(NEW YORK) — When Nisa Betancourt graduated college in May 2020, it was an unusual time.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Betancourt was unable to accept her diploma in person and the federal government placed a pause on student loan repayments and set interest rates to 0%.
Despite her disappointment at not walking across the stage, Betancourt said the pause in repayments felt like a blessing in disguise.
“I definitely felt a sense of relief because I felt like I was finally on my own without worrying about that additional expense that would have come way earlier than it did,” Betancourt said. “I would not have been able to move out and I probably would still be at home had they not been paused.”
Three years later, student loan repayments have resumed, and Betancourt is one of over 28 million borrowers who have begun or restarted their payments, a process that has been marred by administrative errors, such as incorrect bills and late notices to borrowers.
Betancourt, an account executive for a public relations firm, knew the day would come when she would have to make payments. She also knew she had to make lifestyle changes to accommodate the shift — everything from meal prepping and cutting back on social activities to taking on freelance work on the weekends, facilitating Zoom meetings for a company that offers equity, diversity and inclusion workshops for companies across the country.
“The money that I make from my freelance gigs goes straight towards my student loans. It’s specific to that and it’s budgeted to go towards those payments,” Betancourt explained.
Today, Betancourt submits payments that total nearly $600 per month to chip away at her student loan debt, which is approximately $52,000.
“I’m afraid that I’m not going to be able to pay them back, even though I have been taking these extra measures and taking these extra steps to make sure that I have it under control,” Betancourt said of how she feels about her student debt.
In June, the Supreme Court overturned President Joe Biden’s attempt at student debt relief, a sweeping student loan forgiveness program, but the administration recently released a draft of a narrower policy that could take effect next year, which aims to help student loan borrowers who are the most affected by their debts. Student loan borrowers also currently have a yearlong grace period if they miss a payment until September 2024 although interest will continue to accrue.
Mary Ryan, a senior wealth adviser with Vanguard Personal Advisor Services, told “GMA” borrowers should consider what they can control instead of what they can’t when it comes to student debt payments.
“You want to think about, ‘What can you control?’ And that control is what you spend,” Ryan said. “You need to focus on what’s going on in your house, what payments you need to make and be prepared for what you have to do, because we don’t know what’s going to be happening in Washington. But you do know what you have to do, and I would stay focused on that.”
Despite her daunting debt, Betancourt said she is hopeful about paying it all off.
“Making that first payment, I saw I was able to see how much I actually have in debt but also feel like I can get it done and [hope] that all of the steps that I’ve taken and all of those measures that I’ve taken will eventually pay off in the end,” she said.
David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images
(LOS ANGELES) — California Gov. Gavin Newson said Monday afternoon that the fire that shut down the I-10 freeway in Los Angeles is being investigated as arson.
Newsom broke the news at a press conference about the incident alongside Mayor Karen Bass.
Due to the I-10 — a major east-to-west artery in Los Angeles — being shut down in both directions, Bass suggested locals take other routes, work from home or take the Metro.
“We’re getting the 10 freeway up and running as fast as possible,” she said during the news conference.
Over the weekend, commuters in Los Angeles began bracing for an all-day traffic nightmare Monday after the I-10 was shut down indefinitely by a massive fire that erupted in a storage yard underneath the raised freeway.
The I-10, traversed by more than 300,000 drivers daily, remained closed in both directions as authorities suggested a series of detours and announced there is no timeline on when the thoroughfare through downtown Los Angeles will reopen.
“As we made clear yesterday, this was a huge fire, and the damage will not be fixed in an instant,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said during a news conference Monday morning. “Engineers have worked all night and are working right now to determine our path forward.”
On Sunday, Bass said, “There’s no reason to think this is going to be over in a couple of days.”
“We cannot give you an estimate of time right now,” Bass said of when the freeway might reopen.
Bass told commuters earlier on Monday to expect epic traffic jams akin to what was seen after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, a 6.7-magnitude shaker that collapsed several freeways in the Los Angeles area.
“For those of you who remember the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Caltrans [the California Department of Transportation] worked around the clock to complete emergency repairs to the freeways — and this structural damage calls for the same level of urgency and effort,” Bass said.
The fire broke out underneath the I-10 just after midnight Saturday, ripping through numerous wooden pallets, trailers and vehicles stored below the raised interstate, officials said. The fire sent thick smoke and towering flames into the sky and dealt a challenge to more than 160 firefighters who responded to put out the blaze.
The out-of-control fire burned for three hours and spread over what authorities described as the equivalent of six football fields before it was extinguished. About 16 homeless people living underneath the highway were evacuated to shelters, officials said.
Mayor Bass said Monday afternoon that no information is known beyond arson being the suspected origin of the fire. She also urged people not to jump to conclusions.
“There is no reason to assume that the origin of this fire or the reason this fire happened was because there were unhoused individuals nearby,” she said, adding, “I want you to know we are working urgently to address this crisis.”
Caltrans officials said crews are still assessing the damage caused to columns and support beams under the freeway, but could not say when it would be cleared to reopen. Hazardous materials teams are also clearing burned material from the site.
“We’re seeing a lot of … concrete that’s flaked off the columns. The underside of the bridge deck may be compromised,” said Lauren Wonder, a Caltrans spokesperson. “It’s sort of a waiting situation right now. We don’t have an estimated time of opening, but Caltrans wants to ensure that this bridge is safe to put traffic back on it.”
Newsom declared a state of emergency to help facilitate cleanup and repairs to the freeway.
“Remember, this is an investigation as to the cause of how this occurred, as well as a hazmat and structural engineering question,” Newsom said earlier. “Can you open a few lanes? Can you retrofit the columns? Is the bridge deck intact to allow for a few lanes to remain open again?”
