(LONDON) — The Al Jazeera media company said in a Sunday statement that five of its journalists — including prominent correspondent Anas Al Sharif — were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent housing reporters in Gaza City.
Fellow correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Moamen Aliwa and their assistant Mohammed Noufal were also killed in the attack, Al Jazeera said.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it targeted Sharif, claiming the correspondent headed a Hamas cell and was involved in rocket attacks against Israeli targets.
Sharif was one of the best-known journalists reporting from Gaza, with millions of social media followers. He last posted to his X and Instagram accounts minutes before his death.
Al Jazeera said in a statement that it “condemns in the strongest terms the targeted assassination” of its journalists. “The order to assassinate Anas Al Sharif, one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, and his colleagues, is a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza,” it added.
Sunday’s strike came after the Committee to Protect Journalists published an appeal for Sharif’s protection, saying it was “gravely worried” about his safety and accusing the IDF of launching a “smear campaign,” against him, which Sharif “believes is a precursor to his assassination.”
The CPJ said that 186 journalists have been killed since the start of the Israel-Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023. At least 178 of those were Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, the group said.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said he will be meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, Aug. 15 in Alaska.
“The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska. Further details to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he posted on his social media platform.
Earlier, he had hinted at the timing and location, saying, “I think you’ll be very happy.”
“We are going to have a meeting with Russia. We’ll start off with Russia and we’ll announce a location. I think the location will be a very popular one for a lot of reasons. But we’ll be announcing that a little bit later. I just don’t want to do it now because of the importance of what we just did,” Trump said as he hosted the leaders Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House for a peace summit.
Asked if this is Russia’s last chance to achieve piece, Trump responded, “I don’t like using the term ‘last chance.”
“I think my gut instinct really tells me that we have a shot at it. You’ll find that out later on, maybe even today, but we have a shot at it,” he said.
Friday marked the deadline Trump set for Putin to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or face “secondary sanctions” against countries that buy oil from Russia.
But uncertainty remains as to whether the U.S. will hit Moscow with new economic penalties as focus turns to the one-on-one meeting between Trump and Putin. Trump did not comment on the deadline as he took questions from reporters at the White House.
Trump on Thursday was asked directly if his Aug. 8 deadline for Putin to make peace or face consequences still applied.
“It’s gonna be up to him,” the president responded. “We’re going to see what he has to say. It’s gonna be up to him. Very disappointed.”
The White House was pushing for a trilateral summit between Trump, Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, though Trump said Putin meeting with Zelenskyy wasn’t a condition for he and Putin to meet.
Still, Trump said on Friday the Ukrainian president will get “everything he needs.”
“The European leaders want to see peace. President Putin, I believe, wants to see peace. And Zelenskyy wants to see peace,” Trump said.
The president was asked if Zelenskyy will have to give up territory in any deal to end the war, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“We’re looking at that but we’re actually looking to get some back and some swapping. It’s complicated. It’s actually nothing easy, it’s very complicated. But we’re going to get some back, and we’re going to get some switched. There will be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both,” Trump responded.
Zelenskyy said in a statement Saturday, “We are ready, together with President Trump, together with all our partners, to work for a real and, most importantly, lasting peace — a peace that will not collapse because of Moscow’s wishes.”
“The Ukrainian people deserve peace,” Zelenskyy continued. “But all partners must understand what a worthy peace is. This war must be ended, and Russia must end it.”
U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Saturday met with Ukrainian and European officials in the United Kingdom.
In a Saturday evening address, Zelenskyy described the meeting as “constructive” and reiterated his faith in the U.S. and Trump’s ability to end the war.
“The President of the United States has the leverage and the determination,” Zelenskyy said. “Ukraine has supported all of President Trump’s proposals, starting back in February. A ceasefire – all formats have been supported.”
Trump, who once said he could end the Russia-Ukraine war within his first 24 hours in office and touted his personal relationship with Putin, has expressed increasing frustration with the Russian leader.
In mid-July, Trump said he was giving Putin a 50-day ultimatum to stop the fighting. He then moved up the timeline to 10 days, citing his disappointment with Putin.
