Sen. Mark Kelly arrives for a closed door meeting on Capitol Hill, Dec. 16, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly on Tuesday called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s investigation into him a “bunch of bull****” and said he believes it’s about sending a message to retired service members not to speak out against the president.
“This is very performative for him,” Kelly told reporters about the investigation.
Kelly said Hegseth raised the investigation during a closed-door briefing to senators on the military’s campaign in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea targeting boats believed to be carrying drugs. According to Kelly, he asked a question about the boat strikes and Hegseth responded by chastising Kelly and other democratic lawmakers for posting a video urging troops not to follow illegal orders.
Hegseth asked Secretary of the Navy John Phelan to review Kelly for “potentially unlawful conduct” after the Arizona senator was featured in the video with five other Democrats who have served in the military and U.S. intelligence.
The Pentagon confirmed Tuesday in a prepared statement that it was “escalating” its review into Kelly from a preliminary review to an official “command investigation.”
Hegseth has said he believes the video by Kelly and others created confusion among troops and could encourage insubordination. Hegseth said he’s looking into whether the military should call Kelly, a retired Navy captain, back to active duty to face a court martial or some kind of administrative punishment.
On Monday, Kelly’s attorney, Paul Fishman, said in a letter to Phelan that if the Trump administration moves ahead with proceedings against Kelly in any forum, “all appropriate legal action” will be taken.
“To be clear: there is no legitimate basis for any type of proceeding against Senator Kelly, and any such effort would be unconstitutional and an extraordinary abuse of power. If the Executive Branch were to move forward in any forum—criminal, disciplinary, or administrative—we will take all appropriate legal action on Senator Kelly’s behalf to halt the Administration’s unprecedented and dangerous overreach,” Fishman wrote in the letter obtained by ABC News.
Kelly said he hasn’t heard anything from the Defense Department since he retired in 2011 when he was recognized for his 25 years of service.
“This is all bunch of bull****,” Kelly said Tuesday.
Kelly later added: “This is just about sending a message to retired service members, active duty service members, government employees — do not speak out against this president, or there will be consequences.”
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Kelly’s remarks to reporters on Tuesday.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Cassandra Klos/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(BOSTON) — A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been shot and killed at his home, authorities said.
Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, was found Monday night at his house in the upscale Boston suburb of Brookline. He was taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead on Tuesday, the Norfolk District Attorney’s office said.
The DA’s office said the homicide investigation is ongoing.
The university said Loureiro was a “faculty member in the departments of Nuclear Science & Engineering and Physics, as well as the Director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center.”
“Our deepest sympathies are with his family, students, colleagues, and all those who are grieving,” MIT said in a statement. “Focused outreach and conversations are taking place within our community to offer care and support for those who knew Prof. Loureiro, and a message will be shared with our wider community.”
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico released this photo of Ryan Wedding on Dec. 8, 2025. U.S. Embassy in Mexico
(NEW YORK) — A former Olympic snowboarder is one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives, with authorities comparing the Canadian citizen to notorious drug lords like Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Pablo Escobar.
The alleged drug kingpin — 44-year-old Ryan Wedding — is accused of heading a criminal enterprise that traffics tons of cocaine, engages in murder to further their aims and retaliate, and uses cryptocurrency to conceal their illicit profits.
Wedding faces multiple federal charges in the United States, where authorities have said he is responsible for trafficking “multi-ton quantities of cocaine” from Colombia. He is also wanted by authorities in Canada on separate charges, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The FBI dubbed its operation into the alleged criminal organization “Giant Slalom” — a nod to Wedding’s Olympic event — and has warned the fugitive should be considered dangerous.
Wedding — whose alleged aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant” and “Public Enemy” — is believed to be in Mexico, being protected by the Sinaloa cartel, according to the FBI.
Here’s a look at Wedding’s path from premier athlete to alleged drug kingpin.
Feb. 27, 1999
Wedding wins the bronze medal in the men’s parallel giant slalom event at the 1999 Junior World Championship.
March 8, 2001
Wedding wins the silver medal in the men’s parallel giant slalom event at the 2001 Junior World Championships.
Feb. 14, 2002
Wedding competes for Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where he places 24th in the men’s giant parallel slalom.
June 13, 2008
Wedding is arrested in San Diego and subsequently charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, according to court records. According to the federal complaint, he conspired with two others to buy 24 kilograms of cocaine, unwittingly from an FBI source, as part of a Vancouver-based drug trafficking organization.
