(NEW YORK) — A long-awaited jobs report to be released on Thursday will offer the latest look at the health of the labor market at a fraught moment for the U.S. economy.
Hiring slowed sharply over the summer, before a government shutdown paused the release of gold-standard federal data for weeks on end. A stock market selloff over recent days underscored the uncertainty looming over the economy as some investors warn of an AI bubble.
Economists expect the U.S. to have added 50,000 jobs in September, which would mark an acceleration from 22,000 jobs added in August, according to a Morningstar analysis of FactSet data.
Still, the anticipated figure would come in well below an average of 97,000 jobs added over the first six months of this year.
Mass layoffs at corporate giants like Amazon, UPS and Verizon in recent weeks have drawn attention to a sluggish labor market — and stoked fears that job losses may spread.
It is likely too early to panic, however, some economists previously told ABC News. While the layoffs reflect a weakened labor market and AI adoption in some corners of the tech industry, they added, the prospect of wider job losses remains highly uncertain.
Inflation has picked up in recent months while hiring has slowed, posing a risk of an economic double-whammy known as “stagflation.”
Those economic conditions have put the Federal Reserve in a bind, since the central bank must balance a dual mandate to keep inflation under control and maximize employment.
“We have the situation where the risks are to the upside for inflation and to the downside for employment. We have one tool,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a press conference in Washington, D.C., last month. “You can’t address both of those at once.”
Still, Powell said, concern has tilted toward strain in the labor market, prompting the central bank to reduce interest rates a quarter of a percentage point at each of its last two meetings.
“A further reduction of the policy rate in December is not a foregone conclusion — in fact, far from it,” Powell told reporters.
Traders peg the chances interest rates will be left unchanged next month at about 66%, while the odds of a quarter-point rate cut stand at 33%, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment.
On Wednesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said it would not release a full jobs report for the month of October due to lost capacity during the shutdown. Rather, partial jobs data for October will be released as part of the November report, the BLS said.
(NEW YORK) — Sea level rise caused by climate change could cause thousands of toxic sites in the U.S. to flood in the coming decades, according to new research.
Under a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario, more than 5,500 hazardous sites across the U.S. will be at risk of a 1-in-100-year flood by the year 2100, according to a paper published Thursday in Nature. These sites include facilities that handle sewage, toxic waste, oil and gas and other industrial pollutants as well as formerly used defense sites, according to a paper published Thursday in Nature.
Of the the at-risk sites, at least 3,800 locations are projected to flood by 2050, the study found.
Many of the U.S. coastlines are heavily industrialized for a variety of reasons, including access to raw materials and proximity to open seas transportation, Lara Cushing, an associate professor of environmental health science at the University of California Los Angeles and lead author of the paper, told ABC News.
In the past several decades, extreme flooding events caused by storms like Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Harvey in 2017 flooded industrial facilities, releasing toxic chemicals into the floodwaters and air, Cushing said.
Researchers at UCLA put together a database of industrial and contaminated sites, such as sewage treatment plants, active oil and gas refineries and other types of industrial facilities — a total of nearly 50,000 sites across 23 coastal U.S. states and Puerto Rico, Cushing said. They then estimated flood risks at those locations for the years 2050 and 2100 under greenhouse emissions scenarios: high emissions and moderate emissions.
The findings indicate that the states at most risk of flooding at toxic sites include Florida, New Jersey, California, Louisiana, New York, Massachusetts and Texas. Those seven states account for nearly 80% of the hazardous sites at risk by 2100, according to the paper.
“That gives us a sense of where we might want to focus our efforts,” Cushing said.
If these sites were to flood, they could pose serious threats to public health and neighboring communities, according to the paper.
Oil-related infrastructure, such as refineries, ports and terminals, are particularly risky due to the possibility of oil spills but also because of the chemicals that are used to refine the oil, Cushing said.
The researchers also found that residents in marginalized communities will likely be impacted by flooding at toxic sites at higher rates.
