(NEW YORK) — A judge in New York has dismissed a lawsuit by Mary Trump against her uncle, former President Donald Trump, and his siblings that accused her family of swindling her out of at least $10 million.
Mary Trump had alleged that Donald Trump, his sister Maryanne Trump Barry and his late brother Robert Trump “carried out a fraudulent scheme to siphon funds from minority interests that she inherited in the family business, concealed their grift and deceived her about the true value of what she inherited.”
In a ruling Monday, the judge said Mary Trump’s claims were barred by releases she had previously signed with members of her family.
Mary Trump’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, called the decision “both incorrect and disappointing.”
“The court overlooked applicable case law and the well-pleaded allegations in Mary Trump’s complaint,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan added that there would be an immediate appeal — in part because Donald Trump is expected to announce Tuesday night that he is running for president in 2024.
“Given the age of the defendants, not to mention the fact that one of them intends to announce today that he is running again for president, we intend to seek an expedited appeal to the appellate division,” Kaplan said.
In her lawsuit, Mary Trump alleged that former President Trump and his siblings “conspired with each other and those loyal to them to abuse their dominant position for their own benefit, breach the trust that had been placed in them, and defraud Mary out of what was rightfully hers,” a sum that her lawsuit claimed could be more than $10 million.
Attorneys for the Trump siblings had argued Mary Trump’s claims were time-barred by a six-year statute of limitations and prohibited by legal releases she signed in 2001 when the family settled the estate of Fred Trump Sr., the former president’s father.
The dismissal is the second legal victory for the former president this week, after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit on Monday by his former fixer and personal attorney Michael Cohen that alleged Donald Trump retaliated against him for writing a tell-all book.
(WAUKESHA, Wis.) — A sentencing hearing for Darrell Brooks, the man convicted of murdering six people after driving his SUV through a Christmas parade in Wisconsin, was briefly suspended Tuesday due to a threat made on the Waukesha courthouse, the judge said.
Dozens of survivors of last year’s attack in Waukesha are planning to address Brooks during the two-day sentencing hearing, which started Tuesday morning.
About 90 minutes into the hearing, the court went into recess shortly before 10 a.m. local time after Judge Jennifer Dorow said she was advised by the sheriff “that their communication center had received a threat to the courthouse,” she told the court.
Court proceedings resumed over an hour later, around 11:15 a.m.
“The sheriff has assured me that this building is quite safe — ‘very secure,’ were his words — and that he has taken all reasonable measures to secure the courthouse this time,” she said.
Dorow apologized for the “abrupt disruption” to the victims’ statements.
“I am confident that we can go forward at this time,” she said.
Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow said the sheriff’s office is investigating the credibility of “an anonymous threat” to the Waukesha County Courthouse.
“County offices are conducting business as usual,” he said on Twitter. “If you are in the Courthouse, you may notice an increased presence of law enforcement personnel.”
Brooks, 40, was found guilty last month on all 76 counts, including six counts of first-degree intentional homicide, for barreling his SUV into a Christmas parade on Nov. 21, 2021. He dismissed his public defenders during the trial and went on to represent himself.
Prosecutors expect 45 people, including nine children, to make victim impact statements during the two-day sentencing hearing, ABC Milwaukee affiliate WISN reported.
Brooks’ sentencing has been scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
(MERRITT ISLAND, Fla.) — The Artemis I rocket is set for launch early Wednesday morning, the latest attempt to send an unmanned capsule near the moon after a series of postponements due to weather and mechanical issues.
NASA pushed back a takeoff scheduled for Monday after Hurricane Nicole made landfall about 85 miles south of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The rocket, which remained on the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center during the storm, sustained “minor” damage that would be easy to repair, Jim Free, associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said in a press conference Friday.
The launch marks the first step in an ambitious plan to establish a long-term presence on the moon for scientific discovery and economic development. Eventually, the Artemis expedition could lead to the first crewed space trip to Mars, according to NASA.
The space capsule will travel for roughly 25 days — reaching as close as 60 miles from the moon, and then 40,000 miles above the moon when orbiting over its dark side — before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on Dec. 11.
If Artemis is declared ready, a two-hour window will open at 1:04 a.m. ET. If needed, the back-up windows are Saturday, Nov. 19, and Friday, Nov. 25. NASA will broadcast the launch on NASA TV.
The mission has suffered a series of setbacks since an original launch date that was expected to feature Vice President Kamala Harris in attendance among about 100,000 spectators.
