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Dramatic details and key takeaways from Tuesday’s Jan. 6 hearing

June 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The latest House Jan. 6 committee hearing on Tuesday afternoon focused on what it said was then-President Donald Trump’s “unprecedented” effort to push key state officials to reject the results of the 2020 election — including a scheme to create slates of “fake” electors to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., led the hearing, which featured live witness testimony from Republican officials from Arizona and Georgia to show the pressure campaign related to Trump’s “big lie” extended to well before Jan. 6.

Some of the most compelling testimony came from a mother-daughter pair who worked as election workers in Georgia. They described in deeply personal terms the impact of threats they experienced after being targeted by Trump.

And the panel aired taped testimony from Trump allies to argue he was directly involved in what he knew was a baseless effort to have key states send fake Trump electors to Congress to replace legitimate Biden ones.

“Whether his actions were criminal will ultimately be for others to decide,” Schiff said in his closing remarks. “But what he did was without a doubt unconstitutional. It was unpatriotic. It was fundamentally un-American.”

Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said that “pressuring public servants into betraying their oaths was a fundamental part of the playbook” and warned only a handful of election officials in key states “stood between Donald Trump and the upending of American democracy.”

Here are some key takeaways from Tuesday’s hearing:

Arizona House speaker invokes faith, recalling how he wouldn’t deny oath of office

After Trump claimed Tuesday on his social media platform Truth Social that Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican, had told him the election was rigged, Bowers said that was “false” and that Trump’s team claimed widespread fraud in Arizona but never provided him with any evidence.

“Anywhere, anyone, at any time, who said that I said the election was rigged, that would not be true,” Bowers said.

He recalled conversations with Trump election lawyer John Eastman, who tried to convince him there was a law in Arizona that would have allowed him to overturn results in his state, and his maintaining that he would not break his oath of office and decertify electors for Biden.

“I said, ‘What would you have me do?’ He said, ‘Just do it and let the courts sort it out.'”

At one point, Bowers fought back tears as he described the pressure placed on him to betray his oath and the impact “disturbing” protests outside his home had on his family.

“It is a tenet of my faith that the Constitution is divinely inspired, one of my most basic foundational beliefs,” Bowers testified. “And so for me to do that because somebody just asked me to is foreign to my very being. I will not do it.”

After some lawmakers in Arizona went around him to send a slate of “fake” electors to Congress and the National Archives, with the intention of then-Vice President Mike Pence refusing to certify votes in those states, Bowers described it as a “tragic parody.”

Bowers recalled Trump lawyer Giuliani telling him, “‘We’ve got lots of theories, but we just don’t have the evidence.'”

The Arizona Republican then went on to read aloud a passage from his journal from December 2020.

“I do not want to be a winner by cheating,” he read. “I will not play with laws I swore allegiance to with any contrived desire towards deflection of my deep, foundational desire to follow God’s will as I believe he led my conscience to embrace. How else will I ever approach Him in the wilderness of life knowing that I asked of His guidance only to show myself a coward in defending the course he led me to take.”

Republican witnesses tie Trump to fake electors plot, detail how they responded to pressure from Trump and his allies

In her opening statement, Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said the committee would provide evidence that Trump “had a direct and personal role” in a scheme to have key states send fake electors to Congress and for Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results, “as did Rudy Giuliani, as did John Eastman.”

Appearing to be part of that point, the committee aired taped testimony of Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel being asked about the scheme to send “fake” electors to Congress to decertify Biden’s win and responding that Trump was on a call about the plan.

“He turned the call over to Mr. Eastman, who then proceeded to talk about the importance of — helping the campaign gather these contingent electors in case any of the legal challenges that were ongoing change the results of any states,” McDaniel recounted.

“The campaign took the lead, and we just were helping them in that role,” she added, appearing to try to distance the RNC from the effort.

The House select committee argued the RNC assisted Trump in coordinating the fake electors plot “at the president’s direct request.”

The testimony is important as Trump has also tried to distance himself, at times, from his own attorneys, but, according to McDaniel, he was personally involved in a call about the effort.

The testimony also detailed Trump’s calls to Georgia election officials highlight his role in the pressure campaign.

