John Bolton leaves his home on October 17, 2025 in Bethesda, Maryland. Former national security adviser Bolton was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday. (Photo by Alex Kent/Getty Images)
(GREENBELT, Md.) — Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton is in a Maryland courthouse this morning where’s he’s scheduled to make his first court appearance at 11 a.m. ET after being indicted by a grand jury Thursday on charges that he allegedly unlawfully transmitted and retained classified documents.
Bolton arrived at the federal courthouse before 9 a.m. ET Friday.
The indictment charges Bolton with eight counts of unlawful transmission of national defense information as well as 10 counts of unlawful retention of national defense information.
Seven of the transmissions allegedly occurred during the time when Bolton was serving at Trump’s national security adviser in 2018 and 2019, while another document was allegedly sent by Bolton just days after President Donald Trump removed him from the administration in September of 2019.
The indictment accuses Bolton of abusing his position as national security adviser by sharing “more than a thousand pages” of information in “diary-like entries” about his day-to-day activities with two recipients identified only as “Individual 1” and “Individual 2,” who prosecutors say are Bolton’s relatives.
Sources told ABC News that the relatives referred to in the indictment as ‘Individual 1’ and ‘Individual 2’ are Bolton’s wife and daughter.
The indictment comes on the heels of the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James as Trump continues what critics call a campaign of retribution against his perceived political foes.
Federal agents in August searched Bolton’s Maryland residence and Washington, D.C., office, related to allegations that Bolton possessed classified information.
Democratic candidate for New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill speaks to a crowd alongside Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, in Westville New Jersey on Saturday, October 11, 2025. Sherrill is set to square off against Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli on November 4 for the position as New Jersey’s 57th Governor. (Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Barack Obama formally endorsed New Jersey’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, in a new ad first reported by ABC News.
“Mikie’s integrity, grit, and commitment to service are what we need right now in our leaders. Mikie Sherrill is the right choice for your next governor,” Obama said in the spot, released Friday morning.
Obama highlights Sherrill’s veteran status and argues she’s best suited to lower prices, as the party sees successes homing in on affordability.
“Mikie is a mom who will drive down costs for New Jersey families. As a federal prosecutor and former Navy helicopter pilot, she worked to keep our communities safe,” Obama said in the ad.
Sherrill currently maintains a polling edge over her Republican challenger, Jack Ciattarelli, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump.
In a statement, Sherrill said she was “grateful” for the former president’s support and urged voters to plan to head to the ballot box on or before Election Day.
“This November, we have an opportunity to chart a different path forward — to reject the chaos in Washington and lower costs in New Jersey — and I’m so grateful to have President Obama’s support and endorsement in this race. President Obama led historic efforts to lower healthcare costs and, now, Jack Ciattarelli is all in on Trump’s plans to raise premiums and kick hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans off their healthcare,” said Sherrill.
Per a new Quinnipiac survey, Sherrill leads Ciattarelli by six points. That same poll found that New Jersey voters say Sherrill would do a better job in handling schools and the NJ transit, and 61% of likely voters also say Sherrill’s background serving in the U.S. Navy for nine years makes them think more favorably of her.
Two governors’ races dominate this upcoming off-cycle Election Day, as Democrats hope to cling to power in the Garden State and flip control from Republicans in Virginia, as both incumbents are term-limited. On Wednesday, Obama boosted Virginia Democrats’ pick for governor, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, in a similar fashion.
Obama has been publicly supporting Sherrill, whom he calls a “friend” in the ad. His first fundraiser since the November elections was with the Democratic National Committee in New Jersey back in June, where he appeared alongside Sherrill.
More out-of-state Democrats are also throwing weight behind Sherill in the closing weeks of the race — over the weekend, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are set to campaign with her.
Luigi Mangione appears in court for a hearing on his state murder charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Supreme Court on September 16, 2025 in New York City. (Curtis Means/Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Trump administration is making Luigi Mangione “a pawn to further its political agenda” and uttering or posting statements about him that are prejudicing the accused killer’s prospects at a fair trial, his attorneys argued Friday in a new court filing that asked a federal judge to either dismiss the indictment or take the death penalty off the table.
Federal prosecutors said President Donald Trump’s social media posts calling Mangione “a pure assassin,” and subsequent reposts by Justice Department officials, did not prejudice Mangione “because the statements were made by persons not associated with this matter.” The defense said the government can’t make that claim because of Trump’s unprecedented intervention in Justice Department matters.
