(WASHINGTON) — A representative for former President Joe Biden said he last took a prostate-specific antigen blood test, commonly used to screen for prostate cancer, in 2014.
Although the exact date of the test wasn’t disclosed, Biden was around 72 years old at the time, which falls in line with current medical guidance and recommendations on who should take a test.
Current screening recommendations suggest men age 55 to 69 should discuss the benefits and harms of a PSA test with their doctor and make an individual decision when or if they need it. Men 70 and older should not receive PSA-based screening because of the risk of false positives, according to the United States Preventive Services Task Force.
“Prior to Friday, President Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Biden announced Sunday that he had an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.
The older a person is, the more the risk of false positives and unnecessary biopsies increases. Conversely, some people with cancer might have good PSA scores. PSA screening is highly debated among doctors in terms of when it’s appropriate to use.
Biden’s representatives said the former president had a routine physical last week and doctors discovered a small nodule in his prostate.
Since his diagnosis was revealed two days ago, President Donald Trump questioned the timing of the announcement and claimed that “somebody is not telling the facts.”
“I’m surprised that it wasn’t, you know — the public wasn’t notified a long time ago because to get to stage nine — that’s a long time,” Trump said Monday.
(LOS ANGELES) — Hannah Kobayashi, who made national headlines when she disappeared in 2024, is speaking publicly after months of silence. In a recent Instagram story, the Hawaii woman thanked those who searched for her and addressed the controversy surrounding her disappearance.
“In my statement, I expressed my deepest gratitude for everyone who supported me with love and compassion,” Kobayashi wrote. “Anything I say would be scrutinized and picked apart, so I chose to keep it simple, truthful, and from my heart.”
In November 2024, Kobayashi disappeared after flying from Maui to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). She was scheduled to continue to New York, but never boarded her connecting flight. Police later said they believed she missed the flight intentionally. Weeks later, the LAPD said she was safe in Mexico and her family said she returned safely to the U.S. in December.
The disappearance took a tragic turn when Ryan Kobayashi — Hannah’s father — was discovered dead in a parking lot near LAX after traveling to Los Angeles to help find his daughter. The medical examiner determined that he had died by suicide.
The case sparked intense public debate, with some people questioning Kobayashi’s actions. One Instagram user, Jina_eastmeetswest, commented under Kobayashi’s recent post.
“Seek help,” they said. “Your selfish and immature behavior cost your dad’s life, put your family through immense suffering, and cost public resources. Not once did you take any sort of accountability.”
She did not reply to this comment.
Another user asked Kobayashi why she didn’t attend her father’s funeral.
“We feel like we were fighting for nothing,” they wrote.
Kobayashi expressed gratitude in her response, but didn’t address their question.
“Fighting for something you believe in is never for nothing,” Kobayashi said on Instagram. “Thank you for everything, truly and sincerely.
Kobayashi also told the San Francisco Gate that she plans to share more details about her disappearance soon, saying she wants to address the criticism she’s received.
Kobayashi didn’t respond to ABC News’ request for comment. As of Tuesday, Kobayashi has not answered questions about her father’s death publicly.
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 [TALK] for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump, on the 2024 campaign trail, repeatedly promised voters he personally could end the Russia-Ukraine war on his first day in office — or even before.
But four months into his term, peace not only remains elusive but he’s saying he could soon “back away” from being involved.
His comment came hours after his highly-anticipated phone call Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin produced no breakthrough — even though Trump had earlier suggested it could.
Just last week, after Putin snubbed an invitation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to attend peace negotiations in Istanbul — something Trump had encouraged — he told reporters: “Nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together, OK?”
“I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together, but we’re going to have to get it solved, because too many people are dying,” Trump said.
After his hourslong conversation with Putin on Monday, though, Trump said that conditions for a ceasefire and an ultimate end to the conflict “will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be.”
Direct talks between just Ukraine and Russia, Trump said, would begin “immediately” and possibly be hosted by the Vatican. The two sides already began engaging in Turkey last week in what was the first known meeting between representatives of Moscow and Kyiv since spring 2022.
Trump had also previously pushed for an “immediate ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, but that was not pushed further in his public comments following his Putin call.
Still, Trump sought to put an optimistic spin on Monday’s talks.
“I think something’s going to happen,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s got very, very big egos involved, I tell you, big egos involved. But I think something’s going to happen.”
“And if it doesn’t, I just back away and they’re going to have to keep going again,” Trump said. “This is a European situation. It should have remained a European situation.”
He did not answer whether he would be meeting with Putin — something he had suggested was likely in the not too distant future.
Trump and various top administration officials had said Trump’s personal history with Putin and strongman persona would get results.