The researchers defined neighborhoods across the U.S. into census block groups, classifying them as either being near at-risk sites or not near at-risk sites, but still in coastal areas, Cushing said. They then compared the census geography to different metrics of social marginalization or vulnerability to flooding related to adverse outcomes, such as income, housing tenure, linguistic isolation, access to vehicles and other demographic factors.
They found that low-income communities, communities of color and communities with low levels of voter turnout and access to vehicles are more likely to live near sites of future flood risk due to sea level rise, Cushing said.
Human-amplified climate change is the primary cause for present-day rising sea levels, according to climate scientists. Sea level rise is also accelerating, with the U.S. coastline projected to experience an sea level rise of about 11 inches, according to the federal government’s Fifth National Climate Assessment. That amount of sea level rise previously took 100 years to reach, between 1920 and 2020.
The Gulf Coast — especially in states like Louisiana and Texas — is of particular concern due to the high concentration of petrochemical industries in low-lying areas, increased threat of strong hurricanes and projected level of sea level rise in the region, Cushing said.
By 2050, the eastern Gulf Coast is projected to experience an average sea level rise of 8 to 12 inches, with an even greater increases of 12 to 16 inches along the western Gulf Coast, according to the Fifth National Climate Assessment.
Much of the risk of sea level rise is already locked in due to past emissions, the researchers said. But mitigation for global warming is needed to prevent the most drastic outcomes, Cushing said.
“The implications of our research suggests that this issues needs more attention, both in terms of mitigation plans and emergency preparedness and also things like cleanup plans and standards for legacy contamination,” she said.
In addition, coastal communities, including underserved groups, need access to critical data and resources in order to effectively fortify their resilience to climate change, said Rachel Morello-Frosch, a professor of environmental health sciences community health sciences at UCLA and co-author of the paper.
“There are potential solutions, if policy makers are ready to move forward,” Morello-Frosch said in a statement. “And there is a clear need for disaster planning and land-use decision-making, as well as mitigation strategies to address the inequitable hazards and potential health threats posed by sea level rise.”
(WASHINGTON) — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries batted away questions Wednesday about whether he’d sought campaign donations from Jeffrey Epstein, calling House Oversight Chairman James Comer a “stone cold liar” after Comer alleged Tuesday that Jeffries had solicited money from the convicted sex offender in 2013.
During floor debate on the Epstein files bill Tuesday afternoon, Comer took direct aim at Jeffries.
“Democrats have been silent about their colleague’s coordination with Epstein,” Comer, R-Ky., said. “Another email shows Democrat fundraisers invited Epstein to attend an event, or meet privately with Hakeem Jeffries in 2013 as part of their effort to build a Democrat House majority.”
Jeffries shot back.
“Was that a serious question or a serious statement from malignant clown James Comer that I had Jeffrey Epstein over for dinner, that I accepted money from Jeffrey Epstein?” Jeffries said. “What’s extraordinary to me about the clown show on the other side of the aisle is that they lie with impunity on things that are objectively verifiable.”
According to documents released by Oversight Republicans last week, Epstein received a campaign solicitation on May 7, 2013, from a fundraising firm touting Jeffries as “one of the rising stars in the New York Congressional delegation” and a “staunch supporter of President Obama.”
“Hakeem is committed to electing a Democratic majority in 2014 and is encouraging his friends to participate in the DCCC/DSCC fundraising dinner with President Obama this coming night,” the email said and shared directions with recipients who “would like to get involved with the dinner, or would like to get an opportunity to get to know Hakeem better.”
The email included the text of a NY1 profile of Jeffries and is signed by Darren Rigger, Lisa Rossi and Walter Swett of Dynamic SRG, which touts itself as a top political fundraising and public affairs firm for progressive candidates and causes in New York City.
Dynamic SRG did not respond to ABC News’ inquiry about whether Jeffries knew about the email.
