Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill on November 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — After months of anticipation, the House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a bill ordering the release of the Justice Department’s files on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
It passed 427-1 — with GOP Rep. Clay Higgins as the only vote against the measure.
The bill will now head to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain.
About a dozen Epstein victims, including Virginia Giuffre’s brother, were seated in the front row of the gallery as the vote got underway. Some left the chamber after the tally grew above a supermajority and passage was not in peril.
Earlier on Tuesday, a group of women victimized by Epstein spoke outside the Capitol and urged lawmakers to vote yes on the bill. Several took aim at President Donald Trump directly and criticized his handling of the matter.
House Speaker Mike Johnson had tried to avoid holding a vote in the lower chamber on the Epstein matter. In late July, Johnson sent the House home a day early for August recess because the House was paralyzed in a stalemate over the Epstein issue.
The speaker also sent the House home for more than 50 days during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history — delaying the swearing in of Democrat Adelita Grijalva. After the shutdown ended last week, the Arizona Democrat became the 218th signature on the Epstein discharge petition, compelling the speaker to bring a bill co-sponsored by Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to the floor for a vote this week.
Johnson continued to criticize the bill on Tuesday morning but confirmed he would be voting to move it forward.
Just before votes were cast, Johnson said on the House floor that it was a “political exercise” and that the bill has “serious deficiencies.” Johnson said he hoped the Senate makes changes to it.
“[Trump] has nothing to hide,” Johnson said.
The president had also mounted opposition to the measure, including what sources said was an attempt to dissuade GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert in the White House Situation Room from supporting the discharge petition to force a floor vote.
But faced with growing support for the measure in the GOP-controlled House, Trump suddenly reversed course over the weekend and said Republicans should vote yes on releasing the files “because we have nothing to hide.”
Pressed if he will sign the bill should it reach his desk, Trump on Monday said he would.
“I’m all for it,” Trump said.
The measure — called “The Epstein Files Transparency Act” — would compel Attorney General Pam Bondi to make available all “unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” in the Department of Justice’s possession related to Epstein.
The legislation seeks federal records on Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other individuals, including government officials, named or referenced in connection with Epstein’s “criminal activities, civil settlements, immunity, plea agreements or investigatory proceedings.” Victims’ names and other identifying information would be excluded from disclosure, as would any items that may depict or contain child sex abuse material, according to the text of the proposed bill.
For months, Johnson has pointed at the House Oversight Committee’s inquiry — claiming that the panel’s probe is more far-reaching than the Khanna-Massie bill. Proponents of the bill argue that “the record of this vote will last longer than Donald Trump’s presidency.”
Trump does not need to wait for Congress to act — he could order the release immediately.
Even if the measure passes through the House and Senate and is ultimately signed into law by Trump, it’s unlikely the Justice Department would release the entire Epstein file, according to sources. Any materials related to ongoing investigations or White House claims of executive privilege will likely remain out of public view.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking young girls and women.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill on November 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — After months of anticipation, the House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a bill ordering the release of the Justice Department’s files on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
It passed 427-1.
The bill will now head to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has tried to avoid holding a vote in the lower chamber on the Epstein matter. In late July, Johnson sent the House home a day early for August recess because the House was paralyzed in a stalemate over the Epstein issue.
The speaker also sent the House home for more than 50 days during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history — delaying the swearing in of Democrat Adelita Grijalva. After the shutdown ended last week, the Arizona Democrat became the 218th signature on the Epstein discharge petition, compelling the speaker to bring a bill co-sponsored by Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to the floor for a vote this week.
On Tuesday morning, Johnson accused Democrats of “forcing a political show vote on the Epstein files” but confirmed he would be voting to move it forward.
Ahead of the vote, Johnson said on the House floor that the vote is a “political exercise” and that the bill has “serious deficiencies.” Johnson said he hoped the Senate makes changes to it.
“[Trump] has nothing to hide,” Johnson said.
President Donald Trump had also mounted opposition to the measure, including what sources said was an attempt to dissuade GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert in the White House Situation Room from supporting the discharge petition to force a floor vote.
But faced with growing support for the measure in the GOP-controlled House, Trump suddenly reversed course over the weekend and said Republicans should vote yes on releasing the files “because we have nothing to hide.”
Pressed if he will sign the bill should it reach his desk, Trump on Monday said he would.
“I’m all for it,” Trump said.
