Chicago police car is seen in Chicago, United States, on October 14, 2022. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(CHICAGO) — A man set a woman on fire while on a Chicago L train on Monday following a “verbal altercation,” leaving her in critical condition, authorities said.
A person of interest is in custody in connection with the incident, the Chicago Police Department said Tuesday.
The arson attack occurred Monday at approximately 9:25 p.m. near the Clark and Lake station, police said.
The 26-year-old woman was on a Chicago Transit Authority train “when she was involved in a verbal altercation with an approximately 45-year-old male,” the Chicago Police Department said.
“That altercation became physical when the offender poured a liquid on to the victim and ignited it, causing the victim to start on fire,” police said.
The man fled the scene when the train stopped, police said.
The woman fell to the ground upon exiting the train, police said. The fire was extinguished and she was transported to a local hospital in critical condition with severe burns, police said.
In this aerial view, salvage crews continue to remove wreckage from the Dali six weeks after the cargo ship collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge May 08, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(BALTIMORE) — The cargo ship that rammed into Baltimore’s Key Bridge in March 2024, shortly after experiencing two blackouts, initially lost power due to an improperly installed wire, the National Transportation Safety Board revealed on Tuesday.
The NTSB further found safety issues related to the Dali’s machinery and electrical systems that prevented the ship from fully recovering following the initial blackout, the agency said.
The Dali, a Singaporean vessel, struck one of the piers on the Key Bridge early on the morning of March 26, 2024, causing the bridge to collapse and killing six construction workers who were filling potholes on the span.
“This tragedy should have never occurred,” National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said during a hearing on Tuesday on the findings of the agency’s 20-month investigation into the crash. “Lives should have never been lost, as with all accidents that we investigate, this was preventable.”
According to the NTSB, on the day of the crash, a wire that had loosened over time due to an unstable connection ultimately disconnected from its breaker, resulting in a loss of propulsion and steering. A label identifying what the wire powered prevented it from being fully inserted into the breaker, the agency found.
Homendy commended her staff for this discovery.
“Our investigators routinely accomplish the impossible, and this investigation is no different,” she said. “The Dali is almost 1,000 feet, and it’s as long as the Eiffel Tower is high with miles of wiring and thousands of electrical connections. Locating a single wire that is loose among thousands of wires is like looking for a loose bolt in the Eiffel Tower.”
The NTSB said the loose wire could have been identified during inspections, however the agencies said the inspections performed by the ship’s operator, Synergy Marine Group, were not adequate enough.
Following that initial power failure, the NTSB found that multiple parts of the back up systems that were supposed to restore power and functionality to the ship and prevent the loss of propulsion were not configured correctly.
A second blackout occurred due to insufficient fuel pressure after a flushing pump being used to supply fuel to two generators shut off during the initial blackout and wasn’t restarted, the NTSB said. Investigators found the crew’s operation of flushing pump was “inappropriate” because the pump was not able to restart automatically when power was restored following a blackout and had to be restarted manually.
“According to the vessel’s classification society, the operation of the pump as a fuel oil service pump did not meet classification requirements because it was not able to restart automatically,” Barton Barnum, an engineer with the NTSB’s Office of Marine Safety, said during the hearing.
The ship experienced two blackouts while docked the day before the crash, according to the NTSB. The initial blackout was caused by human error, while the second similarly occurred because the flushing pump had shut off, Barnum said.
The NTSB determined that Synergy provided inadequate oversight by not stopping the crew from using the flushing pump as a fuel service pump.
The Dali crew responded quickly and in a timely manner to the first blackout, the NTSB found.
Crews onboard the container ship were able to warn officials about the malfunction, giving them time to close the bridge to oncoming traffic before the crash.
The NTSB said Tuesday that the workers on the bridge, though, had not received any warnings of Dali’s emergency situation. Had they been notified, they “may have had sufficient time to drive to a portion of the bridge that did not collapse,” Scott Parent, an NTSB highway factors engineer, said.
