Joe Biden is seen at Janssen’s Market, Sept. 7, 2025, in Wilmington, Del. Mega/GC Images/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Joe Biden has completed his current course of radiation therapy, a spokesperson told ABC News on Monday.
It’s unclear at this time if any additional radiation therapy will be needed, the spokesperson added.
A short video of the former president ringing a bell to signify the completion of his course of radiation was posted on Ashley Biden’s Instagram story, with the caption: “Rung the bell! Thank you to the incredible doctors, nurses, and staff at Penn Medicine. We are so grateful!”
It was reported on Oct. 11 that Biden had been undergoing radiation therapy in addition to hormone treatment. A source familiar with his treatment said Biden had begun radiation therapy a few weeks before it was reported.
The former president’s office in May announced his prostate cancer diagnosis, which has spread to his bones, noting that while it was an aggressive form, “the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.”
Later in May, the former president told reporters his treatment was underway.
“It’s all a matter of taking a pill, one particular pill, for the next six weeks and then another one,” Biden said in May.
Pete Kiehart for The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The nomination of Paul Ingrassia, a former far-right podcast host and President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as the lead of the Office of Special Counsel, appears to be in jeopardy with Senate Majority Leader John Thune casting doubt that the embattled nominee will be confirmed.
Ingrassia, whom Trump nominated in May to lead the independent watchdog agency empowered to investigate federal employees and oversee complaints from whistleblowers, has his scheduled confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Thursday. It comes just days after a Politico report alleges Ingrassia sent racist text messages — including reports that he said that the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell” and said he has “a Nazi streak.”
A lawyer for Ingrassia, Edward Paltzik, would not confirm to ABC News that the messages were authentic. He added that even if the texts were authentic, they were “clearly” meant as “self-deprecating and satirical humor” aimed at liberals.
ABC News has not independently verified the messages.
Asked if the White House should pull Ingrassia’s nomination, Thune said, “I hope so.”
“He’s not going to pass,” Thune said Monday.
The White House has not responded to a request for comment on Thune’s comments.
ABC News exclusively reported in February about how Ingrassia, in his role as White House liaison to the Department of Justice, was pushing to hire candidates at the Justice Department who exhibited what he called “exceptional loyalty” to Trump.
His efforts at Justice Department sparked clashes with Attorney General Pam Bondi’s top aide, Chad Mizelle, leading Ingrassia to complain directly to Trump, sources told ABC News.
Ingrassia was pushed out of the Justice Department and reassigned as the White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security, where he was serving prior to Trump announcing his new role, according to a White House official familiar with the matter.
Ingrassia, if he cleared a vote by the Senate Homeland Security Committee, would need 50 votes to be confirmed by the Senate. There’s already a number of senators signaling they won’t support his nomination.
It’s still unclear if Ingrassia would even have the support he needed to pass out of committee to get a vote of the full Senate.
Republican Sen. Rick Scott, who sits on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told reporters Monday that he doesn’t support Ingrassia’s nomination.
Asked point blank if he supports him, Scott gave a curt, “No, I do not.”
Sen. Ron Johnson, another Republican member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also told ABC News he won’t support Ingassia’s nomination.
“I wouldn’t vote for him. His nomination should not have gotten this far. Hopefully it is pulled,” Johnson said.
Johnson declined to provide details on why he wouldn’t vote for Ingrassia.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who chairs the committee, side-stepped directly answering questions about whether Ingrassia would still appear before the panel for confirmation on Thursday.
“You know, we are going to wait and see how things turn out, and we will find out more on Thursday,” Paul said when asked if Ingrassia’s hearing would go forward.
Paul has declined to say whether or not he would support Ingrassia.
Asked Tuesday if he thought the White House should pull Ingrassia’s nomination from consideration, Paul said that was up to the administration to determine.
“That’s going to be their decision,” he said. “We are waiting to find out what their decision will be.”
(NEW YORK) — An upstate New York man who was pardoned by President Donald Trump for his actions at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 allegedly threatened to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York State Police said.
Christopher Moynihan, 34, of Clinton, was arrested Saturday and charged with making a terroristic threat, police said. He is the first pardoned Capitol rioter to be arrested over alleged political violence.