Rafael Molina, deputy district director for the division of traffic at the California Department of Transporation, said Monday morning that there were early indications that commuters were heeding the warnings.
“In looking at the traffic data earlier this morning, I am somewhat pleased to say that the congestion was a little bit lighter than normal,” Molina said. “However, please, if you don’t need to be in downtown Los Angeles, please avoid those trips.”
Transportation officials said the storage area that caught fire is leased by a private company.
California Secretary of Transportation Toks Omishakin said officials are reevaluating whether to continue allowing storage yards under highways, but noted that such places are common across the state and nation.
(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 13, 5:55 PM EST
Court adjourns for day after tax lawyer’s testimony
The defense wrapped up the first day of its case with testimony from Donald Trump’s former external tax lawyer, Sheri Dillon, who returned to the witness stand to clarify her actions related to conservation easements at Trump’s properties.
Dillon previously testified during a lengthy and combative portion of the state’s case.
“Welcome back. I feel like I am at a reunion — Trump trial reunion,” Judge Engoron joked when Dillon returned to the courtroom.
Dillon, explaining a potential gap in email communications about specific deals, testified that she often communicated with Eric Trump over the phone.
“If I picked up the phone and talked to him, I would know he knew what he needed to know,” Dillon testified.
She also said she advised Trump’s appraiser, David McArdle, that the company could add 40 additional residential units at Trump National Golf Club in New York’s Westchester County by filing a new offering plan, according to an email shown in court. The clarification challenges the New York attorney general’s allegation that a $101 million increase in the value of undeveloped land was based on an unfounded plan by Eric Trump to add units to the property.
During a short cross-examination, state attorney Louis Solomon attempted to challenge Dillon’s authority to provide such legal information to McArdle.
“Do you know if a sponsor has a right to have an offering plan accepted for filing merely because the development meets the requirements for zoning?” Solomon asked.
“No, I do not,” she responded.
Dillon concluded her testimony, and court then adjourned for the day.
Nov 13, 5:41 PM EST
Trump Jr. acknowledges positive rapport with judge
Speaking outside the courthouse following his testimony for the defense, Donald Trump Jr. told ABC News that he seems to have a positive relationship with Judge Engoron.
“Perhaps there’s a New York personality there, but no I think he understood,” Trump Jr. said when ABC News suggested he and the judge appeared to get along. “I can’t help myself even in this very serious situation. If you take yourself too seriously the world sort of sucks. You got to have a little bit of fun with it, so I did.”
His relationship with the judge appears to stand in contrast to that of his father, who has accused Engoron of bias and insulted him from the witness stand.
“We had some quips in the courtroom the first time I was here,” Trump Jr. said of Engoron. “Sort of gave me a fist bump on the way out. I guess I had a rather snappy response to something that was — I can’t even remember what it was right now. He said, ‘That was really funny.'”
Asked by ABC News whether Trump Jr. shared his father’s views about the judge being biased, the son demurred.
“Listen, I don’t even know how far the gag order applies, so I don’t need to do that and put myself — I’m in enough crosshairs, guys,” he said.
Nov 13, 4:56 PM EST
Trump Jr. says aunt’s death made for a ‘rough day’
Following the completion of his testimony, Donald Trump Jr. made the first family comments acknowledging the death of his aunt, Maryanne Trump Barry, calling it “a rough day.”
“Obviously, a little bit of a rough day, but I’ve still got to deal with this stuff. We’ve got to keep doing it. That’s the nature of all of this. But no, it’s a rough day for myself and my family,” Trump Jr. said of the news that former President Trump’s sister had passed away at 86.
Trump Jr. also slammed New York Attorney General Letitia James for bringing the civil fraud case despite what Trump Jr. said was “no actual person complaining other than the attorney general herself.”
“Hopefully, one day the people of this great city will realize what’s going on. They’ll realize the destructive practices here. They’ll realize just how insane that is. And they’ll be begging for guys like Donald Trump to come back to New York City to reshape the skyline as he’s done for decades,” Trump Jr. said.
He said he does not plan to return to court for the continuation of the defense’s case tomorrow.
Nov 13, 3:43 PM EST
Donald Trump Jr. concludes testimony
Donald Trump Jr. stepped off the witness stand after roughly three hours of testimony.
His own attorney, Clifford Robert, concluded his direct examination by asking Trump Jr. about the fate of the Trump Organization.
“I guess a lot of that depends on what happens next November,” Trump Jr said, speculating that the company might be “sued into oblivion.”
Assistant New York Attorney General Colleen Faherty cross-examined Trump Jr. for less than ten minutes about the deterioration of Trump’s assets, including financial problems at 40 Wall Street and Trump’s licensed hotel in Hawaii. Trump Jr. appeared unfamiliar with the 40 Wall Street issues and said he was happy with the Hilton’s deal to buy out the Trump Organization’s Hawaii hotel licensing deal.
Nov 13, 2:54 PM EST
Trump Jr. says golf course site was ‘old-school New York mob job’
Donald Trump Jr., in testimony for the defense, touted the work of the Trump Organization to convert a landfill in the Bronx, New York, into a “absolutely incredible” golf course.
“It was raw dirt. It had been that way for a long time,” Trump Jr. said of the original site of Trump Links Ferry Point near the Whitestone Bridge.
“People were supposedly trying to build a golf course for years,” Trump Jr. said about previous efforts to build the facility, describing it as an “old-school New York mob job” where people got paid to move dirt around but not build anything.
Trump Jr. said that once his father got involved in the project, the site was successfully transformed in a matter of months.
Nov 13, 1:42 PM EST
Trump Jr. to get new and improved sketch
When he was last in court, Donald Trump Jr. took a particular interest in his courtroom sketch.
