(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department on Monday said its team tasked with identifying potential attorney-client privileged materials that were seized in the search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month has already completed its review and is in the process of addressing possible privilege disputes.
In a filing acknowledging receipt of District Judge Aileen Cannon’s order Saturday, which indicated she was leaning towards granting a request from Trump’s legal team to appoint a special master to intervene in the ongoing review of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago, the department said its filter team already “identified a limited set of materials that potentially contain attorney-client privileged information.”
As the department has acknowledged in previous filings, that filter team is separate from the team involved in the DOJ’s ongoing criminal investigation.
The Trump legal team, however, has asked for the appointment of a special matter to undertake a review of any materials in the search that could be covered by executive privilege, though it’s unclear how such materials would be identified or what basis there would be to exclude them from the DOJ’s ongoing investigation.
The department also notified Judge Cannon that the DOJ and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence are conducting a classification review of materials recovered from Mar-a-Lago as well as a separate intelligence community assessment of any potential risk of national security that would result in disclosure of any of the classified materials.
The DOJ says it expects to file a more detailed response to Trump’s request for a special master by end of day Tuesday, in line with the deadline set Saturday by Judge Cannon. Trump’s attorneys have previously said they were told by the DOJ that they would oppose such an appointment.
A hearing is currently set for Thursday at 1 p.m. in West Palm Beach where Judge Cannon will hear arguments from both sides on the request.
(NEW YORK) — With the end of summer nearing, and Labor Day around the corner, U.S. health officials are preparing to roll out millions of new COVID-19 boosters as health experts grow concerned over a potential viral resurgence in the fall and winter.
The Food and Drug Administration is expected, as soon as this week, to authorize Pfizer and Moderna’s new bivalent booster shots, which target both the original Wuhan strain that emerged at the onset of the pandemic, as well as the omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, that are currently dominant globally.
Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are set to meet on Thursday and Friday, and if both agencies greenlight the new shots, doses could be shipped out in the days to come and administered soon after Labor Day weekend.
Unlike the original vaccines and boosters, these new shots will not go through a lengthy clinical trial process, where thousands of Americans are dosed with the vaccines to test the safety and long-term effectiveness of the vaccines. However, federal health officials stress that these new shots will still be just as safe as the original vaccines because the underlying vaccine platform, mRNA, is the same.
“Real world evidence from the current mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, which have been administered to millions of individuals, show us that the vaccines are safe. As we know from prior experience, strain changes can be made without affecting safety,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf tweeted earlier this week.
“When available, new boosters are expected to help provide greater protection against the currently circulating strains. We encourage all who are eligible to consider a booster,” Califf wrote.
Because the vaccines have already been studied and administered in millions of people, and the new boosters use the same foundation but change the targeted variant, the FDA is not requiring the same process for authorization.
Health experts say that the decision not to use time-consuming clinical trials for each new shot is also a strategic move, in an effort to keep vaccines up to date with the rapidly evolving variants — a process that will likely mimic how the flu vaccine is altered each year.
Across the country, 108 million Americans — or more than half of those eligible to be boosted — have yet to receive their first booster shot, according to data from the CDC.
Although the immunity provided by COVID-19 vaccines continues to wane with time, data published by the CDC shows that COVID-19 booster doses are still offering protection against severe forms of disease and death, particularly among older Americans.
Among people ages 50 years and older, the unvaccinated had a risk of dying from COVID-19 that was 14 times higher than their fully vaccinated and double-boosted peers.
In people ages 50 years and older, vaccinated people with one booster dose had a risk of dying from COVID-19 that was three times higher than those fully vaccinated and double boosted.
More than 61 million people over the age of 50 are eligible to receive their second COVID-19 booster shot, but just a third of people have actually done so. Since second booster doses were authorized in mid-March, a total of 23.1 million Americans have received their second booster.
In May, the CDC announced that it was “strengthening” its recommendation for Americans over the age of 12, who are immunocompromised, and those over the age of 50, to receive their second booster shot.
Younger populations are also benefiting from boosters, data shows.
In June, unvaccinated people ages 12 years and older had a risk of dying from COVID-19 that was eight times higher, compared to people who were fully vaccinated and boosted with their first dose.
(NEW YORK) — NASA kicked off Monday its plan to send an unmanned space capsule into the moon’s orbit, marking the initial launch in an ambitious plan to establish a long term presence on the moon for scientific discovery and economic development.
The space capsule, called Artemis 1, will travel for roughly 40 days — reaching as close as 60 miles from the moon, and then 40,000 miles above the moon when orbiting over its dark side — before landing in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.
