(ATLANTA) — Fulton County prosecutor Nathan Wade has come to a “temporary agreement” canceling an upcoming hearing in his divorce proceedings that have embroiled Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump.
The move comes on the eve of a hearing in the case that had the potential to draw the sworn testimony of Wade, who is alleged to have been involved in an improper relationship with Willis that allegedly resulted in financial gain for both of them.
The development would appear to prevent the release of any records pertaining to the allegations involving Wade and Willis that could have arisen at the hearing.
Andrea Hastings, the attorney for Wade’s wife, told ABC News, “The divorce moves forward.”
“We still have a lot of work to do, preparing for either settlement or trial,” Hastings told ABC News.
“The parties, by and through their counsel of record, have entered into a temporary agreement addressing all issues presently before the Court,” the order said. “Then parties have further agreed that the terms and provisions of this temporary agreement shall not be filed with the court.”
As such, the hearing originally scheduled for Wednesday is canceled, the order said.
Michael Roman, one of Trump’s co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case, is seeking to dismiss the indictment against him and disqualify Willis, alleging she “engaged in a personal, romantic relationship” with Wade, allegedly resulted in financial gain for both.
Trump, Roman, and 17 others pleaded not guilty in August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
Defendants Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jena Ellis and Scott Hall subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
(NEW YORK) — More than a dozen Harvard University students have filed a civil rights complaint with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights demanding an investigation into Harvard’s alleged failure to protect pro-Palestinian students from harassment, intimidation and threats, according to the Muslim Legal Fund of America, which filed the complaint.
The Muslim Legal Fund of America alleges that the students have been targeted with “rampant harassment and racist attacks including doxxing, stalking and assault simply for being Palestinian, Muslim, and supporters of Palestinian rights.”
The group alleges that some students have been assaulted for wearing keffiyehs, traditional Palestinian scarves.
“Instead of providing protection or resources, Harvard responded to the students’ requests for help with closed doors, and in some cases threats — by those in positions of power — to limit or retract the students’ future academic opportunities,” the Muslim Legal Fund of America said in a statement.
The students who filed the complaint attend Harvard College, Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Divinity School and Harvard Law School.
After the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights receives a complaint, it evaluates and determines whether it will open an investigation, according to the agency.
Harvard University told ABC News it did not have a comment regarding the complaint, but pointed to a list of supports and resources the university put in place for students and pointed to last Friday’s announcement of a Presidential Taskforce on Combating Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Bias.
Since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, college students — including students from Jewish and pro-Israel communities — told ABC News that they do not feel safe on campus and they do not feel supported by their universities, including Harvard.
Three college students of Palestinian descent were shot in Burlington, Vermont, in November. The shooting is being investigated as a possible hate crime.
Earlier this month, a group of Jewish students at Harvard University filed a federal lawsuit claiming the school has “become a bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment” and alleging the administration has failed to protect them.
“Jewish students on campus have been subjected to a really hostile environment in which they have been intimidated, harassed and in some instances physically assaulted because they’re Jewish,” attorney Marc Kasowitz, who is representing the Jewish students in the legal action, told ABC News Thursday. “Right now, the Jewish students on campus at Harvard are afraid for their own physical safety and to express their views about current events.”
A spokesperson for Harvard University issued a statement at the time to ABC News, saying, “We do not comment on pending litigation.”
Palestinian students told ABC News in December that they felt Islamophobia has been treated with less gravity than antisemitism.
After at least 30 student groups at Harvard released a letter in December blaming, in part, the Israeli regime for “all unfolding violence” in the wake of Hamas’ attack. Students in groups that signed onto the letter have faced public outrage and harassment, including doxxing.
Several groups have since retracted their signatures and the authors of the letter later released a statement clarifying that they do not condone violence against civilians.
“Our statement’s purpose was clear: to address the root cause of all the violence unfolding. To state what should be clear: PSC staunchly opposes all violence against all innocent life and laments all human suffering,” the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee said in a subsequent statement.