In his debate against then-Vice President Kamala Harris in September, Trump said he’d get the Russia-Ukraine war ended “before even becoming president” because Putin and Zelenskyy “respect me.”
During an exclusive interview with ABC News on the 100-day mark of his term, Trump posited that, “If it weren’t for me, I think [Putin would] want to take over the whole country, personally.”
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, said on ABC’s “This Week” this past Sunday that the “president has a force of personality that is unmatched.”
“I believe that the president is going to have a successful call with Vladimir Putin,” Witkoff said. “They know each other. The president is determined to get something done here. And hopefully, if he can’t do it, then nobody can.”
Trump said last week he wanted to hold a summit with Putin as soon as possible.
“We have to get together. I think we will probably schedule it. Because I’m tired of having other people go and meet and everything else,” Trump told Fox News on May 16. He added, “I think I’m the only one that’s going to be able to do that one. And I think we will do it fast, too.”
On Monday, Trump said that he’d asked Putin to meet during their phone call, but did not say whether Putin expressed interest in doing so.
“I said, ‘When are we going to end this, Vladimir?'” Trump told reporters of their discussion. “I said, ‘When are we going to end this bloodshed, this, this bloodbath?’ It’s a bloodbath. And, I do believe he wants to end it.”
Putin, in his own comments to journalists in Sochi after the call, only said he was ready to work on “memorandum on a possible future peace agreement” with Ukraine, but did not elaborate on what that would look like.
Putin showed no signs of making concessions, only saying both sides must “determine the most effective ways of moving towards peace.”
Trump and other top officials have said Ukraine will have to forgo NATO membership and likely concede some territory occupied by Russia in order to bring the conflict to an end. They have not made similar public demands of Russia, which started the war when it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
Trump, at times, has threatened more sanctions on Moscow. On Monday, he suggested trade with the U.S. after the war is over could be a motivator for pursuing peace.
Meanwhile, Russia only ramped up strikes inside Ukraine overnight following the Trump-Putin call.
In late April, Trump wondered aloud if Putin was “tapping me along” as strikes increased. If so, he said, he’d have to be “dealt with differently.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, said over the weekend that the U.S. was trying to find out if Russia was “tapping us along” and said “we’ll find out pretty soon.”
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy, who Trump also spoke with on Monday, said the negotiation process “must involve both American and European representatives.”
“It is crucial for all of us that the United States does not distance itself from the talks and the pursuit of peace, because the only one who benefits from that is Putin,” Zelenskyy said.
(PERRYSBURG, OHIO) — A 24-year-old Venezuelan man was arrested for pretending to be a 16-year-old high school student in Ohio, according to the City of Perrysburg Police.
Anthony Emmanuel Labrador Sierra was arrested on Monday after he posed as a teenager in January 2024, police said.
According to a police report, Labrador had contacted Perrysburg Schools in November 2023, wanting to enroll as a student, claiming that “he had been homeless and was an immigrant from Venezuela.”
He also told the school that he was a victim of human trafficking, police said.
When he met with the school to begin the enrollment process, Labrador presented a birth certificate from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela with a birthdate of Dec. 2, 2007, police said. At the time, he told the school he was staying at an address in Toledo, and he started as a student on Jan. 19, 2024.
Kathy and Brad Melfred, who had housed exchange students in the past and had adoptive children, were contacted about Labrador. The Melfreds agreed to assist Labrador and he began residing with them on March 21, 2024, police said.
The couple was granted permanent guardianship over Labrador through the Wood County Common Pleas Court Juvenile Division and they also assisted him in getting a social security number and an Ohio driver’s license, police said.
Then on May 14, the Melfreds were contacted by a woman, Evelyn Camacho, who stated that Labrador was “actually a 24-year-old and he was the father of her child,” police said. Camacho sent the Melfreds a picture of Labrador’s driver’s license with a birthdate of March 27, 2001, along with Facebook pictures of her with Labrador and a small child, police said.
Police said they reached out to the United States Border Patrol for assistance in the investigation, who advised that Labrador had an actual birthdate of March 27, 2001, an expired work visa and was considered “an overstay in this country.”
Officials said his work visa expired the same year he reached out to Perrysburg Schools to enroll.
On Monday at 4:15 p.m., Labrador was arrested after he was located riding in a vehicle on Interstate 75 and was booked on forgery charges, police said in a statement.
Labrador was also a member of the junior varsity soccer and swim teams at the high school, and the district has reported the situation to the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
The suspect remains in custody at the Wood County Jail and his next court date is scheduled for May 29, according to jail records. It is unclear if Labrador has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
(WASHINTON) — Officially titled the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” this megabill fulfills a laundry list of President Donald Trump’s campaign promises from taxes to border security.
