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(NEW YORK) — The last three men to stand trial in connection with a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have been found not guilty on all counts.

Eric Molitor and twin brothers William Null and Michael Null were among the 14 men charged in state and federal court over the alleged plan to kidnap the governor at her vacation home in Antrim County in 2020, largely over the Democratic governor’s strict COVID-19 shutdowns.

Molitor, 39, and the Null brothers, both 41, had pleaded not guilty to state charges of providing material support for terrorist acts and illegally possessing firearms.

The Antrim County jury reached its verdict on Friday after about a day of deliberations following a three-week trial. Molitor broke down in tears of relief after his verdict was read.

During closing arguments on Wednesday, prosecutor James Rossiter told the jury that the defendants were going to help the plot leaders “bring terrorism to Antrim County.”

“If you’re going to help somebody, knowing that they planned a terrorist act, that’s wrong,” Rossiter said.

Molitor’s defense attorney, William Barnett, said in his closing that the state’s case is “weak” and accused the prosecutors of attempting to mislead jurors in their presentation of evidence.

“This thing just became a good story they couldn’t back out of. They’re here pulling the shortcuts to try to get somebody convicted, an innocent person,” Barnett said.

Prosecutors argued during the trial that the three men “hated” their government and assisted in the kidnapping plot, with the Nulls providing the “muscle” and Molitor recording video of Whitmer’s Antrim County property.

William Null and Molitor testified in their own defense, claiming they didn’t know the true nature of the plot until the last minute.

William Null told the jury that while on a nighttime surveillance mission, he didn’t know they were going to the governor’s cabin.

Molitor testified he feared for his life during surveillance of the cabin with Adam Fox, one of the plot leaders who was convicted on federal charges.

“What happens if we don’t do this stuff?” Molitor told the court. “He wasn’t saying, ‘Shoot somebody’ — that would have been a hard no. He didn’t say, ‘Blow something up’ — that would have been a hard no. He said, ‘Take a video.’ I took a video.”

Michael Null declined to testify.

Previously, nine of the militia members have been convicted in state or federal court in connection with the alleged plot, while two have been acquitted.

Pete Musico, Joseph Morrison and Paul Bellar were found guilty by a jury in Jackson County of providing material support for a terrorist act, the most serious charge, as well as firearms charges and membership in a gang and given yearslong state prison sentences in December.

Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were found guilty of federal conspiracy charges in a retrial last year after a previous trial ended in a hung jury. They both received double-digit sentences.

Kaleb Franks and Ty Garbin pleaded guilty to lesser charges last year and agreed to testify in the federal case against Fox and Croft. Franks was sentenced to four years in prison, while Garbin was sentenced to 30 months.

Brian Higgins and Shawn Fix each pleaded guilty to reduced state charges earlier this year in Antrim County and have agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Both have yet to be sentenced.

A jury found two of the members — Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta — not guilty of federal conspiracy charges during a trial last year.

In a statement released following that verdict, Whitmer’s office said the alleged plot was “the result of violent, divisive rhetoric that is all too common across our country.”

“There must be accountability and consequences for those who commit heinous crimes. Without accountability, extremists will be emboldened,” her office said in the statement.

 

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(NEW YORK) — Hurricane Lee, a Category 1 storm churning in the Atlantic Ocean, is bringing dangerous rip currents to the East Coast before heading to New England, where a hurricane watch is in effect.

The winds and rain will reach Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine by Friday night.

Latest headlines:
-Huge waves will be main threat for New England on Friday
-Lee passes Bermuda, gets closer to New England
-Maine governor declares state of emergency

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.

Sep 15, 7:59 AM EDT
Huge waves will be main threat for New England on Friday

With Hurricane Lee forecast to get closer to New England by Friday night, huge waves could batter East Coast beaches and coastal communities.

Waves up to 16 feet will be possible in Long Island, New York, on Friday and Saturday.

The National Weather Service has issued a tropical storm warning from Massachusetts to Maine.

Wind-whipped rain will begin to fall in far southeastern New England near Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard after 9 p.m. ET on Friday and in Boston after midnight.

Lee will push minor storm surge into the coastal Northeast areas, from Long Island to Maine, where water will rise 1 to 3 feet and some minor coastal flooding will be possible.

The worst conditions on Cape Cod and in Boston will be Friday night into Saturday morning with gusty winds, some rain, huge waves and minor coastal flooding.

