(PETALUMA, Calif.) — Federal prosecutors in Southern California have announced charges against 41-year-old Christian Beyer of Petaluma, California, who is accused of posting a YouTube video in which he threatened to kill military personnel who he believed had done him wrong at Fort Irwin in Southern California.
Beyer is an Army veteran who was court martialed in 2021 for assault and had been stationed at Fort Irwin.
In one YouTube video, prosecutors allege, he said “I had a great life and will die for what I believe in. If you come to get me and you have a uniform on you’re an enemy and I will not look at you as anything else.”
The military was worried that Beyer knew how to access Fort Irwin through means other than main gates.
Beyer was arrested Wednesday at his father’s home in Sonoma County.
On Oct. 30, he also allegedly got into a fight with a group of elderly people and reportedly pulled out a knife before driving his car toward the group and fleeing the scene.
A subsequent manhunt was launched for the suspect leading to Beyer’s arrest.
The FBI is part of the YouTube threats case as is its Joint Terrorism Task Force. Beyer has been charged with interstate threats which could bring a sentence of five years in federal prison.
Beyer is currently being held without bond and the investigation continues.
(OCONEE COUNTY, S.C.) — Police in South Carolina are investigating an incident involving a vehicle that drove through security fences at a nuclear power station on Thursday.
The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is now in the early stages of an investigation into an incident that occurred earlier this evening at the Oconee Nuclear Station when the E-911/Communications Center received a call from the Nuclear Station around 8:05 p.m. on Thursday and dispatched Deputies to the scene.
Police say that a “white male driving a silver 2002 Toyota Camry drove through the exit side of the gate on the Highway 183 side of the facility,” according to information obtained by Deputies from the Uniform Patrol Bureau.
“After the vehicle struck the pop-up barricades that security at the plant activated, the driver backed the vehicle up and proceeded down a dirt road, where Duke Energy security blocked the vehicle in, according to Deputies. The driver then drove through a fence after attempting to hit the security officers,” a press release from the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office read.
The driver then reportedly drove out of the exit of the plant where he attempted to hit a security truck with a guard in it, police say.
The driver then made his way back onto Highway 183 before driving into Pickens County and pulled onto some property on Jones Mill Road where shots were subsequently fired.
At this time, the source of the shots fired in the Jones Mill Road area is unknown.
The silver 2002 Toyota Camry has an Arkansas tag of 380VDR, according to information obtained during the investigation. The Sheriff’s Office has issued this information to surrounding agencies.
“About one hour before tonight’s incident, the same vehicle and driver also showed up on the property of the Oconee Nuclear Station. After being asked to leave, the driver drove off,” police said.
Anybody with any information on the whereabouts of the driver of a 2002 Toyota Camry with an Arkansas tag of 380VDR is asked to contact emergency authorities immediately.
(NEW YORK) — Officials have repeatedly sounded the alarm on the rise of antisemitism in recent years, and the ongoing war in the Middle East between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas appears to have incited a new wave of threats against Jewish communities in the United States, experts said.
“We know invariably when tensions flare in other parts of the world, the reverberations are felt everywhere, including in our homes and our communities,” said Melanie Pell, chief field operations officer of the American Jewish Committee. “So we’re really bracing for a very vulnerable time and thankfully, law enforcement is paying very close attention and is in constant coordination and collaboration with the Jewish community.”
At least 1,400 people have died and 4,629 others have been injured in Israel, according to Israeli authorities, since Oct. 7, when Hamas launched its surprise attack on Israel. In the neighboring Gaza Strip, at least 9,061 people have been killed and more than 23,000 have been injured, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
Experts and federal law enforcement agencies have been warning about the impact of antisemitism and extremism for years.
In 2022, before the current Israel-Hamas war, the FBI said it tracked 1,124 reported hate crimes directed at Jewish people or institutions in the U.S. It’s the highest number of anti-Jewish crimes since 1993, according to the FBI data.
Antisemitism in the mainstream
In the past few years, the rise of vocal neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups both online and in the streets as protesters — as well as the use of antisemitic rhetoric by some celebrities and politicians — has propagated the hateful rhetoric in the mainstream, experts say.
In November 2022, former President Donald Trump had a dinner with prominent white nationalist and alleged Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, as well as rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who has been criticized for promoting antisemitic conspiracies.
However, Trump played down his involvement with Fuentes, insisting he didn’t know who Fuentes was before they met and that he was unaware Fuentes would be joining the meal.
“This past week, Kanye West called me to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Shortly thereafter, he unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about,” Trump said in a statement at the time.
Jews have also long been the subject of conspiracy theories, including “replacement theory,” which has been seen as the motivation behind several mass shootings targeting marginalized communities — including in Buffalo, New York, where 10 people were shot and killed at a supermarket in the heart of a Black community.
“Great Replacement theory is the notion that people from minority populations, both here and in Europe, are replacing the existing white, largely Christian [population],” Larry Rosenthal, lead researcher of the Berkeley Center for Right-Wing Studies, told ABC News in a past interview.
Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong,” according to the U.S. Department of State. However, the department states in its working definition of antisemitism that criticism of Israel’s government, “similar to that leveled against any other country,” cannot always be regarded as antisemitic. The Israeli government has received criticism for the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza amid Israel’s retaliation against Hamas, which the U.S. government has designated a terrorist organization.
Officials have called white supremacists and other far-right-wing extremists the most significant domestic terrorism threat.
“Racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, including white supremacists … will likely remain the most lethal [domestic violent extremists] movement in the Homeland,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a 2021 statement to senators to provide an assessment of the current threats to the nation.
Acts of violence
Repeated instances of hate and antisemitic attacks have amped up fears in Jewish institutions and communities, prompting heightened security, as well as safety training. It has also put federal agencies on high alert.