After the launch was scrubbed, the next attempt will occur Sept. 2.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Aug 29, 10:20 AM EDT
VP Harris praises NASA team behind Artemis launch
Vice President Kamala Harris praised the NASA team behind the Artemis I mission after the launch had to be scrubbed Monday due to an engine problem.
Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff had been visiting the Kennedy Space Center before the launch was postponed.
The scrubbed launch was “about showing the great work that happens here,” Harris told reporters.
“These exceptional public servants, these exceptional skilled professionals who have the ability to see what is possible and what has never been done before. How exciting is that?” she said.
According to a White House official, Harris and Emhoff will continue with their visit under a revised itinerary.
“She met with astronauts at NASA Operations Support Building II and will proceed to a tour of Artemis II and Artemis III hardware as planned. The Vice President will gaggle following the tour and then depart,” the official said.
Aug 29, 9:40 AM EDT
‘We don’t launch until it’s right,’ says NASA administrator
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson defended the scrubbing of the Artemis I launch, saying the launch shouldn’t take place until the team is sure it’s ready.
“We don’t launch until it’s right,” he said during an interview on NASA TV Monday morning.
“There are certain guidelines. And I think it’s just illustrative that this is a very complicated machine, a very complicated system, and all those things have to work, and you don’t want to light the candle until it’s ready to go,” he said.
Nelson said the engineers will continue to “stress” and “test” the rocket to make sure it’s ready by the next attempt, which is Sept. 2.
Earlier in the day, Nelson had welcomed several Biden administration officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, to the Kennedy Space Center ahead of the launch.
He said the vice president has been briefed and the White House will continue to receive regular updates.
Aug 29, 8:48 AM EDT
NASA scrubs Artemis I launch
NASA announced a few minutes after Artemis I was initially scheduled to lift off that the launch has been scrubbed.
Engineers said the problem came from a liquid hydrogen line that was not chilled enough inside one of the rocket’s four core-stage engines, which needs to occur before they can be ignited.
The next attempt will occur on Sept. 2.
Aug 29, 8:31 AM EDT
Artemis launch delayed due to storms, rocket troubleshooting
Artemis I will likely not be launching at 8:33 a.m. ET as originally planned after NASA ran into several delays in its preparation to send it into space.
The process of tanking, which includes filling the rocket’s core stage with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, was delayed due to some passing storms and lightning in the area, NASA said.
Moreover, a leak was discovered in the hydrogen fuel line, which NASA quickly resolved. The leak concentration was “at an acceptable level,” NASA said.
Engineers also discovered a potential crack in the inner stage flange, which connects two of the rocket’s cylinders.
The countdown clock is currently paused at T-40 and the launch can go as late as 10:33 a.m. ET If that window passes, the next attempt at launch will be Sept. 2.
(NEW YORK) — After years of hardship as a professional dancer trying to find tights that matched her skin tone, Erin Carpenter took matters into her own hands.
A little over a decade ago, the former New York Knicks dancer founded Nude Barre, a bodywear and hosiery company that sells products in 12 inclusive “nude”-toned shades.
Today, the thriving label offers bralettes, underwear, bikinis, girl shorts, camisoles, no-show socks, fishnets and opaque tights.
“I would spend hours dying my tights and ‘pancaking’ my shoes [applying pancake foundation to shoes with a sponge to mattify and change their color], and had many friends and colleagues who were doing the same to meet the industry’s requirement of nude undergarments,” Carpenter told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
“I founded Nude Barre to face colorism head on and help alleviate the emotional and physical labor of this process for all humans, dancers and non-dancers alike,” she said.
To come up with Nude Barre’s inclusive lineup of colors, Carpenter said she conducted endless surveys, compared colors to foundation shades and did lots of dye testing.
The names of each hue were created with intention as well and based on how skin tones tend to span a spectrum like the light of the day, ultimately leading to names like “7AM” and “6PM.”
The brand’s offerings are photographed on models with a wide range of diverse body types and complexions.
“Nude Barre’s mission is to fight colorism in the fashion industry and to offer authentic true representation to people of all hues,” said Carpenter. “For decades, skin tone representation has been isolated to people with lighter skin tones, and Nude Barre is here to change that.”
Today Nude Barre’s bestselling fishnets have been worn by everyone from Doja Cat and Lizzo to Laverne Cox and Serena Williams.
Williams was such a fan of the brand that she decided to invest in it. Carpenter said the company has been able to attract high-profile investors like the tennis star because they also value representation.