In the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel, a bus was seen driving through campus streets with a banner that read “Harvard’s Leading Antisemites” and video screens showing the names and faces of students who allegedly signed onto the letter.
Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned earlier this month in part because of criticism of her reaction to alleged antisemitism on campus and her response to questions from lawmakers during a hearing on Capitol Hill in December. Gay has also faced accusations of plagiarism in old academic work.
Provost Alan Garber is now serving as interim president.
(BIRMINGHAM, Ala.) — Gayle Manchin, the wife of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, was injured in a car crash as a suspect allegedly fled police in Birmingham, Alabama, authorities said.
On Monday, the Homewood Police began a pursuit of an individual wanted on felony charges, authorities said. Police units pursued the vehicle through North Birmingham onto 18th Street North before losing contact with the suspect vehicle in the 1300 block of 18th Street North, officials said.
Homewood Police officers continued pursuit on 18th Street North where they subsequently observed that the suspect vehicle had apparently collided with another vehicle at the intersection of 18th Street North and 15th Avenue North. The driver was then apprehended without incident, police said.
Birmingham Fire and Rescue medics were called to the scene to help the two occupants of the other vehicle, one of whom authorities confirmed Tuesday afternoon was Gayle Manchin, wife of United States Sen. Joe Manchin. Manchin and the other occupant were treated and taken to UAB Gardendale before later being transported to UAB’s downtown campus, authorities confirmed. They are both in stable condition, police said.
The Homewood Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division is currently investigating and is in the process of charging the suspect with multiple felony warrants. The suspect is currently being held at the Homewood City jail pending warrants.
(WASHINGTON) — A longtime business partner of Hunter Biden, Eric Schwerin, said in a closed-door interview Tuesday with members of the House Oversight Committee that he is “not aware of any financial transactions or compensation” that then-Vice President Joe Biden received related to business conducted by this family members, calling the allegations “preposterous,” according to Schwerin’s opening statement obtained by ABC News.
Schwerin was called the appear before the Oversight Committee as part of the Republican-led impeachment inquiry into the President Joe Biden, for whom Schwerin previously worked as a financial adviser before going into business with his son, Hunter Biden.
“I am not aware of any financial transactions or compensation that Vice President Biden received related to business conducted by any of his family members or their associates nor any involvement by him in their businesses. None,” Schwerin told the committee, according to his statement.
“I cannot recall any requests for Vice President Biden to take any official action on behalf of any of Hunter’s clients or his business deals, foreign or domestic,” Schwerin said. “In fact, I am not aware of any role that Vice President Biden, as a public official or a private citizen, had in any of Hunter’s business activities. None.”
Schwerin, who “managed almost every aspect of [Hunter Biden’s] financial life” for years, according to Kathleen Buhle, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, in her 2022 memoir, “If We Break,” also told committee members that he never asked President Biden to “take any official actions for the benefit of Hunter’s clients or any other client.”
“Furthermore, I have no recollection of any promises or suggestions made by Hunter or myself to any clients or business associates that his father would take any official actions on their behalf. None,” he said.
According to what Schwerin said he previously told Oversight Committee staff, between 2009 and 2017 he performed a number of administrative and bookkeeping tasks for then-Vice President Joe Biden related to his household finances, and helped him and his accountants in their preparation of his taxes and his annual financial disclosure statements.
Schwerin told the Oversight Committee Tuesday that “in my discussions with the Vice President concerning his personal finances, he was always crystal clear that he wanted to take the most transparent and ethical approach consistent with both the spirit and the letter of the law.”
“Given my awareness of his finances and the explicit directions he gave to his financial advisers, the allegation that he would engage in any improper conduct to benefit himself or his family is preposterous to me,” Schwerin said.
Schwerin is the latest associate of Hunter Biden to speak with the committee, following recent appearances by associates Rob Walker and Kevin Morris.