“He said, ‘Make me look sexy,'” the sketch artist Jane Rosenberg told ABC News. By some accounts, the result was underwhelming.
Rosenberg has another opportunity to draw Trump Jr. with his return to court, and she thinks the new iteration is coming along well.
“I think they get better every time,” she told ABC News.
Earlier in his testimony, Trump Jr. joked about a photo of his brother Eric Trump.
When the slideshow Trump Jr. was narrating displayed a professional headshot of his brother, Trump Jr. took a job at his younger sibling.
“A lot of Photoshop,” Trump Jr. joked.
Nov 13, 1:12 PM EST
Trump Jr. assails judge’s finding on Mar-a-Lago
In presenting a slideshow chronicling the Trump Organization’s properties, Donald Trump Jr. highlighted many of their luxury features and iconic views — implicitly suggesting their value.
That’s particularly true of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, which Judge Engoron in a pretrial ruling determined was worth only a fraction of the amount claimed by Donald Trump, because Trump signed a deed that restricted its use to a social club, thereby limiting its resale value.
Describing how he took “umbrage” to the judge’s determination that Mar-a-Lago was worth between $18 and $28 million, Trump Jr. highlighted specific features to challenge that finding. Showing an aerial photo of the property, Trump Jr. said that a nearby home whose size was dwarfed by the social club has been on sale for $50 million.
“You couldn’t build that atrium for $18 million today,” Trump Jr. said while presenting a photo of the building’s historic atrium.
Nov 13, 12:53 PM EST
With glossy slides, Trump Jr. recounts firm’s story
Donald Trump’s testimony in the defense’s case has so far centered around a slide show being presented by the defense, entitled “The Trump Story,” that paints a timeline of Donald Trump’s real estate acquisitions. When state attorneys objected to the glossy presentation — which Trump Jr. acknowledged was created by his marketing team — the judge allowed the slides, and thus permitted Trump Jr. to testify unrestrained about the company’s properties.
“He’s an artist with real estate. He sees the things other people don’t,” Trump Jr. said at one point when describing his father.
As he narrates the slide show, Trump Jr.’s testimony resembles a lecture on real estate, sprinkled with details about his family’s properties — such as the individual stones used to construct the Seven Springs estate or the bank safes at 40 Wall Street, which he said once stored gold from the Federal Reserve.
“They’re actually spectacular … it’s truly a mechanical work of art,” Trump Jr. said of the safes.
Referencing broken down historic properties that the company has transformed back to their former glory, Trump Jr. called such properties the “canvas” for his his “father’s art.”
“He understands and has an incredible vision that other people don’t,” Trump Jr. said.
After a particular lengthy response, Trump Jr. referenced his father’s own tendency to speak in prolonged monologues, joking, “I got half the genes.”
Nov 13, 11:06 AM EST
Trump Jr. details history of Trump Organization
Testifying for the defense, former President Trump’s eldest son described his father as a real estate “visionary” who “sees the sexiness in a real estate project,” creating value for the family business that cannot be captured on paper.
Donald Trump Jr. began his testimony with a quip after Judge Engoron welcomed him back to the stand following his testimony earlier in the month.
“I’d say it’s good to be here, but the attorney general would probably sue me for perjury,” Trump Jr. joked.
In his testimony, Trump Jr. described the Trump Organization as “a large family business,” with Trump and his eldest children at the top and other executives handling many of the details.
“If there were numbers and things, I would rely on them to give me that,” Trump Jr. said.
He recounted the history of the Trump Organization, beginning with his great-grandfather who he said built hotels in the Yukon Territories of Canada. His grandfather, Fred Trump, “started working on job sites around Queens, learned the trades” and eventually “created an incredible portfolio, by the time of his passing, of rental apartments in Brooklyn and Queens.”
A state attorney jokingly objected that references to the 1800s were outside the statute of limitations — then more seriously objected to the history lesson’s relevance.
“I think it is relevant to get the historical perspective — I find it interesting,” Judge Engoron said in overruling the objection. “Let him go ahead and say how great the Trump Organization is.”
Trump Jr. obliged.
“My father learned a lot of the business from him, but had some flair and saw New York City and Manhattan as the ultimate frontier,” he said. Speaking of Trump Tower, he said, “I think it would have been one of the first, I think great, ultra-luxury real estate emerging in Manhattan.”
Nov 13, 10:20 AM EST
Donald Trump Jr. takes the stand for the defense
“Would you like to call your first witness, defense?” Judge Arthur Engoron asked to begin court this morning.
“The defense calls Donald Trump Jr. to the stand,” defense attorney Clifford Robert responded.
Like his last time on the witness stand when he was called by state attorneys, Trump Jr. appears comfortable on the stand, punctuating his testimony with lighthearted remarks.
Robert began his direct examination with some questions about Trump Jr. ‘s biography, starting with his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania.
“Was a bartender for about 18 months,” Trump Jr. said about his first job out of college.
“Did you enjoy that?” Robert asked.
“I did,” said Trump Jr., joking that he had a challenging conversation with his father when he began that job.
Nov 13, 9:45 AM EST
Trump Jr., arriving in court, met with chants of ‘crime family’
Donald Trump Jr. and his defense lawyers arrived at the New York State Supreme Courthouse this morning to be met with a small crowd of protestors chanting “crime family.”
Trump Jr. did not make a statement before entering the courthouse, but offered a brief response to a question about his expected testimony.
Asked what he plans on saying today on the stand, he replied, “We’ll see what I’m asked.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James arrived at court shortly after Trump Jr. and took a seat in the courtroom with her staff.
Nov 13, 9:06 AM EST
Donald Trump Jr. attends UFC event ahead of testimony
Donald Trump Jr. took in some ultimate fighting ahead of his scheduled return to the witness stand this morning.
