(NEW YORK) — Macy’s slashed its full-year profit forecast on Wednesday, attributing the downbeat expectations in part to tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
The New York-based retail chain is the latest major company to warn of ill effects from the levies, including Target, Walmart and Nike.
Macy’s downgraded its expectations for adjusted earnings per share from a range of $2.05 to $2.25, instead saying the metric is likely to register between $1.60 to $2.00.
In addition to tariffs, Macy’s faulted flagging consumer spending and heightened competition.
The earnings release arrives more than a year after the company embarked on a three-year plan to improve its balance sheet by closing its low-performing stores and optimizing its e-commerce service.
The nationwide retailer said last year that it plans to close about 150 stores by 2027.
Macy’s brought in $4.6 billion in revenue over a recent three-month period, exceeding the company’s expectations, according to the earnings release.
“We continued to execute against our Bold New Chapter strategy during the quarter, scaling key initiatives that improved our customer experience and contributed to stronger than expected performance across all three of our nameplates,” CEO Tony Spring said in a statement on Wednesday.
The tariff escalation in recent weeks poses a challenge for Macy’s, however.
Trump earlier this month slapped 30% tariffs on China, a key source of apparel imports for the retail chain. The levies mark a deescalation from a previous 145% levy on China, but the tariffs remain well above levels prior to Trump’s second term.
Roughly 20% of Macy’s merchandise originates in China, Spring told CNBC.
The tariffs helped propel a monthslong stretch of souring consumer sentiment, which also threatens the bottom line of sellers like Macy’s.
However, a Conference Board survey released on Tuesday showed a brightening of consumer attitudes in May, suggesting that consumer appetites had rebounded as Trump rolled back some tariffs.
(WASHINGTON) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday announced the removal of the COVID-19 vaccine from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s immunization schedule for “healthy children and pregnant women” — a move that could alter guidance for doctors as well as some insurance coverage.
Kennedy, one of the nation’s most publicly recognized vaccine skeptics, made the announcement in a video post on his X account, where he stood between Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya — both of whom are doctors.
“We’re now one step closer to realizing President Trump’s promise to Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy said in the video.
While the text posted alongside the video noted HHS had taken action Tuesday, the official immunization schedule on the CDC website had not changed as of Tuesday afternoon.
The CDC’s immunization schedule is not only a guide for doctors — it also determines insurance coverage for most major private plans and Medicaid expansion programs.
It remains unclear what federal health officials consider “healthy” children or pregnant women.
Pregnancy is listed by the CDC as an underlying condition, so women expecting a child would theoretically be eligible for the shot even under the new FDA vaccine framework released last week.
Last week, the FDA announced that it planned to limit access to future COVID-19 shots only to people over 65 years old or those with an underlying health condition.
ABC News has asked HHS for clarity on Tuesday’s announcement.
Medical leader ‘kind of blindsided by this announcement’
Kennedy’s announcement cut out a process where the CDC’s independent panel of advisors vote for any new or updated recommendations to the immunization schedule. The panel has been expected to vote on the matter in their June meeting. In mid-April, the panel had discussed, and seemed to support, a recommendation that everyone over 6 months should receive an annual COVID vaccine or shift to a model where only those who were high-risk would be eligible.
Typically, the CDC director green-lights new vaccine recommendations, but with the active director role empty while Susan Monarez awaits confirmation for the CDC’s top job, Kennedy announced the new recommendations. Kennedy recently made changes to vaccine recommendations for those traveling abroad to an area with elevated risk of infections with the agency noting, “With pending confirmation of a new CDC Director, these recommendations were adopted by the HHS Secretary on May 13, 2025 and are now official recommendations of the CDC.”
A leader of a medical group that is typically involved in the process for changes to the immunization schedule noted he was “kind of blindsided by this announcement.”
“We were not consulted about this,” Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics committee on infectious diseases, told ABC News, referring to the removal of the COVID-19 vaccine from the recommended immunization schedule for children.
“My biggest concern is about the process. This really ignores a long-established, evidence-based process that has been used to make vaccine recommendations in the U.S. It ignores the opinions of the medical experts who help make these recommendations, and it also ignores all of the liaison organizations that work with the [CDC’s advisory panel] to craft these recommendations,” O’Leary said.