He appeared in the Town of Clinton Court where he was remanded to the Dutchess County Justice and Transition Center in lieu of $10,000 cash bail, police said.
He is scheduled to make his first appearance in Dutchess County State Supreme Court on Thursday. It was not immediately clear whether he had hired a lawyer.
Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement Tuesday that he is “grateful to state and federal law enforcement for their swift and decisive action to apprehend a dangerous individual who made a credible death threat against me with every intention to carry it out.”
Moynihan was convicted of obstructing an official proceeding in 2022 after he broke through a security perimeter and entered the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Prosecutors said he entered the Senate Gallery and paged through a notebook on top of a senator’s desk and took photos with his cellphone. During the riot he said, “There’s got to be something in here we can f—ing use against these —-bags,” according to prosecutors. Court filings from when he was charged included screenshots from a video showing Moynihan in the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Moynihan was sentenced to nearly two years in prison in February 2023 before he and more than 1,500 others who had been convicted or otherwise charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riot received a pardon hours after Trump took office.
U.S. President Donald Trump (R) greets Russian President Vladimir Putin as he arrives at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on August 15, 2025 in Anchorage, Alaska. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — There are no plans for President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet “in the immediate future,” the White House said in a statement on Tuesday — calling off a summit that was expected in Budapest in the coming weeks.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
“Retribution,” a new book by Jonathan Karl. Penguin Random House
(WASHINGTON) — Steve Bannon hasn’t worked in the White House for years, but he played a pivotal, and previously unreported, role in the explosive meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this year that changed the course of U.S. policy toward Ukraine.
The story is first reported in an excerpt in The Atlantic magazine from ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl’s upcoming book, “Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign that Changed America.”
Karl reports on a meeting of Trump’s national security team shortly before Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington in February where Trump stopped the meeting and asked then-national security adviser Michael Waltz to “get Steve Bannon” on the phone.
“Hey, Steve, I’ve got the boys here,” Trump said. “I’m going to put you on speaker.”
Trump, keeping Bannon on speakerphone for half an hour, had the MAGA firebrand make his case to the national security team against the deal, and Zelenskyy, who he referred to as “that punk.”
“I f—— hate it,” Bannon said, arguing that the deal “ties us to Ukraine.”
“If that punk comes here, he’s going to want a security guarantee,” Bannon said of Zelenskyy to Trump and his top advisers. He told the group they “can’t trust Zelenskyy” or “any of the Europeans.”
The previously unreported conversation set the tone for Trump’s combative meeting in the Oval Office with Zelenskyy, which devolved into a tense shouting match in front of reporters and television cameras.
“You’re not acting at all thankful,” Trump said to the Ukrainian leader. “You’re gambling with World War III.”
Zelenskyy left the meeting early that afternoon, and the relationship between the United States and Ukraine was at an all-time low since the start of the conflict with Russia.
While their relationship recovered — Zelenskyy visited the White House this past week seeking more American military assistance — the moment underscored the volatile dynamic between the two leaders, and the abiding influence of Bannon over Trump’s thinking.
In “Retribution,” Karl also reports that Bannon managed to keep in touch with Trump and his camp discreetly from federal prison, while he served four months after he was found guilty of contempt of Congress.
Bannon developed a “coded” system that allowed his daughter and top aide to pass along messages to Trump via the limited email communications he was allowed in prison, which were subject to review by the Bureau of Prisons, according to the excerpt of Karl’s book in The Atlantic.
“Bannon claims that an investigative officer at Danbury — an official he described as ‘pure MAGA’ — had warned him that his communications were being reviewed by ‘Main Justice,’ otherwise known as the Biden administration,” Karl writes.
“So he developed a coded system to let ‘the girls’ know which messages were to be passed on to Trump or to those around him, in particular the aide Boris Epshteyn: “I had just a system to get to Boris, kind of in quasi-code, through [daughter Maureen] into [aide Grace Chong],’ he said. Was there literally a code word? ‘Well, we had — ‘ he began, before catching himself. I don’t — the Bureau of Prisons could go back through it. We had a way that they could get to him,'” Karl writes.