The measure — called “The Epstein Files Transparency Act” — would compel Attorney General Pam Bondi to make available all “unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” in the Department of Justice’s possession related to Epstein.
The legislation seeks federal records on Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other individuals, including government officials, named or referenced in connection with Epstein’s “criminal activities, civil settlements, immunity, plea agreements or investigatory proceedings.” Victims’ names and other identifying information would be excluded from disclosure, as would any items that may depict or contain child sex abuse material, according to the text of the proposed bill.
For months, Johnson has pointed at the House Oversight Committee’s inquiry — claiming that the panel’s probe is more far-reaching than the Khanna-Massie bill. Proponents of the bill argue that “the record of this vote will last longer than Donald Trump’s presidency.”
Trump does not need to wait for Congress to act — he could order the release immediately.
Even if the measure passes through the House and Senate and is ultimately signed into law by Trump, it’s unlikely the Justice Department would release the entire Epstein file, according to sources. Any materials related to ongoing investigations or White House claims of executive privilege will likely remain out of public view.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking young girls and women.
Stock image of cigarette. krisanapong detraphiphat/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Just 100 cigarettes over the course of someone’s life may be enough to raise their risk of heart disease and death, a new study suggests.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, who looked at the smoking habits of more than 300,000 adults for almost 20 years, found that men and women who smoked as few as two cigarettes daily had a 60% increased risk of death from any cause compared to those who never smoked.
Additionally, the smoking group had a 50% higher risk of heart disease, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine.
“Tobacco use is a very well-established risk factor for heart disease,” said Dr. Jennifer Miao, a cardiologist at Yale University and an ABC News Medical Unit fellow. “It really damages the blood vessel lining and it accelerates the development of plaques and coronary artery disease.”
Smoking is also linked to heart rhythm issues, such as atrial fibrillation and stroke, Maio added.
Cutting back on cigarette use may not be enough to reverse the harm, the study found. Although current smokers had a higher risk of death than former smokers, former smokers still had an elevated risk of heart disease more than 20 years after they had kicked the habit, according to the study.
Data from the American Lung Association shows that adult smoking in the U.S. has dropped from about 42% in 1965 to roughly 12% in 2022 — a decline of more than 70%.
However, the number of people smoking fewer than 15 cigarettes per day increased 85% during the same period.
Americans should be counseled to quit smoking altogether rather than just cutting back, Dr. Erfan Tasdighi, co-author of the study and internal medicine physician at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, told ABC News.
“We actually have the evidenc. … to say that even less than one cigarette a day can increase different multiple cardiovascular outcomes, and it’s not something that’s clinically insignificant,” Tasdighi said.
Miao acknowledged how difficult it can be for patients to go completely smoke-free.
“It’s very, very important for us as clinicians to acknowledge that it’s a lot easier said than done,” she said.
Miao suggested that physicians identify who is having a difficult time stopping tobacco use and get them connected with the appropriate resources and medical therapies available for smoking cessation efforts.
The benefit of quitting smoking is most substantial in the first ten years after quitting, the study suggested. However, researchers say it takes time for the body to recover and reach the level of someone who never smoked.
Tasdighi emphasized that this doesn’t mean cessation doesn’t have immediate effects.
“It’s important that people know that when they stop smoking, their risk goes down immediately and significantly,” he said.
Miao agreed, adding that the study’s most important takeaway is that “it’s important to quit smoking early on, and no amount of smoking is without risk and health consequences.”
It’s not just patients who should heed the results of this study, the authors stressed. Physicians should also consider changing the way they inquire about smoking because the number of packs someone smokes per year is not necessarily predictive of long-term health risks, they said.
“Clinicians need a more nuanced approach that incorporates other ways to identify and quantify cigarette use, like smoking status and smoking intensity,” Miao said, noting that whether it’s smoking one cigarette a day or one a week, no amount of smoking is safe, and quitting remains the best thing someone can do for their health.
To learn more about quitting smoking, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or make an appointment with your health care provider.
Radhika Malhotra, MD, is an internal medicine-preventive medicine resident at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
An exterior view of the South Carolina State House. Epics/Getty Images
(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — A few South Carolina lawmakers are holding a hearing on Tuesday to discuss a near-total abortion ban that removes exceptions and could send anyone involved with termination of a pregnancy to prison for decades.
Currently, the state has a six-week abortion ban, signed into law in May 2023, with limited exceptions for rape and incest up to 12 weeks, for fetal anomalies and to save the life of the pregnant person.
