(ATLANTA) — The Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney who has been probing possible criminal interference in the 2020 election will announce her charging decisions “in the near future,” the DA alerted law enforcement in a letter Monday.
The correspondence from District Attorney Fani Willis served as notice “to ensure that our law enforcement community is ready to protect the public,” the letter said, while noting the announcement “may provoke a significant reaction.”
Willis said her office will announce the decisions between July 11 and Sept. 1, 2023, which is “during the Fulton County Superior Court’s fourth term of court.”
“As leaders, it is incumbent upon us to prepare,” the letter said.
Willis officially launched the probe in February 2021, sparked in part by the now-infamous Jan. 2, 2021, phone call then-President Donald Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump pleaded with Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes,” the exact number Trump needed to win Georgia.
Trump, who has denounced the probe, has repeatedly defended his phone call to Raffensperger, calling it “perfect.”
In January, the special grand jury seated in the probe, as part of its final report, announced that it had found “by a unanimous vote that no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election that could result in overturning that election.”
The grand jury also recommended to prosecutors that they seek indictments against witnesses who they believe may have lied during their testimony, according to excerpts of the grand jury’s report released to the public.
“A majority of the grand jury believes that perjury may have been committed by one or more witnesses testifying before it,” the grand jury wrote in the report. “The Grand Jury recommends that the District Attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling.”
The publicly released portion of the report revealed no details regarding whether or not the grand jury recommended changes for anyone related to efforts to overturn the election.
(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) — A North Carolina man was released from the hospital after he and his 6-year-old daughter were shot by a neighbor last week following an incident involving a basketball.
William White, his daughter Kinsley White and a neighbor were allegedly shot by 24-year-old Robert Singletary on Tuesday after a ball rolled into his yard from a group of children playing basketball in the street, neighborhood witnesses told ABC News’ Charlotte affiliate WSOC-TV.
Family members said White tried to draw gunfire toward himself to protect his family as the suspect unloaded an entire magazine toward his neighbor. White was shot in the back in his front yard, according to his partner, Ashley Hilderbrand.
“I just went more left to block her and as soon as I — thank the good Lord above — I was able to get in front of my baby,” White told WSOC. “I’ll take a million of them for my babies.”
Singletary was taken into police custody in Tampa, Florida on Thursday.
He was charged with four counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.
In an emotional interview with WSOC, White’s daughter Kinsley, with stitches visible on her cheek from the bullet fragments that hit her, asked, “Why did you shoot my daddy and me? Why did you shoot a kid’s dad?”
The shooting is the latest in a series of seemingly normal missteps that have led to serious consequences involving guns.
Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old Black teenager, was shot on April 13 by a homeowner in Kansas City, Missouri, after he accidentally went to the wrong address to pick up his siblings, according to police.
Andrew Lester, 84, was charged with one count of felony assault in the first-degree and one felony count of armed criminal action in Yarl’s shooting. He pleaded not guilty.
A South Florida man shot at a car with two people inside after they went to the wrong address trying to deliver an Instacart order on April 15, police said.
Waldes Thomas Jr., 19, and Diamond D’arville, 20, were attempting to deliver groceries on April 15 when they were on the phone with the customer trying to find the right address, according to a Davie Police Department report.
The two reportedly drove onto the property of Antonio Caccavale, 43, in Southwest Ranches, a town located around 30 miles northwest of Miami.
Davie police ultimately found that no charges should be filed because “each party appear justified in their actions based on the circumstances they perceived.”
In another incident, 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis was shot and killed on April 15 while in a car that mistakenly pulled into a driveway in rural upstate New York, authorities said.
Last week, two Texas cheerleaders were shot after one of them said they had mistakenly got into the wrong car in a parking lot after practice, ABC affiliate in Houston KTRK-TV reported.
(NEW YORK) — TV host Tucker Carlson and Fox News have “agreed to part ways,” Fox said in a statement Monday.
“We thank him for his service to the network,” Fox said in the statement about the top-rated host, which noted that Carlson’s last show was on Friday.
The network did not provide a reason for Carlson’s departure.
In addition, the senior executive producer of Tucker Carlson Tonight, Justin Wells, was let go Monday, multiple sources told ABC News.