On Wednesday, Jeffries did not directly answer whether he’d ever solicited donations from Epstein — contending instead that Republicans “have been burying the Epstein files” for months.
Pressed whether he had ever solicited money from Epstein in exchange for a meet-and-greet, Jeffries called Comer a “stone cold liar.”
“I have no idea what James Comer is talking about in terms of anything that any prior consultant may have sent,” Jeffries said. “I had no idea about that either, but James Comer apparently made the representation on the floor of the House that I sat down with Jeffrey Epstein, had dinner with Jeffrey Epstein, have contributions from Jeffrey Epstein. He’s a stone cold liar, and James Comer knows it.”
On Tuesday, Jeffries told CNN he didn’t recall the email and that he’d never met Epstein.
“I have no recollection of the email,” Jeffries said. “I’ve never had a conversation with him, never met him, know nothing about him other than the extreme things that he’s been convicted of doing.”
A Comer spokeswoman argued that the email released by the committee speaks for itself.
“Hakeem Jeffries is the stone cold liar,” she said. “The email, which came to light as a result of Chairman Comer’s subpoena to the Epstein estate, is real and speaks for itself. Hakeem’s fundraisers made a solicitation on his behalf to invite Jeffrey Epstein to a dinner or meet with him privately.”
The solicitation came years after Epstein had already registered as a sex offender in 2010, and after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges of solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution with a minor.
ABC News could find no records of donations from Epstein to Jeffries or groups affiliated with him and Jeffries has never been accused of wrongdoing related to Epstein.
A screengrab from surveillance footage included in a federal complaint that prosecutors say shows Lawrence Reed on a Chicago Blue Line train holding a lit bottle, Nov. 17, 2025. U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois
(CHICAGO) – A man has been charged with terrorism for allegedly pouring flammable liquid on a woman and setting her on fire on a Chicago L train earlier this week, federal officials said.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Wednesday it has taken the suspect, Lawrence Reed, into federal custody in connection with the attack.
Reed, 50, of Chicago, has been charged with committing a terrorist attack against a mass transportation system, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois said.
“This horrific attack was not just a barbaric assault on an innocent woman riding a train, but an act of terrorism that strikes at the core of our American way of life,” U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros said in a statement.
The arson attack occurred Monday night near the Clark and Lake station on a Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line train, authorities said.
CTA surveillance footage captured the attack, according to the federal criminal complaint. The footage showed Reed and the victim, who was not identified, were traveling in the same train car when, at approximately 9:24 p.m., the suspect moved from the back of the train while holding a bottle and approached the victim, who was seated with her back toward Reed in the middle of the car, according to the complaint.
“Reed then took the cap off the bottle and poured a liquid from the bottle all over the victim’s head and body,” the complaint stated.
The suspect allegedly tried to ignite the liquid, though the victim fought him off and ran toward the front of the train, according to the complaint. Reed then allegedly lit the bottle, dropped it, then picked up the now flaming bottle and used it to set the victim on fire, according to the complaint.
“Reed then ran to the front of the train car and stood watching Victim A as her body was engulfed in flames,” the complaint stated.
The victim, who was almost fully engulfed in flames, tried to extinguish herself by rolling on the ground of the train car, then exited the train while still on fire when it stopped at the Clark and Lake Street Blue Line platform, according to the complaint.
Reed was observed on the footage leaving the car and walking away, according to the complaint.
Police said the victim, a 26-year-old woman, was transported to a local hospital in critical condition with severe burns. She remains hospitalized with critical injuries, prosecutors said Wednesday.
A partially melted bottle and lighter were recovered from the train car, along with suspected ignitable liquid from the victim’s seat and “the burned remains of what appeared to be some of Victim A’s clothing,” the complaint stated.
Authorities found additional surveillance footage that showed Reed at a gas station 20 minutes prior to the attack filling a bottle at a gas pump, according to the complaint. He was wearing the same clothes as seen in the train car footage, according to the complaint.
