(PHOENIX) — Before Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly emerged as one of the lead contenders for vice president on the Democratic ticket, the former NASA astronaut earned more than a million dollars on the speaking circuit by regaling companies and colleges with tales of his triumphs in space.
Kelly, who was a U.S. Navy attack pilot before spending a decade as a NASA Space Shuttle pilot, earned more than $1.7 million in speaking fees over the two years before he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020, financial disclosures show.
The senator, who has been floated as one of the possible candidates to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, earned additional income from book deals and business consulting, according to the disclosures.
The $1.7 million came from 62 public speaking engagements from 2018 to 2019 — during which time Kelly sometimes delivered multiple speeches per day in different states, records show. On Nov. 18, 2018, for example, Kelly made $72,250 from three separate speeches in California, Minnesota, and Oregon.
Among those that paid Kelly for speeches were the American Society of Dermatological Surgery, which paid him $25,500, Chobani, the yogurt company, which paid him $58,250, and the Sexual Medicine Society of North America, which paid him $29,750.
Kelly later returned $55,250 that he made from a speech for Pink Tank, a Dubai-based consulting company, after it was made public that the event was sponsored by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. At the time, a spokesperson for Kelly’s Senate campaign said Kelly’s speech was “focused entirely on Mark sharing experiences in space and discussing our countries’ space programs.”
In 2019, the Arizona senator also reported $1.5 million in income from Kelly Aerospace Consulting LLC, an Arizona limited liability company he registered in 2017, along with other income he earned from board member positions and from consulting.
The financial disclosures from that year show that Kelly held 16 positions for which he was compensated, including a position with Space X, the spacecraft manufacturer owned by Elon Musk.
According to disclosures from 2020 to 2022, Kelly stepped away from most of his board member positions and stopped doing paid public speaking engagements.
Since 2020, Kelly’s income has mostly come from his investments and stocks, and from royalties and advances from his several books.
In 2021, Kelly reported six royalty agreements for books he has written or co-written, which include several children’s books as well as the book “Gabby,” a book written with his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, that recounts the 2011 mass shooting that left her partly paralyzed and with difficulty speaking.
Kelly’s most recent financial disclosures are from 2022. He requested an extension to file his disclosures for 2023.
Jonathan and Mercedes Sandhu are the parents of identical quadruplets, who are all now home after three months in the NICU. — Texas Children’s Hospital/The Sandhu Family
(HOUSTON) — A family in Texas has welcomed home all four of their rare identical quadruplets after the infants spent over three months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
The sisters — named Hannah Grace, Lucy Marie, Rebecca Claire and Petra Anne — were born on May 1, after their mom, Mercedes Sandhu, delivered them at 29 weeks and three days.
Sandhu carried what is known as a monochorionic pregnancy, meaning all four babies shared the same placenta, according to Texas Children’s Hospital, where Sandhu gave birth.
The babies were born just before Mother’s Day, but Sandhu did not have all four daughters at home until Thursday, when Rebecca was discharged from the NICU.
Hannah and Petra were discharged on July 12, followed by Lucy nearly one week later.
“We’re so happy they can be together too,” the babies’ father, Jonathan Sandhu, told Good Morning America. “The past few weeks are the only moments they have ever been apart. Even in the NICU, they were always within a few feet of each other.”
The quadruplets’ reunion at home was also the first time all four sisters got to meet their older brothers, Luke, 4, and Aaron, nearly 2, who were not allowed in the NICU because of their ages, according to Jonathan Sandhu.
“The best part has been watching our boys welcome their baby sisters … They are obsessed with the girls,” he said. “Seeing our little family come together has been the most heartwarming moment of our lives.”
The quadruplets’ birth on May 1, meant the Sandhus had welcomed six kids in a span of four years. The quadruplets were conceived naturally, without the help of fertility treatments.
When it comes to being able to differentiate the quadruplets, Jonathan Sandhu said they are able to tell two of the babies apart because they were born with hemangiomas, a benign growth of extra blood cells in the skin that is one of the most common skin conditions among infants, according to Texas Children’s Hospital.