“Unlike any of its predecessors since the Watergate era, the Department of Justice has not acted independently of the White House in this case — or in several others,” the new defense filing said. “This departure from the longstanding principle of prosecutorial independence has created a blurred and constitutionally troubling line between the Department of Justice and the Executive Office of the President.”
Mangione is accused of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel in December 2024. He pleaded not guilty to federal charges, including one death-eligible count of using a firearm to commit murder, and pleaded not guilty to state charges in New York and Pennsylvania. Defense attorneys have argued in a separate filing the death-eligible charge should not apply.
In its new filing, Mangione’s defense team expressed concern about tainting the pool of prospective jurors.
“The Department of Justice and the White House have coordinated to cultivate and disseminate negative public rhetoric deliberately designed to taint the prospective jury pool,” defense attorneys Karen Agnifilo and Avi Moskowitz wrote. “The significance of these prejudicial statements is that they have life or death consequences for Mr. Mangione.”
Prosecutors have argued that since no trial date has been set there will be ample time for the public to forget about anything Trump or others have said about Mangione, whose alleged attack was captured on video and who, police said, was arrested with the murder weapon in his backpack.
The defense said the statements still violate the rules.
“The government has engaged in purposeful, repeated, unlawful actions specifically designed to hurt Mr. Mangione’s chances at fair legal proceedings and a fair trial and as part of a wider government effort to further a political agenda,” the defense said. “These same officials — whether acting directly or through their subordinates — have continued on this course even after this Court has explicitly directed them not to has caused this case to be unlike any prior death penalty case.”
Meanwhile, Mangione’s Pennsylvania case is effectively on hold as he sits in jail in Brooklyn, New York, according to court documents.
In Pennsylvania, where Mangione was captured after a manhunt, he faces charges including carrying a firearm without a license.
Federal officials previously denied a request by Blair County, Pennsylvania, prosecutors to allow Mangione to be taken to Pennsylvania to make in-person court appearances, and Mangione has thus far refused to appear remotely.
A Pennsylvania judge ruled earlier this week that the case ultimately can’t move forward until Mangione can appear in person, according to court documents obtained by ABC News. The judge gave Mangione’s defense team 14 days to file a formal request for an in-person hearing or reconsider appearing remotely.
ABC News’ Jon Haworth and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office at the White House, Aug. 18, 2025. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump, just days after celebrating an Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement he helped broker in the Middle East, turns his attention Friday to the Russia-Ukraine war, hosting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House.
Ukraine’s request for American-made Tomahawk missiles is expected to be a focus of the talks.
“They want to go offensive,” Trump said of Kyiv earlier this week. “I’ll make a determination on that.”
The long-range weapons would give Ukraine the ability to strike deep inside Russia, and Zelenskyy described them as a difference-maker in a conflict that has dragged three-and-a-half years. Moscow, though, warned that Tomahawk deliveries would mark “a dangerous escalation of relations between Russia and the United States.”
Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a long phone call on Thursday, one day before his in-person meeting with Zelenskyy. In a surprise development, Trump announced he and Putin plan to meet again (this time in Budapest) to discuss the war after initial discussions among high-level advisers next week.
Trump said he would be telling Zelenskyy on Friday what he and Putin discussed in the call.
The president said he talked with Putin “a little bit” about Tomahawks in their two-hour conversation. He said he asked the Russian president how he would feel if he sold them to Ukraine. “He didn’t like the idea,” Trump said.
Trump also expressed concern about depleting the U.S. supply of Tomahawks.
“They’re very vital. They’re very powerful. They’re very accurate. They’re very good. But we need them too. So, I don’t know what we can do about that,” Trump told reporters as he took questions during an Oval Office event.
This latest diplomatic push comes nearly two months after Trump hosted Putin in Alaska for a high-profile summit that ultimately yielded no major breakthrough. Days later, Trump welcomed Zelenskyy to the White House as well as a delegation of European leaders who rushed to Washington to support the Ukrainian leader after an extraordinarily tense scene between Zelenskyy, Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office back in February.
Trump, who once said he could end the Russia-Ukraine war immediately upon his return to office, has lamented that the conflict is more difficult to bring to a close than he anticipated.
“This is a terrible relationship, the two of them have. … Because of my relationship with President Putin, I thought this would be very quick. And it has turned out to be — who would think I did the Middle East before I did this?”