Republicans have accused President Biden of using his office when he was vice president to “coordinate with Hunter Biden’s business partners about Hunter’s role in Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company,” citing an email exchange between Schwerin and the vice president’s then-communications staffer Kate Bedingfield collaborate on a response to questions from the media about Hunter Biden’s appointment to the board of Burisma.
In response to the allegations by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, White House spokesperson Ian Sams tweeted in September: “More lies by @JamesComer. As Comer tells it, then-VP Biden ‘colluded’ with this business by … saying he doesn’t endorse it and wasn’t involved with it? Total nonsense.”
Hunter Biden was subpoenaed late last year to sit for a closed-door deposition with the Oversight Committee — a move that Hunter Biden initially resisted but ultimately agreed to earlier this month, under threat of a contempt vote. He is now scheduled to sit with lawmakers in late February.
The Biden impeachment inquiry, launched unilaterally by now-ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and then formalized months later by the House in a party-line vote, has yet to yield any concrete evidence to support GOP claims that Joe Biden participated in and profited from his son and family’s foreign business dealings.
President Biden has denied any wrongdoing.
The younger Biden, meanwhile, is facing unrelated gun and tax charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty. On Tuesday his attorney, Abbe Lowell, filed a series of court papers after special counsel David Weiss earlier this month rebutted his efforts to dismiss the gun charges.
“The filings made by the prosecutors provide more evidence that these charges result from a politically motivated attack instigated by former President Trump and his MAGA allies,” Lowell said in a statement.
(WASHINGTON) — A former secretary of homeland security has come out in stalwart support of current Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who is soon set to face a historic impeachment vote by House Republicans.
In an interview with ABC News Live anchor Kyra Phillips on Tuesday, Michael Chertoff characterized the impeachment probe against Mayorkas as “a disagreement about policy.”
Chertoff, who ran the Department of Homeland Security from 2004 to 2009 under then-President George W. Bush, said there was “grim irony” in House Republicans attacking Mayorkas for his handling of the southern border when the secretary has actively been advocating for higher congressional funding to confront the issue — something conservatives say must be accompanied with sweeping immigration changes.
“At the same time they won’t give Secretary Mayorkas tools to increase his ability to control the border, they’re complaining that therefore he should be impeached, and that really is, almost by definition, a comedy,” Chertoff told ABC News.
Chertoff published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday in which he urged against an impeachment. “I can say with confidence that, for all the investigating that the House Committee on Homeland Security has done, they have failed to put forth evidence that meets the bar [for impeachable offenses],” he wrote.
The House Committee on Homeland Security is pushing to impeach Mayorkas while claiming he failed to enforce the law at the U.S.-Mexico border, an allegation he has called “false.”
“I have adhered scrupulously and fervently to the Oath of Office I have taken six times in my public service career,” Mayorkas wrote in a letter to the committee, published on Tuesday morning, ahead of a hearing to review two new impeachment articles against him.
In his Wall Street Journal op-ed, Chertoff defended Mayorkas’ record, characterizing the committee’s accusations as “unsupported argument” and calling for House Republicans to “drop the impeachment charade.” He also said Congress had inadequately supported and refined existing immigration systems.
Leading Republicans disagree with that view.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, a Tennessee Republican, opened Tuesday’s hearing by saying Mayorkas “put his political preference above the law” and that his “actions have forced our hand” because “we cannot allow this border crisis to continue. We cannot allow fentanyl to flood our border.”
Mayorkas is accused in the two impeachment articles of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and “breach of public trust.”
Only one Cabinet secretary has ever been impeached — in the 1800s.
Chertoff stressed to ABC News Live on Tuesday that he believes Congress needs to consider the reasons why people are being pushed to migrate to the United States, citing examples like climate change and autocratic rule in other countries.
“And those are issues which can’t simply be resolved by putting people at the border. We’ve got to work to alleviate the conditions that are chasing people to leave their homes and flee into the United States,” Chertoff said.
On Tuesday afternoon, House Republicans were continuing to push for Mayorkas’ impeachment during a hearing on Capitol Hill, with a vote expected by end of day that would put Mayorkas one step closer to a historic removal.
