunity to highlight that the Trump Organization had a qualified accountant who could have worked on Trump’s statement of financial condition, instead of the top executives who had less accounting experience.
“If any of them had asked you to work with them on preparing Mr. Trump’s statement of financial condition, would you have had the knowledge and experience to do so?” Amer asked.
“Yes,” Hawthorn responded, adding he was never asked to assist with preparing the statements that are at the center of the attorney general’s case.
Patrick Birney, an assistant vice president at the Trump Organization who also testified in October, offered some of the only testimony that supports the attorney general’s allegation of a conspiracy to inflate Trump’s net worth.
“Did Allen Weisselberg ever tell you that Mr. Trump wanted his net worth on the statement of financial condition to go up?” state attorney Eric Haren asked Birney.
“Yes, I think that happened in Allen Weisselberg’s office,” Birney said, prompting an objection from Trump’s lawyers.
Nov 22, 5:28 PM EST
Judge, clerk subjected to daily threats, official says in gag order filing
An attorney for Judge Arthur Engoron also filed in support of the gag order in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial, arguing that violent threats have increased since the gag order was lifted.
The limited gag order, which prohibited Donald Trump and his attorneys from publicly commenting about Engoron’s staff, was issued by the judge last month after Trump posted about the judge’s law clerk on social media. Judge David Friedman of the appellate division’s First Department stayed the order on Thursday, citing constitutional concerns over Trump’s free speech rights.
Engoron’s filing includes a report from Charles Hollon of the Judicial Threats Assessment Unit of the New York State Court System’s Department of Public Safety. According to the report, Engoron and his principal law clerk, Allison Greenfield, have been inundated with credible, violent and antisemitic threats since Trump began criticizing Greenfield.
“The threats against Justice Engoron and Ms. Greenfield are considered to be serious and credible and not hypothetical or speculative,” Hollon wrote in the report.
Greenfield has been the victim of daily doxing of her personal email address and phone number, receiving dozens of calls, emails and social media messages daily, according to Hollon. Approximately half the harassing messages have been antisemitic, according to Greenfield.
In the report, Hollon wrote that Engoron was the subject of credible threats before the trial had started, but Trump’s Oct. 3 Truth Social post directed at Greenfield exponentially increased the number of threats directed at her.
The report included multiple examples of voicemails that were left on the telephone in Engoron’s chambers.
Hollon said the messages have created an “ongoing security risk” for Engoron, his staff and family, but that the gag order had been effective in lowering the number of threats.
“The implementation of the limited gag orders resulted in a decrease in the number of threats, harassment and disparaging messages that the judge and his staff received,” Hollon said in the report. “However, when Mr. Trump violated the gag orders, the number of threatening, harassing and disparaging messages increased.”
Engoron’s lawyer, Lisa Evans, said the threats detailed in Hollon’s affirmation justify the gag order, which functions as a reasonable limit on free speech.
“The First Amendment does not prohibit courts from limiting speech that threatens the safety of the court’s staff,” Evans wrote.
Trump’s reply to the filing is due on Nov. 27, after which the First Department will decide whether to fully lift the gag order.
Nov 22, 4:53 PM EST
NY AG argues for limited gag order in court filing
A lawyer for New York Attorney General Letitia James, in a court filing Wednesday, argued in favor of maintaining the judge’s limited gag after an appeals court temporarily lifted the order last week.
The limited gag order, which prohibited Donald Trump and his attorneys from publicly commenting about Judge Arthur Engoron’s staff, was issued by the judge last month after Trump posted about the judge’s law clerk on social media. Judge David Friedman of the appellate division’s First Department stayed the order on Thursday, citing constitutional concerns over Trump’s free speech rights.
James’ court filing Wednesday alleges that Trump and his lawyers continue to harass Engoron’s law clerk “as part of an improper tactic to disrupt trial and undermine the proceedings.”
James said the gag order is a necessary and “exceedingly limited restraint” to protect Engoron’s staff, and Trump’s lawyers failed to prove that attacks on judicial staff during a trial are protected by the First Amendment.
“A speedy denial is necessary to ensure the safety of [the] Supreme Court’s staff and the integrity and the orderly administration of the proceedings through the end of the trial,” James wrote, describing Trump’s attacks as “extraordinary and dangerous.”
Arguing that Trump has engaged in a “pattern” of attacking civil servants involved in proceedings against him, James cited his attacks on the former lieutenant governor of Georgia, as well as officials in his federal election interference case. She also mentioned Trump’s renewed attacks against the clerk over the last week since the gag order was lifted, including calling for her prosecution, sharing an article suggesting she engaged in drug use, and describing her as “crooked and highly partisan.”
Trump’s lawyers have defended such attacks as constitutionally protected speech and argued that Engoron failed to articulate how the attacks present a “clear and present danger” to the clerk.
Trump personally sued Engoron last week using a provision of state law called Article 78, which is generally used to challenge New York government agencies. Trump unsuccessfully attempted to use an Article 78 proceeding on the eve of the trial to delay the proceeding; however, his most recent attempt successfully resulted in a temporary stay of the gag order.
Trump’s reply to the filing is due on Nov. 27, after which the First Department will decide whether to fully lift the gag order.