In 2017, alt-right neo-Nazis and white supremacists marched through Charlottesville, Virginia, holding lit tiki torches and chanting Nazi-related phrases such as “blood and soil” and “Jews will not replace us” at a “Unite the Right” rally.
The tensions turned deadly when a 20-year-old Ohio man allegedly accelerated his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and leaving 19 others injured, five critically.
In 2018, the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, became the site of a mass shooting in which a white nationalist shot and killed 11 members of the congregation. Robert Bowers was convicted in June on all 63 charges against him, including 11 counts of hate crimes resulting in death.
In 2022, pro-Nazi protesters waving Nazi flags or shouting hate speech were seen in front of two separate Georgia synagogues in what was just one instance of hundreds of targeted anti-Jewish hate incidents.
That year, the FBI also announced a warning about a “broad threat” to New Jersey synagogues and urged people to “stay alert” and “take all security precautions.” The man who allegedly posted the threat told the FBI he is angry and dislikes Jewish people, but had no plans to do anything harmful.
“By seeking to turn the masses against the few, by scapegoating and dehumanizing others — and most of all — by stoking violence, the perpetrators of hate aim to upend our most cherished values and undermine our efforts to build a culture of respect, peace and cooperation,” President Joe Biden said in May when he announced the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.
“Protecting the Jewish community from antisemitism is essential to our broader fight against all forms of hate, bigotry and bias — and to our broader vision of a thriving, inclusive and diverse democracy,” he said.
Amid the current tensions overseas, federal agencies have warned Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities alike about the increase in threats seen against cultural and religious institutions, as well as individuals. Last month, an Illinois man was charged with stabbing a 6-year-old Muslim boy to death and seriously injuring his mother in what police said was a hate crime linked to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East. The suspect has pleaded not guilty in the fatal stabbing of the boy. Law enforcement agencies across the U.S. have implemented strategies to tackle the climate of fear — including sending an increased police presence to cultural and religious institutions.
“There is a lot of anxiety, there is a lot of deep sadness … and also profound resilience,” Pell said. “We are a community. We are a people that has endured. We will make it but this has been a really profoundly challenging, challenging moment.”
(TULAROSA, N.M.) — The Trinity Test, the detonation of the first atomic bomb in 1945, was a technical success — the gadget, as it was codenamed, generated 18 kilotons of force, and the explosion set off the nuclear age. But many New Mexico residents consider it the beginning of a decades-long disaster.
Families near the test site have complained for generations about unusually high occurrences of cancer.
“I always tell people, ‘This isn’t normal cancer histories. This isn’t normal health histories,'” said Tina Cordova, the head of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, a group advocating for the communities around the test site.
Cordova founded the group back in 2005 and says that the original mission was to educate people on the potential health risks from nuclear fallout. They would hold town halls and presentations all over New Mexico. That’s where, six years ago, Paul Pino learned that he and his family could have been affected.
“My brother died of stomach cancer, my mom died of bone cancer. One of my sisters is surviving brain tumors and the other one is surviving thyroid cancer. All four that were alive at that time were affected,” Pino tells “Nightline.” “And during those two hours of that presentation, I thought everything just fit together all of a sudden, you know?”
“Nightline” rode along with Pino and a group of local farmers as they dropped off fresh produce and informational flyers at senior centers and churches in the area.
“‘There were families living as close as 12 miles to the test. The bomb was plutonium-based. Plutonium has a half-life of more than 24,000 years. In 1945, most if not all of the villages had no running water,'” Pino read from one of the flyers.
“‘We drank rainwater…that was contaminated. 1945, there were no grocery stores in the small villages.’ There’s still not a grocery store here. That’s why there’s people here, you know, at sunrise to get fresh produce.”
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States and although radiation exposure is a known risk, it may be impossible to know how much radiation exposure in this community may or may not have influenced a person’s chances of getting cancer.
The Trinity Test site was chosen by the military and Manhattan Project leadership due to its relative isolation, and because it was in the middle of a massive swath of land being used as a bombing range. However, census data shows that around half a million people lived within a 150-mile radius of the test.
The scientists were aware radiation could be harmful, but at the time the link to cancer had yet to be established. They were also not sure how the fallout from the blast would travel.
Dr. Joseph Shonka, a health physicist who spent years working on the Los Alamos Historical Document Retrieval and Assessment (LAHDRA) project, explained: “They had a very large test called the 100 Ton Test. It had a little more than 100 tons of high explosives. And they put a radioactive source in the middle of it.”
“And at the time, they believed both that test and the Trinity test would have a fireball…so large it would rapidly rise to the stratosphere and disperse harmlessly around the earth. They were very surprised to find out it did not do that. When you’re close to the Earth, you pull a lot of dirt up into the fireball. So the fireball doesn’t rise as rapidly or as high.”
Despite those test results, the plans for the Trinity Test continued at the same pace. While they knew there could be substantial fallout, the scientists believed it would ultimately be harmless to the general public. Still, extensive preparations were made to evacuate the entire state of New Mexico if anything went wrong.
On the day of the test, the explosion went off largely as planned. However, of the 13 pounds of plutonium in the bomb’s core — only three points were combusted. The other 10 pounds were dispersed into the atmosphere.
Scientists who followed the plume and took measurements underneath were shocked to see the actual radiation was many multiples higher than previously expected. Despite that information, no evacuations were done.
“After the Trinity Test, they had a cover story. They repeatedly have said Trinity was a test conducted on unoccupied government lands,” Dr. Shonka told “Nightline. “But Trinity was also an accident…It greatly exceeded Chernobyl, Fukushima, and Three Mile Island. It was the first nuclear accident in history and the worst nuclear accident in history.”
It was later established that a family who lived on a ranch near the test site was as highly exposed to radiation as the most exposed survivors of Hiroshima or Nagasaki. But still, no one was informed of any risks, or even of the exposure itself.
After the Trinity Test, Manhattan Project leadership determined that any future above ground testing of nuclear weapons needed to take place further than 150 miles from the closest urban setting.