As House Republicans continue to negotiate the final details of the legislation, here’s a look at some possible ways the bill could affect everyday Americans, according to recent estimates.
Keep in mind, the Senate is likely to significantly change this bill and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) continues to review the legislation.
Some potential impacts:
More than an estimated 8 million recipients could lose Medicaid coverage, according to a CBO analysis requested by House Democrats. Republicans say they’re targeting able-bodied adults and undocumented immigrants, but other beneficiaries could also be impacted.
Cuts SNAP food assistance by roughly $230 billion over 10 years, narrowing participation in the program servicing roughly one-in-eight Americans each month
Extends the 2017 Trump tax cuts
Fulfils Trump’s campaign promises of no taxes on tips and no taxes on overtime work
Provides $50 billion wall to renew construction of Trump’s border wall
Commits roughly $150 billion in defense spending for shipbuilding and ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense system
It’s important to note, the impacts of the bill are estimates based on early analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The estimates – and legislative text – have not been finalized.
Changes in Medicaid work requirements
Republicans say their main goal is reducing “waste, fraud, and abuse” within Medicaid, the health care program for lower income Americans and those with disabilities, in order to achieve hundreds of billions in savings over the next decade.
Early estimates requested by House Democrats put the number of people who could lose coverage at more than 8 million, but that number continues to fluctuate and the Congressional Budget Office has not yet released its final score of the GOP bill, which is not yet even finalized itself.
The bill imposes new work requirements on able-bodied Medicaid recipients aged 19-64 who don’t have dependents, which includes working at least 80 hours per month. The bill also requires states to conduct eligibility redeterminations at least every 6 months for all recipients.
The legislation also removes undocumented migrants from Medicaid eligibility (per the White House, this accounts for approximately 1.4 million undocumented migrants losing coverage provided through state Medicaid programs).
Under the bill’s current text, these work requirements don’t kick in until 2029, as President Trump leaves office. But House Republican hardliners are looking at moving that date up to 2026 or 2027 in their negotiations with leadership.
The bill also increases copays for Medicaid recipients who make more than the federal poverty limit, for single beneficiaries that’s just over $15,500. They would be required to pay an extra $35 dollar copay in some visits.
It also increases the required Medicaid paperwork for income and residency verification as lawmakers look to crack down on people who are “double-dipping” in multiple jurisdictions. These additional steps are expected to especially impact seniors and others who can’t promptly respond.
SNAP cuts
The bill tightens eligibility requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), what used to be called “food stamps” program, which helped roughly 42 million low-income people per month buy groceries in 2024.
Adults aged 55-64 and children would face additional work requirements to qualify for SNAP benefits.
The bill also shifts some SNAP costs to the states. The program is currently 100% federally funded. This bill requires states to share in at least 5 percent of SNAP benefit costs starting in 2028.
The SNAP cuts total an estimated $230 billion over 10 years.
The changes could have an indirect impact on school lunch programs, requiring some previously eligible families to apply for access and impact federal reimbursement payments for some school districts.
No tax on tips and overtime pay
This addition to the bill helps Trump fulfill one of his major campaign promises — exempting workers who receive tips from paying federal income taxes on them, as long as they make less than $160,000 a year. The tax break would expire at the end of 2028, after the next presidential election, according to the proposal.
Expanding Trump tax cuts
Makes tax cuts from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent that fiscal hawks complain adds trillions of dollars to the deficit over the next decade; does not include a tax increase on the wealthiest earners. Trump posted last week that the proposal shouldn’t raise taxes on high-earners, “but I’m OK if they do!!!”
Creation of MAGA savings account for children
The bill would create so-called MAGA savings accounts for parents to open for their children. The contribution limit for any taxable year is $5,000. It includes a pilot program to start the accounts with $1,000.
Raising the SALT cap
The current bill raises the deduction limit of state and local taxes from your federal income tax filing from $10,000 to $30,000 for joint filers making less than $400,000 per year.
Republicans from states such as New York and California are pushing House Republican leadership to further increase that cap to help their constituents. Hardliners warn increasing that limit would worsen the deficit.
On the campaign trail, Trump promised to eliminate the SALT cap first imposed by the 2017 tax law he signed during his first term.
More money for border security enforcement
The legislation provides almost $50 billion to revive construction of Trump’s wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and it makes changes to immigration policy.
The bill includes $4 billion to hire an additional 3,000 new Border Patrol agents as well as 5,000 new customs officers, and $2.1 billion for signing and retention bonuses.