The committee played audio clips of the 67-minute, now-infamous phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, in which Trump told Raffensperger he needed to “find” 11,780 votes in Georgia — just one vote over the margin by which he trailed Biden — so he could be declared the winner of an election that three separate counts in the state confirmed he lost.

The call appeared to follow a cycle of Trump offering false election conspiracies and Raffensperger calmly explaining to him that each one was not accurate. At one point, Trump suggested to Raffensperger that his inaction could mean he was criminally liable.

Raffensperger was among several Republicans who told Trump his claims about fraud were false, the committee said, but he continued to spread them anyway.

The committee also aired audio from a call in which Trump tried to convince Frances Watson, the Georgia secretary of state’s lead elections investigator, to reverse his loss.

“You know, you have the most important job in the country right now,” Trump told her as he continued to falsely and publicly claim victory.

“When the right answer comes out, you’ll be praised,” Trump said to Watson.

Mother-daughter election worker duo describe impact of targeted attacks

Former Fulton County election worker Shaye Moss, who was falsely accused by Giuliani and other Republicans of election fraud and smuggling “suitcases” of illegal ballots in Atlanta on election night, and her mother, Ruby Freeman, who was sitting behind her, told members how their lives were changed by the lies.

“When I saw the video, of course the first thing that I said was, ‘Why? Why are they doing this? What’s going on?'” Moss recalled.

Moss then described the onslaught of threats and hateful messages she received online — a situation she had never been in during her 10 years as an elections worker.

“I felt so bad,” Moss. “I just felt bad for my mom and I felt horrible for picking this job and being the one that always wants to help and always there and never missing out on one election, I just felt like it was my fault for putting my family in this situation.”

Both women told the committee they are now scared to use their names, and Freeman was told by the FBI she had to leave her home for two months because of threats.

“I’ve lost my sense of security, all because a group of people starting with No. 45 and his ally Rudy Giuliani decided to scapegoat me and my daughter Shaye, to push their own lies about how the presidential election was stolen,” Freeman said.

Public officials recount intimidation of protests, tweets from Trump supporters

Elected officials detailed the threats they received or witnessed others received as a result of Trump’s pressure campaign to reject state electors.

Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer in the Georgia secretary of state’s office, recalled the moment that made him decry Trump’s claims of fraud and emotionally speak out about the threats made toward election officials in a press conference in December 2020.

It was a tweet, he said, targeting a contractor he knew that “broke the camel’s back.”

“It had his name, ‘you committed treason, may God have mercy on your soul,’ with a slowly twisting GIF of a noose and, for a lack of a better word, I lost it,” Sterling said. “I just got irate.”

Pennsylvania House Speaker Bryan Cutler, a Republican, said in a taped deposition that all of his personal information was doxxed online and multiple protests happened outside of his home. The committee aired audio from one protest in which participants shouted, “Bryan Cutler, we are outside.”

“We had to disconnect our home phone for about three days because it would ring all hours of the night, it would fill up with messages,” Cutler said.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, described the feeling of having protesters outside her home as well.

“My stomach sunk, I thought, ‘it’s me,'” she told the committee in a deposition. “The uncertainty of that was why it was the fear. Like, are they coming with guns? Are they going to attack my house?”

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, GOP Rep. Andy Biggs involved in fake electors?

As the committee unveils its findings, it has suggested how Republican lawmakers were involved in scheme to overturn the election.

Bowers, Arizona’s House speaker, testified he received a call from Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, asking Bowers if he’d support the decertification of electors. Bowers told Biggs he would not.

The committee also showed evidence that Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., attempted to deliver slates of “fake” Trump electors from Wisconsin and Michigan to Pence ahead of Jan. 6.

Text messages between Johnson staffer Sean Riley and Pence aide Chris Hodgson were displayed on-screen in which Riley wrote that Johnson wanted to hand over fake electors from the two states.

“Do not give that to him,” the Pence aide replied.

Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for Johnson, denied that Johnson had any involvement in the creation of fake alternate slates of electors and claimed he had “no foreknowledge” it was going to be delivered to the office.

“The senator had no involvement in the creation of an alternate slate of electors and had no foreknowledge that it was going to be delivered to our office. This was a staff to staff exchange. His new Chief of Staff contacted the Vice President’s office. The Vice President’s office said not to give it to him and we did not. There was no further action taken. End of story,” Henning told ABC News.