They continued testing bombs in the Nevada desert until 1963. Years later, communities that lived downwind of those test sites started experiencing high rates of cancer.
In 1990, lawmakers passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA. The government established that 19 different cancers can be associated with high-dose exposure to radiation, or radiogenic.
Through RECA, people who have had, or are related to people who have had, radiogenic cancers and can tie it to nuclear testing can apply for lump sums of money. It covers residents of downwinder communities in Nevada, along with Utah and Arizona.
The bill also covers people who worked in uranium mines before 1971, when the US government stopped being the major purchaser of uranium. But it doesn’t include New Mexico.
“Imagine our shock when we found out that there had been this fund set up,” Cordova told “Nightline.” “We were the first people exposed to radiation any place in the world as a result of an atomic bomb. And we’re left out?…I thought ‘This has to be purposeful.'”
ABC News reached out to the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Division, who is in charge of the RECA program, for comment and did not receive a response.
Cordova and the New Mexico Downwinders have spent over 10 years lobbying to be included in RECA. This summer, they finally had some momentum.
An expansion that would include New Mexico in the act — authored by senators Josh Hawley (R-MO), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Ben Ray Lujan (D- NM) — was passed with bipartisan support in the Senate. The expansion, attached as an amendment to the Defense spending bill, would allow New Mexico residents to apply for a $150,000 one-time payment of restitution, and acknowledge the government’s actions in the state.
However, months later, it has not even been proposed in the House.
Sen. Hawley wrote “Nightline,” “I’ve been proud to partner with Senator Luján to get justice for individuals from Missouri to New Mexico who have been poisoned by their government’s negligence. The Senate passed an expansion of RECA with strong bipartisan support, now the House must send this bill to the President’s desk. It’s been long enough.”
“I’ve been doing this work for 18 years. Do you know how many times I’ve been up and then down? But I’m telling you right now, there’s no doubt in my mind, I’ve invested this much time. There’s no going back,” Cordova told “Nightline. “I will do this work until the day we find success or until the day they put me in the ground. And all of us feel that way.”
(SEATTLE) — Washington state police are searching for a teen who has been charged in the premeditated murder of a stranger while they were apparently asleep on a bus.
Miguel Robert Rivera Dominguez, 17, has been charged with murder in the first degree and unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree in the death of Marcel Wagner on Oct. 3.
While still at large, Dominguez’s bail has been set at $3 million. He has been charged in adult court.
Wagner was shot on a King County Metro Transit bus with about 15 passengers on board at the time, according to court documents. The bus had video and audio recordings, and captured the incident, according to court records.
“Without any provocation, and in fact without having ever interacted with the victim at all, the defendant fired five rounds into the victim’s head and neck at point blank range. The defendant then fired two more shots through the door of the bus and fled to a location where he could change his clothing before returning home again,” prosecutors alleged in charging documents.
In court documents, the prosecution requested that bail be set at $3 million based on the “likelihood that the defendant will fail to appear in response to a summons and he may commit a violent offense.”
Dominguez does not have a criminal history, according to prosecutors.
Dominguez allegedly took steps to “conceal his identity” and his “calculated actions on the bus” suggest that the murder was “planned and deliberate,” prosecutors said.
“The defendant’s senseless execution of a total stranger strongly suggests that if released on his own recognizance or on a low bail, he will commit future violent offenses,” prosecutors wrote in court documents.
Surveillance footage from the bus shows that Dominguez was allegedly dressed in a dark jacket, full-face ski mask, jeans and black shoes and was carrying a backpack and was accompanied by another unidentified 17-year-old, according to records. For the approximately 12-minute ride after Wagner and Dominguez boarded the bus, there appeared to be “no interaction between Wagner and Dominguez whatsoever,” according to records.
“In fact, it appears that Wagner might even be asleep. Dominguez appears to be texting or otherwise viewing his phone throughout the entire duration of the ride, pausing only occasionally to look outside,” according to records.
Dominguez then allegedly pulls the “stop” line indicating that he wants to get off the bus and pulls out a handgun and “suddenly begins shooting Wagner … without uttering a single word,” according to records.
The accompanying minor, whose identity is not revealed, reacted with “shock” and covered his head, according to records.
He then shouts repeatedly at the bus driver to open the doors and let him off, even firing two rounds from his gun into the still-closed doors. The bullets hit the SeaMar White Center Medical Building, according to records.
The driver then brings the bus to a halt and opens the rear door allowing Dominguez and the other 17-year-old to flee, according to records.
Minutes later, Dominguez was captured on surveillance footage entering a nearby Boys and Girls Club and changing his clothes inside, court records show. Footage from his residence showed him later returning home in that same attire.
According to court records, Dominguez was allegedly suspended from Highline High School during the 2022-2023 academic year after he was involved in a fight, among other issues.
Police were able to identify the minor accompanying Dominguez and he confirmed that Dominguez had shot Wagner and that the two did not know the victim, court records show. The minor also said he did not know Dominguez intended to kill anyone.
Dominguez’s arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 6 — although he is not yet in custody.
“It’s likely he will be wearing a mask to conceal his face while in public. Rivera Dominguez is believed to be armed and extremely dangerous,” the King County Sheriff’s Office said in a release last month.
(LEWISTON, Maine) — Maine State Police said they’re focused on keeping the public safe after an Androscoggin County Sheriff’s deputy reportedly criticized their response to last week’s shooting in Lewiston.
“This deputy has the luxury of his opinion,” Maine State Police Col. William Ross said in a statement. “But as a Command Staff we have the ultimate responsibility over an operation that included 50 law enforcement agencies, multiple air assets and 16 tactical teams that were used to mitigate potential risk to the community and law enforcement.”
The back-and-forth between the law enforcement agencies comes about a week after a 40-year-old U.S. Army reservist, Robert Card, allegedly killed 18 people and injured 13 others in a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine.
