(BOCA RATON, Fla.) — A small plane crashed in Boca Raton, Florida, on Friday morning, according to local police.
Video shows what appears to be the small plane’s wreckage on railroad tracks next to a road. The fire caused by the crash has been extinguished.
Additional information was not immediately available.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(NEW YORK) — U.S. stocks seesawed between gains and losses in early trading on Friday as new Chinese tariffs on American goods intensified a trade war between the two largest economies in the world.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 103 points, or 0.25%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 0.07%.
Meanwhile, a selloff of 10-year Treasuries sent yields climbing to 4.55%. That figure exceeded a recent high attained hours before President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday a 90-day delay of so-called “reciprocal tariffs” for most U.S. trade partners.
The market turmoil Friday morning came after China issued a 125% U.S. tariff, though Beijing said it would not increase tariffs further. The move came in response to a 145% tariff on Chinese goods announced by Trump earlier this week.
In a social media post, Trump signaled confidence.
“We are doing really well on our TARIFF POLICY. Very exciting for America, and the World!!! It is moving along quickly,” Trump said on Truth Social.
U.S. markets closed Thursday with notable losses, a reversal from the enthusiasm unleashed by Trump’s Wednesday decision to pause some tariffs.
Several Asian stock markets slid back into the red on Friday morning, reversing gains made on Thursday amid continued uncertainty as to whether nations would be able to secure deals with Trump to avoid long-term tariffs — and as China announced new retaliatory tariffs on American goods.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index slipped 3.8% and Japan’s broader TOPIX index fell 3.5%. In South Korea, the KOSPI dropped nearly 1% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.95%.
In China, markets fluctuated as investors responded to the White House clarifying that the level of tariffs on Chinese goods is now 145% — not 125% as previously believed.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 2%, Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 0.6% and Shenzen’s Component Index rose 1.2%, with investors buoyed by Beijing’s announcement of stimulus measures to bolster the economy against the escalating American tariffs.
Other prominent Asia indices in the green on Friday included Taiwan’s Taiex index up 2.7% and India’s NIFTY 50 up 1.9%.
European markets appeared hesitant upon opening and slipped after China announced it would increase tariffs on U.S. goods from 84% to 125% from Saturday.
The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 0.3%, Germany’s DAX fell 0.2%, France’s CAC 40 fell 0.16% and Britain’s FTSE 100 slid 0.03%.
On Thursday, Trump again hinted at the resumption of his sweeping tariffs.
“If we can’t make the deal we want to make or we have to make or that’s, you know, good for both parties — it’s got to be good for both parties — then we go back to where we were,” Trump said.
When asked if he would extend the 90-day pause, the president responded, “We’ll have to see what happens at the time.”
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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump undergoes his annual physical at Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday, marking his first such exam of his second term.
“I have never felt better, but nevertheless, these things must be done!” Trump, who became the oldest president to be sworn into office at 78, posted on Truth Social earlier in the week.
The public hasn’t been provided a detailed look into Trump’s health since 2018 and, during the 2024 presidential campaign, he didn’t provide any details about his health despite numerous promises to do so.
It is not clear whether the White House will provide an update after Friday’s exam, but details about Trump’s medical history have been disclosed in the past.
What Trump’s last official presidential checkup revealed
In the January 2018 evaluation, Trump appeared to be in “excellent” cardiovascular shape for his age, according to then-White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson, who administered Trump’s nearly four-hour physical exam at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center said.
The president’s medical issues were limited to high cholesterol, rosacea (a benign skin disease) and being considered “overweight,” as measured by the body mass index (BMI).
Trump’s LDL cholesterol level was 143 and total cholesterol level was 223, higher than the recommended total of 200. The LDL cholesterol, in particular, is significantly higher than the recommended level of 100.
His BMI – or body mass index – is calculated at 29.9, using the National Institutes of Health calculator, which is just shy of the obesity classification, which starts with a score of 30.
The 2018 report said the president takes a cholesterol-lowering drug called rosuvastatin, and because his cholesterol level was a little high, Jackson increased the dosage.
Trump was also taking finasteride for male-pattern hair loss. That medication can also be used to treat prostate issues at higher doses.
Trump also takes aspirin daily to prevent heart disease, a multivitamin and applies a cream called ivermectin, as needed, to treat skin condition rosacea.
At Trump’s urging, his physician conducted a brief screening test called the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Jackson claimed Trump had a perfect 30/30 score.
COVID hospitalization
In October 2020, Trump was hospitalized after he contracted COVID-19. Then White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said that Trump had a fever and his blood oxygen level had dropped rapidly.