Nov 21, 3:27 PM EST
Court adjourns for extended Thanksgiving break
After two days of testimony for the defense, former Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney stepped off the witness stand.
Judge Arthur Engoron then adjourned court until Monday.
When court resumes after the Thanksgiving break, the defense plans to call two Trump Organization executives, followed by several Deutsche Bank employees.
(AUSTIN, Texas) — A 68-year-old man is dead after police say he was attacked by a 62-year-old man which left him with injuries that ultimately led to his death.
The Austin Police Department in Austin, Texas, received a call to make an urgent welfare check on Saturday, Nov. 18 at approximately 9:17 p.m. to the 3500 block of Rogge Lane after a man was reported to have sustained serious injuries, police said.
“The call involved a man who was on the ground, not breathing, and CPR was in progress,” read a statement from the Austin Police Department. “Officers arrived at the scene and located Baron Godwin, unresponsive.”
The 68-year-old Godwin, who was using a wheelchair at the time of the attack, was later pronounced dead at the scene.
“Investigators believe that Godwin was on his wheelchair when he was attacked by Ronnie Green, which caused Godwin’s death,” authorities said. “Green was arrested and charged with Injury to the Elderly, a 3rd Degree Felony and given a $50,000 bond.”
The relationship between Green, the 62-year-old suspect in Godwin’s death, and Godwin is currently unknown, and police have not released a possible motive in the attack.
This case is being investigated as Austin’s 62nd homicide of 2023.
Anyone with information regarding this case should contact Austin Police Department’s Homicide unit at 512-974-TIPS, or email APD Homicide at homicide.apd@austintexas.gov.
The investigation into Godwin’s death is currently ongoing.
(BURLINGTON, Vt.) — One of the three students of Palestinian descent shot during an attack in Vermont spoke out in a text message read to his Brown University classmates during a vigil for him that turned raucous at the Ivy League campus, saying, “I am but one casualty in this much wider conflict.”
Hisham Awartani, a 20-year-old junior at Brown University, who was the most seriously injured victim in Saturday’s shooting in Burlington, Vermont, issued a text message that was read on his behalf at the Monday night vigil held for him at the Providence, Rhode Island, school campus.
“It’s important to recognize that this is part of a larger story. This hideous crime did not happen in a vacuum,” Awartani, a U.S. citizen who was raised in the West Bank, wrote in the text message. “As much as I appreciate every single one of you here today, I am one casualty in this much wider conflict.”
The message was read at the vigil by a Brown University professor of Palestinian studies, the Providence Journal newspaper reported.
Awartani’s mother, Elizabeth Price, told ABC News on Monday that her son, who is studying mathematics and archaeology, remains hospitalized with a bullet lodged in his spine, and that doctors are unsure if he will be able to walk again.
“Had I been shot in the West Bank, where I grew up, the medical services that saved my life here would likely have been withheld by the Israeli army. The soldier who shot me would go home and never be convicted,” Awartani wrote in the message. “I understand that the pain is so much more real and immediate because many of you know me, but any attack like this is horrific, be it here or in Palestine.”
Awartani’s message added, “This is why when you say your wishes and light your candles today, your mind should not just be focused on me as an individual, but rather as a proud member of the people being oppressed.”
The shooting occurred Saturday evening near the Burlington home of Awartani’s relative, where he and two of his best friends — Tahseen Ahmed, a student at Trinity College in Connecticut, and Kinnan Abdalhamid, a pre-med student at Haverford College in Connecticut — were visiting for the Thanksgiving break, their families said.
The suspect, 48-year-old Jason James Eaton of Burlington, a former Boy Scout assistant scoutmaster, was arrested on Sunday and charged with three counts of second-degree attempted murder. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf by his attorney.
A motive for the shooting remains under investigation and officials said they are looking at the possibility of it being a hate crime.
The three students were shot while walking in the neighborhood near the University of Vermont. The students were speaking Arabic and two were wearing kaffiyehs, or traditional Palestinian headscarves, when they were attacked, according to police.
The shooting came amid a rise in Islamophobic and antisemitic hate incidents and attacks across the county since Hamas terrorists launched a deadly surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, and Israeli forces retaliated with a bombing campaign and ground operation in the Gaza Strip.
During Monday night’s vigil, an address by Brown University President Christina Paxson was interrupted by students yelling demands that the university divest from Israel.
“Although we don’t know the details yet, it is horrific that the mere fact that Hisham and his friends were simply being who they are, proud Palestinians, wearing kaffiyehs, speaking in Arabic, that may be what prompted the shooting. Sadly, we can’t control what happens around the world and across the country. We’re powerless to do everything we’d like to do. But there’s so much that we are doing and continue to do,” Paxson said before being drowned out by chants of “Shame! Shame! Shame!”
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York in a $250 million civil lawsuit that could alter the personal fortune and real estate empire that helped propel Trump to the White House.
Trump, his sons Eric Trump and and Donald Trump Jr., and other top Trump Organization executives are accused by New York Attorney General Letitia James of engaging in a decade-long scheme in which they used “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” to inflate Trump’s net worth in order get more favorable loan terms. The trial comes after the judge in the case ruled in a partial summary judgment that Trump had submitted “fraudulent valuations” for his assets, leaving the trial to determine additional actions and what penalty, if any, the defendants should receive.