In the wake of the shooting, a longtime member of the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office reportedly posted and deleted a scathing critique of the state police response. ABC News was not able to immediately verify the authenticity of screenshots of the post.
Maine’s Department of Safety said state police are “aware” of the sheriff deputy’s social media post “expressing his opinion about the law enforcement response and operations regarding the mass shooting in Lewiston. It is unfortunate that one individual has disparaged the exemplary work of hundreds of municipal, county, state, and federal law enforcement officers who worked around the clock to identify, search for and ultimately locate Robert Card’s body in 48 hours.”
Maine State Police said they are currently working on their own timeline of the two-day manhunt for Card, who was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Separately, the state of Maine is now taking stock in the shootings’ aftermath in order to answer the question so many have asked: How could this happen and how can it be prevented from happening again?
Maine Gov. Janet Mills said she’s launching an independent commission in an attempt to answer those questions and others.
Mills said she’ll work with the attorney general to establish a group comprised of experts with legal, investigative and mental health backgrounds, who will set about determining the “facts and circumstances” surrounding the shootings.
The group will be charged with scrutinizing the months leading up to Oct. 25, when there appears to have been a number of missed warning signs about Card’s mental health decline. They’ll also study the police response to the shootings, the governor’s office said.
Mills said she hopes to formally announce the commission and its membership next week.
“It is important to recognize that, from what we know thus far, on multiple occasions over the last ten months, concerns about Mr. Card’s mental health and his behavior were brought to the attention of his Army National Reserve Unit, as well as law enforcement agencies here in Maine and in New York,” Mills said in a statement. “This raises crucial questions about actions taken and what more could have been done to prevent this tragedy from occurring.”
Mills acknowledged that Maine State Police are “working hard to conduct a thorough and comprehensive criminal investigation of the shooting, but I also believe that the gravity of this attack on our people – an attack that strikes at the core of who we are and the values we hold dear – demands a higher level of scrutiny.”
Maine State Police released a statement, in tandem with Mills’ announcement, lauding the decision to scrutinize their actions.
“We applaud the Governor’s decision. The Maine State Police is proud of our actions and response to the Oct. 25 shootings in Lewiston and we welcome an independent review of not only what preceded the shootings but the police response to it,” they said. “This traumatic event has impacted the entire state. It deserves a large scale comprehensive review and we look forward to working with the commission in the coming months.”
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York in a $250 million lawsuit that could alter the personal fortune and real estate empire that helped propel Trump to the White House.
Trump, his sons Eric and Don Jr., and 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 02, 4:41 PM EDT
‘I stick by that 100%’ Eric Trump says of appraisal testimony
Eric Trump confidently stood by his past testimony regarding his limited involvement in an appraisal during a heated exchange with state attorney Andrew Amer.
Amer had spent the better part of the afternoon highlighting emails between Eric Trump and a Cushman & Wakefield appraiser, suggesting that Eric Trump was deeply involved in the appraisal of an estate and golf course in New York’s Westchester County. Attempting to paint the testimony as inconsistent, Amer played another portion the deposition Eric Trump had given to investigators.
“I pour concrete. I operate properties. I don’t focus on appraisals between a law firm and Cushman. It’s just not what I do in my day-to-day responsibilities,” Eric Trump said in the deposition.
“Will you concede that your testimony … that you really haven’t been involved in appraisal work on this property was incorrect?” Amer then asked Eric Trump on the stand.
“No. I really hadn’t been involved with appraisal work on that property,” Eric Trump responded. “I was clearly involved to a very small point. I see your emails. One hundred percent. I made phone calls.”
When Amer continued to press the issue, Donald Trump’s attorney Chris Kise loudly objected.
“Are you running the courtroom, or is the judge?” Kise shouted to Amer. “It’s asked and answered, asked and answered, asked and answered, and it’s continued all afternoon. At some point it needs to end.”
“There are a handful of emails well over ten years ago … I stick by that 100%” Eric Trump said.
Nov 02, 4:12 PM EDT
Eric Trump denies ignoring appraisal of luxury NY property
Eric Trump denied that he ignored a professional appraisal that would have significantly lowered the value of his family’s Seven Springs estate in New York’s Westchester County.
State attorney Andrew Amer attempted to show Eric Trump multiple emails and calendar invites from 2014 and 2015 to demonstrate that he was personally involved in an appraisal by Cushman & Wakefield executive David McArdle that placed the total value of the property’s undeveloped lots between $30 and $50 million.
Trump’s 2014 financial statement, in contrast, valued the property at $291 million, including $161 for just seven of the undeveloped lots.
“Can we agree that Mr. McArdle’s valuation in relation to the easement donation he was doing was disregarded?” Amer asked.
“No, the exercises are apples and oranges. Nothing to do with each other,” Eric Trump responded.
Nov 02, 3:53 PM EDT
Attorney continues to press Eric Trump on financial statement
Eric Trump grew visibly irritated as he appeared to struggle with his testimony regarding his father’s statement of financial condition.
Resisting state attorney Andrew Amer’s efforts to show he was familiar with the document at the center of the case, he at times raised his voice and punctuated his short answers with phrases like “obviously,” “clearly,” and “as I previously testified.” Other times he responded with lengthy equivocations, prompting Amer to exhort him to keep his answers to “yes or no.”
“You don’t have to give a speech about that,” Judge Engoron implored Eric Trump at one point.
Amer repeatedly asked variations of the same question: Was Eric Trump aware of his father’s statement of financial condition?
“This is not something I ever recall seeing or working on,” Eric Trump said in one clip from his deposition that was played in court. “This is accounting, and that is not what I do on a daily basis.”
Nov 02, 2:49 PM EDT
Eric Trump appears to contradict deposition
After acknowledging in his testimony that he provided Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney with information for his father’s statement of financial condition, Eric Trump was shown video from his own deposition where he appeared to contradict his testimony in court.