The couple also keeps the babies in labeled bassinets and lines them up in birth order — Hannah, Lucy, Rebecca, Petra, for feedings.
“Because they’re identical, they literally have the exact same DNA so keeping them correctly identified is pretty important,” Jonathan Sandhu told GMA.
The Sandhus have been documenting the journey of their “miracle” babies on their Instagram account, @thesandhucrew.
They said the babies are proving to be healthy and happy at home, with no ongoing medical needs after their time in the NICU.
“With high order multiples, all sharing one placenta, they were at elevated risks for nearly all the bad things that can accompany premature infants,” Jonathan Sandhu said. “We’ve had a few little bumps, but nothing that ever became life-threatening or would need life-long care.”
Jonathan Sandhu said he and his wife are dealing with the normal challenges that accompany a newborn — like sleep deprivation — but multiplied by four.
“If you’ve ever taken care of a newborn at night, imagine that, but with a few more crying mouths and dirty diapers,” he explained. “My wife and I take shifts at night and one person feeding and changing multiple babies can take two hours. Then you have to repeat it all a few hours later.”
(PARIS) — The 2024 Paris Summer games are set to formally kickoff Friday in what will be an opening ceremony like no other before its time.
There will be all of the pageantry and spectacle you’d come to expect from an Olympics opening ceremony, only there will be one big difference. Instead of parading around a stadium, some 10,000 plus athletes will get on boats and sail down the heart of Paris on the Seine River.
Olympic organizers say this will be the first time in the history of the Summer Games that it will be held outside of a stadium.
Roaring back from the pandemic era
The Paris Games somewhat represent a return to normalcy. The last Summer Olympics in Tokyo occurred in 2021, delayed a year amid a global pandemic, which for the Games meant large-scale restrictions — no spectators, quiet stadiums and mask mandates.
Paris aims to offer a stark contrast.
According to Paris’ Tourism Board, some 11 million tourists are expected to visit the French capital for the Games.
Paris 2024 Olympic Organizers on Thursday said that Paris Games broke the record for most tickets sold or allocated in the event’s history, the AP reported.
In total, 9.7 million tickets have been so far for this year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games, breaking the previous ticket sales record set in 1996 during the Atlanta Games when 8.3 million were sold.
Massive security operation
Paris officials knew that floating the opening ceremony down the Seine would not come without security risks and as the Games are about to officially open, the streets are flooded with 45,000 police officers and an additional 10,000 soldiers — including search dogs, bomb squads and tactical teams — essentially transforming the French capital into a maximum security site, complete with checkpoints and metal barricades.
As it gets closer to the ceremony, the airspace in and around the Seine will close, stretching some 93 miles. Four nearby airports will also be shuttered as a result, including Paris Charles de Gaulle, one of Europe’s three largest airports.
Floating down the Seine River
More than 300,000 spectators are expected to gather along the Seine River to watch the historic opening ceremony on Friday night as dozens of team boats will ferry 10,000 Olympic athletes from east to west along the river, a route that extends nearly four miles, passing famed landmarks and bridges along the way.
There, the Eiffel Tower will serve as an illustrious backdrop for the remainder of the ceremony.
Coco Gauff and LeBron James picked as Team USA flagbearers
Tennis star Coco Gauff will represent Team USA as the female flag bearer at the opening ceremony, joining NBA star LeBron James.
Gauff will make history as the first American tennis player to carry the flag.
“I had no idea and it was definitely very shocking,” Gauff told ABC News when recounting the moment she found out she would be carrying the flag.
“And I haven’t met LeBron yet,” she added. “but I am excited to meet him.”
First Lady Jill Biden arrived in Paris on Thursday, the eve of the opening ceremony, and spent the day meeting Olympic athletes and their families before representing the United States at the opening ceremony on Friday evening.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Barack Obama attend an event to mark the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act in the East Room of the White House, Apr. 5, 2022, in Washington. — Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Barack Obama officially endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday to be the Democratic Party’s 2024 nominee.