ABC News’ Max Golembo

Sep 15, 6:00 AM EDT
Lee passes Bermuda, gets closer to New England

Hurricane Lee passed to the west of Bermuda late Thursday night, bringing wind gusts of up to 60 mph to the British island territory.

As of 5 a.m. ET on Friday, the eye of the storm was located about 215 miles northwest of Bermuda and 490 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, according to the National Weather Service.

Lee is currently a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained wind speeds of 85 mph. The storm is a wide cyclone with tropical storm winds extending almost 320 miles from the center.

Lee is forecast to continue moving way from Bermuda and get closer to New England by Friday night, according to the National Weather Service.

By Saturday afternoon, Lee is forecast to move into Canada and make landfall somewhere between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia as an extra-tropical storm. Lee is expected move away from the United States by Saturday evening.

ABC News’ Max Golembo

Sep 14, 5:55 PM EDT
Maine governor declares state of emergency

Maine Gov. Janet Mills declared a state of emergency in anticipation of Hurricane Lee.

Mills also requested that President Joe Biden issue a preemptive Presidential Emergency Disaster to help facilitate federal resources and funds.

“We continue to strongly urge Maine people – particularly those Downeast – to exercise caution and to take steps to ensure they have what they need to stay safe as the storm draws closer,” Mills said in a statement.

Central Maine Power (CMP) and Versant, two utilities that operate in the state, are preparing for possible power outages and will be monitoring the grid closely, according to the governor.

Sep 14, 5:45 PM EDT
Tropical storm warnings extended along New England coast

The center of Hurricane Lee is currently about a couple hundred miles west of Bermuda, where a wind gust of 52 mph was reported, and 665 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, according to the latest tracking update.

Lee remains a Category 1 storm with sustained winds of 85 mph.

A tropical storm warning has been extended up the New England coast and now covers areas from Massachusetts to Maine.

A tropical storm watch along the Rhode Island coast and a storm surge watch for Nantucket have been canceled, officials said.

A hurricane watch remains in effect for portions of the coast of Maine and into Nova Scotia.

ABC News’ Daniel Peck

 

 

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Hurricane Lee, a Category 1 storm churning in the Atlantic Ocean, is bringing dangerous rip currents to the East Coast before heading to New England, where a hurricane watch is in effect.

The winds and rain will reach Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine by the weekend.

Latest headlines:
-Lee passes Bermuda, gets closer to New England
-Maine governor declares state of emergency
-Tropical storm warnings extended along New England coast
-What to expect in New England

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.

Sep 15, 6:00 AM EDT
Lee passes Bermuda, gets closer to New England

Hurricane Lee passed to the west of Bermuda late Thursday night, bringing wind gusts of up to 60 mph to the British island territory.

As of 5 a.m. ET on Friday, the eye of the storm was located about 215 miles northwest of Bermuda and 490 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, according to the National Weather Service.

Lee is currently a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained wind speeds of 85 mph. The storm is a wide cyclone with tropical storm winds extending almost 320 miles from the center.

Lee is forecast to continue moving way from Bermuda and get closer to New England by Friday night, according to the National Weather Service.

ABC News’ Max Golembo

Sep 14, 5:55 PM EDT
Maine governor declares state of emergency

Maine Gov. Janet Mills declared a state of emergency in anticipation of Hurricane Lee.

Mills also requested that President Joe Biden issue a preemptive Presidential Emergency Disaster to help facilitate federal resources and funds.

“We continue to strongly urge Maine people – particularly those Downeast – to exercise caution and to take steps to ensure they have what they need to stay safe as the storm draws closer,” Mills said in a statement.

Central Maine Power (CMP) and Versant, two utilities that operate in the state, are preparing for possible power outages and will be monitoring the grid closely, according to the governor.

Sep 14, 5:45 PM EDT
Tropical storm warnings extended along New England coast

The center of Hurricane Lee is currently about a couple hundred miles west of Bermuda, where a wind gust of 52 mph was reported, and 665 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, according to the latest tracking update.

Lee remains a Category 1 storm with sustained winds of 85 mph.

A tropical storm warning has been extended up the New England coast and now covers areas from Massachusetts to Maine.

A tropical storm watch along the Rhode Island coast and a storm surge watch for Nantucket have been canceled, officials said.

A hurricane watch remains in effect for portions of the coast of Maine and into Nova Scotia.

ABC News’ Daniel Peck

Sep 14, 2:36 PM EDT
What to expect in New England

Hurricane Lee, now a Category 1 storm, is gradually weakening as it churns north through the Atlantic Ocean.