Trump Jr. attended a UFC doubleheader at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night with his father, in addition to Tucker Carlson, Kid Rock, and UFC president Dana White.
“I legitimately can’t think of a better squad to roll with,” Trump Jr. posted on social media.
Earlier that day while speaking at a campaign rally in New Hampshire, Donald Trump appeared to joke about appointing White to a position in a potential future administration.
“He’s a guy I’d like to make my Defense Chief. I wouldn’t call him my defense chief. I’d call him my ‘Offense Chief.’ He’d be my Offense Chief,” Trump said.
Nov 13, 8:32 AM EST
Defense to begin presenting its case
As Trump’s legal team prepares to begin presenting its case this morning, defense attorney Alina Habba says responsibility for the financial statements that the New York attorney general says are fraudulent lies with Trump’s external accounting firm.
Previewing the defense’s case during an appearance on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Habba also said the banks that loaned money to the Trump Organization were responsible for conducting their own due diligence regarding Trump’s financial statements.
The state rested its case last week in the sixth week of the trial. The defense has said they expect their case to wrap up by Dec. 15.
Habba also suggested that Donald Trump plans to file a motion seeking a mistrial.
While Habba declined to comment on alleged misconduct by Judge Arthur Engoron’s clerk — which she is prohibited from doing due to the limited gag order handed down by the judge — she said the issue would be addressed in their mistrial motion “very soon.”
“I actually can’t tell you why, because I am gagged. I can tell you that we will be filing papers to address all of those issues,” Habba said.
However, Habba downplayed the chance the motion would be favorably decided Engoron.
“The problem we have is the judge is the one who is going to make those decisions, and he has proven himself to be quite motivated by the other side,” Habba said.
Nov 11, 1:51 PM EST
Court administrator responds to Stefanik’s complaint
In response to Rep. Elise Stefanik’s letter of complaint against Judge Engoron that she filed Friday with the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, a spokesperson for New York State Office of Court Administration has issued a statement.
“Judge Engoron’s actions and rulings in this matter are all part of the public record and speak for themselves,” said Office of Court Administration communications director Al Baker. “It is inappropriate to comment further.”
Nov 10, 8:17 PM EST
Rep. Stefanik files complaint against Judge Engoron
Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York has filed a judicial complaint against Judge Arthur Engoron.
The letter, addressed to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, largely concerns the judge’s rulings in the case and his public statements, and is unlikely to impact the proceedings of the trial.
“Judge Engoron’s bizarre and biased behavior is making New York’s judicial system a laughingstock,” Stefanik, a staunch Trump supporter, wrote.
The lengthy letter echoes some of Trump’s attacks on the trial, criticizing Engoron’s limited gag order in the case, the actions of his legal clerk, his summary judgment ruling, and his comments during Trump’s testimony this week.
“Simply put, Judge Engoron has displayed a clear judicial bias against the defendant throughout the case, breaking several rules in the New York Code of Judicial Conduct,” Stefanik wrote.
(WASHINGTON) — The National Guard will be assisting local police on Tuesday as tens of thousands of people are expected to attend two large-scale demonstrations in the nation’s capital, according to officials.
The first rally, the “March For Israel,” is being organized by the Jewish Federations of North America and will begin shortly before noon, according to a permit filed with the National Park Service.
The permit states that it is expected to bring up to 60,000 people to Washington to “show solidarity and support for Israel and the Israeli People” amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack, in which the extremists are believed to have also taken more than 200 captives.
“March to free the hostages. March against antisemitism. March for peace,” organizers posted on X on Monday.
Lawmakers are set to speak, too, according to the permit.
Despite the name, the event will not include a march and will take place entirely on the National Mall, where significant fencing had been erected as of Monday night.
A second event on Tuesday, called the “Here To Work” protest, will be in support of immigration reform. Organizers have said that “thousands will converge” to demonstrate for authorizing work permits for immigrants currently without that documentation “who have been members of our communities, raised families, worked and paid taxes for years or even decades.”
According to a permit filed for the demonstration, they are expecting up to 5,000 people to march from the U.S. Capitol to Lafayette Park outside of the White House and rally for several hours while calling for additional government action to “grant relief to immigrants.”
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said Monday that police had “asked for mutual assistance and support from the National Guard” and, with road closures planned, “the National Guard will be supporting some traffic safety points.”
“We continue to monitor we expect a large gathering,” Bowser said. “We are paying attention to the numbers of buses that are coming, and I think we can expect tens of thousands of people.”
The Department of Homeland Security designated Tuesday’s rally as a “Level 1” security event, the highest rating of risk assessment, sources told ABC News.
The assessment, which ABC News has obtained a copy of, indicates no “specific, actionable threat” but echoes previous warnings from federal authorities.
For comparison, the Super Bowl is routinely designated a Level 1, which DHS says is “defined as having such significant national and/or international importance that it may require extensive federal interagency security and incident management preparedness.”
In a separate statement, Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson Paris Lewbel said that authorities are “committed to ensuring the safety and security of all residents and visitors to the District. We recognize the importance of upholding the First Amendment rights of individuals to peacefully express their views, and we are committed to facilitating lawful demonstrations while maintaining public order.”
“Currently, there are no credible threats,” Lewbel said.
(ORCHARD PARK, N.Y.) — A 65-year-old man was fatally struck by a vehicle after Monday’s Buffalo Bills game at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, law enforcement officials said.
The Rochester resident was struck by a vehicle near Stadium Drive, Orchard Park Police said. He was treated by EMS but ultimately succumbed to his injuries, officials said.
New York State Police and Buffalo Police later located a vehicle suspected to have been involved in Buffalo. A suspect is not in custody at this time, officials said.