The former president has denied all wrongdoing and his attorneys have argued that Trump’s alleged inflated valuations were a product of his business skill.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 28, 4:20 PM EST
For 3rd time, defense asks for directed verdict
Defense attorney Christopher Kise requested Judge Engoron issue a directed verdict at the conclusion of testimony from Deutsche Bank managing director Dave Williams — marking the third time the defense has asked the judge to stop the proceedings and decide the case in their favor.
“Was an event of default ever declared by Deutsche Bank on the loans to the Trump Organization?” defense attorney Jesus Suarez asked Williams at the end of Williams’ testimony.
“No,” Williams replied, prompting Kise to jump up and make his request.
“This witness has again testified the bank conducted its own due diligence” and was not defrauded by Trump’s statements of financial condition, Kise argued.
“This is a subjective exercise. There isn’t a right answer. There isn’t an ‘Ah-ha, you picked the wrong number,'” Kise said. “The bank is in a relationship whose job it is to make these determinations. It’s not the attorney general’s job to insert herself into a private transaction ten years later.”
Judge Engoron took the defense’s motion under advisement but signaled he was unmoved.
“The mere fact that the lenders were happy doesn’t mean the statute wasn’t violated,” Engoron said.
Kevin Wallace, an attorney for the state, took issue with the Kise’s analysis of the testimony.
“The witness did not say none of this matters. The witness said he expects clients to tell the truth,” Wallace said.
Nov 28, 2:19 PM EST
Trump easily met Deutsche Bank loan requirements, banker says
Deutsche Bank did its own due diligence to estimate Trump’s net worth, landing on a figure that differed from Trump’s reported net worth by over $2 billion — but the difference didn’t concern the bank, according to testimony from managing director Dave Williams.
Trump reported a net worth of nearly $5 billion in 2013, according to documents shown at trial. The bank’s own Valuation Services Group produced an estimate of only $2.6 billion, a difference that Williams described as “not unusual or atypical.”
“My reaction was probably pretty measured,” Williams said about learning that the bank determined that Trump’s net worth was nearly half the estimate provided by Trump. “We are expected to conduct due diligence and verify information to the extent that is possible.”
Even with Deutsche Bank’s lower estimate, the former president easily met the bank’s $100 million net-worth requirement for high-net-worth individuals, according to Williams.
“He reported both a net worth and investable assets well in excess of our minimum requirements,” Williams said, confirming that the bank set the interest rate for Trump’s commercial loans between 2%-2.5%.
The testimony also appeared to bolster Trump’s arguments that his lenders did their own due diligence, diminishing the importance of his statements of financial condition that are at the center of the case.
Nov 28, 12:16 PM EST
Trump never risked defaulting on loan covenants, banker suggests
Deutsche Bank managing director Dave Williams downplayed the possibility that Donald Trump could have defaulted on the net-worth covenants included in his loans.
While both parties agree that Trump never defaulted on his loans, New York Attorney General Letitia James alleges that had Trump accurately reported the value of his assets, he could have risked defaulting on a loan covenant that required he maintain a net worth of $2.5 billion.
Defense attorney Jesus Suarez pushed back on that allegation by asking Williams about the severity of a covenant default — i.e., breaching the terms of the loan — compared to a payment default triggered by a missed payment.
“Generally speaking, a payment default is a more material default than a covenant default,” Williams said. “It speaks definitively to the repayment of the loan.”
Williams described a loan covenant as a “guardrail,” and suggested that breaching the covenant would have brought Trump back to the negotiating table to adjust the loan terms.
Williams also reiterated that he was not aware of any loan or covenant defaults by Trump.
James is expected to request a fine of nearly $400 million for Trump’s allegedly ill-gotten gains, including over $140 million based on the potential interest she says was lost by Deutsche Bank. By proving that the loan agreements were lawful, Trump’s lawyers could significantly lower the fine Trump faces.
Nov 28, 11:44 AM EST
Net worth is subjective, banker says
The managing director of Deutsche Bank, which was Trump’s primary lender in the 2010s, testified that it would be impossible for the bank to calculate their client’s net worth with mathematical certainty.
“I don’t believe that is possible,” said Dave Williams, testifying for the defense. “I think an individual’s net worth as reported is largely subjective, or subject to the use of estimates.”
The assertion bolsters a recurring theme of the defense’s case — that determining the value of Trump’s assets was less of a science than an art form.
Williams said that, regardless of what Trump reported, Deutsche Bank made more conservative estimates about the value of his assets.
“I think it’s a difference of opinion. We expect clients provide information to be accurate. At the same time, it’s not an industry standard that these financial statements are audited,” Williams said.
Nov 28, 9:24 AM EST
Deutsche Bank executives to testify for defense
A day after Trump lawyer Chris Kise asserted that the only person who believes the former president committed fraud in his business transactions is New York Attorney General Letitia James, that claim will face a key test over the next two days as Trump’s lawyers call four executives from Deutsche Bank, Trump’s primary lender at the time of the alleged conduct.
Trump’s lawyers claim that the executives will prove that the bank would have still done business with Trump despite his inflated claims about his assets.
“They’re skipping over the part where they have to establish that the gains are ill-gotten, meaning that the loans would not have been issued in the first place or that the terms would have been different,” Kise said in November during an argument for a directed verdict.