The Infectious Diseases Society of America said the decision will have a negative impact.
“Many health insurers rely on federal recommendations to determine coverage, and this decision could make it significantly harder for millions of Americans to access vaccines they want for themselves and their families,” the society said in a statement Tuesday.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said it is “concerned about and extremely disappointed by the announcement.”
“”Following this announcement, we are worried about our patients in the future, who may be less likely to choose vaccination during pregnancy despite the clear and definitive evidence demonstrating its benefit. We are concerned about access implications and what this recommendation will mean for insurance coverage of the COVID-19 vaccine for those who do choose to get vaccinated during pregnancy,” the group said in a statement on Tuesday. “And as ob-gyns, we are very concerned about the potential deterioration of vaccine confidence in the future.”
The number of children who have received the updated COVID vaccine annually has been limited since peak pandemic. An estimated 13% of kids received the most recent COVID vaccine, the latest CDC data from late April shows. At the same time last year, the rate was 14.2%.
The rate of COVID vaccination among pregnant women has also remained lower with 14.4% receiving the most recent COVID vaccine, the latest CDC data from late April shows. At the same time last year, the rate was 12.3%.
Kennedy’s previous comments on COVID-19 vaccine, childhood vaccine schedule
Kennedy has frequently shared views on vaccines — including the COVID-19 vaccine — that are at odds with the consensus of public health researchers and the mainstream scientific community.
In May 2021, Kennedy asked the federal government to revoke its authorization of all COVID-19 vaccines; in December 2021 he falsely claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine was “the deadliest vaccine ever made.”
Kennedy’s announcement comes weeks after he promised senators that he supported the childhood vaccination schedule during his confirmation testimony with the Senate Finance Committee in late January.
“I support vaccines. I support the childhood schedule,” Kennedy said at the time.
“If confirmed, I will do nothing as HHS Secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines,” he repeatedly told the committee following questions from senators after his testimony.
Kennedy has previously advocated against the recommended vaccine schedule for children.
He has fought for changes through the Children’s Health Defense, a group he founded but resigned as chairman and legal counsel of to become HHS Secretary. Last week, he released his “Make America Healthy Again” report, which included calls for increased scrutiny of the childhood vaccine schedule.
Although the report states that vaccines protect children from infectious diseases, it also claims parents are concerned about their “appropriate use” and their “possible role” in chronic diseases among children.
“Despite the growth of the childhood vaccine schedule, there has been limited scientific inquiry into the links between vaccines and chronic disease, the impacts of vaccine injury, and conflicts of interest in the development of the vaccine schedule. These areas warrant future inquiry,” the report states.
Dozens of studies have failed to find a link between an increased number of vaccines and more chronic disease among children.
Earlier this month, Kennedy said during a House hearing that his “opinions about vaccines are irrelevant,” later adding “I don’t think people should be taking advice, medical advice from me.”
(WASHINGTON) — A team from the Department of Government Efficiency can now access a sensitive Treasury Department system that controls trillions of dollars in federal payments, a judge ruled late Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas gave permission for four DOGE employees to access the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which essentially serves as the checkbook for the federal government. Vargas said she would no longer require the Trump administration to get permission from the court before expanding access to other DOGE representatives.
The ruling marks a win for the Trump administration and DOGE, which caused a legal firestorm in February when it tried to get access to the Treasury Department’s payment systems. A group of Democratic attorneys general sued to block their access, and Vargas temporarily blocked their access in February but permitted DOGE to build a system to access the data with appropriate training and restrictions.
In April, Vargas allowed one DOGE employee to begin accessing the system. In yesterday’s ruling, she said the Trump administration had established a system to train employees to prevent improper disclosures. The attorneys general did not object to allowing DOGE’s access if the employees were properly trained.
“There is little utility in having this Court function as Treasury’s de facto human resources officer each time a new team member is onboarded,” Vargas said.
(WASHINGTON) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday pushed for Karol Nawrocki to be president of Poland while speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Warsaw, decrying his opponent as a “train wreck.”
It is an extraordinary move for a sitting member of the U.S. Cabinet to advocate for a political candidate in a foreign country.
