Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court on August 13, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A judge in New York has set a tentative date of March 3 for Harvey Weinstein’s re-trial on a charge of raping Jessica Mann.
A defense lawyer said Thursday that Weinstein would consider pleading guilty to the charge — third-degree rape — however, Weinstein made a statement in court insisting that he has never attacked anyone.
If Weinstein ultimately stands trial again, it would be the third time he goes on trial in Manhattan. His initial conviction was overturned on appeal. His second trial ended in a conviction on the Mimi Haley count, an acquittal on the Kaja Sokola count and a mistrial on the Mann count.
Earlier on Thursday, Judge Curtis Faber rejected Weinstein’s bid for a new trial in Haley’s case, ruling juror complaints about decorum in the deliberation room were adequately addressed.
The defense had argued two jurors subsequently claimed they were pressured to convict, but Farber said Thursday, “The Court’s response to the jurors’ complaints appropriately balanced the competing interests of investigating the allegations while avoiding any unnecessary taint of the deliberating jury.”
Weinstein, 73, remains in custody at Rikers Island in New York City after nearly six years of confinement. A representative for the disgraced Hollywood producer said he is “medically fragile and in legal limbo.”
A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24,2022 during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on January 05, 2026 in Uvalde, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) — Editor’s note: Some of the testimony described below may be distressing to some readers.
Robb Elementary School’s former afterschool coordinator, Emilia “Amy” Marin-Franco, held back tears and visibly shook in her seat when she testified on Thursday in the trial of former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales.
Gonzales, who was one of nearly 400 law enforcement officers to respond to the Robb Elementary School mass shooting, is charged with child endangerment for allegedly ignoring his training during the botched police response. Nineteen students and two teachers were killed, and investigations have faulted the police response and suggested that a 77-minute delay in police mounting a counterassault could have contributed to the carnage.
Gonzales has pleaded not guilty and his legal team says he did all he could to help students.
Marin testified that on May 24, 2022, she saw a man crash his truck near the school. She was one of the first people to call 911 — first to report the crash, and then realized he was armed and heading to the school.
Jurors heard her 911 call, in which Marin simultaneously tried to get police to respond while encouraging students to hide.
“There is a guy with a gun. … Oh my god. I think he came on campus now,” she told a dispatcher, while telling students, “Come on guys, hurry.”
In deeply emotional testimony, she told the jury, “I kept asking the operator, ‘Where are the cops? Where are the cops?’ And I tell her, ‘There are kids running everywhere.'”
Marin told jurors that she feared for her and her students’ lives as she sheltered in a classroom and heard countless gunshots.
“They were like, nonstop,” she said. “I thought, ‘He’s going to kill me, he’s going to kill me, he’s going to kill me. I’m going to die, I’m going to die.'”
She testified that she tried to come up with a plan to disarm the shooter if he were to find her.
“I’m looking at the floor and I’m thinking, ‘I’ll tackle him from his ankles and knock him down with my shoulder. Get up on the counter, when he comes in, jump on his back, poke his eyes out, take his gun away from him,'” she said.
A prosecutor tried to ask Marin to describe what that moment was like.
“The feeling of that type of fear is something that only someone can understand who’s been through a mass shooting,” she said. “You won’t understand if you haven’t experienced it and I don’t wish it on anybody.”
“Is it an ugly feeling?” the prosecutor asked.
“It haunts me to this day,” she said.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Marin was falsely accused of leaving a door open that allowed the shooter to enter. She testified about removing a rock that was briefly used to prop the door open. During a brief cross-examination, defense attorneys used the testimony to highlight how Robb Elementary had issues with doors remaining unlocked.
Earlier on Thursday, Judge Sid Harle sided with defense lawyers and instructed jurors to completely disregard the testimony of former teacher Stephanie Hale, who was a key prosecution witness.
Hale returned to the stand for an hour Thursday morning in an effort to salvage her testimony, but defense lawyers ultimately argued that allowing her testimony to stand would endanger Gonzales’ right to a fair trial.
“There’s no doubt that this was crucial to the [defense] strategy,” Harle said. “I don’t think I have any choice, having denied the mistrial — other than to craft a remedy that will protect the due process rights and hopefully avoid any appellate review that would result in this case being reversed — so I am reluctantly going to instruct the jury to disregard her testimony in its entirety.”