A second man, a 36-year-old from Buffalo, was also hit by a vehicle near the stadium Monday evening, police said.
That man is in serious condition at Erie County Medical Center, after authorities said the man crossed the street into the path of a vehicle which had the right of way, police said. The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with police, officials said.
(NEW YORK) — Paul Pelosi, the husband of Democratic Rep. and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, took the stand Monday in the trial against the man accused of breaking into the couple’s home last year and striking him in the head with a hammer.
Pelosi, 83, suffered a skull fracture when the suspect, David DePape, attacked him after they struggled over the hammer when police arrived during the Oct. 28, 2022, incident at Pelosi’s California home.
DePape, 43, was arrested and charged with attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official with intent to retaliate against the official for performance of their duties. He has pleaded not guilty.
Pelosi came and faced his alleged attacker in court and provided clear details about the incident.
He said he was alone in the home while Rep. Pelosi was in Washington when DePape burst through his bedroom door holding a hammer in one hand and some ties in the other, repeatedly asking, “Where’s Nancy?”
“I recognized I was in serious danger, so I tried to stay as calm as possible,” Pelosi testified.
After Pelosi testified that his wife wasn’t in the home, he said DePape responded, “Well, then we’re going to have to wait for her. I’m going to have to tie you up and we’ll wait for her.”
Pelosi said that he tried to leave the room and head to an elevator that led to the ground floor, but was blocked by the defendant and ultimately got to his bathroom, where he called 911. DePape followed him into the bathroom, according to Pelosi.
“He told me he was going to take me out. I had to try to convey to the 911 person I was in trouble,” he testified. “I thought I had a very difficult time trying to let them know.”
DePape took the phone, Pelosi testified. Pelosi said he and the defendant made their way down to the first floor.
“I’m thinking, ‘I hope the police come,’ but what I knew was my only shot was going to be if we were downstairs and the police came, it would be so much easier to arrest him,” Pelosi testified. “God knows what he would have done if we were still on the third floor.”
When they reached the ground floor, Pelosi said he saw the broken entryway and DePape’s backpacks.
A short while later, officers showed up at the front door. DePape and Pelosi fought over the hammer while officers tried to get the defendant to stand down, and Pelosi was struck.
Pelosi said he doesn’t remember a lot of the details after the attack, which was captured on a police body camera, but did remember the “pool of blood.”
“I know that I was put in an ambulance and taken to the hospital. I knew there was some kind of conversation with the medics,” Pelosi said.
He was hospitalized for six days and returned home to recover.
Pelosi said the doctors advised him not to watch any coverage of the investigation.
“I’ve tried putting it out of my mind,” he said. “I made the best effort possible to not relive it.”
When asked about his recovery, Pelosi said he had to learn how to walk and be mobile again. He said he still gets a little lightheaded and has some headaches but not as much as immediately after the attack.
The defense did not have questions for Pelosi.
The judge said he aims to present the case to the jury by Wednesday.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security has designated Tuesday’s March for Israel in Washington, D.C., as a “Level 1” security event, the highest rating of risk assessment, sources tell ABC News.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas signed off on the designation earlier Monday, the sources said. For comparison, the Super Bowl is routinely designated a “Level 1,” which DHS says is “defined as having such significant national and/or international importance that it may require extensive federal interagency security and incident management preparedness.”
As part of the designation, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security have issued a “Joint Special Threat Assessment” to other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies ahead of Tuesday’s event.
The assessment, which ABC News has obtained a copy of, indicates no “specific, actionable threat to the March for Israel,” but it also echoes previous warnings from the DHS and the FBI, saying: “DHS and FBI assess that lone actors inspired by, or reacting to, the ongoing Israel–HAMAS conflict pose the most likely threat to Americans, especially Jewish, Muslim, and Arab communities in the United States.”
“Since the 7 October attacks in Israel, we have observed an increase in threats to these communities, including reports of physical assaults, bomb threats, and online calls for mass casualty attacks. Tensions related to the ongoing Israel–HAMAS conflict, coupled with the widespread sharing of graphic and disturbing content related to this conflict, increase the prospects for violence in the United States with little to no warning,” the assessment read.
The assessment notes that “[s]pecial events with significant attendance and media coverage, like the March for Israel, remain an attractive target for foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs), homegrown violent extremists (HVEs), and domestic violent extremists (DVEs).”
And the assessment says: “High-profile events can draw individuals and groups wanting to engage in First Amendment-protected activities. These individuals, groups, law enforcement, and security elements may be targeted by malicious actors looking for targets of opportunity to perpetrate targeted violence and criminal schemes. Lone actors interested in targeted violence remain a concern.”
David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images
(LOS ANGELES) — Commuters in Los Angeles are bracing for an all-day traffic nightmare after one of the nation’s busiest freeways was shut down indefinitely by a massive fire that erupted over the weekend in a storage yard underneath the normally congested artery.
The 10 Freeway, traversed by more than 300,000 drivers daily, remained closed in both directions as authorities suggested a series of detours and announced there is no timeline on when the thoroughfare through downtown Los Angeles will reopen.
“As we made clear yesterday, this was a huge fire and the damage will not be fixed in an instant,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said during a news conference Monday morning. “Engineers have worked all night and are working right now to determine our path forward.”
On Sunday, Bass said, “There’s no reason to think this is going to be over in a couple of days.”
“We cannot give you an estimate of time right now,” Bass said of when the freeway might reopen.
Bass told commuters to expect epic traffic jams akin to what was seen after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, a 6.7 magnitude shaker that collapsed several freeways in the Los Angeles area.
“For those of you who remember the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Caltrans [the California Department of Transportation] worked around the clock to complete emergency repairs to the freeways — and this structural damage calls for the same level of urgency and effort,” Bass said.