The full House would need to approve the impeachment articles in order to lead to a Senate trial. House Speaker Mike Johnson has said that vote will be held soon.
ABC News’ John Parkinson contributed to this report.
Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The New York City Council voted Tuesday to override Mayor Eric Adams’ vetoes on a solitary confinement ban and a bill to document police stops.
The council voted 42-9.
“Public safety is a collective effort, but it can only be achieved when there is transparency and accountability and policing,” said City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams on Tuesday in support of the bills. “Black and Latino New Yorkers continue to be disproportionately subjected to unconstitutional stops that go underreported. Civilian complaints of misconduct are at their highest levels in a decade. These stops can no longer happen in the shadows.”
Mayor Adams slammed the decision to override the veto.
These bills will make New Yorkers less safe on the streets, while police officers are forced to fill out additional paperwork rather than focus on helping New Yorkers and strengthening community bonds,” he said in a statement. “Additionally, it will make staff in our jails and those in our custody less safe by impairing our ability to hold those who commit violent acts accountable.”
The bill on solitary confinement would require all people in city custody to have at least 14 hours of out-of-cell time in a congregate setting “unless for the purpose of de-escalation confinement or during emergency lock-ins,” which would limit the confinement to a maximum of four hours after an incident or confrontation.
A “How Many Stops” bill on police data would require the NYPD to publicly report on police-civilian investigative stops and consent searches, as well as to expand NYPD reporting on vehicle stops to include the justification and the type of offense observed, as well as other data connected to vehicle stops. Lawmakers who wrote the bill said this is not intended to apply to non-investigative, informal conversations with civilians.
Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain and transit officer, vetoed the solitary confinement bill on Jan. 19 because a veto would “keep those in our custody and our correction officers safer,” he said in a statement after vetoing the legislation.
Eric Adams said if the bill were to take effect, “the Department of Correction would no longer be able to protect people in custody, or the union workers charged with their safety, from violent individuals.”
Current city policy uses the term “restrictive housing” rather than solitary confinement.
The current policy requires someone placed in this “restrictive housing” to have a minimum of seven hours outside of their cell, according to the Board of Corrections. Steve Martin, the court-appointed monitor to the city’s correctional facilities, argues this policy does not constitute solitary confinement, which traditionally refers to the limitation of out-of-cell time to up to four hours a day.
Legislators behind the bill said ending solitary confinement will reduce violence in correctional facilities and end a practice they say causes “harm” to incarcerated populations.
“We cannot allow the human rights and safety crisis on Rikers to continue by maintaining the status quo of failed policies and practices,” said Adrienne Adams in a statement on Eric Adams’ veto. “This legislation has broad support and advances a new approach to reduce violence and prioritize safety.”
Regarding the “How Many Stops” bill,” Eric Adams called the bill “misguided.”
“This bill will handcuff our police by drowning officers in unnecessary paperwork that will saddle taxpayers with tens of millions of dollars in additional NYPD overtime each year,” the mayor said.
Legislators argued that the bill is aimed at creating transparency in police stops, as the NYPD has long been under scrutiny over allegations of discriminatory policing by marginalized communities.
“I am here to tell you as someone who works professionally within that system, this is not a burden,” said New York City Council Member Tiffany Caban, who previously worked as a public defender. “This is doing the right thing. And if we are going to solve the issues of racist, biased policing outcomes, then we must have the data to do so.”
ABC News’ Tesfaye Negussie contributed to this report.
(OXFORD, Mich.) — Jennifer Crumbley’s trial continued on Tuesday with witnesses testifying about the morning of the 2021 Oxford High School shooting in Michigan. Andrew Smith, the CEO of the real estate company where Jennifer Crumbley worked at the time of the shooting, testified that she would have been allowed to leave for the day if she needed to take care of her son.
Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of school shooter Ethan Crumbley, pleaded not guilty to four counts of involuntary manslaughter for her alleged role in the shooting.
Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in December for killing four students and injuring seven others in November 2021.
Smith testified that Jennifer Crumbley would have also been allowed to bring her son to the office the day of the shooting if needed. She had told school officials that they couldn’t take Ethan home after a meeting on the day of the shooting because both parents had to work.
He also testified that he saw Jennifer Crumbley racing down the hall, telling him that there was an active shooter at her son’s school.
Jennifer Crumbley texted Smith minutes after leaving the office that “the gun is gone and so are the bullets,” according to evidence of the texts.
Smith testified that he was “taken aback” and “surprised” when he received a text from Jennifer Crumbley after the shooting that said, “I need my job. Please don’t judge me for what my son did.”
Crumbley was terminated from her job days after the shooting, Smith testified.
Video played in court on Tuesday showed Jennifer Crumbley sitting in the back of a police car as detectives searched her house in the hours after the school shooting.
In the video, she could be heard telling Sgt. Matthew Peschke of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department — who was in the squad car with her — that her son was a “good kid” and she and her husband are “not bad people.”
“This is f—– up. Like, I just, my son just ruined his life. I’ll probably never see him again,” Jennifer Crumbley said as she started to cry.
At other points in the video, she asked Peschke for a cigarette and even took a short phone call while sitting in the back of the squad car.
During the search of the house, Oakland County Sheriff’s Detective Adam Stoyek testified they found an open gun box and an empty box of ammunition for the 9 mm Sig Sauer handgun used in the shooting, as well as gun range targets with bullet holes taped to the shooter’s bedroom wall and an empty bottle of whiskey next to his bed. They also found two more weapons in a locked gun safe that could be opened with the default code of 0-0-0.
Nicholas Ejak, who worked as the dean of students at Oxford High School at the time of the shooting, testified about the morning of the shooting, including meeting with the Crumbley parents when concerns were raised about the Ethan Crumbley.
Ejak testified that the school asked the Crumbley parents to get him counseling that day and informed the parents of resources to get that help, including options that would have allowed them to get him help immediately.
Ejak testified that the parents chose to have their son return to class. He also said he was the one who retrieved Ethan’s backpack from his math class and returned it to him. The backpack contained the gun Ethan used in the shooting, but Ejak said he didn’t search his bag because he “didn’t have reasonable suspicion to do that.”
Ejak testified that if Ethan Crumbley were to go home, his parents said he would have to walk home and remain alone. School officials, who were worried about his mental health, did not think it was a good idea for him to be alone since they were concerned he was considering suicide.
Throughout his testimony, Ejak stressed that Ethan Crumbley’s actions in the days leading up to the shooting — including Googling bullets at school, watching shooting videos in class and drawing violent images on his papers — did not warrant the school taking steps to discipline him. Instead, he said, the school felt Ethan was experiencing mental health issues and were concerned about him, saying that would “supersede” any discipline concerns.
Amanda Holland, a co-worker of Jennifer Crumbley, also testified about speaking with Jennifer the morning of the shooting and the nature of her relationship. Holland testified that the morning of the shooting, Jennifer Crumbley told her she had a rough night and that Ethan Crumbley had been “locked out” of the house. It wasn’t clear to Holland if Ethan had been purposefully locked out by his parents or if he had forgotten his keys.
On Monday, video of police’s first interrogation of the Crumbley parents, just hours after the shooting, was shown in court.
At one point in the video, Jennifer Crumbley is seen scrolling through her phone. The prosecution tried to suggest this was not normal behavior for a mother who had just learned her son had committed a school shooting. The defense tried to counter that by pointing out that Jennifer was sharing messages she had received from her son with police.
At one point in the video, his parents are taken to the room where Ethan Crumbley is being held and Jennifer Crumbley appear to ask the shooter, “Why?”
Oxford High School counselor Shawn Hopkins testified he met with Ethan Crumbley and his parents just hours before the shooting happened after he drew disturbing images on a math worksheet.