Noem spoke for more than 20 minutes at CPAC, an American group that seeks to spread conservative ideas and held its first conference in Poland on Tuesday.
She claimed there is no time for “nice words,” saying, “We do not have time to dance around the dangers that threaten our societies.”
“It matters who’s in charge,” Noem told the crowd. “I have watched over the years as socialists and people that are just like this mayor out of Warsaw that is an absolute train wreck of a leader have destroyed our countries because they have led by fear.
“They have used fear to control people, and they’ve used fear to promote an agenda that is not what liberty is about, that is not what freedom is about,” she said.
The Polish runoff election for president is on Sunday, June 1, with Nawrocki as the conservative choice and Rafal Trzaskowski for the Civic Platform party.
Nawrocki visited President Donald Trump earlier this year.
“He needs to be the next president of Poland,” Noem said of Nawrocki. “Do you understand me?”
Noem then took aim at “weak” European leaders who have allowed in migrants and “destroyed their civilizations.”
“You have enforced your borders. You have protected who comes into your country, enforced your visa programs. You’ve done good work to make sure that this country has a different story,” she told the crowd.
“But you have much more to do, and you are threatened with a leader who is on the ballot who would take all of that protection away from you, who would open you up to much of the experiences that America had to live through under our last president, Joe Biden,” she added, offering pointed criticisms at Biden and her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas.
She argued America “lived through four years of hell” and that the public made a choice in electing Trump in November.
“Thousands and thousands of dangerous criminals came into our country, hundreds of known terrorists infiltrated our country and our communities,” she said. “And our families were murdered and raped and victimized, arrested, released again by his administration to continue the fear agenda that he was trying to promote and to allow political power to be in his hands but not in the people any longer.”
Noem praised Trump as making the United States “safer” for the public.
“Donald Trump is a strong leader for us, but you have an opportunity to have just as strong of a leader in Karol if you make him the leader of this country,” she said.
“You can be that shining city on a hill that the rest of Europe and the world will watch and know how strong you are, how free you are because you’ve elected the right leader that will protect it and defend it and ensure that every individual is treated the same and has equal rights as afforded to them,” she added.
Noem also said that if the Polish elect the right person, the country will continue to have the backing of the U.S.
“If you have elected a leader that will work with President Donald J. Trump, the Polish people will have an ally strong that will ensure that you will be able to fight off enemies that do not share your values,” she said. “You will have strong borders and protect your communities and keep them safe and ensure that your citizens are respected every single day. You will continue to have a U.S. presence here, a military presence, for Trump, that we can work together for the security of both of our nations.”
CPAC will go to Hungary later this week, but it is unclear if Noem or any other U.S. officials will speak at the conference.
(GAZA) — After 11 weeks of a total blockade of aid into Gaza, two United States-backed food distribution centers opened in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Tuesday, sparking chaos as thousands descended on the area in search of food.
Palestinians were seen flooding into sites in hopes of getting much-needed aid since Israel enforced a total humanitarian blockade on March 2.
The sheer volume of people, however, led to the centers in Rafah being overrun, gunfire erupting and staff being evacuated to safety.
Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that troops fired “warning shots” in the area of the distribution site as people flooded in, but said no aerial fire was launched toward the site.
“Control over the situation was established, food distribution operations are expected to continue as planned,” the IDF said.
Operated by the U.S.-led Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), two distribution sites located in Rafah’s Tal al-Sultan neighborhood and the Morag Corridor began distributing food to thousands of families on Tuesday.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement that aid operations by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation “have succeeded,” but acknowledged, “it’s not surprising that there might be a few issues involved.”
Bruce said 8,000 food boxes have been distributed so far, totaling 462,000 meals delivered to Palestinians in need.
Bruce said the aid distribution was a triumph over Hamas, which she said restricted humanitarian aid flow at an earlier date by breaking the ceasefire with Israel.
“This process managed to overcome that dynamic, and the dynamic has changed,” the press secretary said.
The U.S.-led humanitarian plan, however, faced widespread criticism from established aid organizations that have been operating inside Gaza for the past 19 months, including criticism about whether the GHF has enough experience to mount a large-scale humanitarian operation.
On Tuesday, United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement that the scene in Rafah is “heartbreaking, to say the least.”