Lee is now about 710 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and is bringing rain and gusty winds to Bermuda.

Over the next two days, Lee will continue to weaken, but will pick up speed as it moves north, parallel to the East Coast.

The rough surf, big waves and dangerous rip currents will persist across a large swath of East Coast beaches through Saturday.

The latest forecast shows Lee’s strongest winds staying offshore, so any notable wind impacts will be confined to areas right along the coast.

Rain could start along the New England coast Friday night into Saturday morning. Major flooding is not expected.

The majority of any rain or wind impacts for southeastern New England will be Saturday morning through early Saturday afternoon.

By Saturday evening, rain and winds will be slamming Maine. But most, if not all, impacts from Lee will be over in Maine by mid-morning on Sunday.

A hurricane watch is in effect for portions of the coast of Maine and into Nova Scotia, however, this could be canceled given the diminishing likelihood of any hurricane-force winds on land.

ABC News’ Dan Peck

 

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(NEW YORK) — The indictment of Hunter Biden on Thursday made one thing all but certain: President Joe Biden will embark on a 2024 reelection bid dogged once again by his son’s tumultuous business and personal life.

The younger Biden is facing felony charges related to false statements in purchasing a firearm, and a third count of illegally obtaining a firearm while addicted to drugs. But with prosecutors continuing to scrutinize his overseas business deals and financial records, the gun charges might soon be just one thread in a potential web of legal troubles.

In June, Hunter Biden struck a plea agreement with prosecutors that would have allowed him to plead guilty to a pair of misdemeanor tax offenses — before the deal fell apart during a court hearing in July after U.S. Judge Maryellen Noreika expressed concern over the structure of the agreement.

Special counsel David Weiss subsequently withdrew the two tax charges in Delaware with the intention of bringing them in California and Washington, D.C. — the venues where the alleged misconduct occurred.

Investigators have examined whether Hunter Biden paid adequate taxes on millions of dollars of his income, including money he made from multiple overseas business ventures. ABC News previously reported that in 2022, he borrowed $2 million from his lawyer and confidant Kevin Morris to pay the IRS for back taxes, penalties and liens that he owed.

Prosecutors have not offered a timeline for the tax charges.

Meanwhile, the president’s political foes have latched onto Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings to level allegations depicting the entire Biden family as corrupt, despite uncovering no clear evidence to date indicating that Joe Biden profited from or meaningfully endorsed his son’s work.

“Today’s charges are a very small start, but unless U.S. Attorney Weiss investigates everyone involved in the fraud schemes and influence peddling, it will be clear President Biden’s DOJ is protecting Hunter Biden and the big guy,” House Oversight Chair James Comer said in a statement to ABC News, referencing unproven allegations against Hunter Biden and his father.

Comer said Republicans are looking for indictments related to “money laundering, violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, tax evasion, the list goes on and on.”

A White House spokesperson has said that “congressional Republicans, in their eagerness to go after President Biden regardless of the truth, continue to push claims that have been debunked for years,” and that President Biden “was never in business with his son.”

 

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(PHILADELPHIA) — Three Philadelphia school teachers filed a proposed class action lawsuit on August 18 against the School District of Philadelphia, accusing the district of violating their First Amendment rights after they protested against asbestos in the school.

Ethan Tannen and Carolyn Gray, who are current teachers at Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School along with Karen Celli, who retired in June 2023, claim in a lawsuit obtained by ABC News that the school docked their pay for unauthorized absences after they assembled their workstations on the outdoor patio of the school amid concerns over asbestos in the facilities.

The complaint alleges that the district failed to provide complete information to teachers and parents about asbestos remediation efforts and potential dangers of asbestos at the school.

The school district marked the teachers as absent and docked their pay for Aug. 26 and 27, according to the complaint.

“Those teachers were not ‘absent’. The district knew that and knew they were working,” Mary Catherine Roper, an attorney who represents all three teachers, said to ABC News in a statement on Sept. 13. “The district wanted to stop the protest, so they threatened the teachers and then punished them. That violates the First Amendment.”

The School District of Philadelphia told ABC News in a statement that they could not comment on pending litigation. They also would not elaborate on whether asbestos exists at the Masterman school.

The latest AHERA (Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act) report published for the Masterman school building, which is from the 2018-2019 school year, identified over 100 “confirmed” or “assumed” sources of asbestos in the building, according to the lawsuit.