James, however, says that the banks lost millions in potential interest based on Trump’s inflated valuations.
Nov 27, 6:52 PM EST
Trump Organization VP returns to witness stand
Trump Organization Vice President Patrick Birney returned to the witness stand to describe his role preparing Trump’s statement of financial condition between 2016 and 2021.
“Every new year, I would just copy and paste the spreadsheet from the year before,” Birney said, testifying this time for the defense.
Birney largely testified about the spreadsheets of supporting data he prepared, as well as the supporting data he cited from year to year.
Court was adjourned for the day following Birney’s testimony. He is set to return to the witness stand later this week after the court hears from witnesses from Deutsche Bank.
Nov 27, 5:59 PM EST
Trump exec disputes independent monitor’s findings
Trump Hotels chief operating officer Mark Hawthorn disputed an August 2023 report from the Trump Organization’s independent monitor that said the company continued to provide incomplete information to lenders.
Hawthorn had earlier testified that the monitor never communicated that they “uncovered fraud or any irregularities.”
State attorney Andrew Amer confronted Hawthorn with the letter from the Trump Organization’s independent monitor Barbara Jones flagging inconsistencies.
“Were you aware that Judge Jones had identified such inconsistencies?” Amer asked.
“Yes,” Hawthorn answered — but said that he stood by his initial statement that the monitor never uncovered fraud, claiming that the flagged issues were consistent with accounting practices.
“Did the monitor accuse the Trump Organization of disseminating false and misleading information?” defense attorney Clifford Robert asked on redirect examination.
“No,” Hawthorne said.
Trump defense attorney Chris Kise used the disagreement about the monitor’s findings to renew his request to question Jones, which Judge Engoron denied earlier in the afternoon.
“What the monitor thinks is clearly and squarely at issue,” Kise said, describing the Trump Organization’s issues as “minor accounting discrepancies which happen in a large corporation all the time.”
“Every time you talk, there’s a campaign speech,” Engoron quipped following Kise’s lengthy argument.
Engoron ultimately stood by his initial ruling, but said he would allow Kise to present cases, if they exist, supporting the defense’s right to call the monitor.
“I will decide what reports mean and what implications there are,” Engoron said about the monitor’s findings.
Nov 27, 3:44 PM EST
Donald Trump to return to witness stand in December
Defense lawyers plan to call Donald Trump as their final witnesses in the former president’s civil fraud trial.
Asked to confirm the final witnesses for the defense’s case, defense attorney Chris Kise said that Trump is likely to testify on Dec. 11.
“I think we can make that work,” Kise said, adding that Trump’s exact schedule might change.
Eric Trump will also return to the witness stand on Dec. 6, according to Kise.
Those dates might change if Judge Engoron limits testimony from any of the remaining witnesses.
State attorney Kevin Wallace said that the New York attorney general may present a “minimal” rebuttal case.
Nov 27, 2:43 PM EST
Judge blocks testimony from independent monitor
Judge Arthur Engoron blocked the defense team’s plan to call the Trump Organization’s independent monitor, describing the last-minute change to the defense’s witness list as “untimely” and “inappropriate.”
The judge’s ruling came after defense lawyer Clifford Robert announced the plan to call former federal Judge Barbara Jones and her associate to testify for the defense.
Before Engoron issuing his ruling from the bench, attorneys from both sides appeared to privately meet with the judge in his chambers.
“I hereby preclude their testimony,” Engoron said from the bench, regarding Jones and her associate.
Engoron said that he determined that Jones and her staff are effectively “arms of the court” and thus cannot be called to testify.
He also expressed concern that Jones’ testimony could create conflicts of interest that force her to step away from her role overseeing the Trump Organization’s finances.
Nov 27, 2:27 PM EST
Defense plans to call Trump Organization’s independent monitor
Donald Trump’s lawyers plan to call former federal Judge Barbara Jones — who has served as the Trump Organization’s independent monitor since 2022 — as a witness for the defense case, according to defense attorney Clifford Robert.
Jones was installed as the firm’s independent monitor last November at the request of New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Though Jones was not originally included in the defense’s witness list, Robert flagged the change to the court near the end of the direct examination of Trump Hotels chief operating officer Mark Hawthorn.
Hawthorn testified that he has regularly met with Jones since her appointment, and that the two have a transparent and cooperative relationship.
“We believe everything they deemed as an objection we have responded to diligently and very accurately,” Hawthorn said. “No one from that team has ever communicated to us that they have uncovered fraud or any irregularities.”
Jones, however, wrote in an August 2023 report that the Trump Organization provided “incomplete” information and did not consistently provide necessary certifications to lenders, prompting Judge Engoron to chastise the defendants in his summary judgment order.
“Even with a preliminary injunction in place, and with an independent monitor overseeing their compliance, defendants have continued to disseminate false and misleading information while conducting business,” Engoron wrote.
Robert did not provide a timeline for when Jones might testify, and state attorney Andrew Amer reserved a right to object to the defense team calling Jones as a witness.
Nov 27, 1:53 PM EST
Threats against clerk are ‘just part of the game,’ said Trump lawyer
In their filing this morning arguing against the trial’s limited gag order, Trump attorneys Clifford Robert, Chris Kise, and Alina Habba downplayed Trump’s connection to the threats against Judge Engoron and his clerk, and argued that they do not justify the gag order’s limit on Trump’s constitutional right to free speech.