Dujarric said no fuel is currently available in southern Gaza and only one-third of the required supply was received last week.
Dujarric called for the “opening of all crossing points for humanitarian aid and commercial goods,” adding that the U.N. and its humanitarian partners “stand ready to deliver at scale.”
“International law must be respected and humanitarian operations must be enabled without any further delay,” Dujarric added.
The Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid entering Gaza has caused widespread malnutrition and conditions likely to lead to famine, according to the U.N. and other international aid organizations.
One in five people in Gaza, about 500,000 people, face starvation, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification platform said on May 12, according to the U.N.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the distribution sites were set up in a way to prevent looting by Hamas.
“The idea is basically to take away the humanitarian looting as a tool of war of Hamas to give it to the population,” he said.
Netanyahu said that by giving people boxes of food rather than bags of flour, it’s “very hard for Hamas to steal it, especially because we guard these positions.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration on Tuesday filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to lift what it called “onerous” due process procedures imposed by a federal judge for immigrants slated for deportation to a third country other than their own.
Solicitor General John Sauer told the court in the filing that a nationwide mandate issued last week by Judge Brian Murphy of the District Court of Massachusetts has created a “diplomatic and logistical morass” that is imposing “significant and irreparable harm” on the government’s efforts to remove criminal aliens.
After a group of detainees said to be headed to South Sudan sued over their alleged inability to raise fears of torture, Judge Murphy issued a preliminary injunction halting any future removals unless detainees were given notice of their destination, at least 10 days to raise concerns for their safety, and 15 days to contest an adverse finding by an immigration officer.
The temporary order applies universally to any individual slated for removal to a third country. The government is required under international law to ensure that migrants in its custody are afforded protections under the Convention Against Torture, of which the U.S. is a signatory. The Trump administration insists it has been in compliance.
“Based on what I’ve learned,” Judge Murphy said during a hearing last week, “I don’t see how anybody could say that these individuals had a meaningful opportunity to object. If I was in any of those groups and I was going to be deported to South Sudan, I would need an opportunity to investigate that and to be able to articulate a well-founded fear about why being returned to South Sudan would be would result in torture or death. The department did not do it. In this case, they did not offer any opportunity to object.”
Sauer told the justices Murphy’s move exceeds his authority, “jeopardizes the public interest,” and has upended sensitive diplomatic and national security negotiations with third countries. He said all of the detainees to be removed have already received adequate due process and had final orders for removal entered.
“The district court’s invented process offers little but delay. While certain aliens may benefit from stalling their removal, the Nation does not,” he wrote.
As part of its aggressive push to remove unlawful or criminal immigrants, the Trump administration has pursued third-country partners willing to accept those who will not be taken back by their home countries.
Hundreds of migrants in recent months have been sent by the U.S. to the CECOT prison in El Salvador even though they are not Salvadoran nationals. The administration has also sought removals to several African nations.
The Supreme Court — increasingly thrust to the center of escalating disputes over aspects of Trump’s immigration policy — has unanimously ruled that all non-citizens on U.S. soil must be afforded “due process of law”
“Detainees are entitled to notice and opportunity to be heard appropriate to the nature of the case,” the justices unanimously stated last month in a per curiam (unsigned) opinion.
The specifics, however, remain contested. Legal scholars say the type of “notice” and “hearing” historically afforded depends on an immigrant’s status and circumstance, such as whether they had been lawfully admitted to the country in the first place, have deep ties to the community, or are seeking asylum.
The court is also currently weighing the ability of individual federal judges to issue binding nationwide orders, blocking the government from executing a policy. After Trump issued an executive order ending birthright citizenship — and three district court judges issued injunctions against it — the administration asked the high court to issue definitive guidance the matter. A decision is imminent.
(WASHINGTON) — The State Department is ramping up efforts to dissuade Americans from traveling to Venezuela after revealing on Tuesday that the country is unjustly imprisoning more Americans than any other country.
“There are more U.S. citizens being held in prisons in Venezuela than any other country,” said Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s special presidential envoy for hostage recovery.
“And these are not people that did anything wrong,” he continued. “Their only issue is that they are American. Venezuela takes more Americans than any other country for that sole reason.”