There are no American National Standards Institute standards for highway workers to receive emergency information regarding life-threatening events in work zones, stressing the “need for effective and immediate communication,” he said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams listens as names of the victims of the 9/11 terror attack are read during the annual 9/11 Commemoration Ceremony at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum, Sept. 11, 2025, in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York on Tuesday sentenced Mohamed Bahi, the only member of Mayor Eric Adams’ administration convicted in an illegal donations scheme, to three years’ probation, including the first year under home confinement, after the Trump Justice Department forced the same judge to dismiss a criminal case against the mayor himself that involved the same scheme.
The sentence is less than prosecutors sought but the judge concluded Bahi was less culpable than his boss.
“It is hard to escape the impression that Mr. Bahi is left here holding the bag,” U.S. District Judge Dale Ho said, calling the dismissal of the charges against the mayor the “elephant in the room.”
Someone in the courtroom gallery briefly clapped when Judge Ho questioned a prosecutor about the decision to toss the case against Adams, which the Trump administration said was necessary to free him to cooperate with the president’s immigration agenda.
“What am I to make of a person above him, the mayor, had his indictment against him dismissed?” Ho asked.
The prosecutor, Rob Sobelman, urged the judge to “focus on Bahi,” who he said “committed a series of serious criminal acts” that warranted prison time beyond the zero-to-six month sentence called for by federal sentencing guidelines.
“We are not seeking a lengthy period of incarceration but a modest one is appropriate here,” Sobelman said.
Bahi, 40, served as a Muslim liaison at New York City Hall until his 2024 arrest. He pleaded guilty to a conspiracy count for his role in the illegal donations scheme, telling donors to lie to the FBI and to deleting Signal from his phone as agents arrived to search him.
“Straw donor schemes like this are a serious offense,” Judge Ho said. “This is not the kind of conduct that merits a slap on the wrist.”
“Standing here today is painful but necessary,” Bahi told the judge. “I accept full responsibility for my actions.”
Bahi was the second person charged in the fundraising scheme to plead guilty after a businessman, Erden Arkan, admitted he laundered straw donations. Arkan was sentenced to probation.
The defense sought a year’s probation for Bahi, downplaying his role in the scheme.
“It’s a far cry from careful planning and execution,” defense attorney Derek Adams said. “This wasn’t some grand scheme of Bahi’s to get Adams elected.”
The scheme was outlined in the now-defunct indictment against Mayor Adams that alleged bribery and fraud offenses. Adams denied seeking and accepting straw donations that would help him reach the threshold for public matching funds for the 2021 campaign.
The directive to drop the case against the mayor prompted the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, to resign her position in protest. She has since joined a law firm started by former Solicitor General Paul Clement.
Mayor Adams celebrated the dismissal of the indictment but his political career did not recover. He dropped his bid for reelection and will leave office on Jan. 1 when mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is sworn in.
Danielle Bensky, a Jeffrey Epstein survivor, speaks during the news conference with survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, November 18, 2025. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Danielle Bensky, a survivor of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, said the push by members of Congress and, now, President Donald Trump, to release investigative files has led to a “moment of vulnerability” for herself and other survivors.
Bensky said on Monday in Washington that pending legislation amounted to a noticeable movement towards accountability for Epstein survivors. She called the moment “hopeful,” saying that it also felt like “unprecedented waters.”
“This is a moment of vulnerability,” Bensky said. “This is a moment, as you can see, when we are tapping into those youngest parts of ourselves and saying we’re doing it for that little person that used to exist. We’re doing it for women.”
ABC News spoke with Bensky, who goes by Dani, a day ahead of the long-awaited vote by the House to release the Epstein files. The House is expected to vote Tuesday, after Trump called on Republicans to release all the files, reversing his stance.
The House vote is just step one, though. If it passes as expected, Senate Majority Leader John Thune would then need to bring it up for a vote in the Senate. Passage in the Senate would then send it to Trump’s desk for possible signing.
House Democrats last week released emails subpoenaed from the Epstein estate that mentioned Trump by name multiple times. In one email, written in 2011, Epstein referred to Trump as the “dog that hasn’t barked” and he told accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell that an alleged victim had “spent hours at my house” with Trump.