“Some of our investors are customers or have had personal challenges finding intimates in their shade as I did,” Carpenter said. “So they identify with the problem we solve personally and socially.”
While Nude Barre has had plenty of success, the company’s wins have not come without some challenges. Carpenter said she would sometimes meet with manufacturers that were surprised to see a young woman at the helm of a company and would get the feeling that they didn’t take her seriously.
“Funding was very hard to secure as a woman,” Carpenter said. “The statistics around female founders getting [venture capital] funding are poor, and for Black women the stats are horrible. So while I have been extremely fortunate to have amazing investors, it was not easy and took a long time to get that to happen.”
Still, her perseverance paid off: Carpenter shared that Nude Barre has since expanded its reach by landing in well-known department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s.
She noted that the brand has been able to continually thrive because it offers one of the widest ranges of hues within the intimates and hosiery space.
“Nude Barre is similar to athleisure for your underwear,” she said. “It’s durable enough for athletes plus comfortable and stylish for everyday fashion.”
“I hope the biggest takeaway from Nude Barre is how important representation is — that we are all different, special people and that is beautiful. We should celebrate our individuality,” she added.
“My dream is that one day nude only being represented as beige will no longer exist. Nude is individual and personal. My dream is that my brown daughters grow up to always have products that represent them, and that they do not question their beauty or feel bothered,” Carpenter said.
Vyacheslav Madiyevskyi/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Aug 29, 2:21 AM EDT
IAEA says mission to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant ‘on its way’
The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog announced Monday that the agency’s long-awaited expert mission to the Zaporizhzhia power plant in southeastern Ukraine “is now on its way.”
“The day has come,” Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a post on Twitter.
Grossi, who is leading the IAEA’s “Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhia,” has long sought access to the nuclear power plant, which is the largest in Europe. Russia and Ukraine have traded accusations of shelling at or near the site in recent weeks, fueling fears that the fighting could cause a nuclear disaster.
“We must protect the safety and security of #Ukraine’s and Europe’s biggest nuclear facility,” Grossi tweeted, alongside a photo of himself with 13 other experts. “Proud to lead this mission which will be in #ZNPP later this week.”
Shortly after invading neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian troops stormed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant near the town of Enerhodar, on the banks of the Dnipro River in the country’s southeast. The Ukrainian workers have been left in place to keep the plant operating, as it supplies electricity across the war-torn nation.
(BEND, Ore.) — At least three people are dead following a shooting inside a Safeway supermarket in Oregon on Sunday evening, police said.
The incident was reported just after 7 p.m. local time at The Forum Shopping Center in Bend, a small city on the Deschutes River, some 130 miles southeast of Oregon’s capital, Salem. The suspected shooter is among the dead, the Bend Police Department told ABC News.
Police believe the armed suspect entered from the back of the shopping center and initially fired into a Costco parking lot and a Big Lots store. There were no injuries reported at either of those locations, according to police.
Police believe the suspect then entered the Safeway and shot at least one person near the west entrance. That individual was transported to a local hospital and confirmed dead, police said.
The suspect continued inside the supermarket, shooting and killing at least one additional person, according to police.
Officers responding to the shooting entered the Safeway and found another individual, believed to be the shooter, dead inside the store. The officers fired no shots, police said.
At a press conference late Sunday, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz told reporters that the suspect was carrying an AR-15 style rifle and a shotgun. The identities of the suspect and the victims were not released.
Krantz noted the size of the crime scene, saying it will take time to collect and process all evidence.
(DETROIT) — The city of Detroit was on edge after police said a single gunman randomly shot four victims, three fatally, in 2 hours and 25 minutes Sunday morning.
The sole survivor of the killing rampage, an 80-year-old man, described being shot after spotting the suspect looking into cars and confronting him, police said.
Detroit police said Sunday night that the suspect is now in custody, and an investigation is in the early stages.
An all-hands-on-deck search involving multiple law enforcement agencies — including the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Department of Homeland Security — took place Sunday afternoon after police determined the same gun was used in all four shootings, authorities said.
During a news conference Sunday afternoon, Detroit Police Chief James White had described the suspect as a Black man in his mid-20s to early 30s, wearing all black, including a black Carhartt jacket with a hood.
“Evidence suggests a single suspect,” White said. “At this time, we believe this to be a random act. There does not appear to be any relation between any of the crimes.”
He said one of the victims was shot while waiting for a bus and another was shot while out walking a dog. Three of the four victims were fatally shot, police told Detroit ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV.