Before instructing the jury, the judge personally thanked Hale for her testimony and emphasized that she was not at fault.
“I want to emphasize that you did absolutely nothing wrong. It’s not on you,” the judge said. “I want to tell you, just from personal experience, memories of traumatic events change.”
When Hale was on the stand Thursday, defense attorney Jason Goss attempted to point out that her original account — provided to state investigators four days after the 2022 shooting — differed from what she told the jury on Tuesday.
Hale testified that she saw the shooter near the south side of Robb Elementary and saw him firing toward her and her students. Defense lawyers alleged she never gave that information to state investigators.
“Seeing a shooter, and being shot at, are important details, you would agree with that?” Goss said.
“It depends on who you are,” she responded. “I don’t know. I guess possibly.”
Goss pointed out inconsistencies in her description of events over the last three years, such as how she learned about the shooter and his location.
“I’m not very good with directions,” Hale remarked about the location of the shooter.
During re-direct examination, Hale clarified that she told the grand jury about seeing clouds of dust near the playground, which suggested to her that she and her students were being shot at. She acknowledged, however, that she did not initially see the shooter with her own eyes.
Hale told defense lawyers that it was “kind of implied” that she saw the shooter based on her comments about seeing the dust clouds.
People tend to a memorial for Renee Nicole Good near the site of her shooting on January 8, 2026 in Minneapolis. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
(MINNEAPOLIS) — Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother and Minneapolis resident, has been identified by officials as the woman fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
Videos of the incident where Good is seen in her maroon Honda SUV as ICE agents confronted her have gone viral and sparked outcry from people around the country who say that Good was unnecessarily killed.
According to Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, Good was allegedly “attempting to run over our law enforcement officers” with her car when an ICE officer fatally shot her.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have disputed the federal government’s claims surrounding what led up to the shooting, saying video of the incident shows the agent’s actions were not self-defense.
Information about Good, along with messages of sympathy, has been pouring out since the shooting.
Good was a 2020 graduate from Old Dominion University in Virginia, according to the school’s president, Brian Hemphill, who said it is “with great sadness that Old Dominion University mourns the loss of one of our own.”
She graduated from the College of Arts and Letters with a degree in English, according to Hemphill.
“May Renee’s life be a reminder of what unites us: freedom, love, and peace,” he said in a statement. “My hope is for compassion, healing, and reflection at a time that is becoming one of the darkest and most uncertain periods in our nation’s history.”
Gov. Tim Walz said that Good is survived by a 6-year-old child and a wife, saying he offers his “deepest sympathies” to her family “on an unimaginable tragedy.”
Good was also the mother of two other children, but a relative told the Minneapolis Star Tribune they believed the kids “lived with her extended family.”
DHS, along with President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, has called the agent’s actions “self-defense” and said he followed ICE training.
Noem said during a press conference on Wednesday that Good was using her car as a “deadly weapon” and said it was an “act of domestic terrorism.”
Minneapolis police said preliminary information indicates that she was in her car and blocking the road.
“At some point, a federal law enforcement officer approached her on foot, and the vehicle began to drive off,” police said. “At least two shots were fired … the vehicle then crashed on the side of the roadway.”
“There is nothing to indicate that this woman was the target of any law enforcement investigation or activity,” police added.
Good had gunshot wounds to the head and was transported to an area hospital, where she died, according to city officials.
Following the shooting, a large crowd gathered in the area, which is less than a mile from where George Floyd was killed in May 2020.
Gov. Walz said he has issued a “warning order” to prepare the Minnesota National Guard, saying there are soldiers in training and prepared to be deployed “if necessary,” while urging “peaceful resistance.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) speaks as U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) looks on during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on January 08, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Ahead of Thursday’s vote on a three-year extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, Democrats are boasting that several Republicans are expected to defy their leadership team.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries expressed pride in the “bipartisan coalition” created ahead of Thursday’s vote on a three-year extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies after nine Republicans crossed the aisle Wednesday night to set up passage in the House.
“I hope today there will be more Republicans joining this leader,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, gesturing towards Jeffries at a news conference Thursday.