Obama was one of the only high-profile Democrats who had yet to endorse Harris, who quickly secured enough delegate support to clinch the nomination so long as the delegates do not change their mind before the Democratic National Convention’s virtual roll next month.
When President Joe Biden announced Sunday he was exiting the 2024 race, he quickly endorsed Harris to take his place.
In more extensive remarks on his decision delivered from the Oval Office on Wednesday night, Biden said he believed “the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation” and now was the time for “fresh” and “younger” voices.
“I made my choice. I’ve made my views known. I’d like to thank our great vice president, Kamala Harris,” Biden said. “She’s experienced, she’s tough, she’s capable. She’s been an incredible partner to me, and a leader for our country. Now, the choice is up to you, the American people.”
After Biden backed Harris, many Democrats across the country quickly fell in line behind her and she faces no major opposition yet for the party’s nomination. Focus has already shifted to who she may select to be her vice presidential running mate in challenging former President Donald Trump and JD Vance.
Several days before Obama’s endorsement, Democratic leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, publicly endorsed Harris. Jeffries and Schumer both spoke about Harris earning the nomination “from the grassroots up and not the top down.”
Obama, too, appeared to want to let the “process” play out before announcing his support. In his initial response to Biden’s decision to drop out, Obama said the party would be “navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead.”
“But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges,” Obama said at the time.
Though a source told ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Selina Wang that Harris had spoken to Obama, along with other leaders, in the 24 hours after Biden stepped down from the race.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the American Federation of Teachers’ 88th National Convention on July 25, 2024 in Houston, Texas. — Montinique Monroe/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris’ replacement of President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket could keep the electoral battlefield confined to the typical handful of swing states after the electoral map appeared to be mushrooming in Republicans’ favor.
After Biden’s ruinous debate performance last month, Republicans boasted and Democrats feared that blue and blue-leaning states like New Hampshire, New Mexico, Virginia and even New Jersey were suddenly in play. But now, operatives in both parties predicted that having a Democratic nominee who’s not dogged by such weighty baggage takes those states back off the table, recalibrating the race back to the Rust and Sun Belts.
“She definitely helps us play less defense,” one source familiar with Harris’ campaign’s strategy said. “States that were blue-leaning states that became more competitive post-debate based on early polling seem to be shifting back.”
Democratic alarm was high after last month’s debate, when Biden’s bumbling performance sent Democrats into a tizzy and had Republicans dreaming about a landslide victory.
Handwringing over traditional swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the Rust Belt and Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina in the Sun Belt was exacerbated by discussions of having to bolster states where Democrats should waltz to victory but could prove competitive as Biden’s poll numbers cratered.
“I was getting calls pretty much on a daily basis with concern,” said Henry Roybal, the chair of the Santa Fe County Democratic Party in New Mexico.
Now, “New Mexico is off the map,” he said.
The story is the same elsewhere.
Conversations with operatives in traditionally noncompetitive states echoed Roybal’s account, even if they believe that former President Donald Trump still would have struggled to carry their electoral votes and there wasn’t definitive polling to prove he could.
After the debate, one senior New Jersey Democratic strategist insisted Biden could have won their state by a mid-single-digit margin after winning it by about 16 points in 2020. The state is now “completely off the table,” the person said.
Some Republicans aren’t entirely convinced.
Harris ran a dysfunctional 2020 presidential campaign and had to drop out before any primary votes were cast, and her approval ratings at the start of her nascent campaign are low. And while the blue-leaning states are still safer for Harris than traditional swing states, Republicans maintain any slip ups could keep them in play.
“It all depends upon how Kamala Harris runs her campaign and how she performs under the enormous pressure of a presidential contest. She did not acquit herself well when she ran for the 2020 nomination,” said GOP pollster Whit Ayres.” If she’s a whole lot better than she was then, then conceivably, those states could be off the table again. On the other hand, if she does not perform well, I think all those states are potential Trump pickups.”