NASA called off that initial takeoff, set for Aug. 29, after a defective sensor prevented one of the rocket’s engines from cooling down to a temperature required before ignition.
Days later, a second launch attempt on Sept. 3 was scrubbed after the space agency identified a liquid hydrogen leak.
A third planned launch attempt, on Sept. 27, faced postponement due to Hurricane Ian. The rocket was moved off the launchpad to protect it, as Ian wrought destruction along its path northward from Florida to the Carolinas.
On the whole, the Artemis expedition includes four missions, each of which will cost roughly $4.1 billion. In all, the project will cost up to $93 billion by 2025, according to an audit from the NASA Office of the Inspector General.
If Artemis I is successful, Artemis II will take four astronauts near the moon in 2024. After that, Artemis III will take a crewed spacecraft for a moon landing. Finally, Artemis IV will fly to a space station near the moon.
Over the course of the Artemis missions, NASA plans to eventually send the first female astronaut and the first astronaut of color to the moon.
NASA hopes the Artemis expedition will enable a crewed trip to Mars in the ensuing years.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — Four University of Idaho students were killed in “an isolated, targeted attack” with an “edged weapon” like a knife, police revealed on Tuesday.
The students, who were found dead on Sunday, were identified by the Moscow, Idaho, police as: Ethan Chapin, 20, of Conway, Washington; Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Avondale, Arizona; and Kaylee GonCalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho.
Moscow police Capt. Anthony Dahlinger told the Idaho Statesman that all four students are considered victims, not suspects.
“We certainly have a crime here, so we are looking for a suspect,” he told the newspaper.
No one is in custody but police said they believe there’s “no imminent threat to the community.”
The victims were found at an off-campus house around noon on Sunday when officers responded to a report of an unconscious person, according to police. When officers arrived, they found the four students dead, police said.
Police said they’re working to “re-create the victims’ activities” on Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
The fatalities appear to be a “one-off type of situation,” Moscow Mayor Art Bettge told ABC News on Monday.
“Something had occurred that resulted in these deaths — there was no robbery,” he said.
The weapon wasn’t found at the scene, police added.
Chapin, a freshman, was in the Sigma Chi fraternity and was majoring in recreation, sport and tourism management, university president Scott Green said.
Mogen, a senior, and Kernodle, a junior, were both marketing majors in the Pi Beta Phi sorority, Green said.
Goncalves, a senior, was majoring in general studies and was in the Alpha Phi sorority, Green said.
“Words cannot adequately describe the light these students brought to this world or ease the depth of suffering we feel at their passing under these tragic circumstances,” Green said in a statement. “The university is working directly with those affected and is committed to supporting all students, families and employees as this event undeniably touches all of us.”
The police department said it’s “deeply saddened for the families of these individuals, fellow students and friends, and our community during this time. Our heartfelt sympathies go out to each and every person affected by this incident.”
Anyone with information is asked to call the Moscow Police Department at 208-882-2677.
ABC News’ Marilyn Heck and Nicholas Cirone contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A grand jury convened on Monday morning in Louisiana’s Union Parish to hear evidence that could lead to charges in the death of Ronald Greene, who died in police custody in 2019, District Attorney John Belton confirmed to ABC News.
Belton, the district attorney for the Third Judicial District, confirmed to ABC News in a phone call Monday evening that grand jury proceedings in Greene’s case are ongoing and evidence will continue to be presented this week.
As the grand jury convened, the Special Committee to Inquire into the Circumstances and Investigation of the Death of Ronald Greene held a hearing at the Louisiana Capitol on Monday where Greene’s mother, Mona Hardin, was among those who testified.
Hardin told ABC News in a phone interview Monday that she hopes the new development will lead to charges against the officers involved in the deadly arrest of her son.
“This is such a travesty … Here we are almost into 2023,” Hardin said. “No one takes accountability for nothing.”
Greene, a 49-year-old Black man, died in May 2019 after a struggle with Louisiana State Police officers. The struggle took place following a high-speed chase in northern Louisiana, near Monroe, where Greene failed to stop for a traffic violation.
The initial police report said Greene died due to a car crash, but two years after Greene’s death, in May 2021, Louisiana State Police released hours of bodycam video evidence that included a violent struggle between Greene and police.
“It’s sickening,” Hardin said, referring to the bodycam footage. “It was right there for all to see.”
