(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — The South Carolina Senate on Tuesday effectively killed a proposed congressional map that could have allowed Republicans to flip the seat held by Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn, a major rebuff to a mid-decade redistricting effort promoted by President Donald Trump.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(NEW YORK) — A federal judge on Tuesday granted former FBI Director James Comey’s request to delay his criminal trial for allegedly threatening to kill President Donald Trump by posting a photo of seashells.
U.S. District Judge Louise Wood Flanagan scheduled the trial to begin on Oct. 21.
The former FBI director’s arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 30.
Prosecutors did not object to the request to delay the proceedings.
Comey was charged with threatening to kill Trump by posting a photo on Instagram of seashells on a beach arranged in the numbers “86 47.” Citing the slang meaning of “86” as to “nix” or “get rid” of something, allies of the president allege that the post was a veiled threat against Trump, who is the 47th president.
Following backlash over the post, Comey removed the photo from Instagram and said he was unaware that the post could be associated with violence.
Critics of Trump say the indictment is another effort by the administration to punish the president’s perceived enemies after a judge last year threw out an indictment against Comey on unrelated charges.
“Well, they’re back. This time about a picture of seashells on a North Carolina Beach a year ago,” Comey said in a video posted online after the seashell indictment was unsealed. “And this won’t be the end of it, but nothing has changed with me. I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let’s go.”
At a press conference announcing the charges last month, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche argued that Comey’s post crossed the line between First Amendment-protected speech and speech that warrants prosecution.
“It’s not a very difficult line to look at, and it’s not, in my mind, a difficult line for one to cross over, one way or the other,” Blanche said. “We cannot, you are not allowed to threaten the President of the United States of America. That’s not my decision. That’s Congress’s decision, and a statute that they passed that we charge multiple times a year.”
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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is expected to visit Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Tuesday for his “annual dental and medical evaluations,” as announced by the White House earlier this month. A White House official confirmed Tuesday’s visit to ABC News.
The White House said the appointment will consist of “routine annual dental and medical assessments.” The visit will be Trump’s third scheduled medical appointment at Walter Reed in 13 months.
Trump will soon celebrate his 80th birthday.
The president underwent a physical examination at Walter Reed in April 2025. In a memo detailing the findings of the physical, Trump’s physician – U.S. Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella – concluded that Trump was in “excellent health” and “fully fit” to serve as president.
The president also visited the dentist in Florida in January and in May.
Trump has frequently been photographed with bruises on his hand, which he attributed to frequent aspirin intake during an interview with The Wall Street Journal published in January. In December 2025, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the bruising on Trump’s hand was caused by frequent handshakes.
A rash also appeared on the right side of Trump’s neck earlier this year, which the White House said was due to a “preventative skin cream treatment” that he was using for “one week,” causing redness that was “expected to last for a few weeks.”
Trump told the WSJ that he received a CT scan last October, though he initially referred to the test seemingly incorrectly as as an MRI exam. Barbabella said the CT scan was done “to definitively rule out any cardiovascular issues” and showed no abnormalities.
Last summer, Trump was diagnosed with a chronic venous insufficiency after appearing with swollen ankles and legs. This is a “benign and common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70,” Leavitt said at the time.
Over the past year, Trump appears to have fallen asleep during events, though he has denied experiencing any difficulty staying awake. During a Cabinet meeting in January, Trump said the press simply caught him “in a blink” and that he closed his eyes because the event was boring.
Trump has made a point to repeatedly proclaim “perfect” health and mental sharpness. On Friday, Trump again said he took multiple cognitive tests that he “aced.” The president has also frequently demanded that his opponents take cognitive tests.
Earlier this month, Trump said he feels the same as he did 50 years ago, though he noted that “someday, there’ll be a day when that won’t happen.”
ABC News’ Meg Mistry, Karen Travers and Mariam Khan contributed to this report.
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(WASHINGTON) — A three-judge panel in a federal court in Alabama ruled unanimously on Tuesday that state Republicans are still blocked from using their 2023 congressional map, which would have potentially helped Republicans in November.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(LONDON) — The New York-based International Rescue Committee (IRC) aid organization warned on Tuesday that the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighboring Uganda is now spreading faster than responders can contain it and risks becoming “the deadliest on record” without urgent international action.
What is especially alarming, the IRC said, is that the outbreak is no longer limited to remote areas of the DRC’s northeastern province of Ituri, the epicenter of the current epidemic.