In Alaska, Trump’s immediate goal was to set up a trilateral meeting with himself, Putin and Zelenskyy, or a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy. Those meetings never occurred.
ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce, after Trump announced he planned to meet Putin again in Hungary, asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt if the president still believed he could get Putin and Zelenskyy in the same room.
“I think he thinks it’s possible, and he would, of course, love to see that happen,” Leavitt said. “But right now, there were discussions and plans are now being made for the Russian side and our folks, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to meet and then for President Putin and President Trump to perhaps meet again. But I don’t think the president has closed the door on that at all.”
Meanwhile, Russia continues to bombard Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, firing more than 300 drones and about three dozen missiles at targets throughout Ukraine overnight into Thursday.
Zelenskyy, landing in Washington on Thursday, said he hopes “that the momentum of curbing terror and war, which worked in the Middle East, will help end the Russian war against Ukraine.”
“Putin is definitely not braver than HAMAS or any other terrorist. The language of force and justice will definitely work against Russia as well. We already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue, just hearing about ‘Tomahawks,'” the Ukrainian president wrote on X.
Zelenskyy met with American defense and energy companies on Thursday ahead of his Friday meeting at the White House.
Trump at times blamed Russia’s invasion on Ukraine and Zelenskyy, though has recently expressed frustration and disappointment with Putin. This week, he said “all we want from President Putin” is to stop the killing of Ukrainians and Russians.
“It doesn’t make him look good. It’s a war that he should have won in one week and he’s now going into his fourth year,” the president said on Wednesday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in remarks at a NATO gathering this week, also ramped up rhetoric against Russia, notably calling Moscow the aggressor.
“If this war does not end, if there is no path to peace in the short term, then the United States, along with our allies, will take the steps necessary to impose costs on Russia for its continued aggression,” Hegseth said. “If we must take this step, the U.S. War Department stands ready to do our part in ways that only the United States can do.”
But so far, Trump and his administration has held back from imposing tougher sanctions on Russia. Instead, he’s focused on getting European countries and nations like India to stop purchasing Russian oil.
On Capitol Hill, there are growing calls among Republicans — including Senate Majority Leader John Thune — to proceed with a bill that would put economic penalties on Russia.
Asked what he thought about those efforts on Thursday, Trump was noncommittal: “Well, we’re going to see.”
John Bolton, former national security adviser to President Trump, arrives home as the FBI searches his house August 22, 2025 in Bethesda, Maryland. The FBI conducted a court-authorized search of Bolton’s home. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton was indicted by a grand jury Thursday on charges that he allegedly unlawfully transmitted and retained classified documents.
The indictment, handed up by a federal grand jury in Maryland, charges Bolton with eight counts of unlawful transmission of national defense information as well as 10 counts of unlawful retention of national defense information.
Prosecutors accuse Bolton of using a non-government personal email account and messaging application to transmit at least eight documents to unauthorized individuals that contained information classified at levels ranging from Secret to Top Secret.
Seven of the transmissions allegedly occurred during the time when Bolton was serving at Trump’s national security adviser in 2018 and 2019, while another document was allegedly sent by Bolton just days after President Donald Trump removed him from the administration in September of 2019.
“For four decades, I have devoted my life to America’s foreign policy and national security. I would never compromise those goals,” Bolton said in a lengthy statement, saying the indictment is part of a pattern of “Donald Trump’s retribution” against him since leaving Trump’s first administration and publishing a tell-all book.
“I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose his abuse of power,” Bolton said in the statement.
The move to indict Bolton comes on the heels of the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James as President Donald Trump continues what critics call a campaign of retribution against his perceived political foes.
Federal agents in August searched Bolton’s Maryland residence and Washington, D.C., office, related to allegations that Bolton possessed classified information.
Prosecutors say one document listed in the indictment “reveals intelligence about future attack by adversarial group in another country.” Others allegedly contain information about foreign partners sharing sensitive information with the U.S. intelligence community; intelligence related to a foreign adversary’s missile launch plans; intelligence on leaders of a U.S. adversary; and one that detailed plans of covert action by the U.S. government.
The indictment accuses Bolton of abusing his position as national security adviser by sharing “more than a thousand pages” of information in “diary-like entries” about his day-to-day activities with two recipients identified only as “Individual 1” and “Individual 2,” who prosecutors say are Bolton’s relatives.