When asked about the grand jury proceedings, a spokesperson for the Louisiana State Police (LSP) told ABC News in a statement Monday that “LSP continues to offer our full cooperation in the legal proceedings.”
“Over the last two years, LSP has and continues to make fundamental improvements to our operations, training and administration leading to the implementation of critical changes throughout the department and progress toward building trust within the communities we serve,” the spokesperson said.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, who previously defended his actions in the wake of Greene’s death, declined an invitation to testify before the committee on Monday, citing scheduling conflicts, his office confirmed to ABC News.
“On Wednesday, the governor was invited to testify at today’s hearing. Due to the short notice, there are conflicts with previously scheduled events and meetings for the governor, including a public event he will be attending out of town. He will not be attending today’s hearing,” a spokesman for Edwards said in a statement to ABC News on Monday.
Edwards previously denied that he delayed or interfered with the investigation into Greene’s death.
“There are implications that I knew more or that one or more of my staff members tried to cover up what happened. I will say that that is simply and categorically false,” Edwards said during a press conference in February. “It is sad. It is regrettable that I am here under these circumstances talking about these things. But unfortunately, it is unavoidable. But we can do better. We must do better.”
Attorney Lee Merritt, who represents the Greene family in a wrongful death lawsuit against the Louisiana State Police, previously told ABC News that authorities initially told the family that Greene died when his car crashed into a tree or shrub during an attempted traffic stop, but the family disputed the initial report.
The family released photos of Greene from after the incident, showing what appear to be multiple bruises and lacerations around his face and head.
An autopsy report by the Union Parish Coroner’s Office obtained by ABC News found blunt force injury to Greene’s head, neck and torso. The cause of death was listed as “cocaine-induced agitated delirium complicated by motor vehicle collision, physical struggle, inflicted head injury and restraint.”
The Louisiana State Police opened an investigation into the case in August 2020, which led to the firing of one officer, the suspension of another and a third who was reprimanded for his involvement in the incident.
“One trooper involved in the death, Dakota DeMoss, was given letters of reprimand and counseling for violating the department’s rules about courtesy and recordings. DeMoss was later arrested for using excessive force while handcuffing a motorist in a separate incident; he was subsequently fired in June 2021,” a spokesperson for the Louisiana State Police told ABC News. “A second trooper, Chris Hollingsworth, died in a single-vehicle car accident in September 2020, hours after learning he would be fired for his role in Greene’s death. A third trooper, Kory York, was suspended for 50 hours for dragging Greene and improperly turning off his body camera, and has since returned to duty.”
Amid ongoing investigations into Greene’s death by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Hardin said she won’t stop fighting for justice.
“This is my son,” she told ABC News. “I couldn’t breathe another moment knowing that I didn’t do all I can.”
(NEW YORK) — A woman has been arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle nearly half a million dollars’ worth of cocaine into the United States in the wheels of her wheelchair after authorities said they noticed the wheels wouldn’t turn as she tried to travel in it.
The incident occurred on Nov. 10 at John F. Kennedy International Airport when Emelinda Paulino De Rivas — a citizen from the Dominican Republic — arrived in New York City on a flight from Punta Cana in a wheelchair when U.S. Customs and Border Protection noticed that the wheels on the wheelchair she was traveling in were not actually turning and decided to interview her.
“[CBP] x-rayed the wheelchair and noticed an anomaly in all four wheels,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement following the incident. “CBP officers probed the four wheels revealing a white powder that tested positive for cocaine.”
Officers ended up seizing approximately 28 lbs. of cocaine from the wheelchair which translates to an estimated 75,000 doses of the drug and a street value of $450,000, according to CBP.
“A lethal dose of cocaine is roughly one to three grams, so the amount seized by CBP and kept out of our neighborhoods amounts to roughly 6,000 lethal doses,” CBP said in their statement following De Rivas’ arrest.
De Rivas is now facing federal narcotics smuggling charges and will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the U.S. Eastern District Court of New York, according to CBP.
A trial date has not yet been set.
“CBP stands steadfast and determined in working with our partners to identify the trans- national criminal networks responsible for importing these deadly drugs into our neighborhoods,” said Francis J. Russo, director of CBP’s New York Field Operations. “CBP’s mission is to guard the borders and ports of entry 24/7, 365 days a year to prevent these dangerous drugs from potentially killing our family, friends, and neighbors.”
(NEW YORK) — A bus carrying 18 children in Kentucky crashed Monday morning, causing multiple injuries, according to police officials.