According to Karl, Bannon used the system to tell Trump campaign officials he thought they were making a “huge mistake” by trying to “reduce tensions” across the country after the July 2024 assassination attempt against then-candidate Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Editor’s note: Profanity included in the book has been altered for this account and some text has been edited for style. “Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign that Changed America,” by ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl, is being published Oct. 28 and is available for preorder at Penguin Random House.
The U.S. Capitol building is seen from Freedom Plaza during the 20th day of the ongoing federal government shutdown in Washington, D.C., United States, on October 20, 2025. Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — One of the biggest impacts of the government shutdown is about to hit tens of millions of the poorest Americans hard: the halting of a critical food assistance program.
Several states are now warning they will be forced to suspend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits come Nov. 1 if the shutdown continues.
SNAP, often referred to as “food stamps,” serves roughly 42 million low-income Americans. The program, run by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, issues electronic benefits that can be used like cash to purchase food.
Texas is now warning its millions of recipients that all November SNAP benefits will be halted if the shutdown continues past Oct. 27.
Pennsylvania officials say they will also not be able to distribute SNAP benefits if the shutdown — now in its 21st day — continues.
“Because Republicans in Washington DC failed to pass a federal budget, causing the federal government shutdown, November 2025 SNAP benefits cannot be paid,” an alert on the state’s Department of Human Services website reads.
Other states such as Minnesota and New York, are issuing similar warnings — saying benefits are “at risk” or “may be delayed” if the shutdown continues.
SNAP has traditionally been entirely federally funded, but is administered by states. That means the shutdown’s impact on SNAP and when benefits will start to dry up will vary state by state.
Earlier this month, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children — commonly known as WIC — received $300 million to help support the program amid the shutdown. The White House said it would use tariff revenue to pay for WIC benefits, which help more than 6 million low-income mothers, young children and expectant parents get nutritious foods.
“We welcome efforts to keep WIC afloat during the shutdown, but families need long-term stability, not short-term uncertainty. We still don’t know how much funding this measure provides, how quickly states will receive it, or how long it will sustain operations. There is no substitute for Congress doing its job,” National WIC Association CEO Georgia Machell said in a statement.
In a letter to state health officials earlier this month, Ronald Ward — the acting head of SNAP — warned that “if the current lapse in appropriations continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the Nation.”
This has already been a tumultuous few months for SNAP. President Donald Trump’s megabill already cut the program by an estimated $186 billion over 10 years.
Former Congressman George Santos leaves court after being sentenced to 87 months in prison at the Alfonse D’Amato Federal Court House in Central Islip, New York, on April 25, 2025. J. Conrad Williams Jr./Newsday RM via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., was freed from prison last week thanks to his federal fraud sentence being commuted by President Donald Trump — but he may not be free from criminal prosecution on the local level.
Prosecutors on Long Island are not ruling out the possibility of bringing local charges, however, the district attorney’s office in Nassau County, which is home to part of the district Santos represented, declined to say what, if anything, prosecutors might be investigating that could warrant state charges.
“Since first learning of George Santos’ actions, I have been at the forefront of bringing him to justice,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement. “I am proud of the work my office has done, and the conviction achieved in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s office. While the office cannot comment on ongoing investigations, suffice it to say that I remain focused on prosecuting political corruption wherever it exists regardless of political affiliation.”
A spokeswoman for Donnelly’s office declined to elaborate.
Santos was three months into a seven-year prison sentence for deception, fraud and lying to Congress when Trump intervened, noting Santos had the “courage, conviction and intelligence to always vote Republican.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Stock image of police lights. Douglas Sacha/Getty Images
(BLADENSBURG, Md.) — A 66-year-old man has been identified by police as the alleged driver who plowed into a child’s front-yard birthday party over the weekend in Bladensburg, Maryland, killing a woman and leaving 13 others injured, including eight children.
The suspect, Joseph Sunday of Washington, D.C., was arrested on Monday, according to the Bladensburg Police Department.
Sunday was charged with two counts of negligent manslaughter with a vehicle and failure to remain at the scene of an accident where a death occurred, according to the police department.
The crash unfolded around 10 p.m. on Saturday when a car traveling in reverse in a Bladensburg residential neighborhood plowed into a crowd gathered on the front lawn of a home for a child’s birthday party, according to police.