Jeffries called the vote “an opportunity to take a meaningful step forward to lower the high cost of living for everyday Americans, particularly as it relates to health care, but it’s a battle that we will continue to wage on behalf of the American people.”
Wednesday’s procedural vote passed by a 221-205 margin. Nine Republicans — Reps. Mike Lawler and Nick LaLota of New York, Rob Bresnahan, Ryan Mackenzie and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Maria Salazar of Florida, David Valadao of California, Thomas Kean of New Jersey, and Max Miller of Ohio — voted with Democrats to pass it.
The subsidies, which expired at the end of 2025, were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic to increase the amount of financial assistance to those who were already eligible and to expand eligibility to more people.
A tangible path forward that sends legislation through Senate to the Resolute Desk to address the expired subsidies remains in question.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that there’s “no appetite” in the upper chamber for an extension and pointed instead to ongoing bipartisan talks between senators and House members.
“We’ve had that vote, as you know, already,” Thune said. “But we’ll see what happens from the working group, and if they can come up with something that has reforms. And we’ll go from there.
The Senate last month rejected a three-year extension of the subsidies when the measure fell short of the 60-vote threshold, though four Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska — all crossed the aisle in support of the measure.
An estimated 22 million of the 24 million ACA marketplace enrollees are currently receiving enhanced premium tax credits to lower their monthly premiums, and many are seeing their premiums soar in 2026.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would increase the federal deficit by about $80.6 billion over the next decade.
If the measure is enacted, the number of people with health insurance would increase by 100,000 people in 2026, 3 million in 2027, 4 million in 2028 and 1.1 million in 2029, relative to current law, the CBO reported.
According to the CBO, the 4 million increase in 2028 would result from changes in several types of coverage: 6.2 million more people would be enrolled through ACA health insurance marketplaces; 400,000 million more people enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program; 500,000 fewer people would purchase nongroup coverage outside the marketplaces; and 2.1 million fewer people would have employment-based coverage.
President Donald Trump has publicly expressed his opposition to extending the enhanced subsidies.
“I’d like not to be able to do it. I’d like to see us get right into this. I don’t know why we have to extend — this can be done rapidly if the Democrats would come along,” Trump said on Dec. 18 in the Oval Office.
After Speaker Mike Johnson resisted pressure to allow a vote on the subsidies late last year, a quartet of House Republicans — Fitzpatrick, Lawler, Bresnahan and Mackenzie — banded together before the holiday break and signed on to a Democratic discharge petition to force a vote on an ACA extension, much to the chagrin of GOP leaders.
ABC News’ Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
A gas pump is seen in a vehicle on November 26, 2025 in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump has repeatedly touted the opportunity for U.S. companies to extract and sell oil from Venezuela, which holds the largest oil reserves in the world.
“We’re going to be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground,” Trump said on Saturday, just hours after a U.S. military attack removed Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro.
Venezuelan oil, however, will likely provide little relief for gas prices paid by Americans over the coming months, analysts told ABC News. They cited the relatively small amount of oil at stake in the near term and the glut of crude already flooding global markets.
A more substantial amount of oil could be accessed over the coming years, leading to a potentially noticeable decline in prices at the pump, they added. But that outcome remains uncertain, since oil companies face significant political and logistical hurdles in Venezuela, while wider market conditions could shift in the meantime.
“I would not expect to see a sharp drop because of this event,” Richard Joswick, head of near-term oil analysis at S&P Global Commodity Insights, told ABC News.
Oil executives are set to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday to discuss investments in Venezuela, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
Venezuela boasts the biggest proven oil reserve of any country, amounting to roughly 303 billion barrels or about 17% of the world’s reserves, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA, a federal agency.
For decades, however, the nation has struggled to match those holdings with similarly stratospheric output due to lackluster infrastructure and government mismanagement.
Venezuela exported about 749,000 barrels per day last year, totaling less than 1% of global supply, according to data and analytics company Kpler.
In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump said Venezuela would hand over 30 to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S., which in turn would sell them at their market price. The resulting funds — as much as $2.8 billion at current prices — will “benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States,” Trump said.
Trump has not provided details about the timing of such sales.