“I have no recollection of ever providing Jeff material to be used in a statement that I’ve ever seen,” Eric Trump said in the deposition he gave state attorneys during their probe.
“I don’t think it would have ever registered” what the material was for, Eric Trump said in court today, responding to his own statement during his deposition.
Nov 02, 2:32 PM EDT
Eric Trump clarifies testimony about email
Eric Trump clarified his earlier answer regarding his involvement in his father’s statement of financial condition, in which he was asked if he recalled a 2013 email from then-Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney asking him for notes for the statement.
“I clearly understood I sent notes to Jeffrey McConney,” Eric Trump testified.
“I don’t think that it ever registered [that] it was for a personal statement of financial condition,” he said.
Nov 02, 8:38 AM EDT
Trump Jr. has helped run family’s business for a ‘long time,’ AG says
As Donald Trump Jr. prepares to return to the witness stand this morning, New York Attorney General Letitia James says the Trump Organization executive VP has been with the Trump Organization for a long time for someone who appears to have so little understanding of the business.
In a video posted to social media last night following Trump Jr.’s first day of testimony, James said the eldest son of former President Trump “claimed to have very little understanding of the accounting and legal mechanics of the family business — but we know he has been involved in running the Trump Organization for a long time.”
Trump Jr. testified yesterday that he relied on the expertise of others when he signed the company’s statements of financial condition, distancing himself from the documents at the heart of the attorney general’s case.
While he acknowledged that he had some of the “the most intimate knowledge” about some of the deals described in the statements, Trump Jr. reiterated that he did not have a role in putting the documents together.
“The accountants worked on it. That’s what we pay them to do,” Trump Jr. said.
Trump Jr. will return to the witness stand this morning, with his bother Eric Trump on deck to testify later today.
Nov 01, 5:36 PM EDT
‘I wasn’t involved’ with financial statements, Trump Jr. says
Before stepping down from the witness stand at the end of the afternoon, Donald Trump Jr. was asked repeatedly about his involvement in the Trump Organization’s statements of financial condition — the allegedly fraudulent documents that underpin the attorney general’s case.
Trump Jr., who signed and certified the accuracy of the statements while his father was president between 2016 and 2021, said that he was not involved in preparing the filings.
“I wasn’t involved in the compilation of this statement of financial condition,” Trump Jr. said, placing the responsibility on his accountants.
“Did you work on the statement of financial condition for June 30, 2017?” state attorney Colleen Faherty asked.
“I did not. The accountants worked on it. That’s what we paid them to do,” Trump Jr. said.
Throughout the afternoon, the tone of the proceedings alternated rapidly between lighthearted and heated, varying from playful interactions between Trump Jr. and Judge Engoron, to bitter spats between some of the lawyers.
“I know you don’t like it when good evidence comes in,” Faherty told the defense lawyers during one particularly heated exchange.
“There’s no reason to raise your voice,” Donald Trump Jr.’s lawyer, Clifford Robert, responded.
Trump Jr. is scheduled to return to the stand tomorrow morning.
Nov 01, 4:40 PM EDT
Trump Jr. to resume testimony tomorrow
Donald Trump Jr. has stepped down from the witness stand.
He is due to return to the courtroom tomorrow morning to resume his direct examination.
Court is now adjourned for the day.
Nov 01, 4:25 PM EDT
“Move it along,” judge tells lawyer questioning Trump Jr.
Donald Trump Jr. and state attorney Colleen Faherty got into a rhythm of quick questions and answers during the first hour of direct examination.
“I moved to Florida, but kept the New York pace,” Trump Jr. joked at one point when asked by the judge to speak slower.
So far the state attorney has focused most of her questions on Trump Jr.’s broader roles and responsibilities at his family’s firm, rather than any specific allegations in the attorney general’s complaint.
“I don’t see where we are going at all with this,” Trump attorney Chris Kise said at one point regarding the questioning.
“Move it along as fast as you can,” Judge Engoron told Faherty.
Nov 01, 3:47 PM EDT
Trump Jr. pressed about departure of ex-CFO
Donald Trump Jr. struggled to answer questions when pressed about why former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg departed the family’s firm.
“Because some legal issues he got himself into,” Trump Jr. said, declining to offer specifics about Weisselberg’s guilty plea on tax evasion charges last year.
Previously giving lengthy answers to questions about his background and even smiling with the judge, Trump Jr. appeared tense on the witness stand as he answered questions about Weisselberg.
“The specific event was he was indicted,” Trump Jr. said.
He added that when began working for the Trump Organization as an executive vice president in the 2010s, Weisselberg outranked him. Trump Jr. would seek Weisselberg’s approval for certain business decisions such as refinancing loans.
“Who is above you in your role as an executive vice president in the Trump Organization?” state attorney Colleen Faherty asked.
“Obviously I would have reported to my father in that period of time … people like Allen Weisselberg would have still been senior to me,” Trump Jr. said of that time period.
Trump Jr. said he gained more responsibility in 2016 when his father became president and he was named a trustee of his father’s revocable trust. He said that he, Weisselberg and his brother Eric Trump became a kind of triumvirate running the Trump Organization.
“We stopped reporting to my father on decisions involving the business,” Trump Jr. said.
That relationship broke down once Weisselberg got himself into “legal issues,” Trump Jr. said. He testified that he could not recall the circumstances of Weisselberg’s exit, including the multimillion-dollar severance deal that Weisselberg received, which Weisselberg faced questions about during his own testimony earlier this month.
“I have no knowledge of the specifics of how it happened. He is no longer working at the Trump Organization,” Trump Jr. said of the former CFO.
Nov 01, 3:22 PM EDT
‘I leave it to my CPAs,’ Trump Jr. says of accounting standards
“Sounds very exciting, but no,” Donald Trump Jr. answered to a state attorney’s question about whether he knows about accounting certifications, professional organizations, or accounting standards other than GAAP, which stands for “Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.”