“Asbestos is a naturally occurring fibrous material that has historically been used for many industrial and construction purposes,” said Dr. Stephanie Widmer, an ABC News contributor and medical toxicologist, who was not involved in this case. “The material itself is very fire resistant and is a great thermal insulator, many houses built before 1980 contained asbestos. Since the discovery of negative health effects, 66 countries and territories have banned asbestos.”

Though asbestos’ use is now limited in the United States, it is not completely banned, Widmer said.

“Well established health risks of asbestos exposure include ‘asbestosis’, which is scarring of the lungs that results from inhaling asbestos fibers, and an aggressive form of lung cancer, Mesothelioma,” Widmer said. “Asbestos is a known carcinogen.”

According to Widmer, it is important to note that negative health effects from asbestos exposure don’t mount right away. It can take many years to develop illness.

The issue of asbestos in schools is one that the School District of Philadelphia has dealt with over the years. Two schools had to close last April due to concerns of the presence of the potentially hazardous mineral fiber.

Amid school closures, School District of Philadelphia superintendent Tony Watlington told ABC News in April that it would cost almost $5 billion to “fully repair and bring our buildings up to code.”

“With decades of underfunding, the district has had to balance insufficient resources to work on our facilities and the need to deliver pressing educational services,” Watlington added.

To curb the effects of asbestos in schools, Congress passed the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act in 1986, ordering districts “to inspect their school buildings for asbestos-containing building material, prepare asbestos management plans and perform asbestos response actions to prevent or reduce asbestos hazards,” according to the Brookings Institute, a non-profit public policy organization in Washington D.C.

Research has shown that lower-income and minority communities are disproportionally impacted by asbestos exposure, similar to other environmental pollutants compared to their wealthier, white counterparts because these groups are more likely to live in places or work in jobs that have environmental and occupational exposure.

“The class members suffered damage as a result of the district’s retaliatory actions in the form of a loss of First Amendment freedoms, lost wages and other employment benefits, and damage to their professional reputations from the discipline recorded in their employment records,” according to the teachers’ complaint.

According to the lawsuit, up to 50 teachers were improperly disciplined. The three educators are seeking an award of financial damages from lost wages, plus interest and an expungement of their employment records from the school district’s disciplinary actions.

ABC News’ Jade Cobern contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — A New York appellate judge on Thursday issued an interim stay of the state attorney general’s $250 million civil fraud lawsuit against former President Donald Trump that is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 2, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.

The judge’s order was issued during a previously unscheduled virtual hearing that was not open to the public.

The Appellate Division’s First Department will now hear Trump’s request to delay the trial.

Responding to the ruling, Attorney General Letitia James said, “We are confident in our case and will be ready for trial.”

Whether the trial starts as scheduled next month will depend on how quickly the panel hears the arguments and renders a decision.

Before trial can start, Trump’s attorneys said that Judge Arthur Engoron is obliged to decide whether the attorney general’s case — which covers more than a decade of allegedly fraudulent business conduct — should be narrowed. Trump’s legal team has argued some of the real estate transactions are too old to be considered.

Trump’s team is now taking the aggressive step of suing Engoron to force him to rule.

Engoron has said the trial would start on Oct. 2 “come hell or high water.”

James last year brought the $250 million lawsuit against Trump, his children and his company that accuses them of “grossly” inflating the former president’s net worth by billions of dollars and cheating lenders and others with false and misleading financial statements.

Trump has denied all wrongdoing.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — While New York City police insist there are no credible threats to this year’s United Nations General Assembly, law enforcement officials are concerned the annual gathering of world leaders next week comes amid an uptick in political violence both at home and abroad.

“There are no credible threats to the UN General Assembly and New York City in general,” NYPD Police Commissioner Edward Caban said Thursday at a briefing outside U.N. headquarters on Manhattan’s East Side.

However, a confidential NYPD bulletin distributed this month and obtained by ABC News said there is particular concern about “multiple recent attacks involving firearms and IEDs targeting high-ranking public officials globally.”

The bulletin cited the assassinations both of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as well as attempted assassinations in Argentina and Ecuador. In the United States, the bulletin noted a recent attack at a Congressional office in Virginia and last year’s violent assault of Paul Pelosi, the husband of Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

NYPD officials conceded the uptick in political violence is a concern but declined to identify specific dignitaries they are worried about at Thursday’s briefing.

151 heads of state are scheduled to attend, among them President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been the target of months of protests over changes to the Israeli judiciary.