Teasing hearings still to come, the next of which is on Thursday, Cheney put pressure on former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone to appear before the committee, adding that they are “certain” Trump wouldn’t want that to happen.

US airman arrested in connection with Syria base attack that injured 4 other troops

June 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — An airman was arrested in the U.S. on Thursday in connection with an April attack at a base in Syria that injured four other U.S. service members, according to a new statement from an Air Force official.

“After reviewing the information in the investigation, the Airman’s commander made the decision to place him in pretrial confinement,” the official said.

The Air Force will not release the airman’s name unless charges are preferred.

“It is too early in the process for a charge sheet. It will be available if charges are preferred,” the official said.

Earlier this month, military officials said an American service member had been identified as a “possible suspect” in the April 7 attack at the Green Village base.

Four other U.S. service members were evaluated for minor wounds and possible traumatic brain injuries after what the military originally reported to be two indirect-fire rounds hitting the site. Further investigation showed the explosions were the result of “deliberate placement of explosive charges” at an ammunition storage area and shower facility on base, according to military officials.

The Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) have been conducting a joint investigation into the incident.

An Army CID official previously emphasized that “at this point, these are just allegations” and that any suspects were presumed innocent.

“The investigation is ongoing, which may or may not, develop sufficient evidence to identify a perpetrator(s) and have enough evidence to ensure a conviction in a court of law,” that official said.

5 key takeaways from Texas Senate’s hearing on Uvalde shooting

June 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(AUSTIN, Texas) — A top law enforcement official in Texas testified Tuesday that efforts by law enforcement to end the Robb Elementary School mass shooting sooner were an “abject failure,” laying much of the blame at the feet of a local police chief who waited well over an hour to breach a classroom door and kill the gunman.

Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw appeared before the Texas state Senate panel investigating the May 24 shooting in Uvalde, where a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

McCraw’s testimony, supported by an updated timeline of events that he said was based on police body camera and surveillance videos, and a transcript of police communications during the rampage, appeared to offer the most complete version of events to date — and heightened scrutiny of Pete Arredondo, the embattled school district police chief in who was the on-scene commander during the shooting.

Here are five key takeaways from Tuesday’s hearing.

Officers could have ‘neutralized’ shooter within minutes

In a striking rebuke of the responding authorities, McCraw claimed that enough officers and equipment had arrived on the scene within three minutes to “neutralize” the shooter, who had by then entered the classroom and begun firing on students and teachers.

“The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering room 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander,” McCraw said, referring to Arredondo, who McCraw said “decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children.”

McCraw’s testimony shattered previous claims that officers who responded immediately lacked the necessary equipment and weapons to breach the doorway, instead opting to wait as more resources arrived.

“One hour, 14 minutes and eight seconds. That’s how long the children waited and the teachers waited in rooms 111 and 112 to be rescued,” McCraw said. “And while they waited, the on-scene commander waited for radios and rifles. Then he waited for shields. Then he waited for SWAT.”

“Lastly, he waited for key that was never needed,” said McCraw.

The door to the classroom may not have been locked

McCraw sought to clarify some confusion over whether the exterior and interior doors used by the gunman to enter Robb Elementary School were locked — and whether officers even needed keys to breach the classroom where the gunman had barricaded himself.

According to McCraw, the door to the classroom containing the gunman could not be locked from inside, meaning it was likely unlocked for the duration of the shooting.

“I have great reasons to believe [the door] was never secured,” he said.

McCraw later said it appears that officers on the scene never checked whether the door to the classroom was unlocked, even as they waited for additional equipment to breach it and worked to secure a set of keys.

“How about trying the door and seeing if it’s locked?” McCraw said he would ask the officers who responded first.

Communication failures crippled law enforcement response

A staggering series of communications failures plagued the police response at Robb Elementary, McCraw said Tuesday, including problematic radio reception inside the school building.

McCraw confirmed previous reporting that Arredondo arrived at the school without a radio. Later, according to McCraw, local police and Border Patrol lost radio communication signals inside the school.

Those circumstances ultimately led Arredondo and others to communicate with dispatchers on their cell phones, McCraw said.