However, S.323, also called the “Unborn Child Protection Action,” which is currently being debated in a state subcommittee, would repeal the rape, incest and fetal anomalies exceptions as well as make abortion a felony comparable to “the homicide of a person born alive,” which, if it clears a series of legislative hurdles, could send people who have an abortion to prison for up to 30 years.
If the bill clears the committee, there will be a few other legislative steps before it’s debated during the state legislature’s regular session.
Those who aid, abet or perform an abortion could also face up to three decades in prison.
Additionally, the bill would make it unlawful to possess abortion pills or provide information about an abortion, make it a felony to transport a minor out of state to obtain an abortion, change the definition of legal contraceptive, and redefine embryos as full legal persons, which opponents of the bill say could threaten IVF access.
Opponents argue the bill would be one of the strictest pieces of legislation limiting access to reproductive health care seen in the U.S. and could have far-reaching effects.
“If people think that there are exceptions here, I want to reiterate that there are none,” Amalia Luxardo, CEO of the nonprofit advocacy organization Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network (WREN), told ABC News. “There are none here. … Historically there have been exceptions when legislation like this comes down. And so, it really is, quite literally, the most extreme piece of legislation that we’ve seen in the [reproductive health care] space ever in this country. “
Luxardo said that WREN will be among the groups demonstrating at the state capitol on Tuesday as the bill is discussed during a second hearing of the South Carolina Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee.
The first hearing in October lasted several hours with dozens of people testifying during public comment. The hearing on Tuesday will not be open to the public, but people are able to watch a stream.
Nimra Chowdhry, senior state legislative council with the Center for Reproductive Rights, told ABC News that because the hearing is without public comment, it’s difficult for opponents to weigh in on why the bill is “problematic.”
However, she said advocates are continuing to put pressure on lawmakers by having constituents call up their representatives, sharing personal stories of people who have struggled to get abortion care in harrowing situations and legal reasonings behind why some consider the bill unconstitutional.
Chowdhry added that she is concerned that, if the bill passes, lawmakers in other states could replicate the legislation with similar language and penalties.
“We have seen time and time again, when very restrictive legislation sees the light of day, and if it potentially has a chance of moving through the legislature and getting signed and getting enacted, other hostile states very often follow suit,” she said. “Once we see a bill get enacted, we see that kind of momentum get pushed forward. It really opens the door for other states to do something similar.”
Luxardo agreed, adding that if the legislation passes, she believes it could deter providers from practicing in South Carolina.
The bill has also caused friction among anti-abortion rights groups, with some saying S.323 goes too far.
South Carolina Citizens for Life said that while it supports the current six-week ban, it opposes the criminalization of those who receive an abortion.
“Criminalizing women who have an abortion is inconsistent with our decades of work to legally protect both the unborn and the mother,” the statement reads. “Pro-lifers understand better than anyone else the desire to punish the purveyors of abortion who act callously and without regard to the dignity of human life. But turning women who have abortions into criminals, as S.323 does, is not the way.”
Other groups, such as Equal Protection South Carolina (EPSC), have supported the bill. EPSC stated it hopes legal equal protection in the bill can be expanded “for all pre-born babies beginning at fertilization.”
“We are encouraged by the sentiment of the bill and the bill author’s passion to end abortion,” the group wrote. “The imposition of a criminal penalty in all parties involved in an abortion is a laudable departure from the approach traditionally taken by the Pro-Life establishment, which advocates for legislation providing total legal immunity to mothers who willfully murder their pre-born children.”
Co-sponsors of the bill, including state Sens. Richard Cash, Billy Garrett and Rex Rice, did not immediately return ABC News’ requests for comment.
xPresident Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attend a signing ceremony at the Saudi Royal Court, May 13, 2025, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Win Mcnamee/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Tuesday marked the first time Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has set foot in the U.S. since 2018, following what U.S. intelligence has said was his approval of an operation that led to the murder of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul, causing global outrage.
As they met in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump responded to questions about 9/11 families angered over the visit, saying, “things happen, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that.”
Shortly before, Trump welcomed him to the White House with a lavish arrival ceremony, complete with Saudi flags next to American flags, a red carpet, horses and a color guard.
Cannons were fired in the background and a military flyover, featuring three F-35 and three F-16s fighters, took place overhead.