The arguments appeared to be foreshadowed by remarks made to reporters earlier this month by Habba, who has been a forceful voice for the former president both in and out of court.
“The president has never threatened her safety,” Habba said of Engoron’s clerk. “This is a high profile case, and unfortunately, this is what comes with it. There is not a day that I don’t get a threat. It’s just part of the game.”
“If she had a real threat, she should get off the bench and stop having her photograph taken, but she hasn’t done that,” Habba added.
Nov 27, 12:54 PM EST
Trump’s lawyers disavow threats against judge, clerk
Donald Trump’s lawyers, in a court filing this morning, doubled down on their criticism of the trial’s limited gag order while distancing Trump and his co-defendants from what they called the “vile and reprehensible” threats against Judge Arthur Engoron and his principal law clerk.
In a filing arguing against the limited gag order, defense lawyer Clifford Robert said that the attacks — which he said Trump neither condoned nor directed — do not justify the gag order’s unconstitutional restraint on Trump’s free speech.
“Respondents’ sole cognizable justification for the Gag Orders is that an unknown third party may react in a hostile or offensive manner to Petitioners’ speech,” Robert wrote.
While Robert characterized the threats as “disturbing, derogatory, and indefensible,” he argued that it could not be proven that Trump’s Truth Social post on Oct. 3 — which prompted the limited gag order prohibiting statements about the judge’s staff — led to an increase in threats. Trump and his lawyers have never called for violence, condoned the attacks, or encouraged threatening behavior, Robert said.
The threatening behavior “merits appropriate security measures,” Robert wrote. “However, it does not justify the wholesale abrogation of Petitioners’ First Amendment rights in a proceeding of immense stakes to Petitioners,” which Robert argued has been “compromised by the introduction of partisan bias on the bench.”
Nov 27, 11:58 AM EST
Eric Trump asked hotel exec to revamp firm’s outdated bookkeeping
Eric Trump needed help with the Trump Organization’s finances after the company’s chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg was removed from his role following his indictment in 2021, according to Trump Hotels executive Mark Hawthorn.
According to Hawthorn’s testimony, the company relied on an outdated and inefficient approach to bookkeeping, including authorizing only three individuals — Weisselberg, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump — to write checks for the Trump Organization until as late as 2021.
Weisselberg signed most of the company’s disbursements, leaving Eric and Don Jr. in uncharted waters once Weisselberg was removed, Hawthorn said.
“He had a stack of checks [on his desk] to sign that was very high,” Hawthorn recalled regarding a summer 2021 meeting during which he said Eric Trump requested Hawthorn’s help applying his experience running Trump’s hotel division.
“Mark, how do you do this in the hotel division?” Eric asked, according to Hawthorn.
“We don’t do it like this,” Hawthorn said he replied.
The meeting, according to Hawthorn, prompted him to begin an effort to revise the Trump’s Organization’s bookkeeping policies to replicate his work in Trump’s hotel division, which he ran as its chief operating officer. Following Eric Trump’s request, he imposed a standardized paperless approach to bookkeeping, so entities could be compared on an “apples to apples basis,” Hawthorn testified.
Nov 27, 9:26 AM EST
Trump Organization execs to return to witness stand
Two current Trump Organization executives are scheduled to return to the witness stand today as part of the defense’s case as the trial resumes following the Thanksgiving holiday.
Mark Hawthorn, Trump Hotels’ chief financial officer, initially testified for the state’s case in October. State attorney Andrew Amer used his testimony as an opportunity to highlight that the Trump Organization had a qualified accountant who could have worked on Trump’s statement of financial condition, instead of the top executives who had less accounting experience.
“If any of them had asked you to work with them on preparing Mr. Trump’s statement of financial condition, would you have had the knowledge and experience to do so?” Amer asked.
“Yes,” Hawthorn responded, adding he was never asked to assist with preparing the statements that are at the center of the attorney general’s case.
Patrick Birney, an assistant vice president at the Trump Organization who also testified in October, offered some of the only testimony that supports the attorney general’s allegation of a conspiracy to inflate Trump’s net worth.
“Did Allen Weisselberg ever tell you that Mr. Trump wanted his net worth on the statement of financial condition to go up?” state attorney Eric Haren asked Birney.
“Yes, I think that happened in Allen Weisselberg’s office,” Birney said, prompting an objection from Trump’s lawyers.
Nov 22, 5:28 PM EST
Judge, clerk subjected to daily threats, official says in gag order filing
An attorney for Judge Arthur Engoron also filed in support of the gag order in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial, arguing that violent threats have increased since the gag order was lifted.
The limited gag order, which prohibited Donald Trump and his attorneys from publicly commenting about Engoron’s staff, was issued by the judge last month after Trump posted about the judge’s law clerk on social media. Judge David Friedman of the appellate division’s First Department stayed the order on Thursday, citing constitutional concerns over Trump’s free speech rights.
Engoron’s filing includes a report from Charles Hollon of the Judicial Threats Assessment Unit of the New York State Court System’s Department of Public Safety. According to the report, Engoron and his principal law clerk, Allison Greenfield, have been inundated with credible, violent and antisemitic threats since Trump began criticizing Greenfield.