The plan proposed Tuesday would likely have little or no effect on U.S. gasoline prices, analysts told ABC News. The amount of oil stipulated by Trump is relatively small, making up the equivalent of between one-third and half of the oil consumed worldwide in a single day, according to data compiled by the EIA.
“Short term, I don’t think we’ll see much of an impact,” Tucker Balch, a finance professor at Emory University, told ABC News. “It’s not a lot of oil right now.”
Even more, oil prices are hovering near their lowest levels since 2021, meaning it will prove difficult to bring prices down further anytime soon, analysts added. Low oil prices stem from a glut of oil alongside relatively slow global economic growth, which has constricted demand for fossil fuels.
“There’s an oversupply and weak demand. More crude won’t make a big difference in the overall price,” Ramanan Krishnamoorti, a professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Houston, told ABC News.
After the military operation, Trump outlined a long-term role for U.S. oil companies in Venezuela, saying the firms would spend money to improve the nation’s infrastructure and output.
“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies — the biggest anywhere in the world — go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure,” Trump said during a press conference on Saturday at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida.
A U.S.-led effort to extract and sell the massive Venezuelan oil reserves could inject a substantial amount of oil into global markets and noticeably reduce gasoline prices, some analysts said.
Venezuelan oil production topped out at 3.5 million barrels per day in the 1990s, Kpler said. A return to that output would amount to about 4% of global oil supply, S&P’s Joswick, adding that the influx could push down gasoline prices.
“Prices are set on the margin and small imbalances in volume can lead to large shifts in prices,” Joswick said.
A long-term venture would encounter challenges, however, some analysts said.
The infrastructure necessary to ramp up oil production would require tens of billions of dollars of investment over several years, while oil companies involved in the effort would face political risks, according to analysts.
Chevron is currently the only U.S. oil firm operating in Venezuela, as part of a joint venture with the country’s state-owned oil outfit.
ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips stopped doing business in Venezuela in 2007, after former President Hugo Chavez nationalized the sector. Citing the unlawful seizure of assets belonging to the two oil giants, the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment ordered Venezuela to pay the firms billions of dollars. Venezuela has only paid a small share of the debt it owes to ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips.
The policy approach in Venezuela is uncertain over the coming years, while the same goes for the U.S. as a presidential election approaches in 2028, Krishnamoorti said.
“It’s unlikely the oil companies are going to take the bait to go after some significantly difficult oil to produce in a very uncertain U.S. policy and global policy situation,” Krishnamoorti added.
Joswick noted, however, that possible success in accessing Venezuelan oil over the next few years could be a “big incentive for the continuation of similar policies.”
While touting potential U.S. oil interests in Venezuela, the Trump administration has described the operation as a law enforcement function rather than a military attack.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are among six defendants named in a four-count superseding indictment that accused them of conspiring with violent, dangerous drug traffickers for the last 25 years. Maduro was indicted on related charges in 2020. He has long denied all the allegations, and he pleaded not guilty on Monday. Flores also pleaded not guilty.
So far, the major oil firms have yet to speak publicly about Trump’s plans.
In a previous statement to ABC News, ConocoPhillips said the firm is keeping tabs on the ongoing situation.
“ConocoPhillips is monitoring developments in Venezuela and their potential implications for global energy supply and stability. It would be premature to speculate on any future business activities or investments,” the company said.
Chevron said it continues to focus on its current operations.
“Chevron remains focused on the safety and wellbeing of our employees, as well as the integrity of our assets. We continue to operate in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations,” it said in a statement.
ExxonMobil did not respond to a request for comment.
New York Attorney General Letitia James stands silently during a press conference at the office of the Attorney General, on Dec. 15, 2025, in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images, FILE)
(NEW YORK) — Subpoenas issued to New York Attorney General Letitia James as part of a civil rights investigation into her fraud case against Donald Trump are invalid because the U.S. attorney in Albany who issued them lacked lawful authority, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
“The subpoenas are unenforceable due to a threshold defect,” U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield determined, writing that John Sarcone “was not lawfully serving as Acting U.S. Attorney when the subpoenas were issued.”
Sarcone’s appointment bypassed the requirements that govern who can exercise the power of a U.S. attorney, the judge said, similar to the way a judge ruled in November that Lindsey Halligan lacked the authority to bring charges against James and former FBI Director James Comey in Virginia.