There’s also funds for 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and investigators.
It includes major changes to immigration policy, imposing a $1,000 fee on migrants seeking asylum, which has never been done before in the United States.
The bill includes a $4 trillion increase to the statutory debt limit as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calls on Congress to act by the end of July.
(WASHINGTON) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem incorrectly responded to a lawmaker’s question on the definition of habeas corpus during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on the Department of Homeland Security budget for the upcoming year on Tuesday.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., asked Noem, “What is habeas corpus?”
The secretary responded, saying, “Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country.”
“Habeas corpus is the legal principle that requires, requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people. If not for that protection, the government could simply arrest people, including American citizens, and hold them indefinitely for no reason,” she said.
“Habeas corpus is the foundational right that separates free societies like America from police states like North Korea,” Hassan added. “As a senator from the ‘Live Free or Die’ state, this matters a lot to me and my constituents and to all Americans.”
Hassan then asked, “Secretary Noem, do you support the core protection that habeas corpus provides that the government must provide a public reason in order to detain and imprison someone?”
“I support habeas corpus,” Noem responded. “I also recognize that the president of the United States has the authority under the Constitution to decide if it should be suspended or not.”
Hassan interrupted Noem, saying, “It has never been done. It has never been done without approval of Congress. Even Abraham Lincoln got retroactive approval from Congress.”
Later in the hearing, Noem denied any involvement in a reported reality television show featuring the Department of Homeland Security in which immigrants would compete for U.S. citizenship.
“We have no knowledge of a reality show,” Noem said. “There may have been something submitted to the department, but I did not know anything about this reality show until the reporter reached out.”
Noem then took aim at The Wall Street Journal’s reporting, saying, “That article — in fact, they had to change it later because they lied so bad, and they had us on the record saying I had no knowledge of a reality show. The department didn’t — there may have been something submitted somewhere along the line because there are proposals pitched to the department, but me and my executive team have no knowledge of a reality show and it’s not under consideration.”
“That article was completely inaccurate, completely inaccurate and false, and the fact that they printed it when they knew it was false was a dereliction of their work,” she added.
(DOHA, QATAR) — The recent Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar have not led anywhere yet, the Qatari prime minister said Tuesday, citing a “fundamental gap” between the two parties, Israel and Hamas.
“One party is looking for a partial deal that might or have the possibility to lead to a comprehensive deal and the other party is looking just for a one-off deal and to end the war and to get all the hostages out,” Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said during a press briefing Tuesday. “And we couldn’t bridge this fundamental gap with whatever proposals we have provided.”
Rounds of negotiations have been ongoing in Doha over the past couple of weeks, he said.
Hamas claimed Tuesday that Israel has not been serious about the negotiations, saying in a statement that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is extending his delegation’s stay in Doha on a day-to-day basis without engaging in any serious negotiations, and no real talks have taken place since last Saturday.”
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office claimed Tuesday that Hamas is refusing the American proposal for the return of the hostages.
“After approximately one week of intensive contacts in Doha, the senior members of the negotiating team will return to Israel for consultations; the working echelon will — at present — remain in Doha,” the office said.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Sunday that the Israeli negotiation team is working to “exhaust every chance of a deal,” including one that would include “the release of all hostages, the expulsion of Hamas terrorists [from Gaza], and the disarmament of the Strip.”
Amid the ceasefire talks, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Sunday the start of a new “extensive ground operation” throughout northern and southern Gaza.
The escalation has been met with condemnation from the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Canada, who called on Israel in a joint statement on Monday to stop its military operations and immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, otherwise they “will take further concrete actions in response.”
U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy subsequently announced Tuesday that the U.K. has suspended negotiations with Israel on a new free trade agreement and will impose sanctions on West Bank settlers, saying, “Despite our efforts, this Israeli government’s egregious actions and rhetoric have continued.”
Netanyahu had pushed back against the joint statement in a statement on X on Monday, saying that by “asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed,” the leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are “offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities.”
“The war can end tomorrow if the remaining hostages are released, Hamas lays down its arms, its murderous leaders are exiled and Gaza is demilitarized. No nation can be expected to accept anything less and Israel certainly won’t,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry also brushed off the U.K.’s announcements on the free trade talks and sanctions on Tuesday, saying, “External pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction.”
(NEW YORK) — A run-in with a rival record executive at Mel’s Drive-in, assault weapons with illegally defaced serial numbers and a sex performance at Trump International Hotel & Tower on Central Park West were some of the topics that jurors in Sean Combs’ criminal trial heard about Tuesday, as prosecutors tried to build their racketeering and sex trafficking case against the rap mogul.