“I want to be generous, but we just don’t see any progress being made,” Trump said at the time. “I’m not so interested in talking anymore. He talks, we have such nice conversations, such respectful and nice conversations, and then people die the following night in a — with a missile going into a town and hitting.”
Tensions between the U.S. and Russia escalated last week when Trump announced he was moving nuclear submarines in response to what he called “highly provocative statements” from the deputy chair of Russia’s security council, Dmitry Medvedev.
Medvedev, also the former president of Russia, had sounded off on Trump’s ceasefire deadline, writing on social media that “each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war.”
While Trump said the nuclear submarines would be moved in response, he and the White House would not specify what capabilities the submarines have or other questions surrounding the announcement.
Earlier this week, Trump indirectly upped the pressure on Russia by doubling his tariff rate against India over India’s imports of Russian oil.
(BALTIMORE) — A 38-year-old man was killed and five other people were wounded, including a 5-year-old girl, in a “mass shooting” in a Baltimore neighborhood Saturday night, police said.
The gunfire broke out shortly before 8:50 p.m. as people near the intersection of Spaulding and Queensberry Avenues gathered outside to have a crab feed, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley told reporters at a news conference late Saturday night.
The 5-year-old girl was struck in the hand. “Thankfully, it doesn’t appear that her injury is very serious,” Worley said.
A 38-year-old man, whose name was not immediately released, was taken to a hospital in critical condition and was pronounced dead early Sunday, according to a police update.
The other victims are a 23-year-old woman and three men, ages 32, 33 and 52, according to police, whom police said on Sunday are “believed to be suffering from non-life-threatening injuries.”
Police have not released any details about the suspect in the shooting.
“We have little information at this point. All we know is there’s multiple rounds fired, multiple victims,” Worley said Saturday.
A motive for the shooting remains under investigation, according to Worley, who said it appeared the people had gathered outside and were eating crabs “and it looks like somebody just opened fire.”
Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to contact them directly or via the city’s the Metro Crime Stoppers tip line.
Francisco Richart Barbeira/NurPhoto via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Russia and Ukraine exchanged large waves of attack drones overnight into Sunday as the two combatants maneuvered ahead of Friday’s planned summit in Alaska between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 100 drones into the country overnight, of which 70 were shot down or otherwise suppressed. Thirty drones impacted across 12 locations, it said in a statement posted to Telegram.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its troops shot down at least 126 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Temporary restrictions on flights were introduced at airports in the southwest of the country in Vladikavkaz, Grozny, Saratov and Kaluga, Russia’s federal air agency Rosaviatsiya said, during the attacks.
In Saratov, regional Gov. Roman Busargin said one person was killed and several injured by a drone that fell near a residential building. An industrial facility was also damaged, Busargin said.
The Ukrainian General Staff later confirmed the attack on Saratov, saying in a statement that it targeted an oil refinery there. “Saratov oil refinery is one of the key facilities of the Russian Federation’s fuel infrastructure involved in providing oil products to the occupation troops,” the General Staff said. “Its annual processing capacity is up to 7 million tons of oil.”
“The Defense Forces of Ukraine continue to systematically take measures aimed at reducing the military and economic potential of the enemy in order to force it to stop the armed aggression against our state,” it added. “Every affected object on the territory of the Russian Federation involved in securing its criminal war against Ukraine brings us closer to just peace.”
Ukraine appears to have been ramping up its drone strikes in recent days. So far in August, Russia’s Defense Ministry has reported downing 1,117 Ukrainian drones — an average of around 117 per day, marking a notable increase on July’s daily average of 97 drones downed.
For Ukrainian defenders, August has thus far been quieter than July. Kyiv has reported facing 749 drones and 11 missiles so far this month, an average of approximately 75 drones and one missile each day.
July saw Russia set a new record number of aerial attacks, launching a total of 6,443 drones and missiles into Ukraine across the month, with a daily average of around 201 drones and six missiles per day.
While long-range strikes and grinding frontline combat continues, both Kyiv and Moscow are also maneuvering on the diplomatic front.