Trump, who was friendly with Epstein for years, said after Epstein’s arrest in 2019 that they hadn’t spoken in more than a decade after having a falling out. The president on Monday said he would sign a bill to compel the Justice Department to release all files relating to Epstein if it reaches his desk.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week that emails related to convicted sex offender Epstein released by House Democrats “prove absolutely nothing, other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.” Trump has denied all wrongdoing and denied having any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
Bensky has claimed she was recruited in 2004 when she was an aspiring ballerina in New York City. She alleges she was sexually exploited by Epstein for more than a year.
Bensky was among a group of survivors of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his convicted accomplice, holding a demonstration Monday evening at the National Gallery of Art — a couple of blocks from the Capitol — at which they displayed a looped video of several survivors holding pictures of themselves at the age they met Epstein.
Maxwell was found guilty in December 2021 of conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors to participate in illegal sex acts, transporting a minor to participate in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor. She is serving 20 years in prison.
Bensky said that being there at the National Gallery of Art gave her a bigger sense of meaning to “make the world safer” for the young kids and teenagers she works with as a dance choreographer.
Rachel Foster, co-founder and executive council chair of World Without Exploitation, an anti-sex trafficking coalition, described on Monday the fight to release the files as “truly bipartisan.”
“Truly a bipartisan effort. It’s not political,” Foster said. “This is about transparency, and this is a moment, if there’s any moment for people from both sides of the aisle to come together and say that victims who have sexual abuse need to have justice, and we all need transparency when it comes to either standing with victims, standing with women and children who have been abused or you’re protecting perpetrators.”
The booking photo for Tyler Matthew Johns. Henderson Police Department
(HENDERSON, Nev.) — The suspect who allegedly shot and killed an 11-year-old boy during a road rage incident in Nevada said he “did not know there was a kid” in the back seat of the vehicle when he opened fire, according to a declaration of arrest obtained by ABC News.
Tyler Matthew Johns, 22, was arrested on Friday and booked for open murder and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, according to the Henderson Police Department.
Johns remains held without bail after making his first court appearance on Saturday. The 22-year-old will appear in court again on Tuesday at 9 a.m. local time.
The incident occurred at approximately 7:30 a.m. on Friday, when two vehicles in traffic began “jockeying for positions trying to pass each other on the congested freeway,” police said during a press conference on Friday.
One of the vehicles tried to pass on the shoulder of the freeway, which is when both drivers rolled down their windows and began arguing, police said.
Johns, who was in a four-door sedan, allegedly fired a single shot from a handgun at a hybrid SUV driven by the victim’s stepfather, identified as Valente Ayala — hitting the 11-year-old sitting in the back seat, police said.
The boy, identified as Brandon Dominguez-Chavarria, was on his way to school, officials said.
After the child was shot, Ayala then rammed the suspect’s vehicle to stop him from fleeing the scene, causing both of them to come to a stop in the middle of the freeway, officials said.
Both drivers got out of their vehicles and proceeded to get into a heated exchange as a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer happened to be driving by, officials said.
During this argument, two witnesses got in between the two men, with Ayala yelling that the suspect had killed his son, according to the declaration of arrest.
The witnesses then proceeded to open the rear driver’s side passenger door and “observed a juvenile male slumped over in the seat with copious amounts of blood coming from or about the head,” according to the declaration of arrest.
Johns had “spontaneously admitted to officers that he had discharged his firearm” and stated he “did not know there was a kid in the back,” according to the declaration of arrest document.
He then “turned around and placed his hands behind his back without prompting from the officers, in what appeared to allow them to place handcuffs on his wrists,” the declaration of arrest said.
Shortly after the suspect was taken into custody, the Henderson Fire Department arrived at the scene and transported the child to a local hospital, but “despite their best efforts,” the child succumbed to his injuries, police said. The boy’s cause of death was listed as a gunshot wound to the head, the Clark County Coroner said on Monday.
“We lost a life today that we didn’t have to lose,” Henderson Police Department Chief Reggie Rader said during a press conference last week.