The fire broke out underneath the 10 Freeway just after midnight Saturday, ripping through numerous wooden pallets, trailers and vehicles stored below the raised interstate, officials said. The fire sent thick smoke and towering flames into the sky and dealt a challenge to more than 160 firefighters who responded to put out the blaze.
The out-of-control fire burned for three hours and spread over what authorities described as the equivalent of six football fields before it was extinguished. About 16 homeless people living underneath the highway were evacuated to shelters, officials said.
The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.
Caltrans officials said crews are still assessing the damage caused to columns and support beams under the freeway, but could not say when it would be cleared to reopen. Hazardous materials teams are also clearing burned material from the site.
“We’re seeing a lot of … concrete that’s flaked off the columns. The underside of the bridge deck may be compromised,” said Lauren Wonder, a Caltrans spokesperson. “It’s sort of a waiting situation right now. We don’t have an estimated time of opening, but Caltrans wants to ensure that this bridge is safe to put traffic back on it.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency to help facilitate cleanup and repairs to the freeway.
“Remember, this is an investigation as to the cause of how this occurred, as well as a hazmat and structural engineering question,” Newsom said. “Can you open a few lanes? Can you retrofit the columns? Is the bridge deck intact to allow for a few lanes to remain open again?”
Los Angeles transportation officials are warning drivers to expect gridlock and suggested they work from home, take public transportation or adhere to suggested alternate routes to other major freeways, including Interstate 5 and Highway 101, to maneuver around the closed section of the 10 Freeway. Transportation officials are requesting drivers to not detour to surface streets and clog neighborhoods along the closed freeway.
Rafael Molina, deputy district director for the division of traffic at the California Department of Transporation, said Monday morning that there are early indications that commuters are heeding the warnings.
“In looking at the traffic data earlier this morning, I am somewhat pleased to say that the congestion was a little bit lighter than normal,” Molina said. “However, please, if you don’t need to be in downtown Los Angeles, please avoid those trips.”
Transportation officials said the storage area that caught fire is leased by a private company.
California Secretary of Transportation Toks Omishakin said officials are reevaluating whether to continue allowing storage yards under highways, but noted that such places are common across the state and nation.
(ATLANTA) — Police and protesters clashed on Monday near the construction site of the Atlanta Public Safety Training facility that has been dubbed “Cop City” by critics.
Protesters began marching toward the site this morning after a weekend of preparations to “bring construction to a halt,” organizers say.
In an online statement, DeKalb County police protesters “began an unpermitted march …blocking two of four lanes of traffic” at 10:30 a.m.
“We were part of the way there on a road when we encountered a large line of police. We tried to non-violently get past them, and they responded with violence,” said Block Cop City spokesperson Jamie Peck.
DeKalb County officials say they informed protesters that they were obstructing the road and would not be permitted to move forward.
“The protesters ignored the commands by DeKalb County Police & began to force their way through a line of 30 DeKalb County Police officers,” the police department said in a statement.
Peck said that protesters were then beaten, sprayed with pepper spray and that medics helping others were targeted by police. Peck added that flashbang grenades were also used against the crowd.
“They shot us with flashbang grenades, which are designed to terrify people as if they are in a war zone,” said Peck.
Police confirmed that tear gas canisters were used to disperse the protesters.
No injuries have been reported and no arrests have been made as of noon, said the department.
One of the critiques held against the new training center is that it could lead to greater police militarization.
Protesters argue today’s incident proves it, pointing to past claims from the police department officials “claiming that the cops would protect peaceful protesters who were exercising their First Amendment right to protest and they showed us that is patently untrue,” said Peck.
Construction of the 85-acre, $90 million facility is ongoing, and is set to be completed by December 2024.
The center will include an “auditorium for police/fire and public use,” a “mock city for burn building training and urban police training,” an “Emergency Vehicle Operator Course for emergency vehicle driver training,” a K-9 unit kennel and training, according to the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center’s website.
The larger movement against the center, called Stop Cop City, has been ongoing for the last two years, arguing that the center will both militarize the police force and impact the South River Forest.
Controversy around the center escalated when a protester, Manuel Esteban Páez Terán, who used they/them pronouns, was shot and killed by police as they raided the campground occupied by demonstrators in January. Officials say the protester fired the first shot at a state trooper, and the officer responded with the fatal shot.
The Atlanta Police Foundation, a nonprofit that’s supporting the center’s construction, has said the center will promote “first-rate training.”
“Policing and firefighting are continually evolving,” a statement on their website reads. “In late 2024, Atlanta’s citizens will have law enforcement agencies whose cultural, operational and community training regimens will be the best in the nation.”
(ATLANTA) — As part of a plea deal, one of former President Donald Trump’s attorneys has told prosecutors in Georgia that she was informed in the wake of the 2020 election that Donald Trump was “not going to leave” the White House — despite the fact that he had already lost the election and most of his subsequent challenges.
The revelation, along with others, came during a confidential interview the attorney, Jenna Ellis, had with Fulton County investigators. ABC News has obtained portions of videos of the proffer sessions of both Ellis and Sidney Powell, two attorneys who aided Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. The videos for the first time reveal details of what they have told law enforcement since agreeing to cooperate last month in the district attorney’s election interference case.
Ellis, in her proffer session, informed prosecutors that senior Trump White House official Dan Scavino told her “the boss” would refuse to leave the White House despite losing the election, and alluded to two other instances she said were “relevant” to prosecutors — but appeared to be prevented from disclosing those in the video portions obtained by ABC News due to attorney-client privilege, which hindered portions of her proffer.