“Every aspect” of the NYPD will be involved in securing the event,” Caban said, including aviation, harbor and K9, working with the U.S. Secret Service, the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service and the U.N.’s own security arm.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(BATON ROUGE, La.) — A Louisiana man charged with murdering a woman in July has now been charged in a second murder at the same address that happened last December, according to Baton Rouge police.

The December murder was previously thought to be a suicide until police discovered the two killings happened at the same address, according to Baton Rouge ABC affiliate WBRZ.

Cedrick Lang, 35, has now been charged for the beating death of 26-year-old Christina Hobbs, which occurred on Dec. 26, 2022.

Hobbs was found dead in her home at the Florida Vista Condominiums from a gunshot wound, according to police.

Lang was rebooked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison for second-degree murder.

He was already charged with the beating death of 42-year-old Rachel Johnson, who was killed at the same location on July 3, according to police. Johnson had died from blunt force trauma, according to autopsy results.

Police described responding to a report of a possible overdose on July 3, to find a woman whose eyes “appeared to have been blackened and swollen shut” and “had apparent bruising over her body,” according to an affidavit.

“It appeared as if she was slammed down on the piece of furniture breaking its leg and then beaten with blunt force trauma on the head and face,” according to the affidavit.

Residents told police that the suspect came to a resident and told them to call 911 because Johnson was dead in the apartment and then he left the area.

The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma past and present, according to the affidavit.

A witness told police that they saw the suspect beating Johnson with his fist and said they overheard Lang threaten to kill Johnson when he would get angry, according to the affidavit.

Police said they searched data records from three local jurisdictions and they all showed numerous reports from three separate people who were in a relationship with Lang, all saying that he physically abused them and that they were trying to leave the relationship, according to the affidavit.

Two separate protective orders have been filed against Lang, according to the affidavit.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(DAYTON, Ohio) — The parents of a non-verbal boy with autism are demanding answers after surveillance video appeared to show a Dayton Public Schools (DPS) employee striking their son, causing him to fall to the ground.

“He wasn’t doing anything wrong,” Taneshia Lindsay, mother of 3-year-old Braylen Tootle, said tearfully during a press conference on Wednesday. “You could have bear-hugged him. You could have let another teacher do it. I don’t know what was going on in that man’s head, but my son did not deserve that.”

The family said they received a video of the incident on Monday after sending multiple requests for a copy of the video to Dayton Public Schools. Michael Wright, a lawyer for the family, said they have not yet seen the entire video of the incident, which took place on Aug. 21, and have not been informed whether the employee was credentialed to work with children with special needs.

ABC News has obtained a copy of the video in which the boy can be seen running down the hallway, followed by the DPS employee.

In the 17-second video, the employee eventually catches up to Braylen, hitting him in the head and causing him to fall to the ground. The employee proceeds to grab Braylen by his legs and carries him back upside down before another employee runs toward him. It is unclear what led to the incident and what occurred after.

“We want answers. We’re demanding answers and we want them immediately,” Wright said during the press conference.

The status of the employee, who has not been named, was not clear. Lindsey said the worker was suspended pending an investigation, but the school did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment to confirm that or discuss the incident.

“They shouldn’t have sent him home pending an investigation. He should have left that school in handcuffs. And that’s why a lot of other parents are mad because, why hasn’t he been arrested?” Lindsay said.

She added, “That is clearly assault on that video. That man should not have left that school, he should not be in society around other people’s kids. We don’t know what this man is doing. He should have been locked up.”

The Dayton Police Department told ABC News on Thursday that the case has been presented to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office.

On Wednesday, David Lawrence, the interim superintendent at DPS, said in a statement posted to the school system’s website in response to the incident that the district in response would be taking additional measures “to ensure all 2,300 employees are properly trained and qualified for their positions in an effort to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.”

“Fitness for duty will be measured in terms of job qualification, training, and social-emotional health and well-being,” Lawrence said in the online statement, adding that he plans to meet with concerned parents at Rosa Parks Early Learning Center early next week to discuss the incident.

“The way Dayton Public Schools handled this situation was absolutely shameful. They lie to this family. They kept them in the dark. They were not being transparent, and they have to be held accountable,” Wright said.

He added, “For the Dayton Police Department, why has there not been an arrest? For the prosecutor’s office, why has there not been any formal charges against this teacher’s aide, paraprofessional? So we are requesting an arrest. We are requesting charges, and we are requesting that the Dayton public school system be transparent with this family.”

The family said they first learned of the incident that occurred on Aug. 21 upon picking up their son from school. They said the school mentioned that an incident had happened but were vague and failed to provide additional details. The family said they were later contacted by Child Protective Services, who were investigating the incident, and the family was told to request video of the incident as it was “way worse than what the school put on paper.”