Across nearly six hours of testimony on the trial’s 11th day, federal prosecutors called to the stand Combs’ former personal assistant, a federal agent, the mother of the government’s star witness and a sex worker nicknamed “The Punisher.”
They argued that the wide-reaching testimony helps prove the lengths to which Combs was willing to go to benefit from and protect what they alleged is a criminal enterprise.
Combs has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers argued that his private conduct in the bedroom does not amount of sex trafficking. His lawyers have argued any violence alleged by witnesses was driven by love, jealousy and drug use — not a desire to coerce anyone into sex.
Prosecutors plan to continue their case Wednesday by calling Dawn Hughes, a psychologist who specializes in sex trauma, George Kaplan, a former assistant to Combs and Scott Mescudi, the rapper known as Kid Cudi and who briefly dated Combs’ former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.
Combs’ former assistant testifies about Suge Knight encounter
Combs’ one-time personal assistant David James told jurors about the wide range of tasks he completed for the rap mogul: from stocking hotel rooms and allegedly buying drugs to being the driver when Combs – allegedly armed with multiple guns – wanted to confront rival record executive Marion “Suge” Knight.
Jurors first heard about the alleged interaction between Combs and Knight during the testimony of Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. It allegedly occurred in approximately 2008 or 2009 and was a moment that threatened to dredge up the violent history between the titans of 1990s rap music and the long-standing rivalries between the East and West Coasts.
Ventura testified that, after a so-called “freak off,” a security guard named D-Roc informed him that Knight, the former CEO of Death Row Records and a longtime rival of Combs, was spotted at Mel’s. Despite her pleas to stop, Ventura said Combs packed up his weapons and headed to the restaurant to confront Knight.
“I was crying. I was screaming, like, please don’t do anything stupid,” Ventura testified last week.
James told jurors the other side of the story, describing D-Roc confronting Knight when they were at Mel’s to pick up cheeseburgers for Combs.
“We pulled into the parking lot and D-Roc looks over and says, ‘That’s motherf——- Suge Knight,'” James said, describing how he drove back to Combs’ house to find Combs and Ventura arguing. “Cassie looked very distressed. She was telling him not to go,” James testified.
James testified that Combs, allegedly with three guns on his lap, ordered him to drive back to the diner. It was that moment, he said, that eventually prompted him to stop working for Combs.
“I was really struck by it. I realized for the first time being Mr. Combs’ assistant that my life was in danger,” James testified.
Prosecutors have charged that Combs and his alleged associates used “violence, use of firearms, threats of violence, coercion” to protect and promote the “power of the Combs’ enterprise.”
James also testified about buying and supplying drugs for Combs and stocking the moguls’ hotel rooms with baby oil, Astroglide lubricant, condoms and prophylactics. He told the jury he once accidentally walked in on a freak-off, featuring Ventura and a male sex worker.
When questioned by defense lawyers, James testified that he once had sex with a prostitute and that he declined to pay for her services, and that he got into a physical altercation with another one of Combs’ employees. James said he spoke with prosecutors under a proffer agreement, meaning he had immunity from being prosecuted for anything he said on the stand.
“Have they given you some type of immunity?” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo asked.
“I’d have to ask my lawyer that question,” he said. “My lawyer said I have no legal visibility.”
Cassie Ventura’s mother testifies about Combs blackmailing her daughter
Regina Ventura, the mother of star witness Cassie Ventura, took the stand on Tuesday to testify about taking a home equity loan to pay Combs in order to prevent him from following through on an alleged threat to release a sex tape of her daughter.
“The threats that have been made towards me by Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs are that … he is going to release 2 explicit sex tapes of me,” Ventura wrote in an email to her mother and Combs’ assistant Capricorn Clark on Dec. 23, 2011. Jurors saw the email when Cassie Ventura testified last week.
“I was physically sick. I did not understand a lot of it. The sex tapes threw me,” Regina Ventura testified about the threat.
Regina Ventura testified that she and her husband decided to take out a loan so they could send Combs the $20,000 he demanded, though he ultimately returned the money.
“We decided that’s the only way we could get the money,” she said. “I was scared for my daughter’s safety.”
Regina Ventura also told jurors she decided to photograph the injuries her daughter allegedly suffered from Combs so that they would have a record of the alleged abuse.
Approximately 15 years after she documented the injuries, prosecutors last week showed the photos to the jury to underscore Cassie Ventura’s testimony about the violence she suffered at Combs’ hands.
‘The Punisher’ testifies about a dozen alleged freak-offs
Known professionally as The Punisher, male escort Sharay Hayes told the jury that he first met Combs and Cassie Ventura in 2012, when he was hired to help create a “sexy erotic scene” for what, Ventura said, was Combs’ birthday. He testified that he got his nickname when he was a teenager based on the way he played basketball.