“Cell phones did work, obviously, inside the school,” he said. “It’s just the portable radio devices that first responders had didn’t.”

State police ‘don’t have authority’ to overrule on-site commander

Multiple state senators challenged McCraw to explain why arriving officers from larger law enforcement agencies did not take over command from Arredondo when they saw he was waiting to breach the classroom.

“I don’t see why y’all didn’t take command once you had DPS agents inside the hall pushing to breach the door,” one state senator asked McCraw. “Lives would have been saved.”

“They don’t have authority by law,” McCraw shot back.

McCraw explained the normal procedure is that the agency with the most direct order of expertise should take command — and that the school district police chief, in this circumstance, was the best person to deliver orders.

“I’m reluctant to encourage — or even think of any situation — where you’d want some level of hierarchy, where a larger police department gets to come in and take over that type of thing,” McCraw said.

Arredondo is under growing pressure to provide his account

New revelations from the Senate hearing put an additional spotlight on Arredondo. The embattled school district police chief spent Tuesday in the neighboring Texas House chamber, where he testified behind closed doors for nearly five hours.

A lawmaker on the state Senate panel called on Arredondo to appear before their committee in a public setting.

“I challenge this chief to come testify in public as to what happened here,” said Sen. Brian Birdwell, a Republican on the state Senate committee. “Don’t go hide in the House and talk privately — come to the Senate, where the public … can ask these questions.”

Arredondo has largely remained silent in the four weeks since the shooting, save for an interview with The Texas Tribune earlier this month.

“Not a single responding officer ever hesitated, even for a moment, to put themselves at risk to save the children,” Arredondo told the paper. “Our objective was to save as many lives as we could, and the extraction of the students from the classrooms by all that were involved saved over 500 of our Uvalde students and teachers before we gained access to the shooter and eliminated the threat.”

Arredondo, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other law enforcement agencies that responded to the shooting have declined a long list of media requests and requests from families to release underlying records.

Latino officer files discrimination charge against former police chief

June 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(SHEFFIELD LAKE, Ohio) — A second Sheffield Lake police officer has filed a charge of discrimination with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission against former police chief Anthony Campo.

A.J. Torres, the police department’s only Latino officer, spoke publicly about the race and religion-based harassment he alleged he experienced by Campo for the first time Tuesday in a news conference.

Last fall, Keith Pool — the only Black officer in the department at the time — filed a discrimination charge over an incident caught on video showing Campo placing a “Ku Klux Klan” sign on Pool’s jacket and then wearing a makeshift KKK hat. Pool also spoke at the conference.

In his charge, Torres alleged that Campo mocked his Latino heritage and Catholic faith, including his observance of the Sabbath and Lent.

Torres also wrote that Campo posted offensive images of him on the police department bulletin board, such as a photoshopped image of Torres on a jar of salsa with a sombrero and of Torres’ face superimposed onto a priest’s body.

Campo also allegedly posted a photo from one of Torres’ annual mission trips to El Salvador, in which he is pictured with two children, and added a speech bubble implying that Torres is a pedophile, in reference to the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal.

When Campo’s alleged mistreatment of Torres first began, Torres said he attempted to keep his head down and “stay quiet.”

“I would try to have faith, calm down,” Torres said at the conference. “But then the icing on the cake is when Pool’s situation came up, and I said, ‘He’s not alone.’ I had to step forward.”

Following the release of the KKK video, Campo retired in June 2021 after 32 years in the department and eight years as chief. Campo could not be reached for comment by ABC News.

At the time, Sheffield Lake Mayor Dennis Bring called the incident the “the most egregious and offensive thing you could possibly do.”

However, in both Pool and Torres’ cases, the city has denied that Campo’s conduct was “severe or pervasive,” characterizing it as merely “banter,” according to Ashlie Case Sletvold — partner at Peiffer Wolf, the law firm representing Torres and Pool.

“I don’t put away my ethnicity and heritage when I come to work, and I shouldn’t have to hide my religion, either,” Torres said. “My faith and my humanitarian work on my personal time make me a better police officer. I am disappointed that the city I serve is not taking what former Chief Campo did to me more seriously.”