Chicago police took Reed into custody on Tuesday, at which time he was still wearing the same clothes as seen in the footage of the attack and had “fire-related injuries to his right hand,” according to the complaint.
While being transported, according to the complaint, he allegedly made “repeated spontaneous and unprompted utterances, specifically yelling, ‘burn b—-‘ and ‘burn alive b—-.'”
Reed is scheduled to make an initial court appearance Wednesday afternoon in federal court in Chicago, prosecutors said.
If convicted, the charge is punishable by a maximum sentence of life in federal prison.
The NVIDIA logo is displayed on a mobile phone with the company branding visible in the background. Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Chip giant Nvidia exceeded Wall Street expectations for revenue over a recent three-month period, the company said on Wednesday, rebuking fears of an AI bubble that have hammered markets in recent days.
The California-based company recorded $57 billion in sales over three months ending in October, which beat analyst expectations of $54.9 billion. The jump in revenue marked 62% growth compared to the same quarter a year earlier.
Analysts closely watched Nvidia as a bellwether for the stock market and the overall economy, which have both come to rely on massive spending on artificial intelligence to propel continued growth.
The latest test for the world’s most valuable company arrives at a fraught moment for markets, which have fallen for four consecutive days over fears of an AI bubble. Nvidia, which makes many of the chips fueling AI products, had suffered a decline of more than 10% over a two-week stretch before turning upward on Wednesday ahead of its earnings release.
As big-tech names spend hundreds of billions on chips and data centers necessary for the energy-intensive technology, the financial benefits remain uncertain. The earnings reported by Nvidia gauged demand for a key building block of AI, showing whether appetite for the technology remains at a fever pitch.
The results hold major stakes for the U.S. economy, which has shown signs of strain in recent months as hiring has slowed and consumer sentiment has dampened.
The AI spending boom, a lone bright spot, added a 0.5 percentage point boost to annualized gross domestic product growth over the first half of 2025, accounting for about one-third of economic activity, Pantheon Macroeconomics found.
“There is one company in the world that is the foundation for the AI Revolution,” Dan Ives, a managing director of equity research at investment firm Wedbush, told ABC News in a statement, referring to Nvidia.
Fears of an AI bubble surfaced over the summer ahead of Nvidia’s previous earnings report, but the company defied naysayers.
Nvidia recorded $46.7 billion in sales over three months ending in July, which exceeded analyst expectations of $46.2 billion. The jump in revenue marked 56% growth compared to the same quarter a year earlier.
The company boasts a market cap of $4.5 trillion, making it roughly equivalent to the GDP of Japan or Germany. Nvidia has expanded at a breakneck pace since an AI craze set off by the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2022, soaring nearly 700% over the ensuing two years.
Alongside continued growth, the company is weathering new challenges. President Donald Trump barred the sale of chips to China earlier this year, before revoking the ban in July. A month later, Trump struck an agreement with Nvidia and its competitor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) that allowed the companies to sell chips in China if they hand over 15% of revenue generated by the exports to the U.S.
Speaking at the White House in August, the president recounted the agreement.
“I said, ‘If I’m going to do that, I want you to pay us as a country something, because I’m giving you a release,'” Trump said.
Earnings released in August said Nvidia did not sell any of its H20 chips in China over the most recent quarter, but the firm did not mention any losses related to the policy. The H20 chip was specifically designed for sale to China.
In recent days, Nvidia announced a large investment in AI, signaling confidence in the outlook of the technology. Nvidia on Tuesday announced a multi-billion dollar partnership with two of its largest counterparts in AI: Microsoft and Anthropic.
Under the terms of the deal, Nvidia and Microsoft agreed to invest $15 billion in Anthropic, a top developer of AI models. Anthropic, meanwhile, vowed to purchase $30 billion of computing infrastructure operated by Microsoft Azure on Nvidia systems.