“I know nothing about GAAP,” Trump Jr. said, adding, “I leave it to my CPAs.”
“I’m a real estate broker,” Trump Jr. said as he introduced himself on the witness stand. He testified that he began working in the family real estate business “right after 9/11,” working on Trump Park Avenue and the former Sun Times building in Chicago.
State attorney Colleen Faherty tried to pressed him on his lack of accounting knowledge, prompting several objections from the defense.
Judge Engoron sustained the objections and admonished Faherty against asking negative questions.
-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin contributed to this report.
Nov 01, 3:10 PM EDT
Trump Jr. to be questioned by assistant AG
Assistant New York Attorney General Colleen Faherty will start off the direct examination of Donald Trump Jr.
Faherty is familiar with questioning high-stakes witnesses, having led the direct examination of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen last week.
Her quick objections during Cohen’s cross-examination led Trump attorney Alina Habba to accuse Faherty of trying to “throw off” her game.
A seven-year veteran of the New York attorney general’s office and a former criminal defense attorney, Faherty has been a vocal presence in the courtroom since the start of the trial.
Her willingness to spar with Trump lawyer Chris Kise previously led to some heated exchanges in court, such as a sidebar when Faherty demanded Kise “be more respectful.”
“No,” Kise responded.
“That was rude,” Faherty replied.
Nov 01, 3:01 PM EDT
Donald Trump Jr. takes the stand
Donald Trump Jr. has taken the stand, where he will be the first of the former president’s children to testify.
Before taking the stand, Trump Jr. sat while news photographers snapped pictures.
“I should’ve worn makeup,” he quipped.
Nov 01, 2:30 PM EDT
Ivanka Trump appeals ruling requiring her to testify
One week ahead of her planned testimony, Ivanka Trump has appealed Judge Engoron’s decision to require her to testify in person at the Trump Organization’s fraud trial.
Ivanka Trump’s lawyer Bennet Moskowitz asked an appellate court to decide whether Engoron has jurisdiction to compel her testimony and whether the trial subpoenas issued by the New York attorney general were properly served.
Ivanka Trump, who is not a defendant in the case, is currently scheduled to testify next Wednesday as the final witness in the attorney general’s case before the defense presents its case.
Nov 01, 2:08 PM EDT
Donald Trump Jr. arrives at courthouse
Donald Trump Jr. has arrived at the New York State Supreme Courthouse with his attorney.
Unlike his father and his brother Eric Trump — who have visited the courtroom to watch the proceedings – Donald Trump Jr. has not stepped foot inside the courthouse for the trial until today.
A Trump Organization executive vice president, Trump Jr. is scheduled to testify in the case this afternoon.
Nov 01, 1:44 PM EDT
Defense presses state’s expert on his analysis
Defense lawyer Jesus Suarez spent the first hour of his cross-examination working to cast doubt on expert Michiel McCarty’s analysis, which found that Trump defrauded lenders out of $168 million in interest.
“Who created the universe of documents for you to review? It was the New York attorney general, right?” Suarez said before launching into a rapid-fire succession of questions regarding which lenders McCarty had spoken to in the course of his analysis.
“Did you ever interview anyone from Deutsche Bank?” Suarez asked.
“No,” McCarty said.
“Did you ever interview anyone from Ladder Capital?” Suarez asked.
“No,” McCarty repeated.
“Did you ever interview anyone from Mazars,” Suarez asked.
“No,” McCarty responded.
“Did you ever interview anyone from the Trump Organization?” Suarez asked.
“No,” McCarty said again.
Nov 01, 12:34 PM EDT
Defense assails judge after he tells them to speed up questioning
Only 15 minutes into what is expected to be a three-hour cross-examination, Judge Arthur Engoron snapped at defense lawyer Jesus Suarez for asking redundant questions.
“I see why this is going to take two or three hours. Some questions become three or four more questions,” Engoron said, interrupting the cross-examination to request that Suarez shorten his questions.
That prompted Trump lawyer Chris Kise to criticize Engoron for placing an unfair standard on the defense team.
“You never give them speeches. You never limit their questions,” Kise said about Engoron’s approach to the attorney general’s legal team. “I think it’s unfair.”
Kise stressed that the cross-examination of the state’s sole expert witness is particularly important since his testimony is likely to play into the judge’s calculation of Trump’s potential fine.
“This witness is the only witness they have that even hints … about ill-gotten gains,” Kise said.
Engoron, however, refused to back down.
“I stand by my rulings and statements,” the judge said.
Nov 01, 12:17 PM EDT
Expert agrees that high-net-worth borrowers get low rates
Defense attorney Jesus Suarez began what is expected to be a marathon cross examination of the state’s expert witness, Michiel McCarty, by attempting to use his words against him.
“Historically banks have been willing to lend to high-net-worth individuals at low rates because they get repaid?” Suarez said, citing McCarty’s direct examination.
“That is correct,” McCarty said.
Suarez then reminded McCarty that Trump’s loans were paid on time — a point that the former president has reiterated during his appearance in court and on social media.
Suarez then asked if McCarty had charged the attorney general’s office $950 per hour for his expert analysis.
“That’s my standard rate, yes,” said McCarty, who estimated that his total bill for his analysis was $350,000.
The state’s expert witness, Michiel McCarty, calculated that Donald Trump’s lenders lost $168 million in potential interest between 2014 and 2023, according to a report he presented in court.
McCarty’s testimony appeared to reinforce a central tenet of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ case: that Trump’s misrepresentations in his financial statements cost banks potential earnings from interest, even if the banks made money on the loans.
State attorney Kevin Wallace directed McCarty to a footnote in Judge Engoron’s earlier summary judgment order about the concept of lost interest, in which Engoron said, “The subject loans made the banks lots of money; but the fraudulent SFCs [Statements of Financial Condition] cost the banks lots of money. The less collateral for a loan, the riskier it is, and a first principle of loan accounting is that as risk rises, so do interest rates. Thus, accurate SFCs would have allowed the lenders to make even more money than they did.”