The decision to terminate Carlson and his producer was made this past Friday night by Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch and Fox News President Suzanne Scott, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Wells declined to comment to ABC News. A spokesperson for Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The news comes nearly one week after a $787.5 million settlement agreement between the network and Dominion Voting Systems, which had accused Fox of knowingly pushing false conspiracy theories that the voting machine company rigged the 2020 presidential election in Joe Biden’s favor, in what Dominion claims was an effort to combat concerns over declining ratings and viewer retention.
Fox defended its coverage, dismissing the suit as a “political crusade in search of a financial windfall.”
A Dominion spokesperson declined to comment on Carlson’s departure when contacted by ABC News.
As part of its discovery process, Dominion in February filed court documents containing emails, texts, testimony and other private communications from Fox News personnel, including Carlson, in which they appeared to cast doubt on claims involving Dominion — versus what they said on-air to their viewers.
On Nov. 8, Carlson privately texted his producer that the allegations about Dominion were “absurd,” according to the Dominion filing. Also that day, Carlson’s producer texted him about his own doubts.
“I don’t think there is evidence of voter fraud that swung the election,” producer Alex Pfeiffer texted to Carlson, per the lawsuit. “The software s–t is absurd,” Carlson allegedly responded.
On his show just one night later, Carlson pushed more suggestions of fraud, though he said that “we don’t know anything about the software.”
“We don’t know how many votes were stolen on Tuesday night. We don’t know anything about the software that many say was rigged. We don’t know. We ought to find out,” he said. “But here’s what we do know. On a larger level, at the highest levels, actually, our system isn’t what we thought it was. It’s not as fair as it should be. Not even close.”
Carlson during this show also said that “false claims of fraud can be every bit as destructive as the fraud itself,” according to the filing, and that “the fraud that we can confirm does not seem to be enough to alter the election results. We should be honest and tell you that…”
In mid-November Carlson also texted one of his producers that “there wasn’t enough fraud to change the outcome” of the election, according to the filings, and later said that Sidney Powell, one of then-President Donald Trump’s attorneys and a vocal promulgator of election denialism, “is lying.”
Months later, on the day of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capital, Carlson called Trump “a demonic force, a destroyer” in a text message to the same producer.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday he will seek a second term in office, confirming a reelection bid he has long previewed — as he faces a possible rematch with Donald Trump next November.
Biden announced his 2024 campaign in a pre-recorded video.
“The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer,” he says in the video, entitled “Freedom” which was posted to his social media account early Tuesday morning.
“This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for re-election,” he says.
The video announcement focuses on Biden’s closing argument to the country, making his case for four more years in office to “finish this job,” — a line he previewed during his State of the Union address this year.
“Every generation of Americans has faced a moment when they’ve had to defend democracy. Stand up for our personal freedoms. Stand up for the right to vote and our civil rights. And this is our moment,” Biden says in the video.
“Let’s finish this job, I know we can,” he adds.
As part of that closing argument, the president also calls out “MAGA extremists” for attacking “bedrock freedoms” in the video.
While Biden does not directly name any of his GOP rivals, images from the Jan. 6 attack on the capitol, and members of the Republican party including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flash on the screen.
Vice President Harris, again joining Biden on the ticket, is also featured prominently throughout the video.
Biden’s 2024 campaign will be managed by Julie Chávez Rodríguez, a senior advisor to the president at the White House, and the granddaughter of labor leader Cesar Chávez.
Quentin Fulks, who previously served as the campaign manager of Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock’s 2022 reelection campaign, will serve as Principal Deputy Campaign Manager.
The campaign is also announcing a slate of national co-chairs, including Rep. Lisa Blunt-Rochester, Rep. Jim Clyburn, Sen. Chris Coons, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Rep. Veronica Escobar, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Tuesday also marks four years to the day since Biden announced his 2020 presidential campaign.
(NEW YORK) — Over the weekend, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he had tested positive for COVID-19, his third time battling the virus.
Lopez Obradour, who suffered a heart attack in 2013, wrote on Twitter on Sunday that his case is mild and that “my heart is at 100 percent.”