Larry Summers, president emeritus and professor at Harvard University, during an interview in New York, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. Summers earlier this month warned that while financial markets have so far shown limited concern with regard to the Federal Reserve’s independence, the situation “could turn very quickly.” (Photographer: Victor J. Blue Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Harvard University is launching a new investigation into its former president, Larry Summers, and other individuals affiliated with the school who were associated with Jeffrey Epstein, a spokesperson for the university told ABC News on Wednesday.
“The University is conducting a review of information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents to evaluate what actions may be warranted,” Harvard said in a statement to ABC News.
Harvard did not respond to questions about whether Summers’ teaching position at the university would be affected while the new probe is ongoing.
In a video obtained by The Associated Press, Summers on Wednesday addressed the topic of his communications with Epstein to students in a class he teaches at Harvard.
“Some of you will have seen my statement of regret, expressing my shame with respect to what I did in communication with Mr. Epstein. And that I’ve said that I’m going to step back from public activity,” Summers told his students, according to the video. “I think it’s very important to fulfill my teaching obligations. So with your permission, we’re going to go forward and talk about the material in the class.”
Early Wednesday, tech company OpenAI released a statement saying Summers, also a former Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, has resigned from its board of directors.
“Larry has decided to resign from the OpenAI Board of Directors, and we respect his decision. We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board,” a statement from the OpenAI Board of Directors reads.
Summers’ resignation came just two days after he released a statement saying he was “deeply ashamed” of his relationship with Epstein. Summers’ email exchanges with Epstein were released last week by the House Oversight Committee.
No Epstein survivor has alleged wrongdoing by Summers and there is no public record evidence to suggest Summers was involved in any of Epstein’s crimes.
“In line with my announcement to step away from my public commitments, I have also decided to resign from the board of OpenAI,” a statement from Larry Summers said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company, and look forward to following their progress.”
Larry Summers previously announced that he was stepping back from public life after his apparent communications with Epstein were made public.
Summers is currently a member of Harvard’s faculty, according to the Harvard Crimson newspaper. But there have been calls, including from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, for Harvard to sever ties with him.
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” Summers said in a statement on Monday.
He added, “While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me.”
It has been previously reported that Summers maintained a relationship with Epstein for many years, particularly during Summers’ term as president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006.
Summers flew at least four times on Epstein’s aircraft, according to flight records made public during litigation against Epstein, and he was the top official at Harvard during a time when the university received millions in gifts from Epstein.
All of those gifts were received prior to Epstein’s guilty plea in Florida in 2008 to charges of solicitation of prostitution with a minor, according to the university’s review of its Epstein connections.
An exterior view of the famous window and balcony two weeks after a robbery at the Louvre in Paris, France, November 3, 2025. The museum was targeted on October 19 by several criminals who smashed windows to steal eight precious royal jewels. (Photo by Adnan Farzat/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(PARIS) — The director of the Louvre in Paris addressed on Wednesday a new security breach at the museum while detailing plans underway to overhaul the facility’s security system in the wake of last month’s $102 million jewel heist.
Laurence des Cars, president and director of the Louvre, appeared before the National Assembly Culture Affairs Committee and was grilled about a new security breach that occurred at the museum last week.
Lawmakers asked the director how two Belgian influencers were able to hang a portrait of themselves on Friday in a gallery housing Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa painting.
Saying she wanted to “put things in perspective,” des Cars said the security breach was one of a string of incidents that have plagued the 232-year-old museum over the years.
“We constantly have incidents in the Louvre’s galleries. Two years ago, it was activists,” des Cars, referring to environmental activists who hurled soup on paintings, a tactic other museums around the world have experienced.
She said the new security apparatus being implemented at the museum will help staff head off such incidents in the future, including the installation of what she described as anti-intrusion systems.
Des Cars said a major security improvement will be the construction of a police station on the grounds of the Louvre.
The director said the police station is among more than 20 “emergency measures” that will be put in place “in the coming days.”