Bring and Sheffield Lake Law Director David Graves did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.

In addition to the claims filed by Pool and Torres, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission is currently investigating a third charge against Campo alleging sexual harassment.

Pool also filed a petition with the Supreme Court of Ohio last July to force the department to produce public records, including images Campo created and posted mocking employees based on race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation.

The city has yet to provide the records, Sletvold said at the conference.

The police department has also yet to mandate any diversity training for its employees and has rejected offers for people to come in and provide such training for free, Sletvold said.

Sheffield Lake Police Department declined to comment to ABC News.

“There’s no change,” Pool said. “We haven’t moved forward as a department to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Alleged Alabama church shooter’s firearms business cited for multiple violations in 2018, documents show

June 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(VESTAVIA HILLS, Ala.) — The alleged shooter who killed three people in an Alabama church last week had multiple firearms violations against his federal firearms business in 2018, according to Bureau of Alcohol Firearms and Tobacco documents obtained by ABC News.

Robert Findley Smith allegedly failed to keep receipts of firearms he sold at his business.

“The Licensee failed to record the disposition of [redacted] firearms, of which [redacted] were reconciled and [redacted] was reported as missing inventory,” the report from ATF said. Additionally, he was a repeat offender for this offense, according to the ATF.

Following its investigation into Smith’s business, ATF issued him a warning letter in February 2018, which is the “least severe action the ATF can take against a licensee with compliance issues,” according to a joint report by The Trace and USA TODAY.

Smith, 70, is facing capital murder charges after allegedly walking into a potluck dinner on June 16 at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills, killing three parishioners: an 84-year-old man who died at the scene, a 75-year-old woman and an 84-year-old woman who later died at a hospital.

A church member reportedly restrained Smith at the scene until authorities arrived. He’s being held at the Jefferson County Jail on no bond.

According to reports, 25 people were in the church at the time of the shooting.

Ann Carpenter, the reverend’s wife, said Smith attended service almost every Sunday but described him as a loner to ABC News, saying he “sat in the back” and “didn’t have much interaction with anybody.” Right before the shooting, he reportedly drinking liquor alone.

“My wife says he looked like he didn’t take very good care of himself,” the founder of the church, Rev. Douglas Carpenter, told ABC News. “And he had a hard time communicating with people.”

ATF documents showed that Smith bought guns for local dealers, fixed and then sold the weapons at “gun shows, auctions or through the website Gun Broker.”

Senators unveil text of bipartisan deal on gun violence, setting up speedy vote

June 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — After weeks of negotiation, a bipartisan group of senators released their anti-gun violence bill on Tuesday evening — setting up a vote in the upper chamber as early as this week.

The key four senators on the deal were Republicans John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Democrats Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. The group came together after a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, last month killed 19 elementary school students and two teachers.

“Today, we finalized bipartisan, commonsense legislation to protect America’s children, keep our schools safe, and reduce the threat of violence across our country. Our legislation will save lives and will not infringe on any law-abiding American’s Second Amendment rights,” the four lawmakers said in a statement. “We look forward to earning broad, bipartisan support and passing our commonsense legislation into law.”

Led by Cornyn and Murphy, a group of 20 senators had announced last week that they agreed upon the broad outline of a bill, which they then focused on drafting more specifically. Now that the legislative text is complete, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer could begin the process of teeing up a vote as soon as this week. He’s previously vowed to move the bill expeditiously.

“Once the text of this agreement is finalized, and I hope it will be as soon as possible, I will put this bill on the floor quickly so the Senate can move quickly to make gun safety reform a reality,” Schumer said in a floor speech the day after the bipartisan framework was introduced on June 12.

The bill marks a step forward in advancing that agreement, which was supported by 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans, enough to overcome a filibuster. That framework had outlined plans for a law that would include expanded background checks for those ages 18-21 as well as funding for school safety and mental health programs, funds to incentivize violence prevention programs in states and the closure of the so-called “boyfriend loophole” regarding which convicted domestic abusers can possess firearms.