While the State Department has not revealed exactly how many U.S. citizens are behind bars in Venezuela, at least eight Americans are known to be detained in the country.
The State Department has classified Venezuela under its most severe travel advisory, “Level 4: Do Not Travel,” since February 2019. But on Tuesday, the U.S. embassies in Colombia, Guyana, Brazil and Aruba and the State Department’s Venezuela Affairs Unit reissued the warning in an attempt to reach more Americans.
“There is no safe way for Americans to travel to Venezuela,” a State Department spokesperson said. “U.S. citizens, dual nationals, and lawful permanent residents should avoid travel to Venezuela at all costs. No trip is worth the price of freedom.”
Americans often travel to Venezuela with loved ones or partners’ families or to see them. However, these loved ones face similar risks as their American contacts.
“Family members and partners of U.S. nationals are often detained alongside the American traveler. Visiting Venezuela puts other people at risk,” the official added.
The State Department is also warning U.S. nationals that in some cases, even close proximity to the Venezuelan border has led to detention by the country’s government.
That’s what happened to Lucas Hunter, a 37-year-old dual American and French citizen who was captured by the Venezuelan government in January while on a windsurfing trip in Colombia.
Hunter’s family said he never intended to visit Venezuela but that he was coerced across the border by the country’s border guards.
Although Hunter remains in Venezuelan custody, the Trump administration has successfully negotiated the release of seven other Americans.
In January, the Trump administration’s Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions Richard Grenell made an usually high-profile trip to Venezuela, where he met with the country’s authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro, face to face.
At the end of the visit, Grenell returned to the U.S. with six freed Americans.
Last week, Grenell announced in a post on X that another American detained in Venezuela, U.S. Air Force veteran Joseph St. Clair, had been released. The Trump administration has said it has offered no concessions to the Maduro regime in exchange for freeing U.S. nationals.
“That should continue. It needs to continue,” Boehler said of the releases during an interview with ABC News. “Every country in the world needs to know you can have no relationship with the United States if you are holding U.S. citizens.”
(NEW YORK) — The third week of testimony in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial resumed on Tuesday with emotional testimony from the rap mogul’s former personal assistant, who testified about the violence and threats she said she witnessed on the job.
Crying at points on the witness stand, Capricorn Clark told jurors that she was told she would be “thrown into the East River” if she failed a lie detector test about the theft of Combs’ jewelry, that she was forced to accompany Combs to confront rival musician Kid Cudi, and how she witnessed Combs beat his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.
The intense testimony was complicated by an emotional cross-examination, as defense attorneys questioned Clark about her desire to reconcile with Combs and continue working with him.
“You want to work with him again?” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo pressed after showing messages where Clark sought to reconcile with Combs.
“I wanted to work in the music industry,” Clark replied.
Combs faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted on sex-trafficking and racketeering charges. Prosecutors allege he used his music empire — including his vast wealth and control over his employees — to run a criminal enterprise that used violence and threats to coerce women into sex and then enforce their silence. The trial has already seen the onetime cultural tastemaker and music industry titan reduced to a drug-addled abuser who led a sex life replete with voyeurism, orgies and prostitutes.
Combs has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have argued that Combs’ actions, while outside the mainstream, were a private matter and not criminal in nature.
“If you don’t convince him, I’m going to kill all you m————-.”
Last week, rapper and actor Kid Cudi — whose legal name is Scott Mescudi — told jurors that he believed Combs broke into his home in a spasm of jealousy after he learned Mescudi had been dating Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Ventura.
Mescudi offered few details about the alleged break-in, telling jurors he rushed over to his home after being tipped off by Clark. Once there, he testified he only found traces of Combs’ alleged actions, including finding Christmas gifts tampered with and his dog locked in his bathroom.
Taking the stand on Tuesday, Clark testified about that episode, which she said began in the early morning hours of Dec. 22, 2011, when a furious Combs arrived at her apartment with a handgun.
“He said, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ I said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ He said, ‘Who is Scott?’ I said, ‘I don’t know Scott.’ He said, ‘Kid Cudi,'” Clark recalled.
When she protested, Clark testified Combs, gun allegedly in hand, told her, “I don’t give a f— what you want to do, go get dressed.”