Studies suggest that most Americans have been infected with COVID at least once but a growing number have been infected multiple times.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not provide reinfection data but state-level data paints a varied picture.
Data from the New York State Department of Health shows that about 8.5% of total infections are reinfections. In Washington state, about 1% of all infections are reinfections as of October 2022, the latest date for which data is available, the state health department said.
Experts say reinfection is caused by a number of factors — including waning immunity and more transmissible variants — but the risk is highest for those who are vulnerable to serious complications from COVID.
What is the risk of being reinfected?
There are several factors tied to a person’s likelihood of being reinfected.
As of March 19, CDC data shows the COVID-19 case rate for unvaccinated people was 81.11 per 100,000 — more than three times higher than the rate of 25.81 per 100,000 among people fully vaccinated and boosted.
While being fully vaccinated and getting the bivalent booster shot can lower the risk of reinfection, studies have shown that immunity does wane over time.
Additionally, the chances of reinfection increases if a person lives in a county with high community transmission levels versus low transmission levels.
Another study from the CDC looked at essential workers who had previously been infected. It found that being unvaccinated, not frequently wearing a mask since first infection and being Black all increased the risk of being reinfected.
“The reality is three years into the pandemic, we know that infection is dependent on a variety of factors, including prior immunity,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation office at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “It’s not impossible especially over a long period of time, with immunity waning, whether that’s through infection or through vaccination.”
He continued, “We’ve seen many people with two, three, even four times COVID infection. It’s related to behavior. It’s related to practices around masking or travel.”
Role of variants
Currently, XBB.1.5, a subvariant of omicron, makes up the majority of new COVID cases in the U.S., CDC data shows.
Meanwhile, another subvariant, XBB.1.16, which was first detected in India, makes up nearly 10% of new cases.
Dr. Maria van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s technical lead for COVID-19, said at a briefing that the variant “has one additional mutation in the spike protein, which in lab studies showed increased infectivity.”
Currently, no data suggests XBB.1.16 causes an increase in more severe illness, hospitalizations or deaths.
Brownstein said it’s important to stay vigilant because a new variant could change how likely reinfection is.
“We still have concern about being thrown a curveball when it comes to variants,” Brownstein said. “So far, we’re seeing a pretty predictable path along this omicron front but it is possible we’ll see something completely out of left field that could challenge that underlying immunity that we’ve had from previous infections and vaccines.”
Is reinfection dangerous?
Brownstein said there has been conflicting data on whether or not COVID reinfection raises the risk of chronic illness. Having a prior infection, however, does offer some protection, experts say.
“At the end of the day having the underlying immunity is beneficial … some level of immunity will provide some cross protection to new variants,” he said.
Brownstein said there is still a risk for those who are more likely to have severe complications from COVID-19, including the elderly and those who are immunocompromised.
Additionally, every COVID infection increases the risk of someone developing long COVID, which occurs when a person has ongoing symptoms of COVID lasting three months or longer.
“The concern that we have is not just about hospitalizations and deaths; it’s the long-term chronic impact of COVID,” Brownstein said. “And each time that you get infected, there’s a potential for having longer-lasting symptoms, which we’ve seen strong data support, how debilitating some of these impacts can be for the population.”
State Department photo by Chuck Kennedy/ Public Domain
(WASHINGTON) — After intense negotiations, the Sudanese Armed Forces & Rapid Support Forces had agreed to implement a 72-hour cease-fire across the country beginning at midnight Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Monday afternoon in Washington.
Blinken added that the U.S. would “coordinate with regional and international partners, and Sudanese civilian stakeholders, to assist in the creation of a committee to oversee the negotiation, conclusion, and implementation of a permanent cessation of hostilities and humanitarian arrangements in Sudan.”
The statement comes after a successful operation over the weekend rescued dozens of U.S. embassy personnel and their families from war-torn Sudan, and top officials in Washington saying Monday they aren’t losing sight of the thousands of American citizens still believed to be in the country.
“In just the last 36 hours since the embassy evacuation operation was completed, we continue to be in close communication with U.S. citizens and individuals affiliated with the U.S. government to provide assistance and facilitate available departure routes for those seeking to move to safety via land, air and sea,” Blinken told reporters hours earlier.