Trump is not giving up on those states. He is blitzing Harris with attacks on her record, labeling her a “California liberal,” and will hold his second joint rally with Ohio Sen. JD Vance, his running mate, in St. Cloud, Minn, on Saturday, firing up his voters in a state no Republican presidential candidate has won since 1972.
“As more voters understand how dangerously liberal Kamala Harris is, President Trump’s chances in these traditionally-Democrat strongholds will only get better,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.
Still, other Republicans concede that Harris’ candidacy introduces stiffer headwinds than existed when Biden topped Democrats’ ticket. Underscoring the point, a New York Times/Siena College poll released Thursday found Harris and Trump statistically tied, an improvement from earlier this month when the same poll found Trump ahead of Biden by 6 points.
“I expect Harris will be stronger. I mean, you just can’t help but be stronger, regardless of performance level,” said New Hampshire GOP strategist Mike Dennehy. “And so now it’s just a question of how well she does on the stump and in debates.”
“It’s too early to know exactly, but my overall summary is she probably stems the bleeding and raises the floor, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s going to be able to put away states that she needs to,” Virginia-based Republican strategist Zack Roday added.
Now, the race is expected to shift back to the seven swing states that were at the top of the battleground map at the start of the race, with the source familiar with the campaign’s strategy telling ABC News “we’re seeing a reversion to what we expected this race to be pre-presidential debate.”
All seven states are anticipated to be decided by razor-thin margins, with millions of dollars dumped in by both campaigns. Already, Harris has hit the campaign trail in Wisconsin, a marquee swing state.
Harris’ campaign released a memo Wednesday saying it “intend[s] to play offense in each of these states, and have the resources and campaign infrastructure to do so.”
“This campaign will be close, it will be hard fought, but Vice President Harris is in a position of strength – and she’s going to win,” Campaign manager Jennifer O’Malley Dillon wrote.
Taking Republicans’ stretch states off the table as much as she can is a key part of remaining competitive in the true battlegrounds. The universe of campaign finance is gargantuan but finite — and every dollar spent in New Jersey or New Mexico is one not spent in Arizona or Michigan.
“The one thing it likely changes is, right now, the ground game,” said one national GOP strategist. “Are they going to shift resources out of specific swing states into other states because the map doesn’t feel as large for Democrats anymore to have to defend territory?”
And Harris’ ability to prevent a landslide for Trump is not just key for her — it’s also important for Democrats’ hopes for the House of Representatives and Senate.
Several key down-ballot races are being held in both swing states and blue-leaning states, and Harris’ ability to keep the margin at the top of the ticket competitive in battlegrounds and expansive in states she wins — rather than a blowout for Trump, as was speculated with Biden — would be a massive boon to congressional contenders.
“It’s critical. If you’re a Senate or a governor candidate or a congressional candidate, you can run ahead of the top of the ticket by a handful of points, three or four. You can’t run ahead at the top of the ticket by 10 or 12 points,” Ayres said.
Biden, he added, “definitely could have gotten blown out.”
(WASHINGTON) — Two top leaders of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel have been taken into custody by United States authorities to face charges for their role in leading the group’s vast drug trafficking enterprise, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.
Sinaloa cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of “El Chapo” Guzman, were placed under arrest in El Paso, Texas on Thursday, according to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“Both men are facing multiple charges in the United States for leading the Cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks,” Garland said in a statement.
“El Mayo and Guzman Lopez join a growing list of Sinaloa Cartel leaders and associates who the Justice Department is holding accountable in the United States,” Garland said.
Zambada faces multiple federal indictments for his alleged role in the cartel and has been on the run from U.S. and Mexican law enforcement for years. His fellow co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, El Chapo, was extradited to the U.S. in 2017 and convicted in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison.
“Today, the FBI and DEA arrested two alleged cartel leaders who have eluded law enforcement for decades. Ismael Mario ‘El Mayo’ Zambada García and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, son of El Chapo, will now face justice in the United States,” Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.