Trump and MBS shook hands and smiled for the cameras before entering their bilateral meeting.
“It’s an honor to be your friend and it’s an honor that you’re here,” Trump told later MBS inside the Oval Office.
The crown prince has previously denied ordering the murder of Khashoggi but ultimately acknowledged responsibility as the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
Trump denies conflict of interest, defends MBS over Khashoggi death
ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked Trump about whether there was a conflict of interest with his family doing business in Saudi Arabia while he was president, as The Trump Organization has multiple active projects in the kingdom.
Last month, the Trump Organization also announced plans for a Trump Plaza to be built in Saudi Arabia, complete with “a vibrant green spine inspired by Central Park that brings Manhattan-style vibrancy to the heart of Jeddah.”
Trump insisted he has nothing to do with his family business.
“What my family does is fine. They do business all over. They’ve done very little with Saudi Arabia, actually. They could. I’m sure they could do a lot. And anything they’ve done has been very good,” he said.
Bruce also brought up Khashoggi’s murder and the anger 9/11 families have expressed over MBS’s visit to the Oval Office. The kingdom has long been under fire over its alleged role in the attacks.
Trump defended MBS over the Khashoggi death and told Bruce, “You don’t have to embarrass our guest asking a question like this.”
“As far as this gentleman is concerned, he’s done a phenomenal job,” the president said of the prince. “You’re mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial,” he said referring to Khashoggi. “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that.”
MBS addressed both issues.
“I feel painful about families of 9-11 in America, but we have to focus on reality,” he said.
The prince alleged that Osama bin Laden used Saudis to destroy the relationship between the kingdom and the United States.
“We’ve been working to prove [bin Laden] wrong and continuing developing our nation. It is critical for the safety of the world,” he said.
MBS said of “the journalist” that “it’s really painful to hear, anyone losing their life for no real purpose.”
“It’s been painful for us in Saudi Arabia,” he said. “We’ve did all the right steps of, investigation, etc., in Saudi Arabia, and we’ve improved our system to be sure that nothing happened like that. And it’s painful, and it’s a huge mistake. And we are doing our best that this doesn’t happen again.”
Trump will host a dinner for the Saudi leader on Tuesday night with a who’s who of guests.
Billionaire Elon Musk was slated to attend, marking his first time back in the White House after he left the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a source with knowledge of the plans told ABC News.
Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays in the Saudi Pro League, will also be at the White House Tuesday, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
Ahead of the Tuesday meeting, the crown prince had apparently scored a highly coveted weapons deal that includes advanced F-35 fighter jets from the U.S.
Trump confirmed on Monday during an event in the Oval Office that he plans to sell F-35s to Saudi Arabia as part of a weapons deal, which experts say would mark the first time those jets have been sold to an Arab military.
A focus on defense and business
Trump and MBS spoke with reporters in the Oval Office, where the president said he was “very proud” of the job the crown prince had done.
The president touted the business deals and economic cooperation.
“We’ve been really good friends for a long period of time. We’ve always been on the same side of every issue,” Trump told MBS as he smiled on.
Now more than seven years later, the Saudi leader has business on his mind as he seeks to deepen ties with the U.S. through cooperation on oil and security, while also expanding the regime’s global outreach in finance, artificial intelligence and technology. Saudi Arabia notably boasts the world’s largest economy and maintains its lead as the world’s top oil producer.
The prince’s trip to the U.S. is being billed as an “official working visit,” and is designed to follow up and advance on Trump’s May appearance in Riyadh — the first official visit of Trump’s second term in office.
During that May visit, Trump announced a $142 billion arms package with the Saudis, which according to a White House fact sheet was the “the largest defense cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done.
“A lot of the financial and economic and artificial intelligence deals that they announced that were very ambiguous six months ago, I think we might start to see some teeth from them this time around and hopefully get a little bit more clarity on what those deals actually are,” said Elizabeth Dent, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and former director for the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula in the office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon.
The agreement covers deals with more than a dozen U.S. defense companies in areas including air and missile defense, air force and space advancement, maritime security and communications, the fact sheet said.
Features from the deals included, a multi-billion dollar investment in America’s AI infrastructure, enhanced cooperation on civil nuclear energy, defense sales to enhance defense cooperation between both countries and fulfillments of the Saudis’ $600 billion investment pledge via dozens of targeted investments.