Sarcone, like Halligan, was neither Senate confirmed nor appointed by the federal judiciary in the Northern District of New York.
Sarcone issued subpoenas to James as part of an investigation into whether she violated President Trump’s civil rights when she sued him over a decade’s worth of alleged business fraud.
Trump was found liable in 2024 for overstating his net worth, resulting in banks and insurance companies giving him more favorable terms. The half billion-dollar judgment was subsequently thrown out on appeal and is currently before the state’s highest court, though the finding stands.
James argued that Sarcone’s subpoenas were issued as an act of retaliation, but Judge Schofield said she did not need to address that at this stage because her ruling tossed out the subpoenas due to the faulty “workaround” Trump used to try to give Sarcone authority he did not have.
“Since August 2025, courts in New Jersey, Nevada and California have held that similarly installed acting U.S. Attorneys lacked lawful authority,” Schofield said, referencing, among other examples, Trump’s unsuccessful attempt to install his former personal attorney Alina Habba as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey.
“This decision is an important win for the rule of law and we will continue to defend our office’s successful litigation from this administration’s political attacks,” a spokesman for James said Thursday.
Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, following an all-Senate briefing on Venezuela at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — In a rare rebuke to the Trump administration, the Senate on Thursday advanced a war powers resolution that would block the president’s use of the U.S. armed forces to engage in hostilities within or against Venezuela unless authorized by Congress.
A small group of Senate Republicans joined with all Democrats to narrowly advance the resolution by a vote of 52-47. It needed 51 votes to move forward.
The legislation, if ultimately approved by the Senate, would still need to be approved by the House and signed by the president. The bill did not pass the Senate with a veto-proof majority and it is unlikely that Trump would sign it into law. In order to override a presidential veto, Congress would need the support of two-thirds of the House and the Senate.
Republican Sens. Rand Paul, Lisa Murkowski, Todd Young, Susan Collins and Josh Hawley voted with all Democrats in favor of the legislation.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, pushed for the resolution to receive a vote immediately after President Donald Trump announced U.S. forces carried out a large-scale attack in Venezuela, capturing dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife, who are facing federal charges including narcoterrorism conspiracy and conspiracy to import cocaine. Both Maduro and his wife entered not guilty pleas earlier this week.
“Where will this go next? Will the President deploy our troops to protect Iranian protesters? To enforce the fragile ceasefire in Gaza? To battle terrorists in Nigeria? To seize Greenland or the Panama Canal? To suppress Americans peacefully assembling to protest his policies? Trump has threatened to do all this and more and sees no need to seek legal authorization from people’s elected legislature before putting servicemembers at risk,” Kaine said in a statement on Jan. 3.
Kaine added it was “long past time for Congress to reassert its critical constitutional role in matters of war, peace, diplomacy and trade.”
The White House “strongly” opposes the war powers resolution, according to a new memo from the Office of Management and Budget obtained by ABC News on Thursday.
“Maduro’s crimes and other hostile actions have resulted in a predatory incursion into the United States, the destabilization of the Western Hemisphere, massive death and human suffering, and a substantial and ongoing danger posed to our Nation,” the memo reads.
The memo stated that if the resolution is presented to the president, “his advisors would recommend that he veto” it.
After the vote, Trump called out the GOP senators who voted for the resolution, saying in a social media post that they “should be ashamed” and “never be elected to office again.”
“This Vote greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security, impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief,” Trump posted.
The Constitution vests Congress with the authority to declare war while making the president the commander in chief of the military. Trump’s action in Venezuela follows a decadeslong pattern of presidents occasionally taking military action without congressional approval.
The Trump administration described the strike in Venezuela as a law enforcement operation facilitated by the military, and Trump has said the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela but the U.S. will “run” the country for an unspecified period of time.
Some of the Republicans who voted in favor of the resolution on Thursday said that while they were supportive of Trump’s initial action against Maduro, they do not support moving forward with additional action in the country without congressional approval.
“With Maduro rightfully captured, the circumstances have now changed. While I support the operation to seize Nicolas Maduro, which was extraordinary in its precision and complexity, I do not support committing additional U.S. forces or entering into any long-term military involvement in Venezuela or Greenland without specific congressional authorization,” Collins said in a statement explaining her support for the measure.