Cases and contacts are now spreading into larger regional hubs, the IRC warned, including the major city of Goma in the DRC’s eastern province of North Kivu and also Uganda’s capital, Kampala, with fears of much wider transmission.
“The outbreak is spreading faster than the response, with over 900 suspected cases and at least 223 deaths already reported across DRC and Uganda, including in major transport hubs like Goma and Kampala,” the IRC wrote.
The IRC said conflict, mass displacement and deep international aid cuts have left health systems far weaker than during the massive 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak in the eastern DRC, which the World Health Organization said killed at least 2,299 people.
The last time the IRC issued a warning of this scale about Ebola was during the 2018-2020 outbreak, when the organization repeatedly warned that violence, mistrust and weak health systems could allow the virus to spiral into a regional catastrophe.
The IRC is calling for an emergency international funding surge, the appointment of a United Nations emergency coordinator, faster import approvals for medical supplies and equipment, stronger community outreach to rebuild trust, special protection for women and girls – who reportedly make up around two-thirds of suspected cases – and long-term investment in fragile health systems already damaged by war and insecurity.
The current Ebola outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare variant of Ebola for which there are no approved vaccines or therapeutics and which requires different diagnostics than other variants. Case fatality rates for previous Bundibugyo outbreaks have ranged from 30% to 50%, according to the WHO.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record occurred between 2014 and 2016 in West Africa, with more than 28,600 cases reported. The WHO said that outbreak killed at least 11,325 people by June 2016.
WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a Monday briefing that the current Ebola outbreak “will get worse before it gets better.”
“We are facing an extremely serious and difficult outbreak. It will get worse before it gets better,” Tedros said on Monday. “But we know this virus, and we know how to stop it. We have stopped every previous Ebola outbreak, and we will stop this one, too.”
Ghebreyesus said he wanted to echo comments made by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa about overcoming the outbreak with unity.
“The question is just how quickly we can do it, and how many more lives will be lost before we do,” Ghebreyesus added.
Last week, Tedros classified the Ebola outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern – one level below a pandemic in the United Nations agency’s alert system.
The WHO continues to consider the national risk assessment as “very high” while the regional level risk remains “high” and the global risk level remains “low,” Ghebreyesus said on Monday.
The outbreak has led to multiple countries, including the U.S., India, the U.K. and Australia, putting travel restrictions in place.
Entry to the U.S. is restricted for foreign travelers who have recently been in the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan.
Meanwhile, U.S. passport holders and U.S. nationals returning to the U.S. from the three countries will be funneled to Dulles Airport in Virginia to be screened for symptoms and interviewed about possible exposure.
Enhanced screening efforts also began at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as of Saturday morning. Efforts at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston will begin late Tuesday.
Lawful permanent residents – green card holders – who have been in any of the three countries in question over the last 21 days are temporarily barred from entering the U.S.
ABC News’ Eric M. Strauss and Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Voters in Texas go to the polls on Tuesday to decide the Republican nominee in a pivotal Senate race that could decide control of the Senate — and serves as a test of President Donald Trump’s influence.
Also on the ballot are several member-on-member matchups and a candidate, Maureen Galindo, who has already been condemned by top Democrats for her campaign’s controversial comments.
Trump weighs in on Texas Senate race
Trump’s last-minute endorsement in the Texas Senate primary runoff race of Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn has shaken up a race that could become critical for the fight to control the Senate next year.
Cornyn narrowly led the field in March’s primary with 42% of the vote, followed by Paxton’s 40%, to make the runoff over GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt.
This comes after Trump’s endorsement power was proven to prevail in recent primaries — with the president successfully ousting non-endorsed incumbent Republicans this month, including Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie and Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy.
And while Trump has praised Cornyn as a “good man,” he made clear that he feels the senator was “not supportive” enough in the past. Cornyn is also backed by the campaign arm of Senate Republicans and many of his Senate colleagues have stood by his side despite the president’s endorsement, citing their belief that Paxton’s past controversies could put this safe Republican seat at risk.
The bitter Republican battle is also the most expensive primary runoff, according to AdImpact, after the race already made history as the most expensive Senate primary election in March. According to AdImpact, $100 million has been spent in the primary and $25 million has been spent for the runoff.