While it’s unclear exactly how many Americans remain in Sudan, Blinken said officials had been in contact with “some dozens” who “expressed an interest in leaving.”
Blinken also said that the State Department was exploring ways to reestablish a diplomatic footprint in Sudan, possibly in Port Sudan — a city on the Red Sea and a destination for many fleeing intense violence in the capital, Khartoum. But Blinken cautioned it would depend on the conditions in the country, which he described as “very, very challenging.”
The secretary also said officials within the department were closely monitoring convoys transporting some Americans as well as other foreign nationals away from Khartoum.
“Some of them have encountered problems including, robbery, looting, that kind of thing,” he said.
While the Biden administration is standing by its warning that Americans in Sudan should not expect a mass evacuation, during a White House briefing on Monday national security adviser Jake Sullivan said it wasn’t completely off the table.
“There’s certainly a willingness to take steps to help Americans be able to get out of the country,” he said. “The president has asked for every conceivable option to be able to help Americans.”
Sullivan noted that conditions in the country would have to be deemed secure enough to carry out a larger operation before one could take place.
“Right now, we believe that the best way for us to help facilitate people’s departure is in fact to support this land evacuation route, as well as work with allies and partners who are working on their own evacuation plans as well,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said U.S. drones were watching over a United Nations-led convoy that consisted of dozens of Americans, ensuring its safety as it navigated to Port Sudan.
Volker Perthes, the U.N.’s special representative of the body’s security-general to Sudan, said the journey took 35 hours to complete.
“We had some challenges on the road. It wasn’t first class airlift, but I think it was good that we all together moved out,” Perthes said. “Thirty-five hours in a not-so-comfortable convoy is certainly better than three hours bombing and sitting under the shells.”
While the White House is continuing to advise U.S. citizens still trapped in Sudan to shelter in place, saying it’s not safe to facilitate a mass evacuation, Blinken said American officials have been able to “facilitate Americans being folded into” some convoys.
The State Department is also collecting information from Americans in Sudan through a crisis-intake form that allows citizens to indicate they want to leave the country and need assistance.
Blinken said because the majority of Americans still there are dual citizens, the State Department anticipates many won’t want to leave.
But as the fighting enters its second week, remaining in an active warzone is becoming increasing untenable for many, like a Massachusetts teacher Trillian Clifford and her 18-month-old daughter Alma.
“To think that the two of them are in this much danger is horrific. She’s telling us stories about airstrikes within a kilometer of her apartment,” Rebecca Winter, Clifford’s sister-in-law said in an interview to ABC News. “Her situation is becoming more dire every day.”
Over 420 people have already been killed during the course of the conflict, and thousands more have been injured.
Explosions have inflicted heavy damages on Sudan’s infrastructure, complicating civilians’ efforts to flee. Widespread phone and internet outages have also been reported across the country, impacting stranded individuals’ ability to communicate with embassy officials or friends and family outside of the country who can provide guidance.
(WASHINGTON) — A super PAC supporting former President Donald Trump has already spent more than $6 million on television ads attacking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, even before DeSantis has declared his presidential candidacy.
Since April, the super PAC — Make America Great Again, Inc. — has been launching a $1.5 million ad campaign every week.
The expenditures are described in the PAC’s disclosure filings to the Federal Election Commission as media placements opposing “presidential candidate” DeSantis.
The latest ad from last week zeroed in on the Florida governor’s past record of supporting cuts to Social Security and Medicare during his time in Congress. Other ads have focused on DeSantis’ alleged eating habits and have claimed that DeSantis is “just not ready to be president.”
Trump leads DeSantis in recent presidential polls and has continued to collect endorsements.
The Florida governor has himself has been fundraising across the country and traveling overseas to meet with foreign dignitaries, even while he has yet to declare his candidacy.
Asked Monday during his visit to Japan about trailing Trump in the polls, DeSantis said, “I’m not a candidate, so we’ll see if and when that changes.”
Dan Eberhart, a GOP donor and fundraiser who has previously supported and donated to Trump, told ABC News that the pro-Trump super PAC’s anti-DeSantis ads are a “backhanded compliment that shows who he’s afraid of” — and that DeSantis needs to “punch back.”