Sources with knowledge of the situation told ABC News that Trump was having trouble breathing and was given supplemental oxygen.
Doctors gave Trump an experimental course of monoclonal antibodies and steroids to treat him and he returned to the White House after three days
Trump’s health post 1st term
Other than the letters from Jackson, the most recent revelation of Trump’s health was a three-paragraph letter from his personal physician Bruce Aronwald of Morristown Medical Group, in which the doctor wrote that Trump’s “overall health is excellent.”
“His physical exams were well within the normal range and his cognitive exams were exceptional,” Aronwald wrote. “In addition, his most recent extensive laboratory analysis remains well within normal limits and was even more favorable than prior testing in some of the most significant parameters, most likely secondary to weight reduction.”
The doctor further explained that Trump’s cardiovascular studies were “all normal” and cancer screening tests were “all negative,” claiming Trump had lost weight through “an improved diet and continued daily physical activity.”
Butler assassination attempt
On July 13, gunfire erupted at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing Trump supporter Corey Comperatore and wounding Trump and six others, according to investigators.
Trump’s former White House physician, GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson, released a letter claiming that he had personally reviewed Trump’s medical records from Butler Memorial Hospital, which Jackson claimed showed the former president was treated for a “Gunshot Wound to the Right Ear.”
Jackson also confirmed that Trump underwent a precautionary CT scan while in Butler.
The Trump campaign, however, would not release the records that Jackson claimed to have reviewed.
Trump shared another letter from Jackson, detailing Trump’s ear injury and its healing process — claiming he’s doing “well” and recovering “as expected.”
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(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration has asked a federal judge in Maryland to reschedule a hearing set for Friday in the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in error.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis scheduled the hearing after the U.S. Supreme late Thursday affirmed her earlier ruling ordering the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States after he was mistakenly sent to an El Salvador prison last month.
Attorneys for the Department of Justice requested that Friday’s hearing to be rescheduled for Wednesday, April 16. That date is two days after El Salvador President Nayib Bukele is scheduled to meet with the White House.
The hearing is currently scheduled tor 1 p.m. ET Friday.
Judge Xinis had also ordered the Trump administration to file, by Friday morning, a supplemental declaration from an individual with personal knowledge acknowledging the current physical location of Abrego Garcia and what steps the administration will take to facilitate his immediate return.
Attorneys for DOJ requested the deadline for the supplemental declaration be moved to next week.
The Supreme Court on Thursday largely upheld an earlier order issued by the lower-court judge ordering the Trump administration to take steps to return the man.
“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the Supreme Court’s unsigned order stated.
Abrego Garcia — despite having protected legal status preventing his deportation to El Salvador, where his attorneys say he escaped political violence in 2011 — was sent to that country’s notorious CECOT mega-prison following what the government said was an “administrative error.”
The Trump administration has claimed Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyers and his wife deny, and argued in legal filings that because Abrego Garcia is no longer in U.S. custody, the courts cannot order him to be returned to the U.S. nor order El Salvador to return him.
In response to the Supreme Court ruling, the Trump administration has emphasized its role in carrying out foreign policy, which was also cited in the high court’s order.
The Supreme Court said the lower-court judge should “clarify” her earlier order “with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs. For its part, the Government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.”
In a statement, a Justice Department spokesman said: “As the Supreme Court correctly recognized, it is the exclusive prerogative of the President to conduct foreign affairs. By directly noting the deference owed to the Executive Branch, this ruling once again illustrates that activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to seize control of the President’s authority to conduct foreign policy.”
Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling, the attorney for Abrego Garcia told ABC News that “the rule of law prevailed.”
“The Supreme Court upheld the District Judge’s order that the government has to bring Kilmar home,” said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. “Now they need to stop wasting time and get moving.”
ABC News’ Alexander Mallin and Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.
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(NEW YORK) — Ghislaine Maxwell asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to overturn her sex-trafficking conviction, arguing she was covered by a non-prosecution agreement the government made with her former paramour, Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence. She was convicted on five counts of aiding Epstein in his abuse of underage girls in December 2021.
A federal appeals court rejected her argument that Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement, arranged in 2007, barred her prosecution in New York. She urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider her case.
“Despite the existence of a non-prosecution agreement promising in plain language that the United States would not prosecute any co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein, the United States in fact prosecuted Ghislaine Maxwell as a co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein,” her attorneys wrote in their petition.
Maxwell said the US Supreme Court should resolve differences of opinion among federal appeals court as to whether a non-prosecution arranged in one district can be enforced in another.