Ahead of the vote, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso urged senators to reject the resolution.
“Let’s be clear about what that resolution does and what it does not do. It does not reassert Congress’s powers. It does not make America stronger. It makes America weaker and less safe,” Barrasso said in a statement on Wednesday.
“It would weaken the President’s legitimate, constitutional authority. This body, the United States Senate, is being asked whether the President of the United States has the authority to arrest indicted criminals. Of course he does. Democrats want to weaken the President’s ability to enforce the law. That is the wrong message to send to hardened drug traffickers and to dictators,” Barrasso added.
Cal Fire Firefighters do a prescribed burn ahead of oncoming new wildfire called ‘Hughes Fire’ as it tore through northern Los Angeles County, burning over 9,000 acres just hours after it was first reported in California, United States on January 22, 2025. Jon Putman/Anadolu via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The United States experienced nearly two dozen billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2025, causing at least 276 fatalities and costing a total of $115 billion in damages. For the first time, however, the comprehensive analysis detailing the annual impact of these disasters wasn’t released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Discontinued by the Trump administration in 2025, the Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disaster dataset and accompanying website are now hosted and maintained by Climate Central, a non-profit climate science organization. The group hired Adam Smith, the former lead scientist for NOAA’s U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters program, to continue his work at Climate Central.
Last year, there were 23 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters, the third-highest annual total on record, behind 2023 and 2024, according to the new report released Thursday by Climate Central. The past year was also the 15th straight year with 10 or more billion-dollar disasters.
The costliest event of 2025 was the devastating Los Angeles wildfires in January, which caused more than $61 billion in damage, according to the analysis. Severe weather events, including severe thunderstorms and tornado outbreaks, accounted for 91% of all billion-dollar disasters last year, the analysis showed.
A record-breaking 28 billion-dollar disasters occurred in 2023, according to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. Extreme weather events, which ranged from severe thunderstorms to hurricanes to wildfires, killed at least 492 people and impacted large swaths of the country.
With data going back to 1980, the Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disaster database is a public record of every significant U.S. weather and climate event that has caused at least $1 billion in damages, adjusted for inflation. Government agencies, insurers, and media outlets frequently rely on the database to report the economic impact of these disasters.
However, last May, NOAA announced that it was retiring the resource, stating there would be no updates beyond calendar year 2024. While all past reports, spanning 1980-2024, will remain accessible on the agency’s website, they will no longer be updated and no new events will be added moving forward. NOAA said that the decision to “retire” the billion-dollar weather and climate disaster product was “in alignment with evolving priorities, statutory mandates, and staffing changes.”
There have been 426 billion-dollar disasters recorded in the United States since 1980, with a total cost exceeding $3.1 trillion, according to Climate Central. The frequency of billion-dollar disasters has increased dramatically since the early 1980s, driven by rising extreme weather events and the growing number of people, homes and businesses in harm’s way.
While climate change may not be directly responsible for causing these disasters, human-amplified climate change is making naturally occurring events more intense and more impactful.
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses a House Republican retreat at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on January 06, 2026 in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty Images
(MINNEAPOLIS) — President Donald Trump said the 37-year-old woman who was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday was at fault because she tried to “run over” the officer, according to an interview with The New York Times published on Thursday.
“I want to see nobody get shot. I want to see nobody screaming and trying to run over policemen either,” Trump told the publication, calling it a “vicious situation.”
State and local officials have pushed back on the assertions from the White House and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey calling the claims about the driver “b——-” and telling ICE to “get the f— out” and Gov. Tim Walz calling it “propaganda.”
The fatal shooting was captured on video by bystanders. In the video, which ABC News has verified, the driver, who was identified by city council members as Renee Nicole Good, is driving her SUV on a road near ICE officers. As one officer reaches for the SUV’s door handle, the vehicle lurches backward and then begins moving forward, rightward, seemingly away from the officers. One of the officers can be seen firing into the moving vehicle.
Protesters gathered on the city’s streets on Wednesday. And the FBI said in a statement, “Consistent with our investigative protocol, the incident is under review, and we are working closely with our law enforcement partners.”