“I’m not so much anxious for him to declare — I’m anxious for him to fight back,” Eberhart, who is supporting DeSantis, said of the Florida governor.
“I think he runs the risk of how Obama defined Romney in the summer of 2012 because Romney didn’t answer,” Eberhard said, referencing the 2012 presidential race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. “I think DeSantis is being defined by Trump and he has not answered, and you’re seeing that hurting his poll numbers.”
Over the past year, a number of major Republican donors have distanced themselves from Trump, saying they want a different face to lead the party. A number of them have thrown their support behind DeSantis, while others are waiting to see how the primary pool shapes up.
Despite that, the Make America Great Again super PAC boasts a massive war chest, having received more than $60 million through Trump’s Save America PAC — plus millions more from top Trump donors — since the 2020 election.
DeSantis’ top super PAC, Never Back Down, has raised $30 million — but it’s only spent a modest $36,000 on ad expenditures so far, according to its FEC disclosures.
As independent expenditure groups, Make America Great Again Inc. and Never Back Down are not allowed to make coordinated expenditures with the campaigns they support.
Over the weekend, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he had tested positive for COVID-19, his third time battling the virus.
Lopez Obradour, who suffered a heart attack in 2013, wrote on Twitter on Sunday that his case is mild and that “my heart is at 100 percent.”
Studies suggest that most Americans have been infected with COVID at least once but a growing number have been infected multiple times.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not provide reinfection data but state-level data paints a varied picture.
Data from the New York State Department of Health shows that about 8.5% of total infections are reinfections. In Washington state, about 1% of all infections are reinfections as of October 2022, the latest date for which data is available, the state health department said.
Experts say reinfection is caused by a number of factors — including waning immunity and more transmissible variants — but the risk is highest for those who are vulnerable to serious complications from COVID.
What is the risk of being reinfected?
There are several factors tied to a person’s likelihood of being reinfected.
As of March 19, CDC data shows the COVID-19 case rate for unvaccinated people was 81.11 per 100,000 — more than three times higher than the rate of 25.81 per 100,000 among people fully vaccinated and boosted.
While being fully vaccinated and getting the bivalent booster shot can lower the risk of reinfection, studies have shown that immunity does wane over time.
Additionally, the chances of reinfection increases if a person lives in a county with high community transmission levels versus low transmission levels.
Another study from the CDC looked at essential workers who had previously been infected. It found that being unvaccinated, not frequently wearing a mask since first infection and being Black all increased the risk of being reinfected.
“The reality is three years into the pandemic, we know that infection is dependent on a variety of factors, including prior immunity,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation office at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “It’s not impossible especially over a long period of time, with immunity waning, whether that’s through infection or through vaccination.”
He continued, “We’ve seen many people with two, three, even four times COVID infection. It’s related to behavior. It’s related to practices around masking or travel.”
Role of variants
Currently, XBB.1.5, a subvariant of omicron, makes up the majority of new COVID cases in the U.S., CDC data shows.
Meanwhile, another subvariant, XBB.1.16, which was first detected in India, makes up nearly 10% of new cases.
Dr. Maria van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s technical lead for COVID-19, said at a briefing that the variant “has one additional mutation in the spike protein, which in lab studies showed increased infectivity.”
Currently, no data suggests XBB.1.16 causes an increase in more severe illness, hospitalizations or deaths.
Brownstein said it’s important to stay vigilant because a new variant could change how likely reinfection is.
“We still have concern about being thrown a curveball when it comes to variants,” Brownstein said. “So far, we’re seeing a pretty predictable path along this omicron front but it is possible we’ll see something completely out of left field that could challenge that underlying immunity that we’ve had from previous infections and vaccines.”
Is reinfection dangerous?
Brownstein said there has been conflicting data on whether or not COVID reinfection raises the risk of chronic illness. Having a prior infection, however, does offer some protection, experts say.
“At the end of the day having the underlying immunity is beneficial … some level of immunity will provide some cross protection to new variants,” he said.