She said the security measures will also include the installation of 100 new security cameras at the Louvre, including cameras to monitor the perimeter of the museum that were severely lacking during the Oct. 19 jewel heist.
The creation of a security coordinator position is also part of the security boost, des Cars said. She also said two galleries that were recently closed will get a security upgrade before they reopen.
Des Cars said the “appalling irony of the situation” is that the Louvre jewel heist occurred as many of the security improvements were being made. She said that between 2022 and 2025, 134 digital cameras were installed throughout the museum as part of a $933 million “Louvre New Renaissance” plan.
“I want to instill a genuine security culture,” said des Cars, adding that she has been calling for the security upgrades since she became the museum’s director in 2022.
Since the robbery at the Louvre, several security issues have emerged, highlighting concerns about the world’s most visited museum.
Among the revelations was that a single perimeter security camera outside the Louvre was not facing the Apollo Gallery, where the robbers used a truck-mounted mechanical cherry picker to reach the gallery and power tools to cut their way in. Earlier this month, a museum employee with knowledge of the security system revealed that the password for the museum’s video surveillance system was simply “Louvre.”
On Monday, the Louvre announced that a public gallery and several offices were being temporarily closed because they had become structurally fragile.
Four suspects have been arrested and charged in the October robbery, but the eight pieces of the French crown jewel collection swiped from the Apollo Gallery have not been recovered, authorities said.
French investigators said the jewel heist from start to getaway took seven minutes.
Prosecutors have not ruled out making more arrests in the case, but said investigators have yet to find any evidence implicating members of the museum staff in the robbery.
ABC News’ Joseph Simonetti contributed to this report.
(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) — A federal immigration crackdown dubbed Charlotte’s Web has netted 250 arrests in North Carolina’s largest city, officials said on Wednesday.
The arrests of people allegedly in the country illegally came in a span of just four days, officials said.
“The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and federal agencies continue to target some of the most dangerous criminal illegal aliens as Operation Charlotte’s Web progresses,” a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement on Wednesday. “This immigration enforcement surge in the Charlotte area has led to the arrest of over 250 illegal aliens as of the evening of 11/18.”
The announcement of the arrest tally in Charlotte came a day after Greg Bovino, the commander-at-large of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), blamed North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein for what he said was an increase in violent rhetoric that federal agents are facing in their immigration enforcement blitz in the state.
Bovino took to social media on Tuesday to slam Stein, a Democrat who released a statement over the weekend asking residents of the Tar Heel State to report any “inappropriate behavior” they witness from federal agents.
“If you see any inappropriate behavior, use your phones to record and notify local law enforcement, who will continue to keep our communities safe after these federal agents leave,” Stein said.
In a social media post, Bovino told Stein, “You need to check yourself,” and cited an online video of a woman threatening to use a screwdriver to stab U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents if they pull her over.
“Governor Stein, you caused this,” Bovino said in the post. “Let me say that again, Governor. When you spout lies about a lawful law enforcement operation, you spark something in weaker-minded people like this who may act upon your direction.”
Bovino did not specifically say what statements from Stein prompted his social media response.
On Sunday, Stein issued a statement, saying, “We’ve seen masked, heavily armed agents in paramilitary garb driving unmarked cars, targeting American citizens based on their skin color, racially profiling, and picking up random people in parking lots and off of our sidewalks.”
Bovino’s warning to Stein came after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cited two incidents this week in Charlotte in which people allegedly rammed the vehicles of federal agents or drove directly at the agents.
In one case, the DHS alleged that a U.S. citizen allegedly drove a “large van” at agents as they were conducting an immigration operation dubbed Charlotte’s Web.
“He immediately fled the scene, starting a dangerous high-speed chase through a densely populated area,” according to a DHS statement posted on X. “During the chase, he attempted to ram into law enforcement vehicles — posing a serious public safety threat. As agents were boxing him in — the driver proceeded to ram law enforcement vehicles in an attempt to escape.”