Texas House races
The Houston-area 18th Congressional District is no stranger to showing up to vote — this House seat has seen six elections in the last two years.
The deaths of the last two members to represent the district, Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Sylvester Turner, left the district without representation for large swaths of time. Rep. Christian Menefee, the current representative for the district, has only served in office for a few months after winning the seat in a special election.
He faces off against Rep. Al Green, a longtime member of Congress, who represents the neighboring 9th District, which has been redrawn to favor Republicans.
In Dallas, another contentious Democratic primary pits a current member against a former one. Redistricting of nearby districts has drawn top candidates into the primary for the state’s 33rd Congressional District: Rep. Julie Johnson, who currently represents the neighboring Texas’ 32nd Congressional District, and Former Rep. Colin Allred, who left that seat in 2024 to run for Senate.
Texas’ 35th Congressional District features competitive runoffs on both the Republican and Democratic sides. The district was redrawn to favor Republicans, but Democrats hope low approval for Trump and a strong candidate could give them a fighting chance.
Galindo, who came in first in the March Democratic primary for the 35th District with 29% of the vote, has been the subject of major controversy for her campaign’s social media posts. A now-deleted Instagram post from her campaign read that Galindo will turn an ICE detention center “into a prison for American Zionists.” She has previously called for all candidates who take campaign contributions from Israel to be “tried for treason.” While she has not denied the comments, she has added that “putting billionaire Zionists in prison does not mean putting all Jews in internment camps.”
She was condemned by Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene, who said Galindo’s “vile language” is “disqualifying and has no place in American Politics.”
The largest financial backer of Galindo’s campaign is a newly created Super PAC called “Lead Left.” Democrats have condemned Lead Left’s involvement in the race and accused Republicans of being behind the PAC — with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and DelBene last week calling on House Republican leaders to stop “propping up” Galindo and “forcefully condemn” her comments.
ABC News has reached out the National Republican Congressional Committee for comment.
Galindo’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment. She will face off against former Bexar County Sheriff’s Department Spokesman Johnny Garcia.
State Rep. John Lujan and Trump-endorsed Air Force veteran Carlos De La Cruz are facing off in the Republican runoff for the 118th Congressional District. They received 32% and 26% of the vote in March’s primary, respectively. Victory for Lujan could mark the first Trump-endorsed candidate to lose their primary this cycle.
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(LOS ANGELES) — The evacuation zone around a failing chemical tank in Southern California is shrinking after officials said the “worst-case scenario” of a catastrophic explosion has been averted.
About 16,000 people remain under evacuation orders, Garden Grove Police Chief Amir El-Farra said during a press briefing Monday evening. That’s down from 50,000 in the city of Garden Grove and several surrounding communities at the height of the crisis when officials thought they faced only two options: an explosion or a chemical spill.
“The most catastrophic and worst-case scenario was mitigated and resolved,” Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) Interim Chief TJ McGovern said during the evening press briefing.
Officials said earlier Monday the crisis is not fully averted, but if an explosion or leak were to occur, it would be significantly smaller than the initial worst-case scenario.
The tank is located at an aerospace facility in Garden Grove, about 30 miles south of Los Angeles.
Earlier Monday, local authorities said the temperature was declining within the chemical tank, located at an aerospace facility, eliminating concerns of an explosion, local authorities said on Monday morning.
“We are happy to report that the threat of a BLEVE [Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion] is now off the table,” McGovern said during an update. “That threat has been eliminated.”
Since the temperature inside the tank has decreased, it has allowed the chemical inside to solidify, but it is unclear how much, according to McGovern.
The situation began unfolding on Thursday, a chemical tank filled with toxic chemicals at GKN Aerospace, a manufacturing company that builds engines and landing gear for both commercial and military aircraft, was showing signs of overheating, which could cause it to overheat or spill, officials said.
The 34,000-gallon tank contained methyl methacrylate, an industrial chemical used in plastic manufacturing, according to the OCFA. The chemical is primarily a respiratory irritant. Short-term exposure can cause skin and eye irritation, as well as breathing problems, according to the EPA.
The “unprecedented” situation caused officials to order about 50,000 people in the vicinity to evacuate in case a leak sent toxic fumes wafting through the neighborhood or caused an explosion could result in a dangerous fireball.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a state of emergency in Orange County in response to the incident.
Authorities said a crack in the tank, discovered by firefighters late Saturday, relieved some of the pressure within the tank, Covey said.