If the draft text becomes law, it will be the first major gun legislation in nearly 30 years. But the Senate will need to work quickly if lawmakers want to see a floor vote before they depart for a two-week recess at the end of the week. Waiting until the end of that recess could prove a serious blow to the bill’s momentum, given resistance in some conservative circles.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

3 hospitalized after plane lands and catches fire in Miami

June 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(MIAMI) — Three people were hospitalized Tuesday after a Red Air plane landed at Miami International Airport and caught on fire.

There were 126 people on the flight that landed from Santo Domingo at 5:30 p.m., the Miami Dade Aviation Department told ABC News.

The fire is extinguished and the passengers will be bussed to the terminal, Greg Chin, communications director, said.

The three people were transported to area hospitals due to the incident, according to Chin.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

ABC News’ Joshua Hoyos and Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.

2nd American confirmed dead in Ukraine

June 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — U.S. citizen Stephen Zabielski has died in Ukraine, the State Department confirmed to ABC News Tuesday morning.

Zabielski was a 52-year-old U.S. Army veteran. His death was first reported by Rolling Stone.

According to an obituary posted online by his family, Zabielski died on May 15 while fighting near a village called Dorozhniank.

“We can confirm the death of U.S. citizen Stephen Zabielski in Ukraine. We have been in touch with the family and have provided all possible consular assistance,” a state department spokesperson told ABC News.

The State Department also said U.S. citizens should not travel to Ukraine because of the ongoing war and due to Russian government security officials singling out U.S. citizens in Ukraine.

Americans in Ukraine should depart immediately if safe to do so, the State Department said.

Willy Joseph Cancel, a 22-year-old former U.S. Marine, was killed in Ukraine in April while fighting aside Ukrainian forces. He was the first American to be reported killed in Ukraine.

Two U.S. citizens have been reportedly captured by Russian soldiers in the conflict zone in Donbas. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he did not know their whereabouts, in a press briefing.

Peskov said they were mercenaries who made attempts on the lives of Russian service members. They are charged with mercenary practices, he said.

“The Geneva Convention absolutely does not apply to them. Their crimes must be investigated, and they must stand trial,” Peskov said. As to whether the two Americans were facing the death penalty, Peskov said, “Yes, we do not rule out anything, because this is a decision to be made by a court, we never comment and, above all, have no right to intervene in court rulings.”

Fisherman hero hailed after saving 3 people, 2 dogs from yacht fire

June 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW CASTLE, N.H.) — A New Hampshire lobster fisherman saved three people and two dogs from a burning yacht near New Castle on Saturday.

An investigation is currently underway into what caused the 70-foot yacht to burn and eventually sink, authorities said.

“We don’t know what caused the fire and we probably never will because the boat burned down to the waterline and there is nothing left of the boat,” Sgt. Steve O’Conner of the New Hampshire State Police Marine Patrol told WMUR-ABC.

Tom Hadley, from Hollis, New Hampshire, said he had noticed a bit of smoke coming from a yacht he had passed on his small fishing boat, and decided to turn around to offer his help.

The yacht, at the mouth of Little Harbor on the Piscataqua River, had burst into flames by the time Hadley came back to it. He told WMUR that he could see three people and two dogs standing on a platform in the stern of their boat.

Hadley said that they were holding pool noodles, so he yelled for them to jump into the water and then dumped his own lobster traps into the harbor to make room for the rescues.

“At first I hauled a lady on board and then we put the two dogs on board” Hadley told WMUR. “And then a younger man was half in, I hauled him over the side.”

Hadley said he then saw a small fishing boat which he called over to help a third man who was clinging to the side as the heat coming from the boat increased.

“If there were an explosion the thought of being showered with burning fiberglass was not too appealing,” Hadley said.

The three individuals were taken to the dock of the Wentworth Marina before being brought to Portsmouth Hospital, where they were treated, released and reunited with their dogs.

New Hampshire State Police reported that the two dogs were safe and unharmed.

A statement from the New Castle Fire Department only reported one minor injury among the three escaping the fire.

“If you ever think somebody is in distress out there, it doesn’t hurt to cruise on over and check it out to make sure that they’re OK,” Hadley said.

The New Hampshire State Police received a 911 call about the boat fire just after 4 p.m., and was on site within minutes, according to a statement from the department.

According to police, the yacht, “Elusive”, was headed toward the Wentworth Marina went one of the passengers noticed smoke below deck. The three passengers reported to police that the smoke had completely filled the boat within minutes.