Hopkins testified that he previously interacted with Ethan Crumbley on a couple of occasions earlier in 2021, after teachers had reached out to Hopkins to share their concerns over Ethan Crumbley’s behavior.
On the morning of the shooting, Hopkins called Ethan Crumbley to his office over the images he had drawn on his math paper. Ethan Crumbley initially told Hopkins the drawings were related to a video game. Hopkins said he began to ask more pointed questions to get beyond the “video game” idea, and that’s when the shooter’s demeanor shifted and he became sad.
He told Hopkins that his friend moved, his family dog and a grandparent had recently died, he was struggling with COVID-19 and attending school during the pandemic, and that he had argued with his parents about grades the night before.
After this discussion, Hopkins said he called Jennifer Crumbley to come to the school right away. The counselor said he was concerned the shooter was displaying “suicidal ideation,” and that he should seek help immediately.
Hopkins said he did not explicitly ask the parents to remove the shooter from school, however, he testified that he asked the parents to get the shooter therapeutic help that day, if possible. Jennifer Crumbley “made it clear” that they wouldn’t be able to take the shooter for help that day, Hopkins said.
Because the parents weren’t taking the student home that morning, the counselor expressed concern about the shooter being alone, since he was believed to be potentially suicidal. Ethan Crumbley requested to remain in class, and the parents were on board with him staying in class, so the shooter was allowed to return to his normal schedule before the shooting began, according to the counselor’s testimony.
Kira Pennock, who managed the barn where the Crumbleys kept their two horses, walked through messages she exchanged with Jennifer Crumbley on the day of the shooting and the days following where the two women work out a potential deal for Pennock to buy the horses.
ABC News’ Whitney Lloyd contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — As Senate negotiators neared an agreement on a long-awaited bipartisan border deal, House Speaker Mike Johnson told ABC News Tuesday that while he hasn’t seen the bill yet, the agreement is a “nonstarter in the House.”
“From what we’ve seen, clearly, what’s been suggested in this bill is not enough to secure the border,” Johnson told ABC Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott. “And we have to insist — we have a responsibility, a duty, to the American people to insist that the border catastrophe is ended. And just trying to whitewash that or do something for political purposes that it appears that may be, is not going to cut it.”
The border agreement worked out by Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., comes as part of a national security spending bill that also includes aid packages for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
House Republicans have been coming out against the border deal, despite not yet seeing the bill text. This comes as former President Donald Trump has encouraged Republicans to reject the deal.
Trump on Monday said that “a border bill is not necessary,” blasting the ongoing negotiations.
Johnson said he has spoken with Trump about this issue “at length,” but called any allegations that he’s trying to kill the bill to give Trump a win for his campaign “absurd.”
“We have a responsibility here to do our duty. Our duty is to do right by the American people to protect the people the first and most important job,” Johnson told Scott.
During a closed-door meeting with his conference last week, Johnson assured House Republicans that the deal is “dead on arrival” in the House, according to multiple members who were in the room — leaving big questions about the prospect of additional aid to Ukraine.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., is among the House Republicans criticizing the bill.
“I think to really clarify what the President [Trump] is saying — that this deal sucks,” Donalds told ABC News. “It’s a bad deal and to give cover to Joe Biden for his terrible policies on the border.”
While Senate Republicans continue to work on the border deal with the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, House Republicans are working to impeach him.
The House Homeland Security Committee, led by Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., brought two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas on Tuesday, arguing the secretary has demonstrated “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and “breach of public trust.”
“Alejandro N. Mayorkas knowingly made false statements to Congress that the border is ‘secure,’ that the border is ‘no less secure than it was previously,’ that the border is ‘closed,’ and that DHS has ‘operational control,’ of the border (as that term is defined in the Secure Fence Act of 19 2006),” the articles claim.
President Biden told reporters Tuesday that he’s exhausted all executive authority to address the immigration crisis at the southern border.
“I’ve done all I can do,” he said as he left the White House.