“A defendant should be able to rely on a promise that the United States will not prosecute again, without being subject to a gotcha in some other jurisdiction that chooses to interpret that plain language promise in some other way,” defense attorney David Markus wrote.
Four women testified at trial they had been abused as minors at Epstein’s homes in Florida, New York, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands and said Maxwell, the daughter of British newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell, had talked them into giving Epstein massages that turned sexual. They testified they were lured with gifts and promises about how Epstein could use his money and connections to help them.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(NEW YORK) — U.S. stocks inched lower in early trading on Friday as new Chinese tariffs on American goods intensified a trade war between the two largest economies in the world.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 96 points, or 0.25%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 0.05%.
China issued a 125% U.S. tariff early Friday morning, but Beijing said it would not increase tariffs further. The move came in response to a 145% tariff on Chinese goods announced by President Donald Trump earlier this week.
U.S. markets closed Thursday with notable losses, a reversal from the enthusiasm unleashed by Trump’s Wednesday decision to delay so-called “reciprocal tariffs” on most American trading partners for 90 days.
Several Asian stock markets slid back into the red on Friday morning, reversing gains made on Thursday amid continued uncertainty as to whether nations would be able to secure deals with Trump to avoid long-term tariffs — and as China announced new retaliatory tariffs on American goods.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index slipped 3.8% and Japan’s broader TOPIX index fell 3.5%. In South Korea, the KOSPI dropped nearly 1% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.95%.
In China, markets fluctuated as investors responded to the White House clarifying that the level of tariffs on Chinese goods is now 145% — not 125% as previously believed.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 2%, Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 0.6% and Shenzen’s Component Index rose 1.2%, with investors buoyed by Beijing’s announcement of stimulus measures to bolster the economy against the escalating American tariffs
Other prominent Asia indices in the green on Friday included Taiwan’s Taiex index up 2.7% and India’s NIFTY 50 up 1.9%.
European markets appeared hesitant upon opening and slipped after China announced it would increase tariffs on U.S. goods from 84% to 125% from Saturday.
The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 0.3%, Germany’s DAX fell 0.2%, France’s CAC 40 fell 0.16% and Britain’s FTSE 100 slid 0.03%.
On Thursday, Trump again hinted at the resumption of his sweeping tariffs.
“If we can’t make the deal we want to make or we have to make or that’s, you know, good for both parties — it’s got to be good for both parties — then we go back to where we were,” Trump said.
When asked if he would extend the 90-day pause, the president responded, “We’ll have to see what happens at the time.”
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(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge has scheduled a hearing for Friday, following the Supreme Court’s order requiring the Trump administration to “facilitate” the release of a Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in error last month.
In an order filed late Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis directed the Trump administration to take all available steps to facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the U.S. “as soon as possible.”
The judge also ordered the Trump administration to file a supplemental declaration from an individual with personal knowledge acknowledging the current physical location of Abrego Garcia and what steps the administration will take to facilitate his immediate return
The hearing is set for 1 p.m. ET Friday.
Earlier Thursday, the Supreme Court largely upheld an earlier order issued by the lower-court judge ordering the Trump administration to take steps to return the man.
“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the Supreme Court’s unsigned order stated.
Abrego Garcia — despite having protected legal status preventing his deportation to El Salvador, where his attorneys say he escaped political violence in 2011 — was sent to that country’s notorious CECOT mega-prison following what the government said was an “administrative error.”
The Trump administration has claimed Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyers and his wife deny, and argued in legal filings that because Abrego Garcia is no longer in U.S. custody, the courts cannot order him to be returned to the U.S. nor order El Salvador to return him.
“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the Supreme Court’s unsigned order stated.
Abrego Garcia — despite having protected legal status preventing his deportation to El Salvador, where his attorneys say he escaped political violence in 2011 — was sent to that country’s notorious CECOT mega-prison following what the government said was an “administrative error.”
The Trump administration has claimed Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyers and his wife deny, and argued in legal filings that because Abrego Garcia is no longer in U.S. custody, the courts cannot order him to be returned to the U.S. nor order El Salvador to return him.
In a statement, a Justice Department spokesman said: “As the Supreme Court correctly recognized, it is the exclusive prerogative of the President to conduct foreign affairs. By directly noting the deference owed to the Executive Branch, this ruling once again illustrates that activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to seize control of the President’s authority to conduct foreign policy.”
Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling, the attorney for Abrego Garcia told ABC News that “the rule of law prevailed.”
“The Supreme Court upheld the District Judge’s order that the government has to bring Kilmar home,” said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. “Now they need to stop wasting time and get moving.”
ABC News’ Alexander Mallin and Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.