Jarrod Tubbs, 33, of Jupiter, Florida, Kitt Watson, 67, and Diane Watson, 57, both of New Canaan, Connecticut — a couple and their first mate — lived on the yacht. As the boat has been completely lost, so have all of their belongings.

“This was just arms are open, come on board, get warm, we’re going to take care of you and it really restored my faith in humanity,” Kitt Watson told WMUR-ABC.

Marine Patrol, New Hampshire fire departments from Newington and Rye, the Kittery Harbormaster, and the Salisbury Fire Department from Massachusetts, assisted at the scene, state police said.

The tide pushed the burning yacht away from the coast, and after efforts by several agencies were unsuccessful, it sank in approximately 75-feet deep water, state police said. Within two hours of the initial 911 call, the boat had been submerged and will not be recovered.

The U.S. Coast Guard and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Protection have been monitoring for any excess oil spillage from the sunken yacht.

A spokesperson for the New Hampsire Department of Environmental Protection told ABC News that a sheen of diesel fuel was seen as a result of the incident, but that crews are not aware of any shoreline impacts.

Iranian officers’ mysterious deaths probed amid rising tensions with Israel

June 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Researchers and military figures associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, its nuclear program and its missile-development industry have either died after a series of “mysterious” incidents or were killed in planned assassinations over the past few weeks, according to the country’s local media.

Some officials in Iran and other experts said they believe that the deaths — which are happening amid increasing international tensions over Iran’s nuclear and missile programs — could be linked.

A commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said on Monday that the death of one of the “employees” at the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran was due to “industrial sabotage.”

General Mohammad Reza Hasani-Ahangar, commander of the IRGC-affiliate military university of Imam Hussein, was referring to a May 26 explosion at the facility, in which Ehsan Qadbeigi, an engineer working at one of the research units, was killed. Parchin houses several industrial and research units.

On June 12, Ali Kamani, a junior officer of the IRGC Aerospace Force, died in a car accident in Khomein, a town in central Iran, according to a provincial IRGC statement.

The statement offered condolences to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and tagged Kamani as a “martyr” who worked for the aerospace force of the IRGC.

Within a few hours of that announcement, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported the death of another officer of the aerospace force, Mohammad Abdoos, who was “martyred” while on a “mission” in Semnan, a northern province and home to a space launch center.

Abdoos was also named a “martyr” in the report from Fars News, which is known to be close to the IRGC. The report did not provide an explanation for how he died.

“I think [this series of deaths] can indeed be linked, especially in the case of two deaths on the same day,” Farzin Nadimi, an associate fellow with The Washington Institute, told ABC News. He specializes in security and defense in Iran and the Gulf region.

Explaining the sensitivity of the IRGC units where Kamani used to serve, Nadimi said that the IRGC’s Aerospace Force “operates both ballistic missiles and suicide and armed drones, at what appears to be a logistical base in central Iran which might have been involved in the IRGC’s logistical air bridge to Lebanese Hezbollah.”

Abdoos used to work at the Aerospace Organization of Iran’s Ministry of Defense, which works on the design and development of ballistic and cruise missiles.

“There are a large number of missile development and test centers in Semnan, where he reportedly died ‘in the line of duty,'” Nadimi said.

The two incidents followed another mysterious death of an aerospace engineer. Ayoob Entezari died after allegedly being poisoned, his relatives said, claiming that he had received death threats before he passed away.

Iranian judicial authorities, however, said he had not been a scientist but an ordinary employee of an industrial company and had passed away in a hospital after being sick.

The deaths of the aerospace-related officers happened a few weeks after two other mysterious deaths.

Colonel Ali Esmailzadeh, a commander of the notorious Quds Force, IRGC’s external operations unit, died on May 30 after falling from the roof of his home in Karaj, west of Tehran, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Esmailzadeh was a colleague of Colonel Hassan Sayyad-Khodaei, who was shot dead in his car outside his home in Tehran in broad daylight on May 22.

General Hossein Salami, IRGC’s commander-in-chief, appeared to say that the U.S. and Israel are responsible for Sayyed-Khodaei’s killing, adding that Tehran would get revenge.