Clark said she was forced to join Combs and a bodyguard named Ruben to drive to Mescudi’s home. While Combs and Ruben allegedly entered the house, Clark said she called Ventura to tell her about the break-in, warning Mescudi that he might “get himself killed” if he tried to intervene.
Later that day, Clark testified that Combs ordered her and the bodyguard to pick up Cassie and convince Mescudi not to tell police Combs was involved in the break-in at the house.
“If you don’t convince him, I’m going to kill all you m————-” Clark recalled Combs telling her. When she returned with Ventura, Clark said Combs, standing in his robe and underwear, began kicking Ventura.
She testified that Combs kicked Ventura repeatedly, “and each kick she would crouch into more and more a fetal position” until she was all the way to the street.
Asked why she did not intervene, Clark responded that Combs told her, “If I jump in, he was going to f— me up too.”
Breaking down on the witness stand, Clark told jurors she later called Ventura’s mother and urged her to report Combs to the police. “He’s beating the s— out of your daughter. Please help her. I can’t call the police, but you can,” she recounted to the jury.
Ventura’s mother testified last week that after she learned about Combs’ threat to release two sex tapes of her daughter, she took out a home equity loan to pay Combs $20,000, which was eventually returned to her.
Cross-examining Clark, Combs’ attorneys tried to cast doubt on the former assistant’s recollection of the events and suggested she accompanied Combs and Ruben willingly.
“You went because you were afraid he was going to do something stupid?” Agnifilo asked. “I went because he told me he didn’t care that I didn’t want to go,” Clark responded. “I did not want to go and it was not my choice, sir.”
“They’re going to throw you in the East River.”
Clark told jurors that working for Combs was fast-paced, intense and required loyalty. Within her first year working for Combs, she said she was forced to take a series of lie detector tests to prove she was not involved with the disappearance of three pieces of high-end jewelry Combs had given her.
After she reported the jewelry missing, Clark testified that she was locked inside the unfinished corporate headquarters of Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment by a bodyguard nicknamed “Uncle Paulie.” Taken to the sixth floor of the building, Clark said she found “a heavy-set gentleman who was chain-smoking cigarettes and drinking black coffee.” She said the man told her, “I had been brought to the building to take a lie detector test to figure out what happened to this jewelry.”
If she flunked the test, she testified that the man told her, “They’re going to throw you in the East River.”
“I was petrified,” Clark said.
Clark said “Uncle Paulie” took her five days in a row to the same deserted location inside 1710 Broadway in Manhattan, near New York’s famous Carnegie Hall, for lie-detector tests.
“I wanted to prove my innocence. I didn’t like the threats,” Clark testified.
When she was allowed to return to work, Clark told the jury that Combs never mentioned the lie detector tests or inquired where she had been.
During a cross-examination that hopscotched from time period to time period, Capricorn Clark testified she did not know the connection between Sean Combs and the large man she remembered repeatedly administering the lie-detector test. She testified that Combs suspected her of stealing the jewelry, which had been loaned to Combs for his famous annual July 4 white party in the Hamptons.
“You don’t know what relationship he has to Mr. Combs?” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo asked. Clark responded that she did not know.
“I felt that I was somewhat of a protector for Puff.”
While prosecutors sought to use Clark’s testimony to highlight how Combs used his wealth, power, and employees to lead a criminal enterprise, defense attorneys attempted to undercut that narrative by highlighting messages that suggested Clark was eager to work for a man who held a singular position atop the worlds of music and culture.
Clark again broke down in tears and sobs when confronted by several emails she had sent to Combs. One, in 2014, said, “Hopefully you’ll forgive me soon. It’s been long enough. I feel like you’ve forgiven everyone else but me.”
A second one, in early 2015, said, “Sending you blessings and love for a new year.”
More tears flowed when Agnifilo showed Clark an email she sent to Combs on his birthday, Nov. 4, 2015. “My hope for this year is that you make good on your promise to get over things and actually be my friend again.”
Defense attorney Agnifilo kept asking why she wanted to work with Combs again.
“I wanted my life back, sir,” Clark explained.
“You want to work with him again?” Agnifilo asked.
“I wanted to work in the music industry,” Clark replied.