While officials were confident that the crack wouldn’t lead to any chemical leaks, they continued to monitor air quality in the region.
Any areas outside of the roughly 10-square-mile evacuation zone “are currently considered completely safe and day-to-day activities can continue as normal,” the OCFA said in an update Sunday afternoon.
Within the zone are schools, hospitals, nursing homes, fire and law enforcement stations and critical infrastructure. Multiple roads were also closed in the area.
“We appreciate your support and the patience while we work through this incident together,” Covey said.
In a statement on Monday, GKN noted that its technical specialists worked with OCFA “to assess the storage tank more closely” on Sunday evening.
“The team safely and successfully removed external insulation material from the tank in order to help advance efforts to cool its contents,” the company said.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, the top prosecutor in Garden Grove, has launched a criminal probe into the ongoing chemical tank incident at GKN Aerospace, ordering the company not to destroy or manipulate any records, his office said.
The probe seeks to determine how a major military and commercial aircraft gear manufacturer could have allowed such a toxic failure to occur, according to the district attorney.
“This is an incredibly volatile situation with extraordinary efforts being made by first responders to prevent a potentially catastrophic disaster,” Spitzer said in a statement on Monday.
Spitzer has also established an anonymous tip line and online reporting form, calling on anyone with information to come forward — including current and former employees of the company who might offer insight into the quality control and safety at the site.
“Given the very real risk to human life as a result of this event, it is crucial that anyone who has information about this incident or the industrial operations of GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, Inc. come forward and report it so that it can be thoroughly investigated by law enforcement,” he said.
GKN declined to comment specifically on the district attorney’s investigation, but pointed to its Monday statement.
“We are continuing to work around the clock with the OCFA, the EPA and all relevant federal, state and local agencies to mitigate the ongoing risk of a leak. We remain extremely thankful for their dedication and hard work,” the company said.
“We apologize for the ongoing disruption this incident is causing and our priority remains its safe resolution, so that residents can return to their homes as quickly as possible.”
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso, Nadine El-Bawab, Jaclyn Lee, Alex Stone, Jenna Harrison, Connor Burton and Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.
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(LAKE MARION, S.C.) — A woman died after being struck by a patio umbrella during strong winds at a lakeside South Carolina restaurant over Memorial Day weekend, officials said.
The incident occurred Saturday evening at a restaurant along Lake Marion in Summerton, authorities said.
The woman and her husband were dining on the restaurant’s patio “when a sudden strong wind blew an umbrella from a table,” striking the woman in the head and neck area, the Clarendon County Coroner’s Office said in a statement.
First responders found the woman unresponsive with lacerations to her head and neck area, and she was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the coroner’s office.
The victim is a woman from Huger, South Carolina, the coroner’s office said. An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.
The restaurant, Driftwood Grill Home of the Lazy Gator, confirmed the incident occurred at its restaurant during a “sudden severe weather event at Lake Marion.”
“This has deeply affected many people in our community, including guests, staff, first responders, and everyone involved,” the restaurant said in a statement Sunday on social media. “Out of respect for the family and those impacted, we ask for continued prayers, compassion, and privacy during this incredibly difficult time.”
The restaurant said it held a support session on Monday with authorities, chaplains and others for those impacted by the “tragic” incident.
“This has impacted many people — including staff members, guests, first responders, families, and community members — and we are grateful for the continued support, prayers, understanding, and encouragement being shown throughout the area,” the statement said.
ABC News’ Jason Volack contributed to this report.
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(GENEVA, Switzerland) — The head of the World Health Organization warned on Monday that a rapidly growing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda “will get worse before it gets better.”
More than 900 cases and more than 220 deaths have been reported in the DRC, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a virtual briefing. Of those totals, 101 cases and 10 deaths have been confirmed.
Additionally, there have been five travel-related cases and a death in Uganda, according to the WHO and the Uganda Ministry of Health.
“We are facing an extremely serious and difficult outbreak. It will get worse before it gets better,” Tedros said on Monday. “But we know this virus, and we know how to stop it. We have stopped every previous Ebola outbreak, and we will stop this one, too.”
Tedros said he wanted to echo comments made by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa about overcoming the outbreak with unity.
“The question is just how quickly we can do it, and how many more lives will be lost before we do,” Tedros added.