“The enemy, from the heart of the White House and Tel Aviv, followed him for months and years, door-to-door and alley-to-alley to kill him… God willing we will take revenge,” he said.

“If those deaths are indeed linked, and of ‘unnatural’ causes, Israel’s Mossad could be one of the main suspects,” Nadimi said.

Nadimi added that “we cannot say anything with total certainty” about who was involved, “as the nature of such works is.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

Iran embarked on expanded drone operations against Israel beginning in February 2018 when the Islamic Republic launched a drone from Syria. It tried again in 2021, launching two drones from Iraq earlier in the year.

According to The Jerusalem Post, Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz has discussed drone threats from Iran many times over the last year. That report detailed how Iran has been training drone operators from the region.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday warned Iranian proxies that they would pay if they participate in Iran’s plots.

“We are currently witnessing Iranian attempts to attack Israelis in various overseas locations,” Bennet said at his weekly cabinet meeting. “The security services are working to thwart attempted attacks before they are launched. We will continue to strike those who send the terrorists. Our new rule is: Whoever sends — pays.”

The deaths came amid attempts by international officials to save the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, between Iran and world powers.

With the negotiations stalled, Iran’s nuclear capabilities, including its uranium enrichment level, signal the country is the closest its ever been to making a nuclear weapon, experts warn.

Iran’s “stockpile of uranium is now enriched to 60%, close to the roughly 90% weapons — and in a form that can be enriched further,” the International Atomic Energy Agency told ABC News in late May. “It grew from 9.9 kg to 43.1 kg. This number is approximate amount for manufacturing a nuclear explosive device. This possibility cannot be excluded.”

Israel opposes the JCPOA and the negotiations to restore it, saying it is “giving in to Iran’s nuclear blackmail.”

“Iran won’t just keep its nuclear program; from today, they’ll be getting paid for it,” Bennett said in an official message in November, amid talks to resume the deal.

The Islamic Republic, which is under tough economic sanctions, said it is still interested in pursuing talks.

“Iran won’t distance itself from result-oriented talks,” Iran Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Twitter on Friday.

Calling on the U.S. “to be realistic” and to “abandon sanctions lunacy,” Amirabdollahian invited the IAEA to focus on “technical duties” instead of adopting a “politicized approach.”

Tehran accused the IAEA of politicizing its nuclear case and referencing “fake documents” in the verification process of its nuclear program, including what Israel provides to the agency.

Israel has openly boasted about its intelligence operation’s influence on Iran’s nuclear program.

Bennet on May 31 uploaded an extensive stock of secret documents of Iran’s nuclear program and shared the link with public access via his Twitter account, saying, “We got our hands on Iran’s deception plan.”

U.S. Department of State spokesperson Ned Price declined to comment June 16 about the possibility of the Iranian deaths being linked. He highlighted the White House’s commitment to its allies, saying, “Iran will never be able to acquire a nuclear weapon.”

Tel Aviv has announced that it has embarked on a new policy described as “a turning point in the Israeli strategy vis-à-vis Iran,” which it’s dubbed the “Octopus Doctrine.”

“In the past year, the State of Israel has taken action against the head of the terrorist octopus and not just against the arms as was done in previous decades,” Bennett said earlier this month. “The days of immunity, in which Iran attacks Israel and spreads terrorism via its regional proxies but remains unscathed — are over.”

Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi made it clear that Iran is determined to take revenge for the recent deaths.

“I have no doubt that revenge against the criminals for the blood of this martyr is assured,” Raisi said a day after the death of Colonel Sayyad-Khodaei.

The “Iranian regime and especially the IRGC are certainly conducting a major counterintelligence house sweep right now to identify and get rid of any foreign spy,” Nadimi said, emphasizing that “those deaths will not have any effect on Iran’s nuclear or regional policies.”

Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Monday urged citizens in Turkey to leave “as soon as possible” over threats that Iranian operatives are actively planning attacks on Israelis in Istanbul.

“Following the events of recent weeks in Turkey and after a series of attempts at Iranian terrorist attacks against Israelis who went on vacation in Istanbul, we call on Israelis not to fly to Istanbul and if you have no vital need do not fly to Turkey,” Lapid said on Twitter.

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