Ayala told officials he believed the suspect “intended to shoot him, but based on their speeds,” the bullet struck the child, according to the declaration of arrest.
Ayala was not armed during the road rage incident nor does he own any firearms, the declaration of arrest said.
(NEW YORK) –A Tennessee judge on Monday night blocked the deployment of National Guard into Memphis, concluding that Gov. Bill Lee exceeded his authority by sending troops into the city.
Davidson County Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal issued a temporary injunction to prohibit the deployment into Memphis, though she put the ruling on hold for five days to allow an appeal.
“The power committed to the Governor as commander-in-chief of the Army and Militia is not unfettered,” Moskal said.
Unlike other legal battles over the National Guard in states where governors have opposed the deployment, Gov. Bill Lee has supported using the troops to help local law enforcement.
President Donald Trump announced plans to send the soldiers into Memphis in September in response to what he claimed were the surging crime rates.
A group of elected officials sued over the deployment, arguing that the governor only has the power to deploy the guard in response to civil unrest, such as a rebellion or invasion.
In a statement, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris called the decision “a positive step toward ensuring the rule of law applies to everyone, including everyday Tennesseans and even the Governor.”
While the ruling curtails the use of the National Guard, other parts of a federal task force established by Trump — including agents from the FBI, ATF and DEA — are allowed to continue operating in the city.
(RALEIGH, N.C.) — The mayor of Raleigh, North Carolina, said that federal agents would be continuing their operations in the area Tuesday after Federal agents fanned out across nearby Charlotte over the weekend, detaining more than 130 people within about 48 hours.
Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell released a statement on Monday night on the expected Border Patrol enforcement in the city, saying that the federal action was not requested.
“As the capital city, it is important to us that everyone who lives, works, plays, and learns in Raleigh feels safe,” Cowell said. “We have been made aware that Customs and Border Protection are coming to Raleigh. While [the Raleigh Police Department] is not involved in immigration enforcement, we are committed to protecting our residents and to following the law.”
Cowell also confirmed that the police department has not participated in any of the immigration planning activities.
“Above all, Raleigh is a safe city, with crime down year-over-year,” Cowell continued. “Public safety is a priority for me and this City Council.”
Cowell said the Raleigh police will be doing their regular jobs out in the community and are not coordinating with Border Control agents.
Of the more than 130 people taken into custody in Charlotte over the weekend, 81 people were arrested in the first five hours of operation “Charlotte’s Web” on Saturday, according to government officials.
Charlotte is the latest city targeted by the Trump administration to enforce immigration laws, in a nationwide effort that has included Los Angeles and Chicago, which are so-called “sanctuary” cities and states that limit actions their local authorities take to aid the work of immigration agents. The Department of Homeland Security in announcing its action in North Carolina said the state also has “sanctuary” politicians.
“We are surging DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “There have been too many victims of criminal illegal aliens. President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem will step up to protect Americans when sanctuary politicians won’t.”
Federal agents are expected to stay in Charlotte until Friday, according to preliminary information from federal authorities. By the end of the week, about 200 agents are expected to be re-deployed to New Orleans to begin “Operation Catahoula Crunch” in the Big Easy, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
“This is a key moment to reaffirm our commitment to serving all members of our community,” Cowell said. “If you need help from the police, you call 911, and help will come. I ask Raleigh to remember our values and maintain peace and respect through any upcoming challenges.”
The booking photo for Curt Andersen. Boone County, Indiana Sheriff’s Office
(WHITESTOWN, Ind.) — An Indiana man has been charged with voluntary manslaughter for fatally shooting a cleaning woman who mistakenly went to the wrong home, prosecutors announced Monday, nearly two weeks after the mother of four was killed.
The suspect, Curt Andersen, has been booked into the Boone County jail on a no bond hold and will appear in court sometime this week, prosecutors said.
The Boone County prosecutor, Kent Eastwood, said the decision to file the charge follows a “comprehensive examination,” in which his office determined Andersen’s actions did not fall under the legal protections provided by the Indiana Stand Your Ground law.