Federal prosecutors, resuming their questioning after the cross-examination, suggested Clark returned to work for Combs because he stymied her attempts to work elsewhere in the music industry.
“He held all the power as it related to me,” Clark testified through sobs.
Richard Ducree/USA Network/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump will pardon reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, according to a video posted by Trump’s communications adviser Margo Martin on X. The couple was sentenced to prison for tax evasion and bank fraud.
According to the video, Trump called Savannah Chrisley, the couple’s 27-year-old daughter, to share the news that her parents were getting pardoned and would be released from prison soon.
Savannah Chrisley appealed to the Trump administration for pardons for her parents and spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
The couple, who became famous for their show “Chrisley Knows Best,” were sentenced in November 2022 to a combined 19 years in prison on charges including fraud and tax evasion. Todd Chrisley was sentenced to 12 years in prison and 16 months of probation while Julie Chrisley was ordered to serve seven years in prison and 16 months of probation.
The couple was also ordered to pay $17.8 million in restitution.
Asked by ABC News if the White House could provide any background information regarding the pardons, principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields did not provide any details behind the pardons and echoed Trump’s comments in the video that the couple were treated unfairly.
“The President is always pleased to give well-deserving Americans a second chance, especially those who have been unfairly targeted and overly prosecuted by an unjust justice system,” Fields said in a statement to ABC News. “President Trump called Savannah and her brother from the Oval Office to personally inform them that he would be pardoning their parents, Todd and Julie Chrisley, whose sentences were far too harsh.”
“Chrisley Knows Best” premiered in 2014 and followed the lavish lifestyle of wealthy real estate developer Todd Chrisley and his family.
The charges against the Chrisleys stem from activity that occurred at least as early as 2007, when the couple allegedly provided false information to banks and fabricated bank statements when applying for and receiving million of dollars in loans, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In 2014, two years after the alleged bank fraud scheme ended, the couple is accused of fabricating bank statements and a credit report that had “been physically cut and taped or glued together when applying for and obtaining a lease for a home in California.”
In their sentencing memo, prosecutors said the Chrisleys had engaged in a “fifteen-year fraud spree.”
“After they defrauded community banks out of tens of millions of dollars, they hid millions of dollars from the IRS, all while going on television to boast about how much they spend on designer clothes,” the memo read. “And when they learned that they were under investigation for those crimes, they involved their own family members and friends to obstruct justice.”
In a phone interview with ABC News on Tuesday, Savannah Chrisley told ABC News the call from Trump came ‘totally out of the blue.”
“I kind of had gotten to a place where I had lost hope, and just felt like nothing was going in my favor,” she said. “And then I got the call.”
Savannah Chrisley said she is planning to pick her parents up as early as Tuesday night or “first thing” on Wednesday.
She also recounted informing her mother by phone of the pardon.
“Just sobbing, hysterically,” Savannah Chrisley said of her mother’s reaction to hearing the news.
Chrisley said she was “eternally grateful to [Trump’s “pardon czar”] Alice Johnson and the president and his entire team.”
“It was just a shock, and the president was so kind and loving. He’s the reason my family is coming back together,” Chrisley said. “I have always stood by him and his administration, and I will continue to stand by them and fight for them.”
-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin contributed to this report.
(WATERBURY, CT) — Five people were shot at a Connecticut shopping center on Tuesday, police said.
Officers responded to the Brass Mill Center in Waterbury at approximately 4:40 p.m. following reports of a “disturbance,” Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said during a press briefing. They found several victims suffering from gunshot wounds, he said.
The victims were transported to local hospitals for medical treatment. There are no fatalities at this time, according to Spagnolo.
A person of interest was identified by detectives and taken into police custody Tuesday evening, Waterbury Police said in a statement.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the person of interest was one of the five injured.
The shooting was not a random act of violence, Spagnolo said, adding, “We believe this started as a conflict and it escalated.”
Police believe the suspect and victims knew each other. A semi-automatic pistol was used in the shooting, the chief said.
State police and federal agencies are assisting in the investigation, including clearing the mall and collecting digital evidence, the chief said.
“There’s a tremendous amount of law enforcement here right now,” Spagnolo said. “We’re following some very strong leads.”
Spagnolo said he does not believe there’s any threat in the immediate area.