Since Trump announced that he would meet with Putin in Alaska on Friday, Ukrainian officials have gone on a diplomatic offensive to bolster the Western coalition in support of its peace demands.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have insisted that any negotiations must include Ukraine. Kyiv will also not officially cede any territory, accept limitations on its armed forces, or jettison its ambitions to join NATO and the European Union, Zelenskyy has said.
Putin, though, is demanding that Ukraine cede several regions — not all of which are controlled by Russian troops — in the south and east of the country, accept curbs on the size and sophistication of its military and be permanently excluded from NATO.
Russia’s demands, Zelenskyy has said, constitute an attempt to “partition Ukraine.”
Speaking from the White House on Friday, Trump suggested a settlement could include “some swapping of territories.” Zelenskyy swiftly rejected the proposal, saying Ukraine “will not give Russia any awards for what it has done” and that “Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.”
“Our positions were clear: a reliable, lasting peace is only possible with Ukraine at the negotiating table, with full respect for our sovereignty and without recognizing the occupation,” Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s influential chief of staff, said in a Saturday statement after taking part in talks with Vice President JD Vance in the U.K.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk were among the European leaders to sign a joint statement expressing their support for Kyiv in any peace negotiations.
“We welcome President Trump’s work to stop the killing in Ukraine, end the Russian Federation’s war of aggression and achieve just and lasting peace and security for Ukraine,” the statement read.
“We are convinced that only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed,” it added.
“Meaningful negotiations can only take place in the context of a ceasefire or reduction of hostilities,” the joint statement said. “The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine. We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force. The current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations.”
All evacuation warnings have been lifted regarding the Canyon Fire in California after firefighters appeared to gain the upper hand in battling the wildfire, which broke out amid a heatwave and rapidly spread to over 5,300 acres in two days and destroyed at least seven structures, including two homes, authorities said.
As of Sunday morning, fire crews had increased containment on the blaze from 28% on Saturday evening to 62%, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). The fire also spread into Los Angeles County, endangering homes and forcing thousands of evacuation over the weekend near the city of Castaic.
“As of this morning, all evacuation warnings in Los Angeles and Ventura counties have been lifted,” Cal Fire said in an updated statement on Sunday morning.
As of Sunday, the fire had burned 5,370 acres, according to Cal Fire.
On Thursday, a local emergency proclamation issued by officials enabling the county to “expedite access to critical resources and cut through bureaucratic red tape to enhance firefighting and recovery efforts,” according to a statement from Los Angeles County.
The Canyon Fire had grown to over 5,000 acres in a matter of hours and was 25% contained, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department Friday morning. On Thursday, the fire had burned 1,500 acres.
At least two homes and five small outbuildings were burned in the flames, officials said.
More than 1,100 firefighters are battling the blaze, which broke out in extremely hot weather — accompanied by minimal humidity — which officials said are the perfect conditions for the flames to increase.
Evacuation zones and shelters At the height of the fire on Friday and Saturday, more than 5,700 homes and structures in Los Angeles County were threatened and and nearly 8,000 residents were forced to evacuate, officials said.
Many residents of Ventura County were also initially under evacuation orders or evacuation warnings, which have all been cancelled, officials said.
The emergency declaration issued by officials granted authorities the flexibility to “coordinate across agencies, mobilize additional firefighting personnel and equipment, and streamline procurement processes,” officials said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, according to Cal Fire.
Firefighters were also making progress in containing the Gifford Fire, which as of Sunday had burned 114,621 acres, mostly within the Los Padres National Forest in Solvang, California, according to Cal Fire. The wildfire, which began on Aug. 1 and became the largest wildfire in the years, was 21% contained as of Sunday morning, officials said.
(ATLANTA, GA) — A police officer was killed when a gunman opened fire near the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters and the Emory University campus in Atlanta on Friday afternoon, according to authorities.
Patrick Joseph White, 30, of Kennesaw, Georgia, has been identified as the suspected shooter in the incident, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. He died during the incident.
The Atlanta Police Department said the suspect was found dead from a gunshot wound, which may have been self-inflicted. No civilians were shot in the incident, police said.