The kingdom in turn announced a $600 billion investment in the U.S. spanning multiple sectors, including energy security, defense, technology, global infrastructure and critical minerals.
“We believe, in the future openness of America. We believe in what you’re doing, Mr. President, really creating a lot of good things on good foundation to create more economic growth, more business in America,” the crown prince said.
Some of the other notable deals announced under the $600 billion pledge included investments in: U.S.-based artificial intelligence data centers and energy infrastructure; advanced technologies; Saudi infrastructure projects; U.S. energy equipment and commercial aircraft; the U.S. health care supply chain; and U.S. sports industries.
The potential sale of advanced F-35 fighter jets to the Saudi kingdom is likely to cause consternation from Israel.
U.S. law requires that any weapons sale package to countries in the Middle East does not risk Israel’s security, and it’s unclear if Trump has cleared that hurdle in permitting the sale of fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.
“There’s a whole host of issues that encompass this. Part of it is that Israel has to be able to maintain their congressionally-mandated qualitative military edge, which Congress does determine that,” Dent said. “And so, if the deal goes forward, I think we just have to see how they’re going to figure out the best way to ensure Israel can maintain that, as the only country in the Middle East that currently has F-35s.”
“I think the Israelis are probably pretty uncomfortable with these rumors swirling around without normalization in sight,” Dent added.
Saudis insist on ‘credible pathway’ to Palestinian statehood
The Saudi leader is seeking security guarantees from the U.S. amid turbulence in the Middle East. The security agreement with the U.S. has been in a development stage and has not yet been formalized, but the kingdom is seeking to deepen military and security ties between the two countries.
The security guarantees are viewed by some as part of a larger regional “megadeal” involving normalization with Israel, something Trump will surely push for, even as the Saudi kingdom has refused to do so under the current Israeli leadership.
Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday that he would discuss the issue with the crown prince.
“I hope that Saudi Arabia will be going into the Abraham Accords fairly shortly,” he said.
Earlier this year, Trump signed an unprecedented defense pact with Qatar via executive order that recognizes the “enduring alliance” between the U.S. and Qatar and provides Qatar an explicit security guarantee in the event of “external attack.”
Many analysts have said they believe the Saudis are looking for a similar defense pact with the U.S.
“I think it’ll be kind of similar to Qatar’s, where it basically just says it will consider any sort of threat or attack on Saudi Arabia to be an attack on the United States, and then the United States will respond appropriately, which could range from political to military options. So, I think that the administration will make sure to give themselves that decision space,” Dent said. “There’s a lot to work through here. Obviously, I think a lot of it will be about expectation management.”
The kingdom is notably invested in implementing the president’s 20-point Gaza peace plan. The kingdom has previously stated it wants to see the emergence of a credible path toward an independent and a free Palestine as a condition for supporting the demilitarization of Hamas and reconstruction of Gaza.
But Israel has put up a roadblock to Palestinian statehood, which will undoubtedly cause angst among Arab regional partners who are pushing for sustained peace in Gaza.
“Our opposition to a Palestinian state in any territory has not changed,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday during his weekly cabinet meeting. “Gaza will be demilitarized and Hamas will be disarmed, the easy way or the hard way.”
Netanyahu has long opposed a Palestinian state, saying in recent months that its creation would only reward Hamas and endanger Israel’s security.
ABC News’ Christopher Boccia, Will Steakin and Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.
In this aerial view, salvage crews continue to remove wreckage from the Dali six weeks after the cargo ship collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge May 08, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(BALTIMORE) — The cargo ship that rammed into Baltimore’s Key Bridge in March 2024, shortly after experiencing two blackouts, initially lost power due to an improperly installed wire, the National Transportation Safety Board revealed on Tuesday.
The NTSB further found safety issues related to the Dali’s machinery and electrical systems that prevented the ship from fully recovering following the initial blackout, the agency said.
The Dali, a Singaporean vessel, struck one of the piers on the Key Bridge early on the morning of March 26, 2024, causing the bridge to collapse and killing six construction workers who were filling potholes on the span.
“This tragedy should have never occurred,” National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said during a hearing on Tuesday on the findings of the agency’s 20-month investigation into the crash. “Lives should have never been lost, as with all accidents that we investigate, this was preventable.”
According to the NTSB, on the day of the crash, a wire that had loosened over time due to an unstable connection ultimately disconnected from its breaker, resulting in a loss of propulsion and steering. A label identifying what the wire powered prevented it from being fully inserted into the breaker, the agency found.