“The threats against Justice Engoron and Ms. Greenfield are considered to be serious and credible and not hypothetical or speculative,” Hollon wrote in the report.
Greenfield has been the victim of daily doxing of her personal email address and phone number, receiving dozens of calls, emails and social media messages daily, according to Hollon. Approximately half the harassing messages have been antisemitic, according to Greenfield.
In the report, Hollon wrote that Engoron was the subject of credible threats before the trial had started, but Trump’s Oct. 3 Truth Social post directed at Greenfield exponentially increased the number of threats directed at her.
The report included multiple examples of voicemails that were left on the telephone in Engoron’s chambers.
Hollon said the messages have created an “ongoing security risk” for Engoron, his staff and family, but that the gag order had been effective in lowering the number of threats.
“The implementation of the limited gag orders resulted in a decrease in the number of threats, harassment and disparaging messages that the judge and his staff received,” Hollon said in the report. “However, when Mr. Trump violated the gag orders, the number of threatening, harassing and disparaging messages increased.”
Engoron’s lawyer, Lisa Evans, said the threats detailed in Hollon’s affirmation justify the gag order, which functions as a reasonable limit on free speech.
“The First Amendment does not prohibit courts from limiting speech that threatens the safety of the court’s staff,” Evans wrote.
Trump’s reply to the filing is due on Nov. 27, after which the First Department will decide whether to fully lift the gag order.
Nov 22, 4:53 PM EST
NY AG argues for limited gag order in court filing
A lawyer for New York Attorney General Letitia James, in a court filing Wednesday, argued in favor of maintaining the judge’s limited gag after an appeals court temporarily lifted the order last week.
The limited gag order, which prohibited Donald Trump and his attorneys from publicly commenting about Judge Arthur Engoron’s staff, was issued by the judge last month after Trump posted about the judge’s law clerk on social media. Judge David Friedman of the appellate division’s First Department stayed the order on Thursday, citing constitutional concerns over Trump’s free speech rights.
James’ court filing Wednesday alleges that Trump and his lawyers continue to harass Engoron’s law clerk “as part of an improper tactic to disrupt trial and undermine the proceedings.”
James said the gag order is a necessary and “exceedingly limited restraint” to protect Engoron’s staff, and Trump’s lawyers failed to prove that attacks on judicial staff during a trial are protected by the First Amendment.
“A speedy denial is necessary to ensure the safety of [the] Supreme Court’s staff and the integrity and the orderly administration of the proceedings through the end of the trial,” James wrote, describing Trump’s attacks as “extraordinary and dangerous.”
Arguing that Trump has engaged in a “pattern” of attacking civil servants involved in proceedings against him, James cited his attacks on the former lieutenant governor of Georgia, as well as officials in his federal election interference case. She also mentioned Trump’s renewed attacks against the clerk over the last week since the gag order was lifted, including calling for her prosecution, sharing an article suggesting she engaged in drug use, and describing her as “crooked and highly partisan.”
Trump’s lawyers have defended such attacks as constitutionally protected speech and argued that Engoron failed to articulate how the attacks present a “clear and present danger” to the clerk.
Trump personally sued Engoron last week using a provision of state law called Article 78, which is generally used to challenge New York government agencies. Trump unsuccessfully attempted to use an Article 78 proceeding on the eve of the trial to delay the proceeding; however, his most recent attempt successfully resulted in a temporary stay of the gag order.
Trump’s reply to the filing is due on Nov. 27, after which the First Department will decide whether to fully lift the gag order.
Nov 21, 3:27 PM EST
Court adjourns for extended Thanksgiving break
After two days of testimony for the defense, former Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney stepped off the witness stand.
Judge Arthur Engoron then adjourned court until Monday.
When court resumes after the Thanksgiving break, the defense plans to call two Trump Organization executives, followed by several Deutsche Bank employees.
(MADERA, Calif.) — A California teenager missing since last week was found dead in an orchard and two suspects have been arrested in her slaying, including her ex-boyfriend who was caught after allegedly leading police on a chase, according to authorities.
The remains of 19-year-old Melanie Stephanie Rios Camacho were located in an orchard in an agricultural area of Madera County in Central California on Monday and positively identified as the missing woman, according to Madera County Sheriff’s Department.
The discovery of the remains came after Camacho’s mother reported her missing on Friday when she didn’t return home Thursday night, according to the sheriff’s department.
“To the family of Melanie, we are deeply sorry for your loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, especially as we approach Melanie’s 20th birthday, which would’ve been this Friday,” Madera County Sheriff Tyson Pogue said during a news conference Monday.
Camacho, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office, was last seen alive around 10:15 p.m. local time on Thursday, when she left her job at an Auto Zone in the city of Madera, according to the sheriff’s office.
The teenager’s mother told police she received a text message from her around 11 p.m. Thursday and that her daughter said she was planning to meet a friend after work, the sheriff’s office said.
When detectives contacted the friend Camacho was supposed to join, they learned the teenager never met that night, according to authorities. Instead, the friend told detectives that Camacho was planning to meet with an ex-boyfriend to either give or receive something from him, the sheriff’s office said.
Around 8:45 a.m. on Saturday, sheriff’s deputies responded to a call of a car fire on the outskirts of Madera. Sheriff’s officials said the vehicle, a 2014 white Nissan Altima, belonged to Camacho.