“There is extensive evidence to collect due to the complex scene. Numerous interviews are being conducted. This investigation will take an extended period of time,” GBI said in a statement.
The officer who was killed, DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose, was fatally shot after responding to the reported gunfire.
He was taken to the hospital in critical condition where he was pronounced dead, officials said at a press conference Friday evening.
“Officer Rose served DeKalb County with courage, integrity, and unwavering dedication. Even in the face of danger was he diligent in his duty to protect our community,” the police department said in a statement posted online late Friday night.
At the earlier press conference, Lorraine Cochran-Johnson, DeKalb County CEO, said it was a “dark day” for the county. The officer leaves behind a wife, who is pregnant, and two children, she said.
The gunfire broke out at 4:50 p.m., prompting a shelter-in-place order at the university and a lockdown at the CDC headquarters.
Responding DeKalb County police officers located the suspect on the second floor of the Emory Point CVS Pharmacy across the street from the CDC building and attempted to engage the person when gunfire was exchanged, police said.
During the shooting, the suspect fired multiple rounds at the CDC building, breaking windows, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said during an earlier press conference
There were 92 children at a day care center on the CDC campus at the time, who were unharmed, police added.
In the aftermath of the shooting, four other people were transported to an area hospital for stress and anxiety-related reasons, the police chief said.
Shortly after the shooting was reported, a shelter-in-place order was put in place on the Emory University campus and later lifted. “RUN. HIDE. FIGHT. Avoid the area,” the university said in an alert Friday afternoon.
CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez shared a statement on X on Friday night, saying she and the agency as a whole are “heartbroken by today’s attack on our Roybal Campus, which remains on lockdown as authorities investigate the shooting.”
“Our top priority is the safety and well-being of everyone at CDC,” Monarez continued. “We are actively coordinating with federal, state, and local partners to fully investigate the shooter and this tragic crime.”
In an email to CDC staff, obtained by ABC News, Monarez encouraged employees to “prioritize your well-being, seek support, and reach out for assistance as needed.”
Monday will be a remote workday for all CDC employees, according to the email.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp released a statement on X thanking first responders for rushing “toward the danger to subdue the shooter and save lives.”
“We ask that you join us in holding them in our prayers, along with those harmed this evening near the CDC Center,” Kemp wrote.
FBI Atlanta and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are investigating the incident.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr released a statement Friday, saying, “We’re horrified by the news out of Emory University and praying for the safety of the entire campus community.”
The White House was monitoring the situation, an official told ABC News.
ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Luke Barr and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
(PHOENIX) — Multiple areas across the country are expected to have dangerous heat and fire weather concerns this weekend with over 35 million Americans on alert for dangerous heat.
Extreme Heat Warnings remain in effect for Phoenix, Arizona, Palm Springs, California, and lower elevations of the Grand Canyon National Park. High temperatures there will once again be well into the 100s and go up to 115 in spots during the weekend.
Heat advisories are also in effect on Saturday for other scattered areas of the Southwest, with more widespread Heat Advisories stretching across the Plains as the heat begins to expand out.
Places under these heat advisories include: Albuquerque, New Mexico; El Paso and Dallas, Texas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Little Rock, Arkansas; Wichita, Kansas; Springfield, Missouri; and Kansas City, Missouri.
High temperatures between 100 and 110 are possible for these areas on Saturday. Record high temperatures are possible for Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Flagstaff, Arizona, later Saturday.
The extreme heat peaked on Friday for parts of the Desert Southwest and is expected to ease this weekend.
There are also fire weather alerts in places across four states in the West — Oregon, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming — for critical fire weather conditions keeping a strong foothold into the weekend.
Single digit humidity and gusty winds are possible, which will be conducive for rapid fire spread with any new or existing wildfires in these areas.
While the extreme heat and the fire weather concerns are lingering for select parts of the Southwest this weekend, both will generally continue to wane into the beginning of next week.
Heat is also building up in the Northwest, where there’s an extreme heat warning in effect for Medford, Oregon, as well as from Eugene to Portland, Oregon.