“It’s our contention that the person did not have a reasonable belief that that type of force was necessary, given all the facts that he had at that time,” Eastwood said during a press briefing on Monday.
The shooting occurred the morning of Nov. 5 in a subdivision of Whitestown, located approximately 20 miles northwest of Indianapolis, police said.
Officers responding to a 911 call reporting a possible home invasion shortly before 7 a.m. found the woman dead on the front porch of the residence with a gunshot wound, Whitestown police said.
The gun had been fired from inside by a resident of the home, police said.
Police later determined the woman was part of a cleaning crew that had mistakenly arrived at the wrong address, and that “the facts gathered do not support” that a home invasion occurred.
The Boone County Coroner’s Office identified the shooting victim as 32-year-old Maria Florinda Rios Perez de Velasquez of Indianapolis. She died from a gunshot wound to the head, the coroner’s office said.
Eastwood said his office started a review of the case on Nov. 10 following a “thorough and professional” police investigation, which included taped witness statements and crime scene diagrams.
The prosecutor said he has received words of support from people who said they were praying for him “because we know you have a difficult decision to make.”
“Honestly, it wasn’t,” he said. “I hate to sound cavalier about this, but it wasn’t a hard decision.”
Velasquez’s husband told Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV that they had been cleaning homes for seven months and he was with her when she was shot.
“I never thought it was a shot, but I realized when my wife took two steps back, she looked like she’d been hit in the head,” her husband, Mauricio Velasquez, told WRTV in Spanish.
“She fell into my arms, and I saw the blood. It went everywhere,” he told the station.
They have four children, the youngest 11 months old, according to WRTV.
“This is a tragedy for everyone involved, and our hearts and prayers are with her family as they navigate this difficult time,” Eastwood said.
The prosecutor said this type of case is “very rare” in Boone County, and chastised what he called “false and misleading information” circulating since the shooting, including the claim the person who committed the crime was a police officer.
“This must stop immediately,” he said. “It does not help the process. It does not help this case. It undermines the integrity of the judicial process. It spreads confusion and it harms both the victim’s family and the accused’s right to a fair trial.”
Protesters gather at First Ward Park for the ‘No Border Patrol In Charlotte’ rally to raise their voices for the immigrant community and against ICE raids and Border Patrol activity in Charlotte, North Carolina, US on November 15, 2025. (Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) — Federal agents fanned out across North Carolina’s largest city over the weekend, detaining more than 130 people in the first 48 hours of its immigration crackdown that has prompted protests and resistance from local leaders.
Greg Bovino, commander-at-large spearheading the crackdown for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), vowed in a social media post on Sunday that his agents would “hit Charlotte like a storm.”
On Monday, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson told ABC News that those arrested in Charlotte over the weekend by CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) allegedly “have all broken the immigration laws of our country.”
“Criminal records of those arrested include known gang membership, aggravated assault, possession of a dangerous weapon, felony larceny, simple assault, hit and run, possession of stolen goods, shoplifting, DUI, DWI, and illegal re-entry after prior deportation, a felony,” a DHS spokesperson said. “We will not stop enforcing the laws of our nation until every criminal illegal alien is arrested and removed from our country.”
Of the more than 130 people taken into custody in Charlotte over the weekend, 81 people were arrested in the first five hours of operation “Charlotte’s Web” on Saturday, according to Bovino.
Charlotte is the latest city targeted in a nationwide Trump administration immigration enforcement blitz that has included Los Angeles and Chicago — which, like Charlotte, are Sanctuary Cities that are run by a Democratic mayors.
Federal agents are expected to stay in Charlotte until Friday, according to preliminary information from federal authorities. By the end of the week, about 200 agents are expected to be re-deployed to New Orleans to begin “Operation Catahoula Crunch” in the Big Easy, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
In a joint statement released on Saturday, Charlotte and Mecklenburg County elected officials, including Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, slammed the CBP operations, saying they are “causing unnecessary fear and uncertainty in our community.”
“It is critical for all residents to feel secure in our community and know they can live their lives without being fearful while walking down the street, going to school, work or the grocery store.”