Nov. 30, 2009
A jury finds Wedding guilty of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
May 28, 2010
A federal judge sentences Wedding to 48 months in prison.
Dec. 7, 2011
Wedding is released from U.S. federal prison. Federal prosecutors allege he would go on to found his criminal enterprise.
Nov. 20, 2023
Two parents are murdered in front of their daughter, who was also injured, in a case of mistaken identity in Ontario, according to federal prosecutors. Wedding and his alleged second-in-command — Andrew Clark, a fellow Canadian — had allegedly ordered the retaliatory murder of a Canadian drug trafficker, believing the driver had stolen 300 kilograms of cocaine from them, according to a federal indictment.
The assassin crew broke into a house that the family was renting, fatally shooting the two victims and seriously injuring a third, mistakenly believing they were family members of the co-conspirator, according to the indictment. The couple’s daughter was shot multiple times but survived, prosecutors said.
April 1, 2024
An individual was killed in Ontario, allegedly at the order of Clark and another man involved in the criminal enterprise, according to federal prosecutors.
May 18, 2024
Another individual is killed over a drug debt, allegedly at the order of Wedding and Clark, according to federal prosecutors.
June 18, 2024
A sealed, six-count indictment is filed against Wedding and Clark in Los Angeles federal court, charging them with running a criminal enterprise, committing murder in support of the enterprise and conspiring to distribute and export cocaine.
Sept. 17, 2024
A superseding indictment is filed in Los Angeles federal court against Wedding, Clark and 14 others. The 16-count indictment includes, among others, an attempted murder charge against Wedding and Clark.
The indictment alleges that the enterprise conspired to ship hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Southern California to Canada. The cocaine was allegedly transported from Mexico to the Los Angeles area, where it was stored in stash houses before being transported to Canada via long-haul semi-trucks, according to the indictment.
The indictment also alleges the organization committed multiple murders to achieve its aims, including the killings and attempted murder of the family members in November 2023 in Ontario and the murders of the individuals in April 2024 and May 2024.
Wedding and others allegedly made billions of dollars through the enterprise, which was moved around in the form of cryptocurrency, prosecutors say.
Law enforcement has seized more than one ton of cocaine, three firearms, dozens of rounds of ammunition, $255,400 in U.S. currency and more than $3.2 million in cryptocurrency as part of its investigation into the so-called Wedding Drug Trafficking Organization, the DOJ says.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for any information leading to Wedding’s arrest.
Oct. 8, 2024
Clark is arrested by Mexican authorities, according to the Department of Justice. He is subsequently extradited to the U.S.
Oct. 17, 2024
On the same day federal prosecutors announce the superseding indictment, Wedding’s attorney allegedly advises him and Clark that if a federal witness were killed, the federal charges against them “would necessarily be dismissed,” according to a subsequent federal indictment.
Wedding then allegedly places a bounty of up to $5 million on the witness in exchange for “any person locating and killing” the individual, according to the indictment.
Jan. 31, 2025
The federal witness is killed while eating at a restaurant in Medellin, Colombia, by an unknown shooter, according to a federal indictment. The witness, who was not identified in the indictment, was shot in the head five times, prosecutors said.
Following confirmation of the witness’ death, Wedding allegedly facilitates an approximately $500,000 payment to members of the conspiracy in Colombia via an encrypted platform, according to the indictment.
March 6, 2025
Wedding is added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
The U.S. Department of State is now offering a reward of up to $10 million for his capture. The reward is “jointly being offered with assistance from the Canadian and Mexican governments as part of a unified effort to bring Wedding to justice,” the FBI says.
March 24, 2025
Clark pleads not guilty to his federal charges. His trial is set to begin in February 2026.
Oct. 28, 2025
A new federal indictment is filed against Wedding in Los Angeles federal court, accusing him of orchestrating the murder of the witness in Colombia. Eighteen others, including his Ontario-based lawyer, are also charged in the indictment in connection with his alleged criminal enterprise. The lawyer — who has not yet entered a plea — is accused of advising Wedding that if he killed the witness, then criminal charges against him in his 2024 federal narcotics case would be dropped, prosecutors said.
The indictment alleges that the criminal enterprise worked with members and associates of prominent Mexican drug cartels to move hundreds of kilograms of cocaine via boats and planes from Colombia to Mexico at a time, then used semi-trucks to smuggle the drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Nov. 19, 2025
The U.S. Department of State increases its reward for information regarding Wedding to $15 million.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also sanctions Wedding, as well as multiple individuals and entities closely associated with him.