Sources told ABC News that the relatives referred to in the indictment as ‘Individual 1’ and ‘Individual 2’ are Bolton’s wife and daughter.
Bolton’s wife was present at their home the day the search was executed nearly two months ago.
It was not immediately clear which is believed to be Individual 1 or 2.
Prosecutors further allege that Bolton unlawfully retained documents, writing and notes containing national defense information ranging to levels of Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information at his home in Maryland, stored both as paper files and on a number of personal devices.
The indictment says that at some point after Bolton left office as national security adviser, a cyber actor believed to be associated with Iran hacked his personal email account and gained access to the classified information he had previously emailed to his relatives.
What Bolton and his attorneys say
Bolton has denied ever unlawfully removing classified materials from his time in government and has said no such information was published in his 2020 memoir “The Room Where It Happened.”
In his statement on Thursday, Bolton said his book was “reviewed and approved by the appropriate, experienced career clearance officials.”
Regarding the 2021 email hack, Bolton said the FBI “was made fully aware.”
“These charges are not just about his focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct,” Bolton said in the statement, referring to Trump. “Dissent and disagreement are foundational to America’s constitutional system, and vitally important to our freedom.”
Bolton’s attorneys have denied he ever mishandled classified information and said documents investigators found in their search of his home and residence were no longer considered classified.
“The underlying facts in this case were investigated and resolved years ago,” Bolton’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. “These charges stem from portions of Amb. Bolton’s personal diaries over his 45-year career — records that are unclassified, shared only with his immediate family, and known to the FBI as far back as 2021. We look forward to proving once again that Amb. Bolton did not unlawfully share or store any information.”
“There is one tier of justice for all Americans,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a DOJ statement announcing the indictment. “Anyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable. No one is above the law.”
The 10 documents the indictment says were unlawfully retained by Bolton were allegedly seized during the searches of his home and office in August, and contained similar information to the documents Bolton is alleged to have unlawfully transmitted during his time as national security adviser.
The investigation is being run out of the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland, unlike the Comey and James probes which are being conducted by the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, who sources say brought the Comey and James charges against the advice of career prosecutors.
Comey, who was indicted on charges of lying to Congress, and James, who is charged with mortgage fraud, have both denied wrongdoing.
Last month, a federal judge unsealed a redacted version of the affidavit that had been assembled by prosecutors in order to execute their court-authorized search of Bolton’s home. Most of the document concerned allegations surrounding the publication of Bolton’s book, which the first Trump administration unsuccessfully sued to block.
The federal judge overseeing that lawsuit expressed grave concerns over whether Bolton had included highly classified information in his book that could potentially compromise national security.
On the day that Bolton’s home and office were searched, Trump said that he was “unaware” of the searches but went on to call Bolton a “sleazebag.” Referencing the FBI’s 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago home in his own classified documents case, Trump told reporters that having your home searched is “not a good feeling.”
Trump pleaded not guilty in June 2023 to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House in 2021, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back.
After Trump was reelected president last November, the case was dropped due to a long-standing Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.
Trump, asked about Bolton in a June 2022 Oval Office interview with Fox News, said, “He took classified information and he published it, during a presidency. It’s one thing to write a book after. During. And I believe that he’s a criminal, and I believe, frankly, he should go to jail for that, and that probably, possibly will happen. That’s what should happen.”
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House on October 15, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel provided an update on the Trump administration’s progress in reducing violent crime. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump announced a deal on Thursday between his administration and pharmaceutical company EMD Serono to reduce the cost of some fertility medications.
Senior administration officials have said this deal will help millions of American women struggling to conceive with their ability to afford the expensive treatment.
Trump pledged to expand IVF access for Americans struggling to start families — making it a point of his presidential campaign. In February, he signed an executive order looking into how to lower costs and reduce barriers to IVF.
This deal “delivers on the president’s pledge,” an official said.
“In the Trump administration, we want to make it easier for couples to have babies, raise children and start the families they’ve always dreamed out,” Trump said during an announcement from the Oval Office.
Trump said EMD Serono, the largest fertility drug manufacturer in the world, has agreed to provide discounts for the cost of fertility drugs the company sells in the U.S., including its most popular, Gonal-f, which treats infertility in women and men.
Officials told ABC News a fertility drug typically costs between $5,000 and $6,000 per cycle, the officials said, and only about 30% of families have access to some sort of employer-based coverage.