He testified that Ventura, who used the name Janet when booking sex workers, instructed him to come to Trump International Hotel & Tower on Central Park West in Manhattan to perform a strip act. When he arrived, Ventura asked him to cover her baby oil while Combs watched, Hayes said.
“I was specifically told to not acknowledge her husband. Try not to look at him. No communication between me and him,” Hayes testified. “The room was dimly lit, maybe electronic candles. All of the furniture was covered in sheets and there was an area pretty much for me to sit and for her to sit across from me. There were bowls of water and bottles of baby oil.”
Hayes told jurors that Combs was nude for the encounter and wore a veil, occasionally masturbating during the interaction and offering “subtle directions” to Ventura.
After their first interaction, Hayes said he worked for the couple another eight to 12 times, receiving $1,200 to $2,000 on each occasion.
During their last encounter, Hayes testified Combs instructed him to have sex with Ventura but declined because he could not sexually perform under “a lot of pressure.”
Cross-examined by Combs’ lawyers, Hayes testified that he believed Ventura was comfortable during the exchanges, potentially undercutting the argument she was coerced to participate.
“I didn’t get any cues there was any discomfort there,” Hayes said when asked if Ventura seemed uncomfortable with the encounters.
The question of whether Ventura was forced or participated voluntarily is one of the most critical issues in the prosecution of the onetime cultural icon Combs.
Jurors see evidence of weapons with defaced serial numbers
For the final witness of the day, jurors heard from a federal agent who testified about recovering multiple assault-style weapons from Combs’ Miami Beach residence when it was raided in March 2024. The agent, Gerard Gannon, said the serial numbers of the weapons had been defaced – a violation of federal firearms laws.
Holding parts of the weapons in court for the jury to see, Gannon testified that investigators recovered a 30-round magazine containing 19 rounds and a full 10-round magazine in Combs’ home, with the ammunition on the same shelf as 7-inch platform heels and lingerie.
Prosecutors have alleged Combs and his associates relied on “violence, use of firearms, [and] threats of violence” to operate their criminal enterprise.
(NEW YORK) — It’s the rivalry that has defined hip-hop for a generation. And, according to many in law enforcement, it has claimed the lives of at least two of rap’s brightest stars.
Sean “Diddy” Combs vs. Marion “Suge” Knight.
Their names are synonymous with the explosion of hip-hop, and the bad blood between the two moguls emerged as a central pop culture plotline of the 1990s. Inside the music industry, their respective record labels – Combs’ Bad Boy Records and Knight’s Death Row — vied for market share. On the streets of cities like Los Angeles and New York, their personas clashed and their allies fought as part of what came to be known as the battle between the East and West Coast rap scenes.
In the East, Combs stood tall. Bad Boy Records boasted the top talent of the Notorious B.I.G. – aka Biggie Smalls – and, authorities said, often hired members of the Crips street gang for security. In the West, it was the domain of Knight and Death Row Records, which, police said, had long-standing connections with the Crips’ rivals, the Bloods. Atop the Death Row roster was Tupac Shakur.
The grudge between Combs and Knight was a key focus of testimony Tuesday at Combs’ ongoing sex-trafficking and racketeering trial in Manhattan, in which Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. On the stand, Combs’ former personal assistant, David James, said one night in 2008, he spotted Knight and his entourage eating at Mel’s Diner in Hollywood. He testified that Combs, upon hearing that, wanted to confront the rival group.
“I was really struck by it. I realized for the first time, being Mr. Combs’ assistant, that my life was in danger,” James testified. A short time later, he gave his notice and left the company.
The enmity between Knight and Combs was fueled by insults – perceived, real and even put to lyrics – and in the era of hip-hop getting hot in the mainstream, the two groups feuded on stage, and in the streets.
Taking the stage at the August 1995 Source Awards in New York City, Knight hurled a thinly-veiled insult at Combs, publicly taunting Combs for allegedly stealing the spotlight from the artists whose music he produced.
In June 1996, Shakur released “Hit ‘Em Up,” which called out Biggie, Combs and Bad Boy by name, and bragged about sleeping with Biggie’s wife. The song further inflamed the feud.
“The East Coast, West Coast rivalry led to a lot of bad blood between Suge, Death Row, and Puffy and Bad Boy. Both were big at the time,” said retired NYPD Det. Derrick Parker, the first cop assigned to investigate crime in the hip-hop world. Parker was known on the streets as the “Hip-Hop Cop.”