“Garcia and Guzman have allegedly overseen the trafficking of tens of thousands of pounds of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into the U.S. along with related violence. These arrests are an example of the FBI’s and our partners commitment to dismantling violent transnational criminal organizations like the Sinaloa Cartel,” Wray said.
The circumstances behind Zambada and Guzman Lopez being taken into custody were not immediately clear as of Thursday evening, however, the men were arrested in an operation that ended on U.S. soil.
“El Mayo” thought he was headed to inspect a clandestine Mexican airfield, of which the Sinaloa cartel has many in the country. Instead, according to a Homeland Security Investigations official, a senior ranking member of the cartel tricked him and flew him to El Paso, Texas instead.
Upon landing on the tarmac, agents from HSI, along with the FBI arrested “El Mayo” and Guzman.
The HSI official tells ABC News the operation had been planned “for months.”
They were placed in handcuffs by FBI agents during an operation culminating at an airstrip not far from El Paso.
“The arrest of Ismael Zambada García, better known as ‘El Mayo,’ one of the alleged founders and leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, strikes at the heart of the cartel that is responsible for the majority of drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, killing Americans from coast to coast. El Mayo is one of DEA’s most wanted fugitives and he is in custody tonight and will soon face justice in a U.S. court of law,” said Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram.
“Joaquin Guzman Lopez, another alleged leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, and the son of ‘El Chapo,’ was also arrested today – his arrest is another enormous blow to the Sinaloa Cartel. In 2017, he and his brothers, the Chapitos, allegedly took control of the Sinaloa Cartel after El Chapo was extradited to the United States. DEA will continue to seek justice for any American life that is lost and will work tirelessly to prevent more needless deaths and pursue those that are responsible,” Milgram said.
The U.S. government had offered a $15 million reward for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Zambada.
Guzman Lopez’s brother, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, was charged last year with two dozen others as part of a crackdown targeting a global drug trafficking network run through Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. According to the charges, the cartel used precursor chemicals shipped from China to fuel the fentanyl crisis plaguing the U.S.
Ovidio Guzman Lopez had been wanted by U.S. authorities since 2019 and was captured by Mexican armed forces in January 2023 in a small town just outside the city of Culiacán, the capital of the Mexican state of Sinaloa.
He was captured in an overnight raid that had been in the works for more than six months, officials said at the time. The arrest followed an infamous incident in 2019, in which authorities briefly detained Guzman Lopez at a home in Culiacán, before word spread and heavily armed gunmen flooded the city. Massive shootouts occurred between cartel members and Mexican armed forces around the city. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered Guzman Lopez released in order to avoid more bloodshed.
Their father is serving a life sentence in the U.S. after being convicted in 2019 of conducting a continuing criminal enterprise, including large-scale narcotics violations and a murder conspiracy, drug trafficking conspiracies, unlawful use of a firearm and a money laundering conspiracy.
SNCF employees and French gendarmes inspect the scene of a suspected attack on the high speed railway network at Croiselles, northern France on July 26, 2024. (Photo by DENIS CHARLET/AFP via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Arson attacks on France’s rail network have taken place in what authorities are calling a “massive attack to destabilize the railway system,” just hours before the 2024 Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony is set to take place.
Trains at all major Paris stations have been delayed after fires and at least 800,000 people have been affected in the “arson attacks were set to damage our installations,” according to a statement from rail company, SCNF.
Authorities have not called this a terror attack, but fires began to be reported overnight at 4 a.m. local time and that trackside signal boxes have were set on fire and cables on the lines had been cut, which has caused major disruptions in the north and east of France.
“Coordinated malicious acts targeted several TGV lines last night and will seriously disrupt traffic until this weekend,” said the French transport minister. “I strongly condemn these criminal actions which will compromise the departures on vacation of many French people.”
France’s high-speed rail lines seem to be the intended target, officials said Friday morning, as fires were set along three lines while a fourth fire on another line was stopped.
SCNF says it will take all weekend to repair while Eurostar has already been advising passengers to postpone their trips to Paris.
All this is happening just hours before the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Olympic Games are set to take place in Paris on Friday evening.