Dec. 8, 2025
U.S. officials release new photos of Wedding. In one, a newly obtained photo released by the Los Angeles FBI office, Wedding is seen lying in a bed shirtless, with a prominent tattoo of a lion on his chest, in a photo authorities said is believed to have been taken in Mexico during the summer of 2025. In the other, shared by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, Wedding is seen with a different haircut and facial hair in an undated photo.
(DEXTER, Kan.) — Class is out early for one Kansas school this holiday season.
Dexter Schools USD #471 announced Monday that they dismissed students and staff three days early for winter break due to widespread illness. Classes are scheduled to resume Monday, Jan. 5.
“We are going through a tremendous amount of sickness right now and it seems to be spreading at a very high rate,” the Facebook announcement reads, in part.
“Not only are we concerned with student and staff sickness now we don’t want to continue to spread the sickness and end up with students taking it to their extended families (grandma and grandpa) over the holiday break,” the post adds.
K.B. Criss, the school’s superintendent and principal, told ABC News that the rural K-12 school has between 250 and 300 students, and he believed around 25% to 35% of students were absent within the first hour of school Monday morning.
“The phone was ringing off the wall of kids being sick,” he said. “I think by nine o’clock, we had between 40 and 50 families call, and that’s a large percent of our student body.”
Criss added that most of the illnesses seemed to be respiratory, but staff and students were experiencing a wide variety of symptoms.
“The symptoms were ranging from all over the place. We had staff that was not only throwing up, but had diarrhea. We had body aches, fevers, bronchitis, strep throat, and the one common thing with all of it was terrible headaches,” Criss said, adding that other leading symptoms included congestion, coughs, and fever.
Some students and staff were diagnosed with RSV and the flu, according to Criss.
According to the school’s website, free testing is available for Flu A/B, RSV, Strep A and COVID.
Kansas currently has a low level of respiratory illness across the state, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nationally, “the amount of acute respiratory illness causing people to seek health care is low,” according to the CDC, as is COVID-19 activity.
“Seasonal influenza activity continues to increase in most areas of the country,” according to the CDC, while RSV activity is increasing “in many Southeastern, Southern, and mid-Atlantic states.”
Dexter Schools USD #471 is located about 70 miles southeast of Wichita, near the Oklahoma border.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns visits Ahmed al Ahmed, who was identified as the bystander who seized a rifle from one of the gunmen during the deadly shooting at Bondi Beach on Sunday, at a hospital in Sydney, Dec. 15, 2025. (@ChrisMinnsMP/X)
(SYDNEY) — A Sydney man is being praised as a hero for disarming one of the alleged shooters in the Hanukkah attack that left 15 dead and 42 injured at Australia’s Bondi Beach on Sunday, as seen in video obtained by ABC News
The video shows a man, identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed, 43, running towards one of the alleged shooters. He’s then seen disarming the alleged gunman before pointing his weapon back at him, prompting him to walk away.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited al-Ahmed in the hospital and told him “your courage is inspiring,” according to video of the visit posted to social media.
“Ahmed, you are an Australian hero. You put yourself at risk to save others, running towards danger on Bondi Beach and disarming a terrorist. In the worst of times, we see the best of Australians. And that’s exactly what we saw on Sunday night. On behalf of every Australian, I say thank you,” Albanese said on X.
The fruit seller was having lunch in the area with a friend when the shooting unfolded and he intervened, according to his brother, Huthaifa.
“I’m really proud about my brother,” he told ABC News.
“He’s a good man. He’s brave,” he said.
The father of two was taken to a hospital, where he was treated for bullet wounds. His brother said he is recovering in the hospital, but is not 100% yet.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns called him a “real-life hero.”
“Last night, his incredible bravery no doubt saved countless lives when he disarmed a terrorist at enormous personal risk,” Minns posted on Instagram while sharing a photo with al-Ahmed in the hospital.
“It was an honour to spend time with him just now and to pass on the thanks of people across NSW. There is no doubt that more lives would have been lost if not for Ahmed’s selfless courage,” he added.
At Sunday night’s National Menorah Lighting in Washington, D.C., Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the director of advocacy group American Friends of Lubavitch, praised al-Ahmed’s heroism and asked for prayers for his recovery.
“I ask all those across the community and beyond — here, and around the world — to please pray for the recovery of Ahmed al-Ahmed, someone who is not a member of the Jewish community, but gave up his safety and wellbeing to stop one of the gunmen and thus prevent even further loss of life. May he recover speedy and fully,” Shemtov said.