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(LOS ANGELES) — Eight relatives of the Menendez brothers sat down with ABC News in an exclusive interview the night before the case returns to court to show they are unanimous in supporting Erik and Lyle Menendez’s release from prison.
This marks the first time the brothers’ aunt, Jose Menendez’s sister, Terry Baralt, has spoken out in decades.
“They are like the boys that I didn’t have,” she told ABC News.
“It’s time — 35 years is a long time,” she said. “It’s a whole branch of my family erased. The ones that are gone and the ones that are still paying for it, which were kids.”
Baralt, who is battling colon cancer, said she’s concerned she might not live to see her nephews be released from prison.
“I have tried to go see them as much as I can, but it’s hard because I live in New Jersey and I’m 85. I don’t have that much time,” she said.
“When kids are little and they come to you, you fix the problem. I can’t help them. … There is nothing I can do — just go visit them and cry when I leave,” she said, overcome with emotion. “This is why I don’t give interviews. It’s hard.”
Lyle and Erik Menendez — who are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1989 murders of their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez — are fighting to be released after 35 years behind bars.
A hearing will be held on Friday’s on Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s motion to withdraw the brothers’ resentencing petition. Depending on what the judge decides, another resentencing hearing may be set for April 17 and 18.
Last month, Hochman asked the court to withdraw the motion from the previous district attorney, which was in support of resentencing. Hochman argued the brothers hadn’t taken responsibility for their actions and called their claims of self-defense part of a litany of “lies.”
Because the “brothers persist in telling these lies for the last over 30 years about their self-defense defense and persist in insisting that they did not suborn any perjury or attempt to suborn perjury, then they do not meet the standards for resentencing,” Hochman said.
Hochman told ABC News last month that he would reconsider resentencing only if the brothers admitted to “the full range of their criminal activity and all the lies that they have told about it.”
In October, Hochman’s predecessor, George Gascón, announced he supported resentencing the brothers.
Gascón recommended their sentences of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and said they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.
Gascón’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.
Over 20 Menendez relatives are pushing for the brothers’ release, arguing they endured horrific abuse, have admitted guilt and apologized, and have used their decades behind bars to help others.
Ahead of Thursday night’s interview, Erik Menendez asked his cousin, Diane VanderMolen, to pass along a message to ABC News.
“They are truly, deeply sorry for what they did. And they are profoundly remorseful,” she said. “They are filled with remorse over what they did. And through that, they have become pretty remarkable people.”
Resentencing is one of three possible paths to freedom for the brothers.
Another path is the brothers’ request for clemency, which has been submitted to California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Newsom announced in February that he was ordering the parole board to conduct a 90-day “comprehensive risk assessment” investigation into whether Lyle and Erik Menendez pose “an unreasonable risk to the public” if they’re granted clemency and released.
After the risk assessment, the brothers will appear at independent parole board hearings on June 13, Newsom said.
The third path is the brothers’ habeas corpus petition, which they filed in 2023 for a review of two new pieces of evidence not presented at trial: a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse from his father, and allegations from a former boy band member who revealed in 2023 that he was raped by Jose Menendez.
In February, Hochman announced that he was asking the court to deny the habeas corpus petition, arguing the brothers’ new evidence wasn’t credible or admissible.
ABC News’ Matt Gutman and Ashley Riegle contributed to this report.
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(NEW YORK CITY) — A tourist helicopter carrying family members from Spain plunged into the Hudson River in New York City, killing six, including three children.
The New York Helicopters chartered chopper, which was carrying a pilot, two adults and three children, fell into the Hudson River by Lower Manhattan in New York City on Thursday afternoon, officials said during a press briefing.
Agustin Escobar, an executive from European automation company Siemens, his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, and their children — aged 4, 5 and 11 years old — were killed in the crash along with the pilot, aged 36, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The crash occurred at 3:17 p.m. off the coast of River Drive in Hoboken, New Jersey, just over 15 minutes after it departed from the Wall St. Heliport. The helicopter reached the George Washington Bridge before turning south and crashing, officials said during the briefing.
The five-person family was from Barcelona, Spain, two Spanish officials told ABC News on Thursday.
“Our hearts go out to the family and those on board,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said during the briefing.
Video from the crash showed the chopper plunging into the water without a tail rotor or a main rotor blade. Officials said it hit the water inverted.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident.
Jersey City Medical Center, where the passengers were transported after the crash, tried as hard as they could, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop told ABC News.
President Donald Trump took to his social media platform on Thursday evening, calling the crash “terrible” and saying that the footage of the accident is “horrendous.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a post to X that the news was “devastating.” He added, “Five Spaniards from the same family, three of them children, and the pilot have lost their lives. An unimaginable tragedy.”