“Early this morning, acts of sabotage were carried out in a planned and coordinated manner on SNCF installations, said French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. “The consequences for the rail network are massive and serious. I express my gratitude to our firefighters who intervened on the affected sites and to the SNCF agents who will carry out the necessary work to restore the network.”
“My thoughts are with all the French people, all the families, who were preparing to go on holiday. I share their anger and salute their patience, their understanding and the civic-mindedness they demonstrate,” Attal continued. “Our intelligence services and our law enforcement are mobilized to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts.”
(NEW YORK) –Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Thursday asked a New York judge to reject former President Donald Trump’s attempt to throw out his criminal hush money conviction, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on presidential immunity “has nothing to say about defendant’s conviction.”
Trump earlier this month asked Judge Juan Merchan to vacate his conviction on the grounds that the trial was “tainted” by evidence and testimony that was made off-limits after the Supreme Court ruled Trump has presumptive immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts taken while in office.
Prosecutors said in Thursday’s court filing that paying hush money to an adult film actress is “entirely personal” with “no relationship whatsoever to any official duty of the presidency.”
The former president was found guilty in May of falsifying business records related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
The jury convicted Trump of 34 felony counts after seeing “overwhelming evidence of the defendant’s guilt,” prosecutors argued in the filing.
Trump argued that certain evidence presented at trial — including testimony from former White House aide Hope Hicks and Trump’s tweets about his former attorney Michael Cohen — related to his official acts as president and should now be considered inadmissible in light of the Supreme Court opinion.
Prosecutors pushed back in their filing.
“The challenged Tweets bear no resemblance to the kinds of public comments that the Supreme Court indicated would qualify as official presidential conduct,” the district attorney’s office said. “Defendant’s Tweets conveying his personal opinion about his private attorney do not bear any conceivable relationship to any official duty of the Presidency.”
Prosecutors also argued that testimony from Hicks, who was once Trump’s communications director, “related solely to unofficial conduct.”
“[T]he evidence that he claims is affected by the Supreme Court’s ruling constitutes only a sliver of the mountains of testimony and documentary proof that the jury considered in finding him guilty of all 34 felony charges beyond a reasonable doubt,” the filing said.
Earlier this month, Judge Merchan postponed Trump’s sentencing in the case from July 11 to Sept. 18 so he could consider Trump’s request to vacate his conviction.
(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — The Illinois deputy who fatally shot Sonya Massey in her home while responding to her 911 call was discharged from the U.S. Army for “misconduct (serious offense),” according to documents obtained by ABC News.
Sean Grayson, the former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy, was discharged on February 24, 2016, after beginning service in the U.S. Army on May 5, 2014. He served for a total of one year, nine months and 19 days, Grayson’s certificate of discharge from active duty shows.
The U.S. Army, citing the Privacy Act and Department of Defense policy, said it is prevented from releasing information relating to the misconduct of low-level employees or characterization of service at discharge.
Grayson was a 91B (Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic) in the Regular Army from May 2014 to February 2016. He had no deployments and left the Army in the rank of private first class, according to an Army spokesman.
ABC News has also learned that Grayson, 30, was charged with two DUI offenses in Macoupin County, Illinois, in August 2015 and July 2016, according to court documents.
Grayson pleaded guilty to both charges. He paid over $1,320 in fines and had his vehicle impounded as a result of the 2015 incident. In 2016, Grayson paid over $2,400 in fines, according to court records.
Grayson’s attorney, Dan Fultz, declined to comment.
According to employment records, Grayson was hired for his first known police job at the Pawnee Police Department in August 2020 and was fired from his most recent job as a sheriff’s deputy at the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department after the July 6 deadly shooting of Massey, a 36-year-old unarmed Black woman and mother of two.
Grayson and a second, unnamed deputy responded to Massey’s 911 call reporting a possible intruder at her Springfield home.
Body camera footage released Monday shows Grayson yelling at Massey to put down a pot of boiling water.
The footage, reviewed by ABC News, shows Massey telling the two responding deputies “please don’t hurt me,” once she answered their knocks on her door.