The president turned up the pressure on Republicans to reach a compromise on Friday, saying he would “shut down” the border when it’s overwhelmed, if given new emergency authority through this deal.
“Give me the border patrol. Give me the people, give me the people who judge it. Give me the people who can stop this and make it work,” Biden said Tuesday.
ABC News’ Justin Gomez, Allie Pecorin, John Parkinson and Quinn Owen contributed to this report.
(WICHITA, Kan.) — A statue of baseball legend Jackie Robinson stolen from a Kansas park was found dismantled and burned in a trash can fire Tuesday morning in what authorities called a “disgraceful” act, as the search for the perpetrators continues.
The statue was taken from McAdams Park in Wichita last week. Surveillance video captured individuals entering Jackie Robinson Pavilion around midnight on Thursday, removing the statue and placing it in a pickup truck. They cut off the statue at the ankles, leaving behind only Robinson’s feet, with damages estimated to be around $75,000.
Around 8:38 a.m. local time on Tuesday, the Wichita Fire Department responded to a report of a trash can fire at Garvey Park, according to Wichita police spokesperson Andrew Ford.
After extinguishing the fire, they found what appeared to be pieces of the Robinson statue, “which is not salvageable at this time,” Ford told reporters during a press briefing Tuesday.
The Wichita Fire Department is investigating the arson, while police continue to investigate the theft, Ford said.
“It’s really disheartening to see the remnants of the statue, the disgraceful way it’s been disrespected,” Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan said during the briefing. “This is a direct indication of the pressure our investigators are putting on the perpetrators that committed this act.”
Sullivan urged those involved in any way to turn themselves in.
“Either way, we will be arresting several people for what they’ve done to our community,” the chief said.
Police said Monday they have recovered the truck they believe was used to haul away the statue. Sullivan did not provide any additional updates on the vehicle Tuesday.
The statue was built by artist John Parsons and donated to the community by League 42, a nonprofit named after Robinson’s number with the Brooklyn Dodgers, which aims to introduce baseball to the youth of Wichita.
“This was a heartbreaking discovery this morning. I hate to see that the statue was not in one piece,” Wichita Council member Brandon Johnson said at the briefing. “But I do want everyone to know that we are undeterred and making sure that that statue gets rebuilt and put back there for our community, for League 42, for the young people.”
“That symbol of hope will only be gone for a short time,” he continued.
League 42 founder and CEO Bob Lutz told reporters that the mold from the original statue is still viable, and that they intend to replace the piece in the coming months.
“It will be a joyous occasion — unlike today, unlike the past five days,” Lutz said. “We’re ready for some joy. We’re ready for some happiness.”
League 42 paid about $50,000 for the sculpture, which was installed in 2021, according to The Associated Press.
Johnson said funds for a new statue are being raised through a GoFundMe campaign and local businesses.
“I’m confident we can get that statue back for our young people and community to enjoy,” Johnson said.
Robinson is known for breaking the color barrier in the modern era of MLB. He played for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues and for the minor league Montreal Royals before being signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
The signing signaled the end of segregated baseball and led to other Black players joining the major leagues. During his time with the Dodgers, Robinson won Rookie of the Year in 1947, was named National League MVP in 1949. He was a six-time All-Star, won the World Series in 1955 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1962.
ABC News’ Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday he’s decided how the U.S. is going to respond to the drone attack on a U.S. base in Jordan by Iran-backed militants that killed three American soldiers.
“Have you made a decision how you’ll respond to the attack,” Biden was asked leaving the White House as headed for fundraisers in Florida.
“Yes,” he said.
Retaliatory strikes by the U.S. so far have yet to deter any of these Iranian-backed groups in the region. Asked if this upcoming response will actually deter them, he said, “we’ll see.”
He reiterated that the U.S. is not looking for a “wider war in the Middle East,” explaining, “that’s not what I’m looking for.”
The president wouldn’t go as far as saying Iran is directly responsible for the attack, but that it is responsible for arming these proxy groups.