In advance of the CBP arriving in Charlotte, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, released a statement, asking residents to report any “inappropriate behavior” they witness from federal agents.
“If you see any inappropriate behavior, use your phones to record and notify local law enforcement, who will continue to keep our communities safe after these federal agents leave,” Stein said.
In advance of the CBP arriving in Charlotte, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, released a statement, asking residents to report any “inappropriate behavior” they witness from federal agents.
“If you see any inappropriate behavior, use your phones to record and notify local law enforcement, who will continue to keep our communities safe after these federal agents leave,” Stein said.
Over the weekend, eyewitnesses filmed and photographed several incidents in which masked agents arrested residents in Charlotte. The footage captured CPB agents stopping and pulling people from vehicles, and rounding up others at stores and parking lots.
Even naturalized U.S. citizens like 46-year-old Willy Aceituno were not spared from getting snared in “Charlotte’s Web.”
Aceituno told ABC affiliate station WSOC in Charlotte that he was stopped twice within five minutes by federal agents on Saturday. He said the second time he was stopped, agents broke his window and forced him out of his vehicle. He said he told them he was a U.S. citizen.
“They asked me, ‘Hey, give me your papers.’ I say, ‘I’m scared because I give [them to] you five minutes ago’,” said Aceituno, adding that he was released after he showed agents documents proving his citizenship.
The Department of Homeland Security told ABC News that Aceituno was stopped because he was interfering with their operations, an allegation Aceituno denied.
A DHS spokesperson made no apologies for the federal crackdown in Charlotte.
“We are surging DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed,” the DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “There have been too many victims of criminal illegal aliens and President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem will step up to protect Americans when sanctuary politicians won’t.”
Former FBI Director James Comey talks backstage before a panel discussion about his book “A Higher Loyalty,” June 19, 2018, in Berlin. (Carsten Koall/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A magistrate judge expressed alarm Monday at what he called “a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps” that may have irreversibly tainted the prosecution of James Comey and violated the former FBI director’s constitutional rights, in a scathing opinion granting Comey’s attorneys access to a vast trove of grand jury evidence.
Judge William Fitzpatrick ordered the Trump administration to turn over a full transcript and recording of the September grand jury presentation by Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, which he said included instances where she may have made “fundamental misstatements of the law that could compromise the integrity of the grand jury process.”
“The Court recognizes that the relief sought by the defense is rarely granted,” Fitzpatrick said in a ruling Monday. “However, the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.”
Comey pleaded not guilty in October to one count of false statements and one count of obstruction of a congressional proceeding related to his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020, amid what critics call Trump’s campaign of retribution against his perceived political foes.
Halligan, Trump’s handpicked U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, sought the indictment of Comey over the objections of career prosecutors after Trump forced out previous U.S. attorney Erik Siebert who sources said had resisted bringing cases against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Halligan, who had no experience as a prosecutor, sought the indictment after Trump, in a social media post, called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to act “NOW!!!” to prosecute Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Fitzpatrick, in Monday’s ruling, wrote, “Having been requested by the government to review the grand jury materials, the Court has identified two statements by the prosecutor to the grand jurors that on their face appear to be fundamental misstatements of the law that could compromise the integrity of the grand jury process.”
Separately, the judge raised concerns that based on materials handed over by the government, it appears the indictment that Halligan ultimately returned in open court may not have been presented or deliberated on by the grand jury, which initially rejected one of the three charges she had sought.
“If this procedure did not take place, then the Court is in uncharted legal territory in that the indictment returned in open court was not the same charging document presented to and deliberated upon by the grand jury,” Fitzpatrick said. “Either way, this unusual series of events, still not fully explained by the prosecutor’s declaration, calls into question the presumption of regularity generally associated with grand jury proceedings, and provides another genuine issue the defense may raise to challenge the manner in which the government obtained the indictment.”
Based on his outlined concerns about potential government misconduct, Fitzpatrick ordered the government to provide all of the grand jury materials to Comey’s attorneys by 5 p.m. ET Monday.