Brownstein said there is still a risk for those who are more likely to have severe complications from COVID-19, including the elderly and those who are immunocompromised.
Additionally, every COVID infection increases the risk of someone developing long COVID, which occurs when a person has ongoing symptoms of COVID lasting three months or longer.
“The concern that we have is not just about hospitalizations and deaths; it’s the long-term chronic impact of COVID,” Brownstein said. “And each time that you get infected, there’s a potential for having longer-lasting symptoms, which we’ve seen strong data support, how debilitating some of these impacts can be for the population.”
(NEW YORK) — Twitter reversed a major change to its subscription policy over the weekend by reverifying some legacy accounts, including ones belonging to dead celebrities like Michael Jackson and Kobe Bryant.
The Elon Musk-owned social media platform last week removed blue checkmark verification from its legacy users as part of revamp of Twitter Blue, a subscription service that grants purchasers the site’s signature checkmark and additional posting capabilities.
However, the company appeared to return the verification checkmark for some popular accounts over the weekend, eliciting outcry from some widely followed users who clarified that they had not paid for the service.
In addition, Twitter appeared to reverify accounts for some dead celebrities, including Anthony Bourdain, Chadwick Boseman and Norm Macdonald, among others.
It was not immediately known whether Twitter reverified the accounts or individuals operating the accounts on behalf of the deceased figures had subscribed to Twitter Blue.
Twitter did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, said that he personally paid for subscriptions for accounts belonging to basketball star Lebron James, actor William Shatner and author Steven King. In a tweet, King called on Musk to “give my blue check to charity.”
James received an email from a Twitter employee informing him that Musk had paid for a complimentary subscription but James did not respond to the email, the Verge reported.
Chrissy Teigen, a model with nearly 13 million Twitter followers, reacted to the return of some legacy verification check marks in a tweet: “wait I’m crying they’re giving them for punishment now.”
Teigen, like some other celebrities, appeared to remove the check mark by briefly altering their Twitter handles, the usernames anchored to their accounts.
Previously, Twitter verified celebrities, politicians, journalists and prominent figures on a case-by-case basis in an effort to authenticate their identities and prevent impersonation.
Under Twitter’s new subscription service, users gain access to account verification for an $8 monthly fee, which amounts to $96 per year.
“Until now, Twitter used the blue checkmark to indicate active, notable, and authentic accounts of public interest,” the company said on its website.
Twitter delayed by a few days the initial release of a revamped Twitter Blue in November over concerns about impostor accounts posing as prominent figures or organizations.
To address impostors, Musk said the site would permanently suspend users who attempt to impersonate others, unless the speech is clearly marked as parody.
The reversal of the subscription policy change for some legacy users marks the latest shift at Twitter since Musk acquired the company in October for $44 billion.
Days after Musk purchased Twitter, the company began layoffs that ultimately cut roughly 75% of its 7,500-person workforce, raising concerns about Twitter’s capacity to maintain its platform.
Twitter suffered a user outage in February that lasted for hours and required an emergency fix, prompting an apology from the company.
The outage came hours after Twitter announced that subscribers to Twitter Blue would be permitted to post longer messages than other users.
For his part, Musk has defended his actions at Twitter as part of an aggressive effort to rescue the company from financial peril, which he described in a Twitter Spaces interview in December as an “emergency fire drill.”
“That’s the reason for my actions,” he added. “They may seem sometimes spurious or odd or whatever.”
The policy change over legacy verification came during a difficult week for Musk, who watched on Thursday as a SpaceX rocket Starship exploded minutes after takeoff.
Still, Musk congratulated the workers behind the rocket launch and vowed to try again later this year.
“Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months,” Musk tweeted.
(NEW YORK) — CNN anchor Don Lemon tweeted that he’s been terminated from the network.
Lemon said he’s “stunned” and learned the news from his agent.
CNN tweeted that the network and Lemon “have parted ways.”
“Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years,” CNN said in a statement. “We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.”
The news came hours after Lemon co-hosted CNN This Morning alongside Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins.
Lemon wrote on Twitter, “At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network. It is clear that there are some larger issues at play.”
CNN CEO Chris Licht told employees the network is “committed” to the “success” of CNN This Morning.