Trump said EMD Serono will list its fertility drugs online at “very, very heavily reduced prices.”
“We’re pleased to announce that, depending on the patient’s income, the cost of drugs for a standard IVF cycle of infertility will decrease somewhere between 42 and 79% for families,” an official said, and “based on the results of this negotiation.”
The official said those drugs will be available in early 2026.
In 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stated the cost for a single cycle of IVF can range from $15,000 to $20,000, and can surpass $30,000 if a donor egg is involved.
The average number of cycles needed to become pregnant from IVF is 2.5, meaning the average cost of IVF to conceive successfully can exceed $40,000, according to the HHS.
In May, Trump signed an executive order to pressure companies to only charge U.S. patients the same rate as they charge in other countries, an effort called “most favored nation” pricing.
This kicked off a monthslong campaign to pressure pharmaceutical companies to drop their prices voluntarily, without regulation.
The White House also said that the two specialty pharmacies that account for more than 80% of the distribution of the drug — CVS Specialty Pharmacy and Express Scripts Freedom Fertility Pharmacy — told the administration they would “materially reduce their expenses associated with the handling of this drug, while still ensuring access to all families who wish to use it.”
A group ambushed corrections and police officers outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, on July 4, 2025, creating a distraction with fireworks and graffiti before firing upon officers with semiautomatic rifles. Mark David Smith/Fort Worth Star-Telegram via TNS via Getty Images, FILE
(WASHINGTON) — Federal prosecutors have secured a grand jury indictment of two alleged followers of the antifa movement on terrorism-related charges stemming from their involvement in a July 4 attack on an ICE detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, according to newly unsealed court records.
The indictment appears to be the first time a charge of material support to terrorism has been applied to alleged followers of the anti-fascist movement, following President Donald Trump’s declaration officially designating the movement as a domestic terrorist organization.
Experts have repeatedly questioned the legality of that proclamation — as did senior officials in law enforcement during Trump’s first term in office — given that the movement has no publicly known leadership structure and there are significant statutory limitations on law enforcement being able to designate domestic groups as terrorists.
The two men who were indicted, Cameron Arnold and Zachary Evetts, were previously charged in connection with the alleged ambush of federal agents at the ICE facility and attempting to kill two correctional officers and an Alvarado police officer, but the grand jury indictment charges both with an additional count of providing material support to terrorists.
In the indictment, filed in the Northern District of Texas, prosecutors describe antifa as a “militant enterprise made up of networks of individuals and small groups primarily ascribing to a revolutionary anarchist or autonomous Marxist ideology, which explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States government, law enforcement authorities, and the system of law.”
They allege that Arnold and Evetts operated as part of an “Antifa cell” that planned and coordinated the July 4 attack on the ICE facility using firearms and fireworks to target correctional officers.
“Some Antifa Cell members discussed logistics, previous site reconnaissance, and locations of security cameras at the facility. They exchanged a map of Prarieland and the surrounding area that showed the locations of nearby police stations,” the indictment says. “One Antifa Cell member, for example, said in one group chat that they would be “bringing a wagon to hold armor and rifles.”
Jake Haro, 32, and Rebecca Haro, 41, were arrested on Aug. 22 for the murder of their 7-month-old child, Emmanuel Haro, who has been missing since Aug. 14, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office. Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office
(LOS ANGELES) — The father of Emmanuel Haro, the 7-month-old in California who has been missing since August, has pleaded guilty to the baby’s murder.
Jake Haro, 32, pleaded guilty in court on Thursday to all charges, including assault causing bodily harm to a child “resulting in the death of said child” and filing a false police report, according to court records.
The father, who previously pleaded not guilty with his wife Rebecca Haro in September, cried in court on Thursday while he was giving his plea.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel’s mother, 41-year-old Rebecca Haro, pleaded not guilty to an amended complaint on Thursday, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Nov 3. It remains unclear what is in the complaint, according to Los Angeles ABC station KABC.
Jake Haro’s sentencing is also scheduled for Nov. 3.
Officials have not announced whether they have located the baby’s remains.
The 7-month-old was reported missing on Aug. 14 at approximately 7:47 p.m. local time after his mother “reported being attacked outside a retail store on Yucaipa Boulevard,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Aug. 15.
When he was reported missing, Emmanuel’s mother told officials that “while she stood outside her vehicle, changing the child’s diaper, she was physically assaulted by an unknown male and rendered unconscious,” authorities said.