While investigating the fire, police encountered a witness who described seeing a blue Ford Mustang in the area. The driver appeared to pick someone up near the burning car and drive away, according to the sheriff’s office.
Detectives obtained security video from the area where the car was torched and noticed a 2018 blue Ford Mustang in the footage at the time of the fire, the sheriff’s office said.
“The witness witnessed a blue Ford Mustang with a black hood pass his location on the street with one person inside, turn around near the vehicle that was on fire and then return to his location with two persons inside,” Pogue said.
The registered owner of the Mustang, 22-year-old Jose Lopez Hernandez of Madera, was contacted for questioning Sunday night and detectives obtained a search warrant for his home, according to authorities.
“Information obtained during the service of the warrant led detectives to an area of Avenue 20 west of Highway 99. There, they discovered human remains believed to belong to Melanie,” according to the sheriff’s office statement.
Sheriff’s officials did not disclose the manner of Camacho’s death.
During the investigation, detectives identified 24-year-old Vicente Alexandro Jasso, the ex-boyfriend Camacho recently broke up with, “as the primary suspect in Melanie’s death,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Around 6:30 a.m. Monday morning, sheriff deputies spotted Jasso in Madera driving a minivan registered to him, but when they attempted to pull the suspect over, he allegedly led them on a three-city chase, the sheriff’s office said. California Highway Patrol officers involved in the chase eventually blew out the suspect’s car tires with a spike strip they placed in its path.
Jasso allegedly got out of the minivan and ran to a nearby neighborhood, where he was tracked down with the help of a law enforcement helicopter crew and arrested.
Joe Madril told ABC station KFSN in Fresno that the suspect was captured in his yard.
“I heard a helicopter outside. So, I went outside, and the helicopter was circling overhead. Then I heard on the bullhorn said, ‘You’re surrounded. Put your hands up,'” Madril said. “As I looked over, I saw a guy coming out from between the shrubs here in my backyard.”
During the chase, sheriff’s deputies observed the driver throwing items from the vehicle that turned out to be the personal belongings of Camacho, including her driver’s license, the sheriff’s office said.
Jasso was charged with murder and Lopez-Hernandez was charged with accessory to murder. Both were being held Tuesday without bail at the Madera County Jail.
(NEW YORK) — Lake effect snow warnings are in effect from Cleveland to Syracuse, New York, as intense snowfall slams the region.
In Ohio, schools including the Cleveland Metropolitan School District are closed on Tuesday due to the weather.
At least 23 vehicles have been involved in weather-related crashes on Ohio’s Interstate 271, resulting in serious injuries, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Snowfall rates have been as high as 2 inches per hour in the most intense snow bands in western New York.
The biggest snowfall was 20 to 23 inches, recorded north of Syracuse.
Up to 16 inches of snow was recorded south of Buffalo, New York, and up to 13 inches fell east of Cleveland.
The snow is expected to continue through early Wednesday. Some areas could see another 1 foot of snow.
This snowstorm comes as some of the coldest air of the season hits the Northeast.
On Wednesday morning, the wind chill — what the temperature feels like — is forecast to plunge to 19 degrees in New York City and 17 degrees in Boston. In the South, the wind chill is forecast to fall to 19 degrees in Nashville, Tennessee; 22 in Atlanta; and 30 in Jacksonville, Florida.
Joshua Boucher/The State/Pool/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(BEAUFORT, S.C.) — Disgraced South Carolina attorney and convicted double murderer Alex Murdaugh was sentenced Tuesday to 27 years in state prison on financial crimes.
Murdaugh, 55, pleaded guilty to 22 counts earlier this month for charges including fraud and money laundering after being accused of scheming to steal millions of dollars from his law firm and clients.
State prosecutor Creighton Waters called the plea deal a “unique and unprecedented sentence” on white collar crimes “the likes of which no one can find another example, state or federal, throughout the country.”
Under the plea agreement, Murdaugh will be guaranteed to serve at least 85% — more than 22 years — of the sentence. Waters called it a “practical life sentence.”
Judge Clifton Newman accepted Murdaugh’s guilty plea and the plea agreement during Tuesday’s hearing.
Murdaugh, who is serving two life sentences without parole for the murders of his wife and son, was initially charged with more than 100 state counts related to financial crimes involving 18 victims.
Waters said Tuesday that Murdaugh stole more than $12 million over a decade, including from vulnerable clients who trusted him, while working as a personal injury attorney at his Hampton County law firm.
The victims included the family of his former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who died after a fall at Murdaugh’s home in February 2018. Prosecutors said Murdaugh misappropriated $3.8 million in settlement funds in her death for his own personal gain.
“The Satterfield family is aware that not a single dime has been recovered,” Waters said.
Several of Satterfield’s family members addressed the court on Tuesday prior to Murdaugh’s sentencing.
Her son, Tony Satterfield, addressed Murdaugh, saying, “You lied, you cheated, you stole, you betrayed me and my family and everybody else, and you did that at the cost of my mom’s death.”
“How you were able to profit from her death is especially hard for us to understand and has caused unimaginable hurt to our family,” Satterfield’s sister, Ginger Hadwin, told the court.