Powell, meanwhile, explained to prosecutors her plans for seizing voting machines nationwide and claimed that she frequently communicated with Trump during her efforts to overturn the 2020 election — though both now claim she was never his attorney.
In the session, Powell reiterated the false assertion that Trump won the election — but acknowledged in the video that she didn’t know much about election law to begin with.
“Did I know anything about election law? No,” she told Fulton County prosecutors. “But I understand fraud from having been a prosecutor for 10 years, and knew generally what the fraud suit should be if the evidence showed what I thought it showed.”
A spokesperson for the Fulton County District Attorney did not respond to a request for comment. Attorneys for Ellis and Powell declined to comment when reached by ABC News. Scavino also did not respond.
In a statement to ABC News, Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead counsel in the Fulton County case, called the “purported private conversation,” as described by Ellis, “absolutely meaningless.”
“The only salient fact to this nonsense line of inquiry is that President Trump left the White House on January 20, 2021, and returned to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida,” Sadow said. “If this is the type of bogus, ridiculous ‘evidence’ DA Willis intends to rely upon, it is one more reason that this political, travesty of a case must be dismissed.”
Proffer sessions, which are often required as part of plea deals, occur when a defendant meets with law enforcement to disclose information that would be helpful to prosecutors. The videos obtained by ABC News do not appear to depict Ellis and Powell’s full proffer sessions, but rather appear to be excerpts that total nearly an hour and a half. At one point in the videos, prosecutors indicate that Powell, in her session, answered “three hours of questions.”
Trump and 18 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. Ellis and Powell, in addition to two other defendants, have since agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges and avoid jail time in exchange for their cooperation in the case.
The former president has blasted Fulton County District Attorney Fani Wills’ investigation as being politically motivated.
‘We are just going to stay in power’
Ellis, who at one point was one of Trump’s most loyal lieutenants, frequently appeared on TV and in high-profile legislative sessions spreading false claims of election fraud following the 2020 election. In total, the Trump campaign paid her nearly $195,000 for her legal services between 2019 and 2021, according to Federal Election Commission records.
In the video of prosecutors’ Oct. 23 proffer session with Ellis, she said that one of Trump’s top White House aides, Dan Scavino, allegedly told her “in an excited tone” at a White House Christmas party weeks after the 2020 election that “the boss is not going to leave under any circumstances.”
Ellis specifically noted during the proffer session that the alleged comment from Scavino, who worked for Donald Trump for decades at the Trump Organization before joining his first presidential bid, came in response to her apologizing over the lack of success with their election challenges in court, culminating with a Supreme Court loss that indicated their ability to challenge the election “was essentially over.”
“And he said to me, in a kind of excited tone, ‘Well, we don’t care, and we’re not going to leave,'” Ellis said of the alleged Dec. 19 conversation with Scavino. “And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he said ‘Well, the boss’, meaning President Trump — and everyone understood ‘the boss,’ that’s what we all called him — he said, ‘The boss is not going to leave under any circumstances. We are just going to stay in power.'”
Ellis continued, “And I said to him, ‘Well, it doesn’t quite work that way, you realize?’ and he said, ‘We don’t care.'”
Ellis told prosecutors that both were consuming alcohol during the party, but that she did not believe that factored into Scavino’s apparent mindset or her memory of the event, according to the proffer video.
Ellis also told prosecutors that in her mind, the fact that Scavino offered the information immediately after she brought up the Supreme Court loss “indicated to me that he was serious and that was in furtherance of something that he had discussed with the boss.”
The account given by Ellis to prosecutors, as revealed in the proffer video, echoes earlier reporting this year from The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, who reported in her book, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America,” that Trump had told aides, “I’m just not going to leave” and “we’re never leaving.”
Ellis’ account illustrates one of the most concrete examples yet of one of those instances, which has now been given directly to prosecutors — who were cautious throughout the exchange not to wade into areas protected by attorney-client privilege.
Former Georgia prosecutor Chris Timmons, an ABC News contributor, said that Ellis’ testimony may ultimately assist Georgia prosecutors at trial — but that the evidence might not be a “kill shot,” given the comment did not come directly from the former president.
“Assuming Ms. Ellis testifies consistently at trial, her testimony about the Scavino conversation would help the State prove its allegation that the former President conspired with others to unlawfully change the result of the election,” said Timmons. “But that evidence is not a ‘kill shot’ in that it didn’t come directly from the former President.”
‘Rudy called me every name in the book’
After Powell accepted her plea deal in Georgia on Oct. 19, Trump quickly took to social media to try to distance himself from Powell. “Despite the Fake News reports to the contrary, and without even reaching out to ask the Trump Campaign, MS. POWELL WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY, AND NEVER WAS,” Trump wrote on Trump Social. Ahead of her plea deal, Powell through her lawyer, also said she never represented Trump or his campaign, The New York Times reported.
Still, Powell described in her proffer interview being in close and repeated contact with then-President Trump, claiming that she frequently received calls from Trump asking for updates on their efforts to overturn the election — even as the Trump campaign publicly distanced itself from her in November 2020.
Powell, in her proffer, recalled a conversation with Trump in which she expressed remorse to Trump that “none of our cases were panning out.”
“We were filing our cert petitions, but it wasn’t looking good for anything to happen in his direction,” Powell said of her legal challenges. “He always wanted to know where things were in terms of finding fraud that would change the results of the election.”
Powell also listed multiple meetings she had with Trump, his top advisers and the campaign — including her take on the now-infamous meeting held in the White House Oval Office on Dec. 18, 2020, in which Trump and his advisers allegedly discussed seizing voting machines as part of their effort to contest the election.
Trump, said Powell, “was specifically willing to appoint me special counsel” — a move that would have granted her substantial legal powers. “In fact, he looked over at [White House Counsel Pat] Cipollone three different times and said, ‘Do I have the authority to name her special counsel?’ and Cipollone said, ‘Yes, you do,'” she said in the video.