Homendy commended her staff for this discovery.
“Our investigators routinely accomplish the impossible, and this investigation is no different,” she said. “The Dali is almost 1,000 feet, and it’s as long as the Eiffel Tower is high with miles of wiring and thousands of electrical connections. Locating a single wire that is loose among thousands of wires is like looking for a loose bolt in the Eiffel Tower.”
The NTSB said the loose wire could have been identified during inspections, however the agencies said the inspections performed by the ship’s operator, Synergy Marine Group, were not adequate enough.
Following that initial power failure, the NTSB found that multiple parts of the back up systems that were supposed to restore power and functionality to the ship and prevent the loss of propulsion were not configured correctly.
A second blackout occurred due to insufficient fuel pressure after a flushing pump being used to supply fuel to two generators shut off during the initial blackout and wasn’t restarted, the NTSB said. Investigators found the crew’s operation of flushing pump was “inappropriate” because the pump was not able to restart automatically when power was restored following a blackout and had to be restarted manually.
“According to the vessel’s classification society, the operation of the pump as a fuel oil service pump did not meet classification requirements because it was not able to restart automatically,” Barton Barnum, an engineer with the NTSB’s Office of Marine Safety, said during the hearing.
The ship experienced two blackouts while docked the day before the crash, according to the NTSB. The initial blackout was caused by human error, while the second similarly occurred because the flushing pump had shut off, Barnum said.
The NTSB determined that Synergy provided inadequate oversight by not stopping the crew from using the flushing pump as a fuel service pump.
The Dali crew responded quickly and in a timely manner to the first blackout, the NTSB found.
Crews onboard the container ship were able to warn officials about the malfunction, giving them time to close the bridge to oncoming traffic before the crash.
The NTSB said Tuesday that the workers on the bridge, though, had not received any warnings of Dali’s emergency situation. Had they been notified, they “may have had sufficient time to drive to a portion of the bridge that did not collapse,” Scott Parent, an NTSB highway factors engineer, said.
There are no American National Standards Institute standards for highway workers to receive emergency information regarding life-threatening events in work zones, stressing the “need for effective and immediate communication,” he said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams listens as names of the victims of the 9/11 terror attack are read during the annual 9/11 Commemoration Ceremony at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum, Sept. 11, 2025, in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York on Tuesday sentenced Mohamed Bahi, the only member of Mayor Eric Adams’ administration convicted in an illegal donations scheme, to three years’ probation, including the first year under home confinement, after the Trump Justice Department forced the same judge to dismiss a criminal case against the mayor himself that involved the same scheme.
The sentence is less than prosecutors sought but the judge concluded Bahi was less culpable than his boss.
“It is hard to escape the impression that Mr. Bahi is left here holding the bag,” U.S. District Judge Dale Ho said, calling the dismissal of the charges against the mayor the “elephant in the room.”
Someone in the courtroom gallery briefly clapped when Judge Ho questioned a prosecutor about the decision to toss the case against Adams, which the Trump administration said was necessary to free him to cooperate with the president’s immigration agenda.
“What am I to make of a person above him, the mayor, had his indictment against him dismissed?” Ho asked.
The prosecutor, Rob Sobelman, urged the judge to “focus on Bahi,” who he said “committed a series of serious criminal acts” that warranted prison time beyond the zero-to-six month sentence called for by federal sentencing guidelines.
“We are not seeking a lengthy period of incarceration but a modest one is appropriate here,” Sobelman said.
Bahi, 40, served as a Muslim liaison at New York City Hall until his 2024 arrest. He pleaded guilty to a conspiracy count for his role in the illegal donations scheme, telling donors to lie to the FBI and to deleting Signal from his phone as agents arrived to search him.
“Straw donor schemes like this are a serious offense,” Judge Ho said. “This is not the kind of conduct that merits a slap on the wrist.”
“Standing here today is painful but necessary,” Bahi told the judge. “I accept full responsibility for my actions.”
Bahi was the second person charged in the fundraising scheme to plead guilty after a businessman, Erden Arkan, admitted he laundered straw donations. Arkan was sentenced to probation.
The defense sought a year’s probation for Bahi, downplaying his role in the scheme.
“It’s a far cry from careful planning and execution,” defense attorney Derek Adams said. “This wasn’t some grand scheme of Bahi’s to get Adams elected.”