One federal agent was injured in the incident, according to the DHS.
The DHS statement said that after the suspect, whose name was not released, was arrested, a firearm was allegedly found in his van. The DHS said the man “has prior arrests for resisting law enforcement, public disturbance and intoxication/disruptive conduct.”
The DHS said another driver arrested in Charlotte on Monday jumped a curb, drove into a parking lot and sped toward agents.
“The driver was warned to stop and back up,” the DHS said in a statement. “The driver then drove the vehicle toward the exit of the parking lot and waited to try and box in Border Patrol. As agents went to confront the driver, the car rammed a law enforcement vehicle and fled the scene.”
In a statement on Tuesday, the DHS said CBP and ICE agents have faced nearly 100 vehicular attacks this year, nearly double the number from 2024.
Charlotte is the latest city targeted by the Trump administration to enforce immigration laws in a nationwide effort that has included Los Angeles and Chicago, which are so-called “sanctuary” cities and states that limit actions their local authorities take to aid the work of immigration agents.
Immigration advocates, elected leaders and lawyers representing people arrested elsewhere in the country on charges of ramming the vehicles of federal agents denied the charges have criticized how masked federal agents have stoked fear.
DHS, in announcing its action in North Carolina, said the state also has “sanctuary” politicians.
Elsewhere in the country where ICE and CBP sweeps have occurred, immigration advocates, elected leaders and residents have criticized the federal operations, saying they were not requested and that they are stoking fear in their communities. Lawyers representing people arrested elsewhere in the country on charges of ramming the vehicles of federal agents have denied the charges.
The lawyer for 30-year-old Marimar Martinez, who was shot in Chicago in October by Border Patrol agents, who accused her of ramming their vehicle, claimed in court that he viewed a body-camera video from one of the agents that proves his client did nothing wrong.
Martinez’s lawyer, Christopher Parente, said during an Oct. 6 court hearing that the federal agents appeared to swerve into Martinez’s car after one of them was heard in the footage saying, “Do something, bitch.”
“When I watched the video after this agent says, ‘Do something, bitch,’ I see the driver of this vehicle turn the wheel to the left. Which would be consistent with him running into Ms. Martinez’s vehicle, okay,” Parente said. “And then seconds later, he jumps out and just starts shooting.”
Raleigh, N.C., Mayor Janet Cowell said in a statement on Monday that federal agents were expected to continue their operations in her city on Tuesday after they fanned out across nearby Charlotte over the weekend, detaining more than 130 people within about 48 hours.
Cowell, a Democrat, said the federal action was not requested.
“As the capital city, it is important to us that everyone who lives, works, plays, and learns in Raleigh feels safe,” Cowell said. “We have been made aware that Customs and Border Protection are coming to Raleigh. While [the Raleigh Police Department] is not involved in immigration enforcement, we are committed to protecting our residents and to following the law.”
Federal agents are expected to stay in North Carolina until Friday, according to preliminary information from federal authorities. By the end of the week, about 200 agents are expected to be redeployed to New Orleans to begin “Operation Catahoula Crunch” in the Big Easy, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
ABC News’ Jessica Gorman contributed to this report.
James Comey onstage on May 30, 2023 in New York City. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(ALEXANDRIA, Va.) — Though President Trump was miles away from the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, Wednesday morning, his words loomed large over the arguments before U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff as the government sought to defend its case against former FBI Director James Comey.
Trump’s Sept. 20 social media post demanding that “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”” was at the center of Comey’s argument that the president was using the justice system as a “cudgel to damage and intimidate his political opponents.”
“It is effectively an admission that this is a political prosecution,” Comey’s attorney Michael Dreeben said. “The president is underscoring what he wants done here.”