High temperatures between 97 and 110 degrees are possible during the weekend into the beginning of next week. Very warm, low temperatures between 65 and 70 degrees are possible for these areas, providing little relief at night from the extreme heat.
Other areas of the Northwest are under heat advisories this weekend for high temperatures between 93 and 112, as well as low temperatures only getting into the 60s and 70s. These areas include Spokane, Washington; Lewiston, Idaho; Longview, Washington; and Mount Shasta, California.
Next week, widespread heat will return to the Northeast and much of the country.
(WASHINGTON) — After the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to enforce its ban on transgender service members, Master Sgt. Logan Ireland, who has served in the Air Force for 15 years, was faced with the options of separating from the military voluntarily or being processed for involuntary separation – a prospect that comes with losing half of his separation pay.
When Logan was presented with the option of applying for early retirement at 15 years, he applied and was relieved when the Air Force approved his request and gave him an early retirement date of Dec. 1, 2025.
“It’s kind of like your golden ticket. So I felt solid,” Ireland told ABC News.
But on Monday, Ireland said he received a memo from Brian Scarlett, who is performing the duties of the assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs, indicating that early retirement at 15-18 years for transgender service members would be denied.
“After careful consideration of the individual applications, I am disapproving all Temporary Early Retirement Authority (TERA) exception to policy requests in Tabs 1 and 2 for members with 15-18 years of service,” the memo said, adding that those denied early retirement would need to be processed for separation instead.
Military service members are eligible for full retirement benefits after they complete 20 years of service. Anything less than that requires an approved exemption. Air Force personnel who had 18 but less than 20 years of service were approved for early retirement because they were close to the 20 years, while several dozen senior Airmen who had between 15 and 18 years of service also sought approval for this early retirement, the Air Force said. Early retirement would allow them to receive part of their pension.
The memo, which was reviewed by ABC News, includes a “script” for commanders to communicate with applicants regarding TERA denial and separation, and explains that the Department of the Air Force (DAF) “prematurely notified some DAF members that their TERA applications under the gender dysphoria provision had been approved.”
The Air Force said in a statement to ABC News, “Approximately a dozen service members between 15 and 18 years of service were prematurely notified that their TERA applications under the gender dysphoria provision had been approved, but higher level review was required under the DoD gender dysphoria policy for those members.”
Ireland, who has served multiple overseas tours to countries like Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates and South Korea, said that the reversal was a “betrayal.”
“The first feeling I felt was betrayal. I’ve given my life to the service,” he said.
“I was promised this. I had my retirement orders in hand,” he added. “I’ve been starting to process what life looks like outside of uniform, and now we don’t know what that looks like.”
According to the Scarlett memo, transgender service members who choose to voluntarily separate will receive separation pay at twice the rate of those who choose involuntary separation.
The memo from Scarlett also says that while service members like Ireland would not be eligible for early retirement, they will still be “entitled to an honorable discharge characterization, separation benefits and transition assistance.”
Air Force Cmdr. Emily Shilling, who is the president of Sparta Pride — an organization advocating for about 2,400 transgender people in the military and those who hope to join — criticized the move in a phone interview with ABC News on Thursday, saying that the Air Force “reneged on their promise.”
Shilling said that some applications for early retirement had already been approved, but now the lives of those service members who have dedicated close to two decades of service to their country have been upended again.
Shilling, who will be eligible for retirement at 20 years in September, previously told ABC News that she chose to self-identify as transgender and begin the process of voluntarily separating from the military, but said that she made the decision “under duress.”
“I was coerced into it because we knew that the voluntary separation would give me an honorable discharge with some portion of my retirement, and I’d be able to keep all of my benefits,” Shilling said. ABC News reached out to the Air Force but a request for comment was not returned.
The Department of Defense offered transgender service members the opportunity to voluntarily separate before they were forced out through involuntary separations. Incentives were offered for voluntary separations that amounted to double the benefits that they might have received if they were involuntarily separated.
Shilling and Ireland both decided to fight the ban in federal court, each becoming lead plaintiffs in separate federal lawsuits – Shilling vs. Trump and Ireland vs. Hegseth. A third lawsuit, Talbott vs. Trump, also challenges the ban, which was announced in a Jan. 27 executive order by President Donald Trump, who directed the Defense Department to revise the policy allowing transgender troops to openly serve.
“Expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service,” the Trump order said, arguing that receiving gender-affirming medical care is one of the conditions that is physically and mentally “incompatible with active duty.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed this sentiment in a Feb. 7 memo, saying that “efforts to split our troops along lines of identity weaken our Force and make us vulnerable.”
Professor Nathaniel Frank, a cultural historian and researcher at Cornell University who studies the history of LGBTQ+ people in the military, told ABC News that decades of research dispute the administration’s arguments that transgender individuals are not fit to serve.
“There’s never been any evidence found that gay or transgender service members present any problems to unit cohesion or readiness, and that the evidence finds the opposite, that the prohibitions against trans people are what harm readiness and cohesion because they undermine trust,” Frank said.
Despite the legal challenges, the Supreme Court ruled in May that the administration can enforce the ban as the lawsuits move forward.
In response to the letter denying his early retirement, Ireland signed a memo on Wednesday indicating that he understands that his TERA exception to policy application was denied.
The memo, which was reviewed by ABC News, included a box in which Ireland was asked to indicate whether he does or does not intend to submit a voluntary separation request.
Ireland checked the box that says, “I do not,” electing involuntary separation instead.
“One thing the military failed to teach me was how to retreat,” Ireland told ABC News. “I’m not going down without a fight.”
ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — William H. Webster, a longtime U.S. public servant who served as the head of both the FBI and the CIA in a career spanning the late 1970s to the early 1990s, has died. He was 101.
The FBI confirmed his death in a statement Friday.
Webster, who was the only person to have led both agencies, “was a dedicated public servant who spent over 60 years in service to our country, including in the U.S. Navy, as a federal judge, director of the CIA, and his term as our Director from 1978-1987,” the FBI statement said.
A statement from Webster’s family said, “We are proud of the extraordinary man we had our lives who spent a lifetime fighting to protect his country and its precious rule of law.”
A memorial service for Webster will take place in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 18, the family said.
As FBI director, Webster served under presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
He then served as CIA director from 1987 to 1991 under Reagan and President George H.W. Bush.
“As the only individual to have led both the FBI and the CIA, Judge Webster’s unwavering integrity and dedication to public service set a standard for leadership in federal law enforcement,” the FBI Agents Association said in a statement.
Webster was born on March 6, 1924, in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended Amherst College in Massachusetts and earned his law degree at Washington University Law School in St. Louis.
He served as a U.S. Navy lieutenant in both World War II and the Korean War. A practicing attorney in St. Louis from the late 1940s to the late 1950s, Webster went on to serve as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri.
In the 1970s, he was appointed as a U.S. District Court judge and then a U.S. Court of Appeals judge before taking the FBI director post.
He is survived by his second wife, Lynda Clugston Webster, three children, 7 grandchildren and spouses and 12 great grandchildren.
U.S. Congressional District maps are displayed as the Senate Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting meets to hear invited testimony on Congressional plan C2308 at the Texas State Capitol on August 6, 2025 in Austin, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
(AUSTIN, Texas) — Texas Democrats on Friday again defied Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and the state GOP and did not show for a vote on a Republican-proposed redistricting plan
Shortly after, the state’s Republican attorney general went to court to try to remove some of them from office.
The GOP-proposed new congressional maps would give Republicans more seats in Congress — potentially allowing the GOP to keep control of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington.
Despite threats of arrest, restriction on pay and calls from the governor that they be removed from office, the majority of the Democrats did not appear for the special session when the Texas House convened Friday afternoon and no quorum was reached.
Democratic state Rep. Gene Wu, the Texas House minority leader, earlier told ABC News Thursday that he believes his caucus would hold out on Friday and once again deny the legislature a quorum, though he said they would be willing to come back to Austin if state Republicans promise to focus solely on other issues before the special session, including flood mitigation and disaster preparedness.
Members who were present Friday do not have to return in person until Monday at 2 p.m. ET, when the Texas House Republicans will attempt to reach a quorum for the fourth time.