Kentucky State Police said the school bus exited the roadway on state Route 40 when it went over the embankment injuring the students and the bus driver.
According to Magoffin County Schools Superintendent Chris Meadows, the students and the driver suffered minor to severe injuries and were sent to local area hospitals by ambulance and helicopter.
Some students were taken to the hospital by their parents, Kentucky police said. No fatalities were reported following the crash.
“Kentucky State Police is on the scene and we are responding swiftly,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in a statement on Facebook. “Please join me in praying for all those involved. We will continue to share updates as available.”
According to police officials, the students’ ages ranged from elementary to high school-aged kids. Before the crash, the bus was en route dropping off students at various schools. The school bus did not have any seatbelts, Kentucky police said.
Officials are investigating the crash.
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
(UVALDE, Texas) — The Uvalde school district foundation tasked with building a school to replace Robb Elementary announced its proposal Monday to build a new $50 million school two miles from the site of the massacre that took 21 lives this past May.
“This was a really emotional experience for me, and I think many of the other committee members,” Natalia Arias, co-chair of the community advisory committee for the project, said Monday night during a presentation of the proposal. “We had to really think hard about what types of people needed to feel the safest and the most proud of the space.”
The proposal for the new school includes 39 classrooms across three grade levels, three science and technology rooms, two art rooms and 14 special education classrooms. The proposed site is next to Flores Elementary, an existing pre-K through first-grade school.
The proposal will be presented to the school board for approval Wednesday, when community members can share their opinions. Approximately 50 people attended the presentation Monday, including some school board members and the interim superintendent, Gary Patterson.
The group has not proposed a name for the new school, instead saying that process will take more time. The current Robb Elementary School building will be demolished, but plans to redevelop the site have yet to be released.
“The committee recognizes that not keeping the school at its current location could create a void in the local neighborhood,” Eulalio “Lalo” Diaz, a committee representative, said. “The redevelopment of the Robb site has to be thoughtful and include the wide range of stakeholders necessary to get that right.”
Robb Elementary School has a history before the May shooting. In 1970, it was involved in one of the largest demonstrations in the Chicano rights movement: a walkout protesting the firing of a beloved teacher. That history wasn’t mentioned during the proposal presentation Monday, but a spokesperson for the Charles Butt Foundation acknowledged that the activism history at Robb Elementary is something the committee has been considering.
Arias said they are working on creating “a campus that reflects the richness of the community’s culture.”
Huckabee Architects, the architecture firm that has donated a value of $8 million of their labor to the project plans, to break ground on the school in June 2023. The school will be finished in October 2024, according to the project principal, Jeff Rodriguez.
The school will be funded by donations. According to the foundation’s executive director, Tim Miller, they have secured $18 million in donations so far. This includes $10 million from the Charles Butt Foundation, the philanthropic organization of the CEO of the popular Texas supermarket chain HEB.
The prevalence of bailouts — high-speed car chases between law enforcement and immigrants crossing the border — was considered in the school’s location and design, according to the presentation. The frequency of bailouts fed a diminished sense of urgency when responding to the scene during the shooting, according to the Texas investigative report in the wake of the mass shooting.
The new school will be informed by this past but provide hope for the future, too, said committee member Bryan Perez.
“I was very cautious on, are we going to be able to embrace all the different aspects of reflecting why we’re here but also being able to move forward?” Perez said. “Knowing that we’re going to be working on creating a facility for our community that’s gonna last for nearly a century.”
Uvalde:365 is a continuing ABC News series reported from Uvalde and focused on the Texas community and how it forges on in the shadow of tragedy.
(NEW YORK) — Federal prosecutors in New York said Monday they have declined to file criminal charges against former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, more than a year after his apartment and office were searched by the FBI.
The grand jury investigation has concluded “and that based on information currently available to the Government, criminal charges are not forthcoming,” prosecutors said in a letter to the court.
Prosecutors asked the court to end the appointment of Barbara S. Jones, the retired federal judge who had been appointed special master in the case.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan had been deciding whether Giuliani, one of Trump’s lawyers and a close adviser, violated lobbying laws when he campaigned for the ouster of then-U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch from Ukraine.
The FBI seized more than a dozen devices from Giuliani’s home and office during a search in April 2021. Jones had been reviewing the contents.
Giuliani “was very pleased” when he learned Monday he would face no foreign lobbying charges, his attorney told ABC News.