The scheme was outlined in the now-defunct indictment against Mayor Adams that alleged bribery and fraud offenses. Adams denied seeking and accepting straw donations that would help him reach the threshold for public matching funds for the 2021 campaign.
The directive to drop the case against the mayor prompted the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, to resign her position in protest. She has since joined a law firm started by former Solicitor General Paul Clement.
Mayor Adams celebrated the dismissal of the indictment but his political career did not recover. He dropped his bid for reelection and will leave office on Jan. 1 when mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is sworn in.
A recent image of Saad Almadi. Courtesy Ibrahim Almadi
(WASHINGTON) — The son of Saad Almadi who is held in Saudi Arabia on an exit ban for allegations of “cyber crimes” by the kingdom, said that President Donald Trump has failed to make his father’s release a priority as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman comes to Washington for a state visit Tuesday.
Ibrahim Almadi, whose 75-year old father was detained in Saudi Arabia on a family visit in 2021, says his father has been “harassed” by authorities there and seeks a return to the United States, which has been his home for decades. Almadi is a dual American-Saudi citizen who emigrated to the U.S. in 1976.
When he was arrested in 2021, Saudi authorities accused Saad Almadi of terrorism for 14 tweets he wrote that were critical of the royal family. Two years later, the charges were reduced to so-called “cyber crimes,” and he was sentenced to an exit ban that bars him from leaving the kingdom until 2054.
One of the tweets, which were published while Saad Almadi was in the U.S., advocated for the renaming of a Washington, D.C., street for Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist who was killed at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Trump, asked about the Almadi case, told reporters in May he would “take a look” at it.
In an interview with ABC News, Ibrahim Almadi said U.S. diplomacy achieved his father’s release from detention and even “saved his life” in 2023. But he argued that bin Salman, the de-facto Saudi leader who will be greeted by Trump at the White House before a state dinner, is still “getting away with jailing Americans” by banning his father’s travel.
That Saudi Arabia, an American ally, has not released the elder Almadi is “insulting,” Ibrahim Almadi told ABC. He contended that Trump, who has enjoyed warm relations with Saudi Arabia, could make “one call” to free Almadi.
Trump has made the release of Americans detained abroad a priority, often dealing with adversaries to bring U.S. citizens home — like in the case of Venezuela, with which Washington has no formal diplomatic ties.
Asked for comment about Saad Almadi, an official at the National Security Council declined to discuss details. The official emphasized that “bringing our citizens home is a Number One top priority for President Trump,” pointing to “more than 75 Americans he has liberated in the last 10 months.”
ABC News has reached out to the Saudi embassy in Washington for comment on the Almadi case.
Ibrahim Almadi said U.S. officials have repeatedly told him in the four years since the arrest that they were in “final talks” and “advanced communication” to win his father’s release from the country.
“What my feeling is now — and my father[‘s] feeling — it’s a dismissal of the case,” he said. “They are dismissing the case.”
It leaves the Almadi son pessimistic ahead of the state visit, convinced that the crown prince “is using him as a card,” he said.
There are three Americans who are wrongfully held on exit bans in Saudi Arabia, according to the Foley Foundation, which advocates for American hostages and wrongful detainees held abroad.
Danielle Bensky, a Jeffrey Epstein survivor, speaks during the news conference with survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, November 18, 2025. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Danielle Bensky, a survivor of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, said the push by members of Congress and, now, President Donald Trump, to release investigative files has led to a “moment of vulnerability” for herself and other survivors.
Bensky said on Monday in Washington that pending legislation amounted to a noticeable movement towards accountability for Epstein survivors. She called the moment “hopeful,” saying that it also felt like “unprecedented waters.”
“This is a moment of vulnerability,” Bensky said. “This is a moment, as you can see, when we are tapping into those youngest parts of ourselves and saying we’re doing it for that little person that used to exist. We’re doing it for women.”
ABC News spoke with Bensky, who goes by Dani, a day ahead of the long-awaited vote by the House to release the Epstein files. The House is expected to vote Tuesday, after Trump called on Republicans to release all the files, reversing his stance.
The House vote is just step one, though. If it passes as expected, Senate Majority Leader John Thune would then need to bring it up for a vote in the Senate. Passage in the Senate would then send it to Trump’s desk for possible signing.