McCarty, who said he agreed with this assessment, ultimately found that banks lost a total of $168,040,168 in potential interest from loans related to four of Trump’s properties in Miami, New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
Trump attorney Chris Kise fiercely objected, arguing that McCarty was testifying about facts not established during the trial. During questioning, state attorneys declined to ask a Deutsche Bank executive if the bank would have still done business with Trump had they known his financial statements were inflated.
“They are not ill-gotten gains if the bank does not testify it would have done it differently,” Kise said.
“I decided these were ill-gotten,” the Judge Engoron replied.
Following Wallace’s direct examination of McCarty, defense attorney Jesus Suarez began his cross-examination.
Nov 01, 11:03 AM EDT
State’s expert witness takes the stand
Listing companies like Marriott, Fannie Mae and AT&T, the New York attorney general’s lone expert witness, Michiel McCarty, began his testimony by outlining some of the deals he worked on during his nearly 50-year career.
McCarty said that he has worked as an expert witness on “dozens of cases” and testified at 15 trials. But he acknowledged that he had limited experience with the compilation of statements of financial condition, prompting an objection from Trump’s lawyer Chris Kise.
“It appears that he does not have the specific experience relevant to the purpose he is here,” Kise argued.
Deemed an expert by Judge Engoron, McCarty went on to explain the report he wrote after reviewing Trump’s finances.
Nov 01, 10:49 AM EDT
Former Trump Organization VP testifies about Ivanka Trump
Former Trump Organization VP David Orowitz testified about Ivanka Trump’s involvement with Trump’s Old Post Office property in Washington, D.C.
“Ivanka wanted me to change the language in the GAAP section. She asked that I review with you,” Orowitz wrote in a 2011 email to then-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, referring to the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles used in the preparation of financial documents.
Defense attorneys have previously tried to downplay the extent to which Ivanka Trump was involved in the representation of Trump’s finances.
Orowitz subsequently stepped down from the witness stand to make way for Michiel McCarty, the state’s sole expert witness, to begin his testimony.
Nov 01, 10:14 AM EDT
‘We have a busy day,’ judge says as court gets underway
“We have a busy day and a busy week, so let’s try to move things along,” Judge Engoron remarked as he brought the courtroom to order to begin the day’s proceedings.
“Would you like to continue your witness?” Engoron asked state attorney Eric Haren.
“We would,” said Haren, before calling back to the stand former Trump Organization vice president David Orowitz, who began his testimony yesterday afternoon.
Defense attorneys Chris Kise, Alina Habba, and Jesus Suarez are sitting at the counsel table, leaving one seat available for Donald Trump Jr., who has not yet appeared ahead of his scheduled testimony this afternoon.
Nov 01, 10:01 AM EDT
Trump rails against judge, gag order
Former President Trump continued to attack Judge Engoron this morning, calling him “crazy, totally unhinged, and dangerous” on his Truth Social platform.
“He then put a RIDICULOUS GAG ORDER ON ME, which we will appeal. He fines me at levels never seen before,” Trump wrote this morning.
Trump recently paid $15,000 in fines related to two violations of the limited gag order Engoron established that prohibits public statements about the judge’s staff.
Trump also complained about the potential fine that Engoron could impose in the case. During court yesterday, the judge remarked that disgorgement — fining Trump for profits made through fraudulent means — is a “clearly available remedy” in the case.
“Now they come up with something called ‘disgorgement.’ I never even heard of the term,” Trump said.
Engoron already 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.
Nov 01, 8:45 AM EDT
‘Leave my children alone,’ Trump says ahead of sons’ testimony
Former President Trump attacked Judge Arthur Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James on social media ahead of today’s expected testimony from his son Donald Trump Jr.
“Leave my children alone, Engoron. You are a disgrace to the legal profession!” Trump wrote overnight on his Truth Social platform.
Donald Trump Jr. is expected to begin his testimony in the afternoon today.
If that testimony concludes today, his brother Eric Trump could also begin his testimony.
Both of them are executive vice presidents in the Trump Organization.
(SPOKANE, Wash.) — Brianna Hayes sought answers through a DNA test taken in her late 20s after she learned the man who raised her and whom she called dad was not her biological father.
Now, the DNA results have led to a lawsuit involving Hayes’ mother and her mother’s former gynecologist.
The lawsuit, filed by Hayes’ mother Sharon Hayes Oct. 25 in Spokane County Superior Court, alleges that the gynecologist, identified in the lawsuit as Dr. David R. Claypool, used his own sperm to artificially inseminate Sharon Hayes, who had gone to Claypool with her then-husband for fertility treatments.
According to the lawsuit, Sharon Hayes was allegedly told by Claypool, at the time a Spokane-based gynecologist, that she needed to pay $100 in cash for the sperm donation for each artificial insemination procedure, and that the sperm “would be provided by college and/or medical students.”
The lawsuit claims that Sharon Hayes asked for a sperm donor who looked physically similar to her then-husband, and who had been screened for health and genetic issues.
After at least two attempts at artificial insemination, Sharon Hayes, who lives in Idaho, became pregnant, according to the lawsuit.
Nine months later, in June 1990, Brianna Hayes was born. She told local ABC News affiliate KXLY-TV that she had no idea she was conceived through artificial insemination until last year, when she took a DNA test in a search for answers to medical challenges she faced.
Through the DNA test, Brianna Hayes, now 33, said she was matched with 16 half-siblings. After additional testing, she said she discovered Claypool was her biological father.
Brianna Hayes, who declined to be interviewed by ABC News, told KXLY-TV her mother’s reaction to the news was “shock and denial.”