Another victim, Jordan Jinks, broke down as he addressed the court.
“What kind of animal are you?” Jinks, a friend of the defendant who prosecutors said lost $150,000, asked Murdaugh.
Jinks told the judge he supported a 27-year sentence.
Murdaugh appeared in court in handcuffs wearing an orange prison jumpsuit. He was allowed to have his hands freed while addressing the court for nearly an hour.
In tears, he apologized to the victims and said he is “so bothered by the things that I did.”
Speaking directly to the victims who addressed the court, Murdaugh said their “pain and hurt is palpable.”
“I hope that a time will come when you can look back and know that despite the things that I did, that I care about each one of you,” Murdaugh said. “I’m still today haunted by that fact that I deceived each of you terribly.”
He said the sentence in the plea agreement was “certainly harsher than I had hoped for,” but that he pleaded guilty so the victims can “put this behind you.”
He also apologized to his family for “destroying” the family’s reputation “with these terrible things that I have done,” and said he should have gotten help sooner for his opioid addiction “before things got so out of control.”
Murdaugh’s attorneys had asked the judge to accept the negotiated plea agreement.
A jury found Murdaugh guilty earlier this year of fatally shooting his wife and son at the family’s rural hunting estate in June 2021.
He reiterated his innocence in their murders in court on Tuesday, saying, “I would never hurt Maggie, and I would never hurt Paul.”
Murdaugh is seeking to overturn the double murder conviction. His attorneys filed a motion for a new trial in that case in early September, alleging a Colleton County court clerk tampered with the jury. The clerk, Rebecca Hill, denied the allegations in an affidavit filed this month.
A judge will decide whether to grant Murdaugh a hearing in which Hill and the jurors will be questioned under oath.
Murdaugh separately pleaded guilty in September to nearly two dozen federal charges for similar financial crimes. He has yet to be sentenced in the federal case.
He also faces additional state charges including insurance fraud and filing a false police report after he told police he asked a friend to kill him in September 2021 so his other son could collect $10 million in life insurance.
(NEW YORK) — Pope Francis has canceled a trip to a climate conference in Dubai on doctor’s orders, according to the Holy See Press Office.
“Although the Holy Father’s general clinical picture has improved with regard to his flu-like condition and inflammation of the respiratory tract, doctors have asked the Pope not to make the trip planned for the coming days to Dubai for the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,” Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See Press Office, said in a statement.
The pope’s scheduled to hold his weekly public audience Wednesday morning and has a few other appointments set for this week that have not been canceled.
“Pope Francis accepted the doctors’ request with great regret and the trip is therefore cancelled,” the statement continued. “While the willingness of the Pope and the Holy See to be part of the discussions taking place in the coming days remains, the modalities by which this can be made concrete will be defined as soon as possible.”
He had been scheduled to leave Friday, give an address on Saturday and then return to Rome on Sunday afternoon.
On Nov. 25, the Vatican said Francis had gone to the hospital for a “checkup” after coming down with the flu.
On Monday, Bruni said the pope had receive a CT scan, which ruled out pneumonia, but showed lung inflammation “causing breathing difficulties.”
Francis, 86, met with Spanish bishops on Tuesday morning and Italian news agency ANSA reported he met with the Pontifical commission for the care of minors and with a group of French victims of clerical abuse at his Santa Marta residence.
Bruni had said earlier Tuesday that Francis was doing “quite well” and outlined the plan for the COP 28 visit. He said the pope had been scheduled for 30 “brief” meetings with heads of state and government officials.
He was also supposed to deliver a speech in Spanish at the conference and one at the inauguration of the Faith Pavilion, according to Bruni.
It was scheduled to be the pope’s 45th foreign visit.
(WAILUKU, Hawaii) — Three key Maui departments have been served subpoenas in order to move forward the Hawaii Attorney General’s Office investigation into the deadly wildfires as critical facts are still needed.
Hawaii Attorney General Anne E. Lopez subpoenaed the Maui Emergency Management Agency, the County of Maui Department of Public Works, and the County of Maui Department of Water Supply on Monday in connection with the deadly August wildfires on Maui.
Lopez said she hopes the subpoenas can quicken the pace at which “critical facts” are gathered from “key stakeholders” to move forward in this first stage of the investigation. This includes a “comprehensive scientific analysis on how the fire incident unfolded,” according to a statement by the attorney general’s office.
“We appreciate the cooperation of the Maui fire and police departments, and while we continue to work through some issues, their leaders and line responders have been transparent and cooperative,” Lopez said in a statement.
The wildfires left at least 100 people dead and thousands of buildings destroyed, causing more than $5.5 billion in damage. The tragedy has had a deep emotional and economic toll on the region, as the homes and businesses lost in the blaze have yet to be recovered.
Questions continue to be raised by both residents and legislators about who is at fault and what could have been done to prevent the deadly wildfires in West Maui, as lawsuits continue to pile up and point fingers.
According to the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI), which is aiding in the investigation, more than 100 community member interviews have been conducted, and more than 1,000 videos and images of the incident have been shared with the organization.
The FSRI team has also been interviewing local emergency services as well as federal, state, and local groups for first-person perspectives.
The investigation was announced in August shortly after the tragedy to “find the facts and develop new policies and procedures to save lives and property in the future,” according to the attorney general’s office.