A GoFundMe page for al-Ahmed has raised almost $1.5 million with thousands of donations.
“We’re seeing an outpouring of love for Ahmed al Ahmed following his heroic actions at Bondi Beach,” the site posted on X.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman also shared the fundraiser on his X account Sunday, donating $99,999.
Mohamed Fateh al-Ahmed told reporters that his son is “a hero.”
“He served in the police, he has the passion to defend people,” he said.
The victims of Sunday’s mass shooting ranged in ages 10 to 87, and the alleged gunmen are father and son, aged 50 and 24, officials said. Their names have not been released, but authorities said the father is dead and the son was hospitalized.
Six firearms were collected from the scene alongside two improvised explosives, according to officials.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the attack “an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism” and “an act of terrorism,” in a video shared on his Instagram account.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles looks on during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and President of Argentina Javier Milei in the Cabinet Room at the White House on October 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — In candid interviews with Vanity Fair, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles opened up about President Donald Trump and his Cabinet over the first year of Trump’s second term.
Wiles took part in 11 interviews that occurred in real time. Two parts of those interviews were published on Tuesday.
In them, Wiles offered unreserved descriptions of top figures in the administration — including Trump, who she said has an “alcoholic’s personality.”
Wiles said Trump, who has repeatedly said he doesn’t drink alcohol, said he “operates [with] a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing.”
She called Vice President JD Vance a “conspiracy theorist for a decade” and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought “a right-wing absolute zealot.” Billionaire Elon Musk, she said, was an “odd duck” and “avowed ketamine [user].”
Wiles also weighed in on Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, Musk’s slashing of federal government agencies and programs, the chaotic rollout of Trump’s tariff plans, the administration’s aims for Venezuela and more.
Wiles, responding to Vanity Fair’s articles, said it is a “disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history.”
“The truth is the Trump White House has already accomplished more in eleven months than any other President has accomplished in eight years and that is due to the unmatched leadership and vision of President Trump, for whom I have been honored to work for the better part of a decade,” Wiles wrote on X.
“Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story. I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team,” Wiles added.
ABC News has reached out to Condé Nast, Vanity Fair’s parent company, for comment on Wiles’ criticism.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Wiles on X.
“Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has helped President Trump achieve the most successful first 11 months in office of any President in American history. President Trump has no greater or more loyal advisor than Susie. The entire Administration is grateful for her steady leadership and united fully behind her,” Leavitt wrote in a post responding to Wiles’ criticism of the articles.
Trump, Bondi and Musk have not publicly responded to the Vanity Fair articles.
Vance, at an event Tuesday in Pennsylvania, said he hadn’t read the Vanity Fair article but responded to Wiles’ remark that he’s been a “conspiracy theorist for the past decade.” Wiles made the comment on Vance while discussing the Epstein files.
“I haven’t looked at the article. I, of course, have heard about it. But conspiracy theorist, sometimes I am a conspiracy theorist but I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true,” Vance told reporters.
“And by the way, Susie and I have joked in private and in public about that for a long time,” he added.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
In an aerial view, a person stands atop of property engulfed by floodwater on December 14, 2025 in Snohomish, Washington. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — At least one person is dead in Washington as flash flooding hits the state, prompting evacuation orders in some areas, officials said
A 33-year-old male driver was removed from a vehicle that was “completely submerged in water” at around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to Snohomish County Fire District 4. The driver died after apparently driving past road closure signs into an area that remains flooded, according to officials.
“The vehicle left the roadway and entered a lower farmland/ditch area containing approximately six feet of water. Upon arrival, deputies located the vehicle in the water. Fire Rescue Swimmers made contact with the vehicle and removed the driver from the car,” according to the fire district.
Lifesaving measures were attempted but the driver was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said. There were no other occupants in the vehicle, according to officials.
“At this time, it is unknown whether drugs or alcohol were contributing factors. Positive identification of the decedent, as well as the cause and manner of death, will be determined by the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office,” officials said.
An evacuation order and flash flood warning are currently in effect for Pacific, Washington, on Tuesday due to a levee breach on the White River. This comes after a separate levee breach in Tukwila, a suburb of Seattle located in King County, prompted a flash flood warning and evacuation orders on Monday.
Times of moderate to heavy rain are forecast to move through Washington on Tuesday, with a widespread swath of heavy rain and some thunderstorms arriving late afternoon and through the evening, according to the National Weather Service.
Wednesday will feature snow in the mountains and drier conditions at lower elevations, the National Weather Service said.