Tedros’ comments come amid a hospital in northeastern Congo facing growing tension as officials have trouble following safety rules following the death of a well-known religious leader.
Dr. Richard Lokudi, director of the Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital in Ituri province — one of three provinces where the Ebola outbreak is concentrated — told ABC News the facility is under heavy tension after the body of a confirmed Ebola victim, who was also a major religious figure in the region, was brought there.
Lokudi said that family members and groups of young people are demanding the body be returned.
Because the patient was a confirmed Ebola case, authorities are insisting on a “safe and dignified burial” under outbreak protocols, and the body is being temporarily kept at the hospital until burial on Monday.
Lokudi said police and military forces have been securing the hospital and firing warning shots to disperse protesters gathered outside.
He added that the gunfire around the hospital has left him exhausted and stressed.
Last week, Tedros classified the Ebola outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern — one level below a pandemic in the United Nations agency’s alert system.
The WHO continues to consider the national risk assessment as “very high” while the regional level risk remains “high” and the global risk level remains “low,” Tedros said on Monday.
The outbreak has led to multiple countries, including the U.S., India, the U.K. and Australia, putting travel restrictions in place.
Entry to the U.S. is restricted to foreign travelers who have recently been in the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan.
Meanwhile, U.S. passport holders and U.S. nationals returning to the U.S. from the three countries will be funneled to Dulles Airport in Virginia to be screened for symptoms and interviewed about possible exposure.
Enhanced screening efforts have also begun at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as of Saturday morning and efforts at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston will begin late Tuesday.
Lawful permanent residents (green card holders) who have been in any of the three countries over the last 21 days are barred from entering the U.S. temporarily.
Tedros said on Monday that WHO teams are on the ground in the outbreak zones assisting with response including contact tracing, establishing treatment centers and infection prevention and control. Tedros added that he will be traveling to the DRC on Tuesday.
The WHO chief said that several aspects of this outbreak make it “especially challenging,” including the delays in detecting the outbreak.
“[It] means that we are now playing catch-up with a very fast-moving epidemic,” he said on Monday.
US doctor infected with Ebola critically ill but says he is ‘cautiously optimistic’
He said that due to recent fighting in the provinces facing the brunt of the outbreak, it means tens of thousands of people are displaced and there is “significant distrust of outside authorities among the local population.”
An additional challenge is that there are no approved vaccines or treatments for the strain of Ebola responsible for the outbreak: Bundibugyo virus.
Tedros said the WHO has recommended prioritizing two monoclonal antibodies to advance in clinical trials and recommended evaluating the antiviral obeldesivir in a clinical trial as post-exposure prophylaxis for those who are high-risk contacts.
ABC News’ Eric M. Strauss contributed to this report.
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(NEW YORK) — Forest rangers in New York rescued a man last week who had been stuck in a crevice in a cave for six hours, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
The unidentified Brooklyn man was hiking with friends at Merlin’s Cave in the town of Canaan on May 17 when he became stuck in the crevice, the department wrote in the caption of a Facebook post Friday.
Forest Ranger Lt. John Gullen, who helped safely pull the man out, said in a video posted on the department’s social media page that the man “was really jammed in there more than I had expected.”
“It was like his full body was stuck in a crevice that was basically designed the exact shape of him,” Gullen said.
The man slipped into the crevice about 400 feet from the cave entrance, according to department officials, and had become completely immobilized.
Gullen said three of the man’s friends were still with him when rescuers arrived and had attempted to get him out themselves, but all of them had become hypothermic.
“With any cave rescue, hypothermia is a guarantee,” Gullen said. “It’s about 50 degrees [Fahrenheit] in the cave, and it’s almost 100% humidity, and that gets you cold quick, especially when you’re not moving.”
Gullen said the man maintained a positive attitude throughout the ordeal, as rescuers worked to free him.
“For most people, that’s like their worst nightmare. So he did such a great job keeping a positive attitude. He was giving me thumbs up … we were telling jokes,” he recalled.
The rescue crew were able to use a rock drill to carefully remove parts of the surrounding stone “inches from the subject’s head and back” until he was finally able to wiggle himself free, officials said.
“Once we were able to get to a point where we could high-five, we were high-fiving,” Gullen said. “It’s a feeling that I wish everyone could experience, because there’s nothing like it.”
The man was ultimately able to walk out of the cave on his own after being warmed up, according to officials.
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