Doctors have been treating Braylen since the incident and continue to provide medical care, a representative for the family told ABC News. The family said they are waiting to hear if there are any long-term effects from this incident.

“This is a very disturbing video and our hearts are with this child and his family. Montgomery County Children Services cannot share any detail on involvement, as all Children Services case files are confidential under Ohio law,” Deb Decker, Director of Montgomery County Communications and Public Affairs, told ABC News in a statement.

Robert Tootle, the boy’s father, said during the press conference that he already lived in fear something could happen to his son.

“You say something to a kid that’s non-verbal, you don’t get a response, so we wouldn’t know,” Tootle said. “We wouldn’t have a clue what was going on with our kid.”

“Our kids need help, society needs to be educated on autism, and they need to be trained to deal with these kids,” Lindsay said.

 

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(NEW YORK) — Hurricane Lee, a Category 1 storm churning in the Atlantic Ocean, is bringing dangerous rip currents to the East Coast before heading to New England, where a hurricane watch is in effect.

The winds and rain will reach Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine by the weekend.

Latest headlines:
-Lee now a Category 1 hurricane
-New Jersey beach town to fine those who go into dangerous surf
-Onboard with hurricane hunters as they fly into the center of Lee

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.

Sep 14, 12:03 PM EDT
Lee now a Category 1 hurricane

Lee, currently a Category 1 hurricane, is pounding Bermuda with tropical storm-force winds.

Lee, now located about 750 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, will soon move north. A tropical storm warning has been issued for eastern Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

Gusty winds will begin in New England on Friday night and will last through the day on Saturday.

These strong winds will force up to 4 feet of water to pile up along the coasts of Long Island, Cape Cod, Nantucket and Maine.

Lee is forecast to weaken to a post-tropical storm by the time it makes landfall Saturday night in Canada, around Nova Scotia or western New Brunswick. Two to four inches of rain is possible in eastern Maine and into Canada.

ABC News’ Max Golembo

Sep 14, 10:18 AM EDT
New Jersey beach town to fine those who go into dangerous surf

As the summer comes to an end, Hurricane Lee is bringing high surf and dangerous rip currents to beaches up and down the East Coast.

In Seaside Heights, New Jersey, beachgoers who go into the ocean without lifeguards present or in unsafe conditions this week could face a fine up to $1,250, city officials warned Thursday.

“STAY OUT, STAY ALIVE,” city officials posted on Facebook.

Click here for what you need to know to stay safe from rip currents.

Sep 14, 9:12 AM EDT
Onboard with hurricane hunters as they fly into the center of Lee

ABC News chief meteorologist Ginger Zee traveled with NOAA researchers as they flew into the center of Hurricane Lee to gather data on the storm.

Sep 14, 9:00 AM EDT
Lee’s latest forecast

Lee, now a Category 2 hurricane, is bringing huge waves — up to 12 feet — to the entire East Coast.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for Bermuda where Lee will drop gusty winds and heavy rain on Thursday.

By Friday, Lee will move away from Bermuda and begin to impact New England, where a hurricane watch was issued for Maine.

Powerful winds up to 60 mph could reach Cape Cod, Massachusetts, by Friday night.

On Saturday, the winds and rain will spread into the rest of New England. Boston could see winds up to 60 mph on Saturday morning.

The heaviest rain — 1 to 3 inches — will be from Cape Cod to Bar Harbor, Maine.

Landfall is expected Saturday night in Canada, either in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia, near the Maine border. Lee at that point will have weakened to an extra-tropical storm system, but the strong winds will continue for Maine and Canada through Sunday morning.

ABC News’ Max Golembo

Sep 14, 6:07 AM EDT
What to know

There’s an increasing likelihood that Hurricane Lee will bring wind, rain and flooding to coastal New England on Friday and into the weekend.

Lee is forecast to still be hurricane-strength by the time it passes east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on Saturday morning.

Lee could bring strong, gusty winds from Rhode Island to Boston to Maine. The heaviest rain, wind and storm surge will be from Cape Cod to Bar Harbor, Maine, from Friday night through Saturday.

Up to 4 feet of storm surge is possible on Cape Cod and Nantucket.

Hurricane conditions are possible in eastern Maine.

Early Sunday morning, Lee may make landfall between coastal Maine and Nova Scotia as a post-tropical storm. Then Lee will head out to sea.

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