ABC News’ Kenton Gewecke contributed to this report
Mourners gather to lay flowers at Bondi Beach on December 15, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. Police say at least 16 people, including one suspected gunman, were killed and more than 40 others injured when two attackers opened fire near a Hanukkah celebration at the world-famous Bondi Beach, in what authorities have declared a terrorist incident. (Izhar Khan/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The alleged father and son gunmen who killed 15 people and wounded more than 40 in a mass shooting at Australia’s Bondi Beach traveled to the Philippines in the weeks leading up to the attack and may have been inspired by the ISIS terrorist organization, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
Investigators are probing the months leading up to Sunday’s shooting, when the suspected gunmen — Sajid Akram, 50, and Naveed Akram, 24 — fired at people attending a Hanukkah event. Australian officials have described the shooting as an anti-semitic terrorist attack.
“It would appear that there is evidence that this was inspired by a terrorist organization, by ISIS,” Albanese told reporters at a Tuesday press conference.
Sajid Akram and Naveed Akram allegedly stood on an overpass bridge near the event and shouted “Allahu Akbar” as they carried out the massacre, according to a briefing distributed to U.S. law enforcement and reviewed by ABC News. The father was shot and killed by police and the son was critically hurt and hospitalized, officials said.
New South Wales Police Force Commissioner Mal Lanyon said a car registered to Naveed Akram contained IEDs and ISIS flags.
“We continue to work through the motive of this tragedy and will continue to do so,” Lanyon said.
Law enforcement said they are also investigating a trip taken by the alleged shooters to the Philippines in November.
“The reasons why they went to the Philippines and the purpose of that and where they went when they were there is under investigation at the moment,” Lanyon said.
Sajid Akram, who was born into a Muslim family in India, immigrated in 1998 to Australia, where he got married and had a son and a daughter, Indian authorities told ABC News. Naveed Akram is an Australian citizen, offiicals said.
Authorities noted that Sajid Akram maintained limited contact with his family in Hyderabad, Indiana, since the 1990s, visiting India on six occasions, primarily for family-related matters. Local police said there was “no adverse record” against Sajid Akram during his time in India before he moved.
Australia is now grieving the 15 victims killed, including a 10-year-old girl named Matilda and an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor.
Among the injured is a bystander, Ahmad Al Ahmad, who was seen on video jumping in and wrestling a gun away from one of the attackers, according to police.
Chris Minns, the premier of New South Wales, is pushing back on criticism of the police response time.
Responding officers “acted with bravery and integrity. They didn’t take a backward step,” Minns said during a Tuesday press conference.
“They engaged the gunmen on the footbridge with handguns,” Minns said. “The offenders had long-range rifles and New South Wales police officers were responsible for killing one of them and shooting the other one and as a result saving many, many people’s lives.”
“Now there are two officers in critical care in New South Wales hospitals at the moment. They weren’t shot in the back as they were running away, they were shot in the front,” Minns said.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Somayeh Malekian, Helena Skinner and Dada Jovanovic contributed to this report.
Luigi Mangione appears for a suppression of evidence hearing in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Criminal Court on December 9, 2025 in New York City. Curtis Means-Pool/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Security camera footage of accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione using a laptop at a Best Buy appliance store was among the evidence turned over to the NYPD following his arrest, according to testimony Tuesday on the eighth day of Mangione’s evidence suppression hearing in New York City.
The hearing will determine what evidence will used against Mangione when he goes on trial on charges of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk last year.
Patrolman George Featherstone, the Altoona, Pennsylvania, police officer in charge of cataloging the evidence, testified about photographing and processing all the items found on Mangione’s body and in his backpack after Mangione was apprehended last December in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s five days after the shooting.
Police said they pulled a slip of crumpled white paper from Mangione’s pocket that appeared to be a to-do list. Best Buy was listed under the reminders for Dec. 8. Featherstone said officers also recovered a Best Buy receipt from Mangione, a photo of which was shown in court, that listed items including a Polaroid waterproof digital camera and memory cards.
Security camera footage also showed Mangione at a CVS drug store. He had a plastic CVS bag with him the day he was arrested at McDonald’s that Featherstone said contained a package of 25 CVS-brand medical masks.
Featherstone testified that he has been involved in hundreds of arrests, about 30%-40% of them involving backpacks or bags, and that “every one of them resulted in a search.”
When prosecutor Zachary Kaplan asked how many of those searches involved a warrant, Featherstone said none that he recalled.
The defense has argued the officers violated Mangione’s constitutional rights against illegal search and seizure because they lacked a warrant when they searched his backpack.