Democrats who have fled the state appear likely to stay away until Aug. 19, the end of the special session.
The defiance took place as Abbott has also requested the Texas Supreme Court to remove Wu from office.
Wu’s attorneys repsonded Friday afternoon asking the court to deny the governor’s request.
The attorneys argue, in part, that the court does not have jurisdiction over state legislators, that Rep. Wu would have a right to a jury trial, which the state supreme court cannot provide. That the governor does not have the standing to bring the case, according to Wu’s attorneys who added Abbott’s suit would “fail in any court.”
His lawyers also argued that the state constitution covers lawmakers for quorum breaking in certain circumstances.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told Fox News on Friday that he is willing to take other Democrats to court if they don’t return.
“If they show up today, we’re all happy, we can get our business done, and everybody is good. If they do not show up, we will be in an Illinois courtroom … [trying] to get them back to the state of Texas, hold them in contempt, and if they refuse to come, hopefully put them in jail,” he said.
He shrugged off concerns that the optics of arresting Democrats would give them a public opinion win.
“I think in Texas — I don’t know what it’s like in other states, but I do know in Texas, people expect their representatives to go to work,” Paxton said.
Paxton said on Friday afternoon that he had filed a lawsuit with the Texas Supreme Court petitioning for 13 of the over 50 Texas House Democratic members who left the state to break quorum to be removed from their positions.
The filing argued that these members “have absented themselves from the State with the express purpose of denying the House a quorum so that the Legislature as a whole cannot carry out its constitutional lawmaking function.”
“These cowards deliberately sabotaged the constitutional process and violated the oath they swore to uphold. Their out-of-state rebellion cannot go unchecked, and the business of Texas must go on,” the AG said in a statement.
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows targeted the wallets of the absent Democrats in an effort to draw them back.
On Thursday, he sent a memo to all members and their staffs requiring that any member who is absent from the special session to break quorum must collect their monthly paycheck in person. Direct deposits were suspended for those skipping out until the House reaches quorum, according to memo.
Burrows says that he expects more suits filed in other states to come after the one filed by Abbott Thursday to try to enforce the civil arrest warrants out of state, and that another legislator contacted the Sergeant at Arms of the Illinois House of Representatives asking for their assistance in bringing back members.
He added later that if the Department of Public Safety civilly arrests “our absent colleagues” during the weekend, legislators are on call and need to come back to Austin with a minimum of six hours’ notice.
Abbott has called for the Democrats’ arrest, and Republican Sen. John Cornyn has called on the FBI to track down those elected officials.
Congressional Democrats who sit on the House Judiciary and House Oversight Committee sent a letter Friday to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel asking them to clarify and explain if and how their agencies are involved in locating Democratic Texas lawmakers who left the state to prevent a quorum in order to stop the new congressional maps.
“We write with great concern about the abuse of federal public safety resources for completely political purposes and without a law enforcement rationale that is reportedly taking place right now,” the members wrote.
The governor said in a podcast released Friday that he was willing to go further than creating more than five new seats the GOP could flip if the Democrats continued to block the GOP effort.
“We may make it six or seven or eight new seats we’re going to be adding on the Republican side,” he said during an interview on the podcast “Ruthless.”
In the meantime, Texas Democrats have fled to various blue states, including Illinois and California.
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is slated to hold a news conference with those Democrats Friday afternoon, along with Rep. Nancy Pelosi and California state Democrats to show their support.
“The governor and state leaders have floated a potential statewide ballot measure that would reaffirm California’s commitment to national independent redistricting and allow voters to temporarily adjust the state’s congressional map only if Texas or other GOP-led states manipulate theirs,” Newsom’s office said in a statement.
California Democrats are preparing to respond to Texas Republicans’ proposed new congressional districts by possibly targeting five GOP-held districts in the Golden State, sources recently confirmed to ABC station KGO-TV. But the office of the California Secretary of State told ABC News that if legislators don’t move fast, it becomes nearly impossible for the state to run a statewide election that meets federal standards.
ABC station KGO-TV’s Monica Madden contributed to this report.