The vehicle crashed into a party tent set up on the lawn, police said. The driver jumped out of the car and ran from the scene, but later surrendered to police, authorities said.
It remains under investigation what caused the driver to crash unto the party, including whether the suspect was impaired at the time of the crash, according to Bladensburg police officials.
The woman killed in the crash was identified by police as 31-year-old Ashley Hernandez Gutierrez of Washington, D.C.
Five adults and eight children, ranging in age from 1 to 17, were hospitalized with injuries, according to police. One young girl and a toddler were initially treated for critical injuries, according to Prince George’s County Fire and EMS Department.
Tropical Development – Into the Weekend Map (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Melissa has formed in the Atlantic and may further strengthen into a hurricane.
Melissa will stay away from the mainland United States, and instead pose the biggest threat to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Cuba. The storm might also impact Puerto Rico.
Here’s the latest forecast:
As Melissa churns over the Caribbean in the coming days, it will unleash heavy rain, strong winds and rough surf on the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba. A dangerous 5 to 10 inches of rainfall is possible by Friday, with more rain possibly coming over the weekend.
Puerto Rico may face heavy rain and gusty winds from Melissa’s outer bands on Thursday, Friday and this weekend. But so far, the forecast shows that the worst of the storm will avoid Puerto Rico.
Water temperatures in the Caribbean are 3 to 4 degrees above average for this time of year, which will help fuel this system.
The Atlantic hurricane season lasts until Nov. 30.
(WASHINGTON) — Lawyers for President Donald Trump are asking a federal judge in Florida to deny a request by the Wall Street Journal and its parent companies, Dow Jones and News Corp, to dismiss a $10 billion defamation lawsuit over the paper’s reporting on the bawdy letter allegedly penned by Trump that appeared in a birthday book for disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In a court filing late Monday, Trump’s lawyers argued that the July article and surrounding coverage were a “deliberate smear campaign designed to damage President Trump’s reputation” and subject the president to “public hatred and ridicule.” They also requested oral arguments over the Journal’s recent motion to dismiss.
“Defendants did not publish the Article on the front page of The Wall Street Journal based on a mere harmless joke between friends,” Monday’s filing said. “Indeed, such an assertion strains credulity beyond repair. The Article, and the surrounding media around it, were all a deliberate smear campaign designed to damage President Trump’s reputation.”
Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for aiding and participating in Epstein’s trafficking of underage girls, told Justice Department officials in August that Epstein had asked her to coordinate contributions to his 2003 50th birthday book from friends and associates, but said she could not recall if Trump, then a private citizen, was among those who responded.
Last month the House Oversight Committee released records from Epstein’s estate that included a copy of a birthday book with the alleged letter from Trump that the newspaper had described.
Trump, who filed suit against the Journal in July, has continued to argue the letter is fake and that the signature on the letter is not his.
Acknowledging the release of the letter by the House Oversight panel, Trump’s lawyers alleged that the Wall Street Journal was still “deliberate and malicious” because the reporting suggested that the letter was not only authored by Trump but also on-brand for the president.
“Defendants cannot hide behind a few words buried within the text — words that refer to the letter ‘bearing Trump’s name’ — while simultaneously ignoring their deliberate portrayal of the letter as being authored and sent by President Trump to Epstein in 2003,” the filing said.
The Wall Street Journal has stood by its reporting.
“Because Plaintiff has publicly admitted that he was Epstein’s friend in the early 2000s, his reputation cannot be harmed by the suggestion that he was friends with Epstein in 2003. Indeed, he was listed in the Birthday Book as a ‘friend’ of Epstein. The fact that his relationship with Epstein may now be a political liability — over 20 years after the Birthday Book was presented to Epstein — does not change this conclusion,” the Journal contended in its request for dismissal.
While the Journal’s reporting included a denial from President Trump, his lawyers argued in Mondays filing that the publication still acted with a “reckless disregard for the truth” because the request for comment was rushed and the reporting allegedly cast doubt on the president’s claim.
“Although Defendants included Plaintiff’s denial, they did so in a way that made it seem as if Plaintiff’s denial was false. This kind of reckless disregard for the truth by Defendants provides a sufficient basis for an inference of actual malice,” the filing said.