Grayson responded, “I don’t want to hurt you, you called us.”
Later in the video, while inside Massey’s home as she searched for her ID, Grayson pointed out a pot of boiling water on her stove and said, “we don’t need a fire while we’re in here.”
Massey then poured the water into the sink and told the deputy, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
Grayson threatened to shoot her, and Massey apologized and ducked down behind a counter, covering her face with what appears to be a red oven mitt. She briefly rose, and Grayson shot her three times in the face.
The footage is from the point of view of Grayson’s partner. Grayson did not turn on his own body camera until after the shooting, according to court documents.
A review by Illinois State Police found that Grayson was not justified in his use of deadly force.
Grayson, who is white, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in Massey’s death.
The news of his discharge and DUI offenses comes days after it was revealed through Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board (ILETSB) records obtained by ABC News that Grayson worked for six law enforcement agencies over the last four years.
Grayson worked three full-time and three part-time jobs in four police departments and two sheriff’s offices over the past four years, all within the state of Illinois, according to ILETSB records.
Grayson held part-time jobs at the Pawnee Police Department from August 2020 to July 2021, the Kincaid Police Department from February 2021 to May 2021, and the Virden Police Department from May 2021 to December 2021.
He also held full-time jobs at the Auburn Police Department from July 2021 to May 2022, the Logan County Sheriff’s Office from May 2022 to April 2023, and the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office from May 2023 to July 2024, according to IILETSB records. He moved around all six of these agencies between 2020 and 2024.
“It is clear that the deputy did not act as trained or in accordance with our standards. Therefore, Sean Grayson’s employment with the Sheriff’s Office has been terminated,” Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell wrote in a statement last week announcing Grayson’s termination.
The Kincaid Police Department told ABC News that Grayson was let go due to his refusal to live within 10 miles of Kincaid Village. They also said there were no allegations of wrongdoing against Grayson during his time with the department.
According to documents obtained by ABC News, Grayson left his part-time employment at the Pawnee Police Department to pursue a full-time position at the Auburn Police Department. His application to Pawnee Police Department also states that he had previously worked as security guard at Hospital Sisters Health System St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Illinois.
ABC News has reached out to the other police departments to learn why Grayson left, but has not yet received a response.
(NEW YORK) — Boeing Starliner’s first astronaut-crewed capsule, which launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on June 5, remains docked at the station with no official return date, NASA said Thursday.
“We don’t have a major announcement today relative to a return date,” NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich said during a joint press conference with Boeing officials.
“We’re making great progress, but we’re just not quite ready to do that,” Stich added.
What was initially planned to be an eight-day mission, has now spanned over 50 days, with veteran NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams’ return to Earth delayed until at least August, according to officials.
Thruster failures that caused issues on the launch trip to ISS and helium leaks on the Starliner capsule have led to continued delays, according to Boeing.
The Aerospace giant has been testing the capsule’s propulsion system in White Sands, New Mexico, to identify the cause of the issues, according to Stich, who said analysis of the findings will be done this weekend.
In order to get the go-ahead for a return mission, NASA must review Boeing’s engineering, which may not happen until the first week of August, Stich said.
On June 11, Boeing officials said the capsule was experiencing five “small” helium leaks as its first astronaut-crewed flight test continued.
Helium is used to pressurize the spacecraft’s reaction control system (RCS) maneuvering thrusters, allowing them to fire, according to Boeing.
“Our focus today is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner,” Stich said of the astronauts. “I think we’re starting to close in on those final pieces of the flight rationale to make sure we can come home safely and that’s our primary focus right now.”
Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager of the commercial crew program at Boeing, was asked if there were any regrets about the mission.
“I think the only thing we’d do differently, is we would not have been so empathic about an eight-day mission,” Nappi said of the repeated delays. “We kept saying ‘eight-day minimum mission,’ I think we all knew it was going to go longer than that, it’s my regret that we didn’t just say ‘we’re gonna stay up there until we get everything done we want to go do.'”
ABC News’ Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.