“As soon as these guys started to become big in the industry, they started aligning themselves with certain people – they started bringing in the gangs, people affiliated with the gangs, and then came the diss records,” Parker said.
“The beef between them started to go on wax, on records, on tapes, on music. And it just got worse,” Parker said. “And the beef got louder and louder, it got more problematic, more violent.”
The rivalry turned deadly in the fall of 1996. On Sept. 7, Shakur was riding around Vegas in a BMW driven by Knight when a fusillade of gunfire rained down on them. Six days later, Shakur was dead.
The only man ever arrested in connection with the killing has previously alleged that Combs requested the murder: Duane “Keffe D” Davis told police Combs put a bounty on the lives of his rivals, Knight and Shakur.
Combs has repeatedly denied any involvement in the killing and has never been named as a suspect or a person of interest by authorities in connection with the homicide.
Davis, in police interviews, the pages of his own co-authored memoir and in media appearances, has previously told a different story – one he now denies.
“I’ll give anything for those dude’s heads,” Davis said Combs told him months before Shakur’s death, according to a police report on their interview with Davis in 2008. His accounts of alleged conversations with Combs came during interviews with police in 2008 and 2009, obtained by ABC News, and later in on-camera interviews and the 2019 memoir with his name on it, “Compton Street Legend.”
Amid mushrooming violence and tensions between the two groups, Combs worried about “retaliation” and “began to solicit Davis to kill Knight and Shakur,” according to the police report on Davis’ 2008 interview.
More than once, Combs repeated the offer, Davis alleged: summoning him at a Hollywood eatery, Combs “again told Davis he [Combs] needed to get rid of Knight and Shakur. Combs offered Davis $1,000,000 to handle the problem. Davis remembers Combs being very afraid of Knight,” the report said.
Tensions had already begun boiling over months before Shakur’s killing when a fight broke out between a number of Bloods and Crips over a coveted Death Row medallion. Among the scuffling group was Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson, according to police interviews and grand jury testimony. It was an act of “war” between the two groups that would warrant “retaliation,” a Crip affiliate testified before Davis’ indicting grand jury.
On Sept. 7, 1996, gang members and glitterati alike convened in Las Vegas for a Mike Tyson fight. In the crowds, Shakur and Knight caught sight of Davis’ nephew and identified him as the would-be medallion snatcher, according to prosecutors. A brawl ensued. That beatdown gave Davis and his crew “the ultimate green light” to take revenge, his memoir said – and which prosecutors have quoted. Paired with the request he said Combs had made, vengeance for his nephew was a “double whammy,” motivating him to seek out Shakur and Knight, according to the memoir.
Davis, behind bars and awaiting trial for orchestrating Shakur’s killing, now insists he is “innocent.” In his first interview since being arrested in September 2023, Davis told ABC News in March that he’s “never read” the memoir ascribed to him, and only confessed to his purported role in the crime because he was getting paid to lie.
His trial for Shakur’s murder is set for February 2026. He has pleaded not guilty.
Six months after Shakur was killed, Biggie Smalls was gunned down in Los Angeles, in what detectives have theorized was orchestrated revenge for Shakur’s murder. Smalls was killed after leaving through a rear entrance of an overcrowded awards afterparty that was also attended by Combs. The rapper and the mogul were in separate cars.
The hip-hop icons’ back-to-back deaths would punctuate years of escalating hostility and traded barbs between the groups.
“The rivalry between the gangs was all part and parcel of that East Coast-West Coast war,” Parker said. “This was how the rap world was. It was very violent, very turbulent at that time. That beef between them marked the hip-hop scene for more than a generation.”
Knight is currently in prison, serving a 28-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter stemming from a 2015 fatal hit-and-run. That case is not connected to Combs, Shakur or Smalls. He did not respond Tuesday to questions about the Combs trial.
Referring to the fact that he, Knight and Combs were all locked up at the time, Davis told ABC News in March: “All three of us are f—ed up now. All three of us are in jail. Me, Suge, and him.”
(NEW YORK) — The Trump administration has reversed a pause on construction of a massive offshore wind project off the coasts of New York and New Jersey.
Work on Empire Wind, the wind farm being built 15 to 30 miles south of the coast of Long Island, can resume now that the Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has lifted a stop-work order, according to Equinor, the Norweigian energy company developing the site.
On April 16, Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to halt construction on the wind project. In a post to X, Burgum claimed that further review was needed and that the Biden administration “rushed through its approval without sufficient analysis.”
Construction was about 30% complete, and the project was fully permitted at the time the stop order was issued, according to the energy company.