House Democrats last week released emails subpoenaed from the Epstein estate that mentioned Trump by name multiple times. In one email, written in 2011, Epstein referred to Trump as the “dog that hasn’t barked” and he told accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell that an alleged victim had “spent hours at my house” with Trump.
Trump, who was friendly with Epstein for years, said after Epstein’s arrest in 2019 that they hadn’t spoken in more than a decade after having a falling out. The president on Monday said he would sign a bill to compel the Justice Department to release all files relating to Epstein if it reaches his desk.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week that emails related to convicted sex offender Epstein released by House Democrats “prove absolutely nothing, other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.” Trump has denied all wrongdoing and denied having any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
Bensky has claimed she was recruited in 2004 when she was an aspiring ballerina in New York City. She alleges she was sexually exploited by Epstein for more than a year.
Bensky was among a group of survivors of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his convicted accomplice, holding a demonstration Monday evening at the National Gallery of Art — a couple of blocks from the Capitol — at which they displayed a looped video of several survivors holding pictures of themselves at the age they met Epstein.
Maxwell was found guilty in December 2021 of conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors to participate in illegal sex acts, transporting a minor to participate in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor. She is serving 20 years in prison.
Bensky said that being there at the National Gallery of Art gave her a bigger sense of meaning to “make the world safer” for the young kids and teenagers she works with as a dance choreographer.
Rachel Foster, co-founder and executive council chair of World Without Exploitation, an anti-sex trafficking coalition, described on Monday the fight to release the files as “truly bipartisan.”
“Truly a bipartisan effort. It’s not political,” Foster said. “This is about transparency, and this is a moment, if there’s any moment for people from both sides of the aisle to come together and say that victims who have sexual abuse need to have justice, and we all need transparency when it comes to either standing with victims, standing with women and children who have been abused or you’re protecting perpetrators.”
The booking photo for Tyler Matthew Johns. Henderson Police Department
(HENDERSON, Nev.) — The suspect who allegedly shot and killed an 11-year-old boy during a road rage incident in Nevada said he “did not know there was a kid” in the back seat of the vehicle when he opened fire, according to a declaration of arrest obtained by ABC News.
Tyler Matthew Johns, 22, was arrested on Friday and booked for open murder and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, according to the Henderson Police Department.
Johns remains held without bail after making his first court appearance on Saturday. The 22-year-old will appear in court again on Tuesday at 9 a.m. local time.
The incident occurred at approximately 7:30 a.m. on Friday, when two vehicles in traffic began “jockeying for positions trying to pass each other on the congested freeway,” police said during a press conference on Friday.
One of the vehicles tried to pass on the shoulder of the freeway, which is when both drivers rolled down their windows and began arguing, police said.
Johns, who was in a four-door sedan, allegedly fired a single shot from a handgun at a hybrid SUV driven by the victim’s stepfather, identified as Valente Ayala — hitting the 11-year-old sitting in the back seat, police said.
The boy, identified as Brandon Dominguez-Chavarria, was on his way to school, officials said.
After the child was shot, Ayala then rammed the suspect’s vehicle to stop him from fleeing the scene, causing both of them to come to a stop in the middle of the freeway, officials said.
Both drivers got out of their vehicles and proceeded to get into a heated exchange as a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer happened to be driving by, officials said.
During this argument, two witnesses got in between the two men, with Ayala yelling that the suspect had killed his son, according to the declaration of arrest.
The witnesses then proceeded to open the rear driver’s side passenger door and “observed a juvenile male slumped over in the seat with copious amounts of blood coming from or about the head,” according to the declaration of arrest.
Johns had “spontaneously admitted to officers that he had discharged his firearm” and stated he “did not know there was a kid in the back,” according to the declaration of arrest document.
He then “turned around and placed his hands behind his back without prompting from the officers, in what appeared to allow them to place handcuffs on his wrists,” the declaration of arrest said.
Shortly after the suspect was taken into custody, the Henderson Fire Department arrived at the scene and transported the child to a local hospital, but “despite their best efforts,” the child succumbed to his injuries, police said. The boy’s cause of death was listed as a gunshot wound to the head, the Clark County Coroner said on Monday.
“We lost a life today that we didn’t have to lose,” Henderson Police Department Chief Reggie Rader said during a press conference last week.
Ayala told officials he believed the suspect “intended to shoot him, but based on their speeds,” the bullet struck the child, according to the declaration of arrest.
Ayala was not armed during the road rage incident nor does he own any firearms, the declaration of arrest said.