The shooting began at 4:45 a.m. when a 40-year-old woman was discovered shot multiple times in a neighborhood on the west side of Detroit, the chief said. Police said the woman died from her injuries.
While officers were investigating the shooting, a witness walked up and informed them of another victim nearby, White said. Police found a 28-year-old man who had also been shot multiple times, the chief said. He also died from his injuries.
At 6:50 a.m., the third victim, a woman in her 40s, was found shot multiple times, also on the west side of the city, and died, White said.
And at 7:10 a.m., the fourth victim, an 80-year-old man, was shot after he spotted the suspect peering into the windows of vehicles and confronted him, White said.
“When he told him to get away from the vehicles, he turned and fired at him, striking him once,” said White, adding that the victim was shot in the arm.
The octogenarian victim was in stable condition at a hospital Sunday night, police said.
The names of the victims were not immediately released.
White said the suspect did not rob or attempt to rob any of the victims.
Using technology, investigators were able to quickly analyze shell casings from each of the crime scenes and determine that the same gun was used in all four shootings, White said.
“We have mobilized all of our technology, our personnel, our intelligence and our community assets to investigate these incidents. We are currently searching to apprehend the suspect,” White said, adding that law enforcement helicopters were also scouring the city.
“To the families and friends of these victims, we will continue to work to get this suspect into custody,” White said.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan pleaded for the public’s help in catching the suspect. He asked people to study the surveillance photo released of the armed-and-dangerous perpetrator and to contact police if they see him. He said anyone who comes in contact with the suspect should not attempt to approach him.
He said the most important thing that can happen is that someone who knows the suspect or has a relationship with him comes forward to law enforcement immediately before he surfaces and strikes again.
“Nobody in this department wants a violent confrontation with this individual,” Duggan said. “It’s not safe for our officers, it’s not safe for the perpetrator, it’s not safe for civilians in the area.”
(PHOENIX) — A child was killed and four other people were seriously injured Sunday morning in a three-vehicle crash involving a school bus on I-40 in Arizona, authorities said.
The collision took place around 9:27 a.m. in Apache County when the school bus, which had been slowing down in traffic, was rear-ended by a commercial semitruck going eastbound at mile marker 328, Arizona Department of Public Safety Sgt. Jesus Gastelum said in a press release to Phoenix ABC affiliate KNXV-TV.
Eastbound traffic was slowed at the time due to a previous collision that morning, of a single commercial vehicle rollover, DPS said.
“Due to the impact, the school bus was pushed into the van,” Gastelum said.
There were 19 people on the school bus at the time, according to DPS, which said one child on the school bus died and “four other school bus occupants sustained serious injuries.” It was not immediately clear if the injured occupants were also children.
There were no other serious injuries reported, and an investigation is ongoing, Gastelum added.
DPS said there was a “full closure” going eastbound on I-40 and traffic was being diverted.
(HOUSTON) — A man wielding a shotgun allegedly killed three of his neighbors after setting fire early Sunday to multiple units at a Houston rental complex, including one he was recently evicted from, apparently to lure the victims into an ambush, police said.
The suspect, described as a Black man in his 40s, was shot to death outside the burning residences by a police officer who arrived at the scene as Houston firefighters came under fire and were forced to retreat, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said at a news conference on Sunday.
“This suspect, unfortunately, and very sadly, very evilly, set fire to several residences, laid (in) wait for those residents to come out and fired upon them,” Finner said.
The episode unfolded just after 1 a.m. Sunday in a southwest Houston neighborhood.
Finner said the suspect, whose name was not immediately released, was recently informed he was being evicted from his room. But Finner said a motive is still under investigation.
“He’s been a longtime resident here and that may have been a trigger point for him. I don’t know, but that’s part of the investigation,” Finner said.
The chief said multiple 911 calls were made beginning around 1:07 a.m. reporting a fire and a shooting.
Fire crews arrived at the scene before police and encountered gunshots, causing them to retreat, said Assistant Chief Michael Mire of the Houston Fire Department.
“As our firefighters came in the crossfire and they retreated, they still focused their attention on possible victims inside the structure. There were two that they were able to pull out,” Mire said.
Finner said a seven-year veteran of the Houston police force arrived at the scene after firefighters came under fire. Finner said the officer saw the armed suspect in a prone position in a parking lot across the street from the blaze and fatally shot him.
“Our officer arrived and took action, and for that, I’m very proud of him,” Finner said.
The officer, whose name was not immediately released, has been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of an investigation, he said.
Finner said investigators found a shotgun with a spent shell lying next to the alleged gunman’s body. He said it remains under investigation whether the man fired at the officer before he was shot dead.