Dani Horbiak told ABC News she watched the helicopter “fall out of the sky” from her apartment window.
“I heard five or six loud noises that sounded almost like gunshots in the sky and saw pieces fall off, then watched it fall into the river,” she said.
“I was walking by and the helicopter went down at a 45-degree angle,” Eric Campoverde told ABC News. “Big splash — it was very scary.”
“It sounded like a sonic boom,” a witness told New York ABC station WABC. He said he saw the “helicopter splitting in two with the rotor flying off.”
Another witness told WABC, “One propeller broke into pieces.”
The chopper — identified by the Federal Aviation Administration as a Bell 206 helicopter — was on its sixth flight of the day. It was found upside-down in the 50-degree water when rescuers arrived at the scene, which was closer to the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, according to sources.
The Jersey City Police Department is taking the lead on the investigation since the helicopter crashed on the Jersey City side of the river, Fulop told WABC on Thursday.
Fulop said the city has had concerns about the air traffic over the Hudson before and is hoping this brings more attention to their safety concerns.
ABC News’ Leah Sarnoff and Erin Murtha contributed to this report.
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(LONDON) — U.S.-Russian dual citizen Ksenia Karelina landed in the United States Thursday evening, after being released from a Russian prison in an overnight prisoner exchange.
Karelina deplaned at 11:03 p.m. at Joint Base Andrews and hugged her fiancé, Chris van Heerden.
Karelina — a 33-year-old ballet dancer — was serving a 12-year prison sentence in a penal colony, having been convicted of treason in August 2024. She was accused of organizing fundraisers for Ukraine’s military, attending pro-Ukraine rallies and posting social media messages against Russia’s war in Ukraine. The U.S. maintained she was wrongfully detained.
Karelina’s fiancé spoke to ABC News Live hours after her sentencing, saying she did nothing wrong. He said all she did was donate $50 to a Ukrainian charity.
German-Russian citizen Artur Petrov — who is accused of smuggling U.S. technology to assist the Russian military — was exchanged for Karelina, Russia’s Federal Security Service said.
Petrov was detained in Cyprus in 2023 at the request of the U.S. and later extradited. A Justice Department notice of his arrest said Petrov was accused of involvement in a scheme to procure U.S.-sourced microelectronics subject to export controls on behalf of a Russia-based supplier. The components were intended for manufacturers supplying weaponry and other equipment to the Russian military, the notice said.
A 2024 statement related to Petrov’s extradition to the U.S. said he was part of a network that secretly supplied Russia’s military industrial complex with “critical U.S. technology, including the same types of microelectronics recovered from Russian weapons on Ukrainian battlefields.”
The exchange took place overnight in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Karelina’s lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, confirmed to ABC News that she had been released.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the exchange in a tweet, writing, “American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States. She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release.”
Russia’s Federal Security Service also confirmed Karelina’s release, saying she had been pardoned via a decree from President Vladimir Putin. The FSB said the exchange was made at Abu Dhabi airport with the mediation of the UAE.
American and Russian intelligence agencies took the lead in negotiating the prisoner swap, a U.S. official told ABC News.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement, “Today, President Trump brought home another wrongfully detained American from Russia. I’m proud of the CIA officers who worked tirelessly to support this effort and we appreciate the government of UAE for enabling the exchange.”
He later shared a photo of himself greeting her at an unspecified airport.
A CIA spokesperson told ABC News that “much of the swap was negotiated by the U.S. government, with CIA playing a key role engaging with Russian intelligence.”
“Through these engagements, CIA negotiated with Russia and worked closely with domestic and foreign partners, including the UAE, to carry out the exchange,” the spokesperson said. “We also collaborated closely with counterparts at agencies across the [U.S. government] to facilitate this exchange.”
The Los Angeles resident was arrested in January 2024 while visiting family in Russia. Upon learning she has American citizenship, local law enforcement searched her phone and found a donation on Venmo to a U.S. nonprofit organization that supports those impacted by the war in Ukraine, according to Global Reach, an organization dedicated to bringing home Americans who are wrongly held abroad. The donation was made in 2022, a year before the law banning such donations was passed in Russia, according to the group.
“I am overjoyed to hear that the love of my life, Ksenia Karelina is on her way home from wrongful detention in Russia,” her fiancé, van Heerden, a professional boxer, said in a statement Thursday. “She has endured a nightmare for 15 months and I cannot wait to hold her. Our dog, Boots, is also eagerly awaiting her return.”
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Cindy Smith, Tanya Stukalova and Shannon K. Kingston contributed to this report.
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