Dreeben argued that by replacing the prosecutor leading the U.S. attorney’s office in Virginia with his former staffer and lawyer Lindsey Halligan, Trump was “manipulating the machinery of prosecution” and committing an “egregious violation of bedrock constitutional values.”
“This has to stop,” Dreeben said about Trump’s social media posts targeting Comey, arguing “a message needs to be sent to the executive branch.”
Comey pleaded not guilty in October to one count of false statements and one count of obstruction of a congressional proceeding related to his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020, amid what critics call Trump’s campaign of retribution against his perceived political foes. Vice President JD Vance has said any such prosecutions are “driven by law and not by politics.”
At Wednesday’s hearing, the government’s counsel, Tyler Lemons, repeatedly stumbled and had to take lengthy pauses as he faced pointed questions from Judge Nachmanoff about the fact-pattern that led to Comey’s indictment — and struggled to make the case that Halligan’s decision to seek charges against him was not at the direct orders of President Trump.
“Ms. Halligan was not directed to bring this prosecution; it was her decision and her decision only,” Lemons said. “Ms. Halligan was not a puppet.”
In defending the president’s conduct, Lemons argued that it is “appropriate” for President Trump to publicly accuse his adversaries of breaking the law if he believes a crime was committed.
“What he has said is, he broke the law,” Lemons said. “That has been the focus of the president’s statement, and that is appropriate.”
Toward the end of the hearing, Judge Nachmanoff turned his attention to the legitimacy of the indictment itself.
Drilling down into the details of the charging document, the judge pressed Lemons to explain why two different indictments were issued, going so far as to question why the color of the ink on the documents differed. Lemons struggled to answer his questions, often asking for permission to consult with Halligan and his co-counsel.
It was at that point that Nachmanoff called Halligan directly to the lectern, and questioned her over the series of events that led to the full grand jury not being provided or voting on a second indictment that was drafted by her office.
Halligan explained that the second indictment was presented and reviewed by the grand jury’s foreperson as well as another grand juror, and reflected the full grand jury’s full vote on the previously rejected indictment.
At that point the courtroom fell completely silent, and Judge Nachmanoff simply responded, “Well.”
Dreeben said the issue with the grand jury indictment clearly required Judge Nachmanoff to throw out the case.
In his concluding remarks, the judge instructed both parties to provide briefings on a 1969 case decided by the Supreme Court in which a defendant’s conviction was overturned due to defective briefing before a grand jury — and what bearings that decision could now have specifically on Comey’s case.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge Wednesday said he is moving forward with his contempt inquiry into whether Trump administration officials violated a court order by deporting hundreds of men to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act in March.
In a hearing on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said he would like to move forward with the inquiry quickly, and ordered the parties to submit a proposal by Monday on how the case should proceed.
The Trump administration invoked the AEA — an 18th-century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process — to deport two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.
Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order and ordered that the planes be turned around, but Justice Department attorneys said his oral instructions directing the flight to be returned were defective, and the deportations proceeded as planned.
The federal judge said Wednesday that the next steps would likely be to hear from witnesses including Erez Reuveni, a DOJ attorney who was fired from the department in April after he appeared in federal court in Maryland and told a judge that the government had mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador.
“I certainly intend to find out what happened that day,” Judge Boasberg said
Boasberg’s earlier finding that the Trump administration likely acted in contempt was halted for months after an appeals court issued an emergency stay. While a federal appeals court on Friday declined to reinstate Boasberg’s original order, the ruling allowed him to move forward with his fact-finding inquiry.
“Class members are still recovering from the serious harm, including trauma, they experienced at CECOT,” the ACLU said in a recent court filing.
In response to the motion for a preliminary injunction, attorneys for the Department of Justice argue in court filings that the Venezuelans’ release from El Salvador “has further undermined their claims.”
“Petitioners have not shown that they suffer any ongoing injury traceable to Respondents, for they are apparently at liberty in their home country, and any ongoing threats to their health and safety come from third parties not before this Court,” DOJ attorneys said.