Noem on Wednesday described the driver’s actions as an “act of domestic terrorism,” saying that an “anti-ICE rioter weaponized her vehicle against law enforcement.”
“An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots,” Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary of Homeland Security, said in a statement posted on social media.
State officials on Wednesday pushed back on such characterizations. The state’s attorney general, Keith Elllison, said in a statement that he was “heartbroken” over the shooting, but was also “angry. Very angry.” He accused the Trump administration of “weaponizing the federal government against the people of Minnesota.”
The death amounted to a “policy failure,” Ellison told ABC News in an interview, adding that there would be “an analysis on the use of force here.” Ellison said that the blame appeared to lie in part with Trump, who authorized the deployment, adding, “That’s not to take responsibility from the officer who used deadly force in a situation that does not appear to call for it.”
Walz said on social media, “I’ve seen the video. Don’t believe this propaganda machine. The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.”
Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson said Wednesday that the department’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is working in conjunction with the FBI to investigate the shooting.
The FBI said in a statement on Wednesday, “Consistent with our investigative protocol, the incident is under review, and we are working closely with our law enforcement partners.”
Officials have not released the name of the officer who opened fire.
Trump on Wednesday had said the officer acted in “self defense.”
“The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense,” he said in a post on social media.
When Trump was pressed by the Times on how he drew his conclusions about the incident, the president reportedly had an aide play a video clip from a laptop to reinforce his point.
Asked if he believed firing into a vehicle similar to Wednesday’s shooting is acceptable, Trump reportedly stuck to his position, saying of Good that she “behaved horribly.”
“And then she ran him over. She didn’t try to run him over,” Trump said, according to the repot.
Before playing the clip to the Times reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said, “With all of it being said, no, I don’t like that happening.”
When reporters told him the clip he was showing did not appear to show an ICE officer was run over, he told them, “it’s a terrible scene.”
“I think it’s horrible to watch,” Trump said. “No, I hate to see it.”
Ellison told ABC News that after he viewed the video, it was “clear to me” that the deadly force came as the driver was attempting to “evade” the officers, including the one who fatally shot her.
“Renee Good deserves justice, and my office will not look away,” Ellison said on social media on Wednesday evening. “As Attorney General, I will do everything in my power to pursue the truth and ensure accountability and transparency.”
A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24,2022 during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on January 05, 2026 in Uvalde, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) — A judge sided with defense lawyers on Thursday and is instructing jurors to completely disregard the testimony of a former teacher who is a key prosecution witness in the trial of former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales.
Former teacher Stephanie Hale returned to the witness stand for an hour on Thursday in an effort to salvage her testimony, but defense lawyers ultimately argued that allowing her testimony to stand would endanger Gonzales’ right to a fair trial.
“There’s no doubt that this was crucial to the [defense] strategy,” Judge Sid Harle said. “I don’t think I have any choice, having denied the mistrial — other than to craft a remedy that will protect the due process rights and hopefully avoid any appellate review that would result in this case being reversed — so I am reluctantly going to instruct the jury to disregard her testimony in its entirety.”
Before instructing the jury, the judge personally thanked Hale for her testimony and emphasized that she was not at fault.
“I want to emphasize that you did absolutely nothing wrong. It’s not on you,” the judge said. “I want to tell you, just from personal experience, memories of traumatic events change.”
When Hale was on the stand Thursday, defense attorney Jason Goss attempted to point out that her original account — provided to state investigators four days after the May 2022 shooting — differed from what she told the jury on Tuesday.
“Seeing a shooter, and being shot at, are important details, you would agree with that?” Goss said.
“It depends on who you are,” she responded. “I don’t know. I guess possibly.”
Gonzales, who was one of nearly 400 law enforcement officers to respond to the Robb Elementary School mass shooting, is charged with 29 counts of child endangerment for allegedly ignoring his training during the botched police response.
Gonzales has pleaded not guilty. His legal team says he did all he could to help students and maintains he’s being scapegoated.
If convicted on all counts, Gonzales could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Nineteen students and two teachers were killed in the shooting. Investigations faulted the police response and suggested that a 77-minute delay in police mounting a counterassault could have contributed to the carnage.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