Finner said two white men, both in their 60s, were fatally shot and perished at the scene. A third gunshot victim he described as a Black male in his 40s was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
He said a man in his 40s or 50 was shot in the arm and another survivor was injured running away from the scene.
The landlord of the multi-unit rental complex where the fiery ambush occurred told ABC station KTRK-TV in Houston that the suspect had lived in the complex since 2013, but did not pay rent. The landlord, who asked that his name not be published, confirmed the suspect was evicted and had turned in his keys on Saturday.
Among the victims killed in the episode was the property manager of the rental complex, according to the landlord.
(PHILADELPHIA) — One year after 8-year-old Fanta Bility was fatally shot by police while leaving a football game in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania, her family is grieving her loss and fighting for justice.
“I miss my baby,” Fanta’s mother, Tenneh Kromah, told ABC Philadelphia station WPVI-TV. “Me and Fanta were so close. The other kids, they used to say ‘you love Fanta too much.’ I would say yes.”
Kromah held back tears as she reflected on her love for her daughter. She said that coping with Fanta’s loss — the youngest of her six children — has been “very difficult” over the past year.
The 8-year-old was a “very friendly” girl, her mother said, who loved fashion and enjoyed recording videos on TikTok.
Fanta was shot while exiting a football game with her family at Academy Park High School on Aug. 27, 2021, when officers Brian Devaney, Devon Smith and Sean Dolan fired their weapons toward the crowd after two teens opened fire in a personal dispute close to the high school, according to Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer.
The three officers were each charged on Jan. 18 with 12 criminal counts of manslaughter and reckless endangerment.
“We have now concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that it was, in fact, shots from the officers that struck and killed Fanta Bility and injured three others,” Stollsteimer said in a January press release announcing the charges.
“This is a terrible tragedy that was caused by armed and violent criminals who turned a high school football game into a crime scene in which an innocent child lost her life and others were seriously injured,” Raymond Driscoll, Steven Patton and Charles Gibbs, the lawyers for the three officers, said in a joint statement after the charges were announced. “These three officers ran to the sound of gunshots and risked their own lives to protect that community. These three good men are innocent, and remain heartbroken for all who have suffered because of this senseless violence.”
The Sharon Hill Borough Council voted on Jan. 21 in favor of terminating the three officers from their positions at the Sharon Hill Police Department.
ABC News reached out to the attorneys representing the three former officers, but requests for comment were not immediately returned.
Family, friends and community members held a rally on Saturday in Sharon Hill to call for justice on the one-year anniversary of Fanta’s death.
Her family shared a photo with WPVI that was taken of Fanta the day she was fatally shot. They said the 8-year-old was napping and initially wanted to stay home but eventually decided to accompany members of her family to the football game to support her sister, who was a cheerleader.
As they cope with her death, there are no photos of Fanta in the family’s living room.
Abu Bility, Fanta’s uncle, told WPVI that videos are now too painful for her mother to watch.
“Whenever she sees Fanta’s photo… it kind of refreshes her memory that it just happened,” he said.
Fanta’s family expressed outrage last month over the release of a heavily redacted report about their daughter’s shooting in Sharon Hill, a suburb of Philadelphia.
The highly anticipated report, which outlines the findings of an independent investigation into the police policies and procedures related to the shooting, was released by the Sharon Hill Borough Council, but many of its findings and recommendations were redacted.
Bruce Castor, the attorney for Fanta’s family, told ABC News in a statement on July 31 that the redacted report is “unacceptable” and “an insult to the memory of Fanta.”
“The heavily edited report raises more questions in the minds of the family and the public than it answers,” Castor said.
“The world will eventually learn how Sharon Hill Borough officials failed to make certain its police trained under realistic scenarios and understood fully when deadly force is permitted under the law and when it is not,” he added.
Courtney Richardson, the Sharon Hill Borough solicitor, defended withholding the information, telling ABC News in a statement on July 31 that the Sharon Hill Borough Council redacted information to protect the ongoing investigation.
“Council has only redacted conclusions and recommendations of Special Counsel in the interest of justice, considering the active litigation in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania,” Richardson said.
The redacted report is the conclusion of that nine-month investigation and comes after attorneys for the three officers filed a motion to drop the voluntary and involuntary manslaughter charges against the officers, according to WPVI.
When asked about the motion to dismiss the charges, Castor told ABC News on July 31 that the family wants the DA’s office to “do its best to obtain convictions holding the police officers criminally accountable for their actions.”