The attorney, Bob Costello, said he informed Giuliani shortly after the U.S. attorney’s office issued its letter.
“We are very pleased that they did this,” Costello said. “I’m not surprised that they did this because I saw the evidence, or lack thereof, and knew Rudy Giuliani didn’t do anything wrong.”
“They deviated from office policy by issuing a statement like this, which is very nice, because there’s a memorialization now that Rudy Giuliani didn’t do anything wrong in Ukraine.” Costello added he wished prosecutors had done it sooner.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment beyond the letter that was filed on the public docket.
Costello had denied any wrongdoing by his client speaking to ABC News at the time Giuliani’s home and office were raided last year.
“They’re trying to make Rudy Giuliani look like a criminal. He has done nothing wrong,” Costello said in April 2021.
On April 28, 2021, Giuliani was awoken by federal agents at 6 a.m. at his home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Costello told ABC News. Agents took electronic devices, including Giuliani’s cellphone, while at his office they seized devices, including a computer belonging to longtime Giuliani assistant Jo Ann Zafonte, Costello said.
Giuliani, though he is now off the hook in the Southern District of New York, he remains a target of criminal investigators in Georgia over his role in seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
ABC News’ Lucien Bruggeman, Olivia Rubin, Mark Crudele and John Santucci contributed to this report.
(CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.) — A suspect is in custody after three football players were killed and two other students were injured in a mass shooting at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville on Sunday night, authorities said.
The shooting took place on a bus full of students returning home from a class field trip to see a play in Washington, D.C., university officials said.
All three victims killed were on the football team, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan said at a news conference. The victims were identified as wide receivers Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler and linebacker D’Sean Perry.
The suspect, identified as student Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., was taken into custody Monday morning following an overnight manhunt, authorities announced.
Jones was a running back for the university’s football team in 2018, though he never played in a game.
A motive is not clear, Ryan said.
One injured student is in critical condition and the other is in good condition, Ryan said Monday.
The shooting was reported on the University of Virginia’s campus at about 10:30 p.m. local time, according to police.
University of Virginia sophomore Em Gunter said she was in her dormitory doing schoolwork when she heard gunshots.
“I looked over to my friend and like, ‘Did you hear that?’ I was like, ‘I think that was like gunfire,'” Gunter recalled in a telephone interview with ABC News early Monday, while sheltering in place.
“I’m terrified,” she said.
Gunter invited her friend Nicholas Lansing to shelter in her third-floor dorm room, since his is on the ground floor.
“I have one locked door, but I also have a glass window that leads directly outside. So I’ve been up here on the third floor in Em’s room for the past three and a half hours,” Lansing, a University of Virginia junior, told ABC News via telephone.
The university’s president canceled classes for Monday.
Longo learned of the suspect’s capture in the middle of Monday morning’s news conference, when a captain with the Virginia State Police interrupted Longo and whispered in his ear.
UVA UPDATE: Police have the suspect in custody. This is the final alert message.
“We’ve just received information that the suspect is in custody,” Longo announced, before a lengthy pause absorbing the news.
“Just need a moment to thank God, breathe a sigh of relief,” he said.
The 22-year-old was taken into custody just before 11 a.m. in Henrico County, Virginia, according to Henrico police.
Longo said Jones is facing charges of three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony. Charges could change, he said.
Longo also revealed prior history involving Jones. In September, university officials investigated a report of Jones making a comment about possessing a gun, but Longo said Jones did not make a threat.
Jones was involved in a hazing investigation, which was later closed due to uncooperative witnesses, Longo said.
The university’s threat assessment team also learned of a prior criminal incident involving “a concealed weapon violation” from February 2021 in another city, Longo said. Jones is required as a student “to report that — and he never did — so the university has taken appropriate administrative charges,” Longo said. That matter is pending, Longo said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Monday: “The President and First Lady are mourning with the University of Virginia community after yet another deadly shooting in America has taken the lives of three young people. Our deepest condolences are with the countless families, friends, and neighbors grieving for those killed as well as those injured in this senseless shooting.”
The press secretary called on the Senate to pass an assault weapons ban. The House narrowly passed a ban in a symbolic vote in July.
“We need to enact an assault weapons ban to get weapons of war off America’s streets,” the statement said. “House Democrats acted, and the Senate should follow.”
ABC News’ Peter Charalambous, Jack Date, Melissa Gaffney and Lauren Minore contributed to this report.