“And then somebody said, ‘Well, she doesn’t have a security clearance,'” Powell said. “So he looked at Cipollone and he said, ‘Do I have the authority to give her a security clearance?’ and Cipollone said, ‘Yes, you do.’ And then about the third time we went through that scenario, Cipollone, I think, said, ‘You can name her anything you want, Mr. President, and nobody’s going to pay a bit of attention to it.'”
Powell, who discussed the Dec. 18 meeting in her deposition with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, told the committee that she took Cipollone’s comment to mean that Trump “wasn’t getting the legal counsel he needed, or the support from his staff.”
The Oval Office meeting, which was also attended by Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn and then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, has been described by sources as highly contentious.
During her proffer, Powell said it was her belief that Trump wanted her to pursue the seizing of voting machines, and explained to prosecutors how she would have done it.
“I guess [Trump] assumed, and I would have thought, that I would have looked at putting into effect a provision of 13848 that would have allowed the machines to be secured in four or five states or cities,” Powell said, referring to a draft executive order Trump considered signing, but did not, that would have given the Director of National Intelligence the ability to conduct an assessment of any information indicating that a foreign government, or any person acting as an agent of or on behalf of a foreign government, was interfering in the election.
When asked how she would have determined which states to target, Powell said she would have focused on states that she believed had “statistical anomalies” — despite there being no evidence of such anomalies.
Though Powell told prosecutors it was clear she would not get the special counsel appointment, she said she still followed up with Meadows the next day.
“I called Mark Meadows the next morning just to run it to ground, and said, ‘Hey, when can I come pick up my badge and my key?'” Powell said. “He essentially laughed — I mean he said, you know, ‘It’s not going to happen.'”
Powell also recounted an additional meeting with Meadows and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, with whom she worked to challenge the election results, that she said got “really ugly.”
“There was a big shouting match in which Rudy called me every name in the book and I was the worst lawyer he’d ever seen in his life. There were no circumstances under which he’d work with me on anything. He called me a bitch and I don’t know what all, and that’s pretty much all I remember about that one,” she said.
‘If I was right, he would remain president’
In discussing her direct conversations and meetings with Trump, Powell, in the portions of her proffer interview obtained by ABC News, told prosecutors that she never heard Trump concede that he lost the election even after being told by key aides that he had. Instead, she said he was following “instincts” that he won.
“All his instincts told him he had been defrauded, that the election was a big fraud,” Powell said. “Just general instincts that something wasn’t right here.”
Still, Powell said she was present when multiple advisers told him he had lost, and prosecutors pressed Powell over why the president followed her advice instead of his other advisers.
“Because I didn’t think he had lost,” Powell replied, later saying, “I saw an avenue pursuant to which, if I was right, he would remain president.”
Timmons, the former prosecutor, also told ABC News that the partial video reviewed of Powell’s sessions could end up helping the defense, because Powell appeared to sincerely believe there was election fraud and communicated that to Trump.
“That information would be helpful for the defense in that it bolsters a defense that the former president thought he was acting lawfully,” the former Georgia prosecutor said.
Ahead of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Powell said she remembered telling “everybody that I needed to get the hell out of D .C.” because she “didn’t think any of it was a good idea.”
“I just saw it as a really bad idea to have a rally over the end of the Trump presidency. I just wouldn’t have encouraged people,” said Powell, who made similar comments in her deposition with the House select Jan. 6 committee.
“In fact, there are several people that had plans to come up that I told not to come, and they didn’t come,” Powell said in the proffer video.
‘Shielded from the general public’
Ellis, in the proffer, also alluded to two other instances she said were “very relevant” to prosecutors — but she appeared, in the portions of the video obtained by ABC News, to be prevented from disclosing the details due to attorney-client privilege, which hindered portions of her proffer.
The first instance was a private conversation she said she had with another attorney while Giuliani was in the bathroom after the two appeared at a legislative hearing in Georgia in early December 2020. It was during that hearing that Giuliani pushed officials to change the election results, in part by pointing to a video he falsely claimed showed vote counts being altered by election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Freeman Moss, who later won a defamation lawsuit against Giuliani.
Regarding the second instance, Ellis told prosecutors she believed that information about the so-called fake elector plot was intentionally kept from her.
“My belief, essentially, [is] that was shielded from me specifically, but also from the general public, as far as what was actually going on,” Ellis said regarding the plot allegedly orchestrated by Trump and his allies in seven key swing states to produce and submit fake certificates certifying so-called alternative electors to secure Trump’s Electoral College victory in those states.
However, in the portions of the proffer video, prosecutors stopped Ellis from going into detail on either of those topics, instructing her that neither side wanted her to speak about any conversations that would be subject to attorney-client privilege. Ellis, as a result, did not provide details of those interactions — highlighting the extent to which she appeared to be constrained at times in her ability to cooperate with prosecutors.
In fact, in the portions of video obtained by ABC, Ellis never discussed any conversation she personally had with Trump.
Ellis, who in her remarks alternated between speaking on and off the record with prosecutors, instead discussed only the context surrounding the two incidents she couldn’t divulge, including saying that she first learned about the concept of the fake electors plot from Giuliani and current Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn.
“There was one group [text] thread that Boris initiated when — which was the first time that I learned of it — asking me to just join a phone call,” Ellis told prosecutors, who then stopped her from discussing the details of the call.
A day after her proffer interview, Ellis entered her guilty plea in Fulton County court — telling the court that she regretted her involvement with efforts to challenge the election.
“If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges,” Ellis tearfully told the judge. “I look back on this experience with deep remorse.”