The stop-work order was lifted “following dialogue with regulators and federal, state, and city officials,” according to Equinor.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Monday that it took “countless conversations with Equinor and White House officials” to emphasize the importance of the project, while Burgum posted to X that he was “encouraged by Governor Hochul’s comments about her willingness to move forward on critical pipeline capacity,” although Hochul did not mention natural gas in her statement.
“New York’s economic future is going to be powered by abundant, clean energy that helps our homes and businesses thrive. I fought to save clean energy jobs in New York — and we got it done,” Hochul said.
The continuation of the project will allow Equinor to deliver energy while supporting local economies and creating jobs, Anders Opeda, president and CEO of Equinor ASA, said in a statement.
“I would like to thank President Trump for finding a solution that saves thousands of American jobs and provides for continued investments in energy infrastructure in the U.S.,” Opeda said. “I am grateful to Governor Hochul for her constructive collaboration with the Trump Administration, without which we would not have been able to advance this project and secure energy for 500,000 homes in New York.”
Wind is the largest source of renewable energy in the U.S., accounting for about 10% of electricity generated in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
What to know about Empire Wind
Norwegian energy company Equinor spent seven years obtaining permits to build Empire Wind, a project slated to power more than 500,000 homes in New York by 2026.
The site will encompass 80,000 acres with up to 130 or more wind turbines, according to the company.
The federal lease for Empire Wind was finalized during Trump’s first term, in March 2017, AP reported. In February 2024, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved Equinor’s operations and construction plan, and construction began later in the year.
The project is expected to deliver “abundant, reliable and affordable” domestic power to the Northeast as it capitalizes on billions of dollars invested and years of preparation to date and load continues to grow, Eric Hines, director of Tufts University’s Offshore Wind Graduate Program, told ABC News.
“Moving forward on Empire Wind, New York and the United States are setting the stage for a new era of American manufacturing,” Hines said.
The decision to resume construction on Empire Wind “is incredibly important for New York State,” especially since energy needs in the state are expected to double within the next 15 years, Lara Skinner, executive director of the Climate Jobs Institute at Cornell University’s ILR School, told ABC News.
“Offshore wind is particularly well-suited to New York because most of NY’s electricity is consumed in NYC and it’s difficult to get power into the city from upstate,” Skinner said. “There is not sufficient transmission infrastructure. Offshore wind helps alleviate the problem by generating power near the point of consumption.”
The project has already created 1,500 jobs at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and was on track to provide another 1,000 good union jobs in the construction of the project, Skinner said.
“Offshore wind is responsible for creating thousands of jobs across the U.S., powering homes with clean energy, and bolstering our nation’s energy independence,” Nancy Pyne, senior advisor for offshore wind at the Sierra Club, and environmental nonprofit, said in a statement.
A rapid buildout of renewable energy sources, “especially offshore wind,” will be required to achieve the greenhouse gas reductions required by New York’s climate law, Rachel Spector, deputy managing attorney at environmental nonprofit Earthjustice, told ABC News.
“The Empire Wind project will allow retirement of fossil fuel power plants that pollute the air, and in partnership with labor and community leaders it is supporting development of a staging and port facility that will further support the wind industry and create thousands of local jobs,” Spector said.
Trump’s past criticism of wind turbines
The reversal contradicts the critical stance Trump has been taking on wind power since his first term.
In May 2024, Trump claimed during a rally in New Jersey that wind turbines “kill” whales, vowing to write an executive order on “Day 1” to end offshore wind projects.
Trump kept that promise on Inauguration Day, when he signed an executive order that effectively paused the development of new offshore wind projects in the Outer Continental Shelf, withdrawing areas in the region from consideration for new and renewed leases.
The White House cited “alleged legal deficiencies” in the leasing and permitting of onshore and offshore wind projects that could lead to “grave harm” such as negative impacts on navigational safety interests, transportation interests, national security interests, commercial interests and marine mammals.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has refuted claims that the noise from offshore wind turbines causes whale deaths.
Earlier this month, attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C., sued the Trump administration over an executive order signed on Inauguration Day that halted permits for wind projects.
“This arbitrary and unnecessary directive threatens the loss of thousands of good-paying jobs and billions in investments, and it is delaying our transition away from the fossil fuels that harm our health and our planet,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, lead of the coalition, said in a statement.
In the lawsuit, the coalition of states argued that the blockade on all wind energy projects was unlawful and sought a preliminary injunction to immediately stop the administration from enforcing the freeze.
“The attorneys general argue this unilateral halt on wind energy development is harming states’ ability to provide reliable, affordable electricity to their residents,” the statement read.
In a statement to AP, the White House accused Democrats of “using lawfare to stop the president’s popular energy agenda.