Authorities later said the mother was “confronted with inconsistencies in her initial statement,” leading officials to say they were “unable to rule out foul play in the disappearance of Emmanuel,” officials said.
Jake and Rebecca Haro were arrested and charged for the child’s murder on Aug. 22, officials said.
In August, officials announced they had a “pretty strong indication” on the location of the child’s remains and they believed Emmanuel was “severely abused over a period of time.”
“The filing in this case reflects our belief that baby Emmanuel was abused over time and that eventually because of that abuse, he succumbed to those injuries,” Riverside County District Attorney Michael Hestrin said during a press conference in August.
Hestrin said Jake Haro, who he described as an “experienced child abuser,” “should have gone to prison” due to previously abusing another child he had with his ex-wife back in 2018, but a judge at the time granted him probation — a ruling Hestrin called an “outrageous error in judgment.” Authorities said the child in that case has been left bedridden.
“If that judge had done his job as he should have done, Emmanuel would be alive today,” Hestrin said.
B-52-Bomber in the blue sky. The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an eight-engine long-range bomber of the US Air Force.
(BOSSIER PARISH, La.) — Three B-52 bombers took off from Barksdale AFB in Louisiana on Wednesday and flew for hours near the coast of Venezuela, according to flight tracking data, in what appears to be a major show of force by President Donald Trump.
The B-52 is a long-range, heavy bomber that has been used in conventional warfare in such places as Iraq and Syria. But it’s also capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Trump confirmed on Wednesday that had authorized CIA action in Venezuela because of the flow of migrants and drugs from the country, and indicated his administration is exploring land strikes inside Venezuela.
Asked what’s next for his administration’s “war” on drug cartels and whether they were considering strikes on land, Trump said they were looking into it.
“Well, I don’t want to tell you exactly, but we are certainly looking at land now because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” the president said.
On Tuesday, Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a video of another lethal strike on alleged drug boat from Venezuela.
Since Sept. 2, Trump has ordered military strikes on at least five boats in the Caribbean Sea that the administration insists, without providing evidence, were carrying drugs to the U.S. The use of lethal of military force against drug boats is unprecedented and raises legal questions. Past administrations have relied on law enforcement to interdict drug shipments.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
NIH-NIAID/Image Point FR/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The first U.S. case of a more severe strain of mpox without any recent travel history has been identified in California.
Health officials said this week that the case was confirmed in a Long Beach resident. The patient required hospitalization and is now isolating and recovering at home.
No other identifying details were provided about the patient, including name, age or sex.
While this is the seventh case of the more severe strain confirmed in the U.S this year, it is the first without known travel, according to local officials.
Officials say the risk to the general public is low and the health department is conducting an investigation, including working to identify the patient’s potential sources of exposure.
“We are taking this very seriously and ensuring our community and health care partners remain vigilant so we can prevent any more cases,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said in a press release. “This underscores the importance of continued surveillance, early response and vaccination.”
There are two types of the virus that cause mpox: clade I and clade II, with clade roughly meaning they are descended from a common ancestor organism. Clade I has historically been associated with severe illness and death, and is endemic to parts of central and western Africa, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Clade II was responsible for a large outbreak that peaked in summer 2022, leading to more than 100,000 cases in 122 countries, including more than 30,000 cases in the U.S.
The less severe strain in the U.S. has continued circulating at low levels and has remained relatively stable.
Parts of Africa have been dealing with sustained person-to-person spread of the more severe strain of mpox. All six previously confirmed cases of the more severe strain in the U.S. have been among people who had recently traveled to areas associated with the outbreak in central and eastern Africa, according to the CDC.
In November 2024, California reported the first domestic case of the more severe strain in a traveler from Africa who experienced mild illness.
People with mpox, which was formerly known as monkeypox, often get a rash that can be located on hands, feet, chest, face, mouth or near the genitals, the CDC said.
Most people with mpox typically recover within two to four weeks without specific treatments.
Currently, the JYNNEOS vaccine, a two-dose vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration to prevent smallpox and mpox, is the only vaccine being used in the U.S.
The JYNNEOS vaccine is recommended for adults at high risk for mpox, which includes people who are gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men and have recent or upcoming risk factors like multiple sexual partners, intimate contact with someone who may have mpox, or sex at commercial venues.
ABC News’ Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