“She felt a profound distress. She felt violated,” Brianna Hayes said of her mother, who also declined to be interviewed by ABC News. “She felt conflicted because she said, ‘I love you so much, and obviously this doesn’t take away from the love that I have for you, but what he did was wrong.'”
Of her own reaction to learning Claypool is her biological father, she said, “I feel off-put that I’m a product of his violation.”
Drew Dalton, an attorney for Claypool, did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Last month, Dalton told the Seattle Times, the first outlet to report on the lawsuit, that “the matter is still in mediation as far as I am aware.”
Claypool told the newspaper he did not know Sharon Hayes, saying, in part, “This is the first I’ve heard of anything in 40 years.”
Claypool’s physician and surgeon license expired in 2010, according to the Washington State Department of Health.
In the lawsuit, Claypool is accused of committing “fertility fraud” by concealing “the use of his own sperm” without the consent of Sharon Hayes, who is now 67 and a mother of two.
The lawsuit claims Sharon Hayes experienced “severe and traumatic emotional distress, sleeplessness, anxiety and disruptions in her relationship with her daughter as well as other damages,” following discovery that Claypool is her youngest daughter’s biological father.
The suit requests a trial and seeks financial damages.
Brianna Hayes told KXLY-TV she is speaking publicly about her family’s story to help bring “peace and justice” for her mom, and to call for change. She said she wants to see legislators, including in Washington state, enact legislation to “hold [medical professionals] accountable for this type of violation and breach of consent.”
“I just want to advocate for my mom’s peace and justice and to advocate for the peace and justice of anyone who feels conflicted or affected by [Claypool’s] actions, but also any other medical professional who were committing these actions, and for them to have justice as well,” she said. “And to open the ears and eyes of lawmakers to realize that real people are being affected, and because laws like this are not getting passed through, people continue to be affected.”
(NEW YORK) — A week after a powerful Category 5 hurricane hit Acapulco, Mexico, at least 58 people are still missing, according to the Mexican government. Among the missing are 18 foreign nationals, including 11 Americans.
Hurricane Otis is the strongest hurricane on record to hit Mexico’s Pacific Coast, making landfall with winds up to 165 mph. Prior to Otis, the strongest hurricane on record to hit Mexico’s Pacific Coast was Category 4 Hurricane Patricia in 2015.
So far, 46 people have been confirmed dead. But some officials have been skeptical about the government’s death toll.
Alejandro Martínez Sidney, president of the local chamber of commerce in Acapulco, said in an interview with a local outlet that they’ve counted about 120 dead or missing at sea alone, some of whose bodies have washed up on the beach.
People in the famous party town were so unprepared, an untold number of fishermen and boat crews were still out at sea. They are now among those missing.
A week after the storm hit, many are still without bottled water, food, electricity and internet and about 63,000 businesses have totally collapsed, according to Martínez Sidney.
The families of the missing say at least those bodies are being recovered, as the Mexican navy retrieves vessels in Acapulco’s bay and at times the bodies trapped in them.
But López Obrador has spent much time in the last week fighting with his perceived political enemies, accusing them of exaggerating the damage from Otis to hurt him politically — even as he has actively tried to minimize it.
“It wasn’t that bad for us because when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, there were 2,000 deaths,” López Obrador said Monday.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — Desmond Mills Jr., one of the five former Memphis police officers charged in connection with the death of Tyre Nichols, pleaded guilty Thursday to federal civil rights and conspiracy offenses, the Department of Justice said.
Mills, 33, had previously pleaded not guilty back in September after being indicted on federal civil rights, conspiracy and obstruction offenses.
During a change of plea hearing on Thursday, Mills pleaded guilty to two of the four counts in the indictment — excessive force and failing to intervene, as well as conspiring to cover up his use of unlawful force, according to the DOJ.
Nichols, 29, died on Jan. 10, three days after a violent confrontation with police following a traffic stop.
The federal indictment alleges that Mills — along with Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith and Emmitt Martin III — deprived Nichols of his constitutional rights during the confrontation.
Each of the defendants, according to the indictment, were involved in beating Nichols during the Jan. 7 traffic stop and none relayed information about their assault to the Memphis police dispatcher, their supervisor or the emergency medical technicians and paramedics who were coming to the scene.
The officers allegedly spoke at the scene about how they had struck Nichols, but they also did not relay that information to first responders or their supervisors even as his condition “deteriorated and he became unresponsive,” the indictment alleges.
As part of his plea agreement, Mills admitted to “repeatedly and unjustifiably striking Nichols with a baton and to failing to intervene in other officers’ use of force against Nichols,” the DOJ said in a press release.
He also admitted to not providing any medical aid to Nichols afterward, despite knowing he “had a serious medical need,” and not alerting police or EMTs that Nichols had been struck in the head and body, the DOJ stated.
He further admitted to making false statements and accounts about Nichols’ arrest and the use of force used on him to a supervisor and in a Memphis Police Department report, according to the DOJ.
The government said it will recommend a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, based on the terms of Mills’ plea agreement.
“Desmond Mills’ plea today is entirely consistent with our allegations in the civil lawsuit against the City of Memphis,” attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, who are representing the family of Nichols, said in a statement Thursday. “We stand strong in our belief that these officers, including Mills, acted at the direction of a policy that not only violated civil rights of innocent civilians, but which caused needless pain to many.”
The other four defendants pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. They still face a federal trial scheduled for May 6, 2024, the DOJ said.
If convicted, two of the counts in the indictment carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, while the other two each each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, according to the DOJ.
All five former officers also face state felony charges, including second-degree murder, aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping, in connection with Nichols’ death. They pleaded not guilty.
The Memphis Police Department fired the five officers — who were on the department’s now-disbanded SCORPION unit — following an investigation into Nichols’ death.
Correction: A version of this story from Wednesday was updated to say Desmond Mills’ lawyer has announced his client will change his plea, but he has not said what the change of plea will be.