“I do hold them responsible in that they’re supplying the weapons to the people who did it,” he said.
The U.S. response to the drone attack twill be carried out “over the course of several days,” striking “multiple targets,” a U.S. official told ABC News.
“These are going to be very deliberate targets — deliberate strikes on facilities that enabled these attacks” on U.S. forces, the official said.
Also on Tuesday, the Iran-backed Hezbollah Brigades — based in Iraq — different from Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon — said it would suspend its military operations against U.S. forces in Iraq.
“As we announce the suspension of military and security operations against the occupation forces — in order to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government we will continue to defend our people in Gaza in other ways … ” a statement from the group said.
Biden is facing increasing pressure to forcefully respond to Sunday’s drone attack without deepening the conflict in the Middle East.
“We are not looking for a war with Iran,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said at Monday’s White House press briefing.
“We are not seeking a conflict with the regime in the military way,” Kirby continued. “We’re not looking to escalate here. This attack over the weekend was escalatory, make no mistake about it. And it requires a response.”
The president vowed Sunday that the U.S. would respond, and Monday met with members of his national security team in the White House Situation Room to discuss the latest developments on the attack in Jordan near the borders with Syria and Iraq, according to the White House.
Among those in the meeting were national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and chief of staff Jeff Zients.
Biden is now faced with a difficult decision on how best to respond to the attack that killed the first U.S. service members since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict, without igniting a broader conflict in the region, something the administration has been steadfastly trying to avoid for months.
The White House would not confirm or deny if direct strikes against Iran were on the table, but a senior U.S. official told ABC News that Biden has deep misgivings about retaliatory strikes on Iran itself.
“There’s no easy answer here,” Kirby told reporters.
“That’s why the president is meeting with his national security team, weighing the options before him. He’ll do that as he’s done in the past in a very careful, deliberate way, so that our national security answers– our interests are best preserved.”
In a press conference Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested the U.S. response “could be multi-leveled, come in stages, and be sustained over time.”
Prior to Sunday’s deadly attack, there had been at least 164 attacks on U.S. forces in the region since mid-October.
The U.S. has launched repeated retaliatory strikes — nine in Yemen since Jan. 11 and four in Iraq and three in Syria since mid-October — although the president has noted they did little to deter future attacks.
Many Republicans have called on the administration to take stronger action against Iran, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“The entire world now watches for signs that the President is finally prepared to exercise American strength to compel Iran to change its behavior. Our enemies are emboldened. And they will remain so until the United States imposes serious, crippling costs – not only on front-line terrorist proxies, but on their Iranian sponsors who wear American blood as a badge of honor,” he said in a statement.
Complicating matters further is the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and the ongoing hostage negotiations that the U.S. and other countries have been working to facilitate.
Kirby said Monday the talks were headed in a good direction, and the White House saw “no reason” that any U.S. response to these attacks should affect the negotiations. Still, he acknowledged it could.
“We’re not cocky. We understand there’s a lot of hard work ahead. And that work ahead of us, diplomatically certainly, might be affected by– by events elsewhere in the region. Not just — not just what happened in Jordan and what- what might come as a result of that, but there’s no reason why it shouldn’t. And that’s why we’re gonna stay at that task,” Kirby said.
A growing conflict could also have major impacts on Biden’s reelection efforts. He has already faced political pressure on the campaign trail from pro-Palestinian protests at his events calling for a cease-fire.
At a recent event in Virginia, Biden faced more than a dozen interruptions from the crowd calling for an end to the conflict.
When asked whether politics would play a role in the president’s response, Kirby was adamant it wouldn’t.
“”He’s not looking at political calculations, or the polling, or the electoral calendar as he works to protect our troops ashore and our ships at sea — and any suggestion to the contrary is offensive,” he said.
The White House on Tuesday confirmed that Biden had spoken with the families of the service members killed and that we would attend the dignified transfer of their remains on Friday at Dover Air Force Base.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
