(WATERBURY, Conn.) — A 19-year-old man has been arrested and identified as the alleged gunman who shot five people at a Connecticut shopping center on Tuesday, police said.
During a news conference Wednesday morning outside the Brass Mill Center mall in Waterbury, where the shooting erupted, Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo announced the arrest of Tajuan Washington.
Spagnolo said Washington of Waterbury was captured on security video running out of an exit at the shopping center following the shooting. He has been charged with five counts of first-degree assault and a number of weapons violations, Spagnolo said.
Washington, 19, is being held on $2 million bond and is expected to make his first court appearance sometime Wednesday, Spagnolo said.
“We’re confident that we have the person responsible for this,” Spagnolo said.
Officers responded to the Brass Mill Center around 4:40 p.m. following reports of a “disturbance” and found what Spagnolo described as “a chaotic scene.”
“First responding officers found five people that were wounded by gunfire. They weren’t quite sure if there was an active shooter still on scene,” Spagnolo said.
He said that after reviewing security video from the mall, police were able to identify the suspect fleeing out an exit of a JCPenney store.
Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski said at Wednesday’s news conference that three of the five shooting victims were treated and released from hospitals. He said two victims remain hospitalized in stable condition.
“The most seriously injured was a young lady who was hit in the spine, but she does not have some feeling in her extremities and will be doing some rehab,” Pernerewski said. “Hopefully, she will not find herself paralyzed.”
Spagnolo said Washington was initially identified as a person of interest in the shooting by detectives and taken into police custody Tuesday evening.
The shooting was not a random act of violence, Spagnolo said during a press briefing Tuesday night, 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.
On Wednesday morning, Spagnolo said detectives are still searching for the weapon.
State police and federal agencies assisted in the investigation, including clearing the mall and collecting digital evidence, the chief said.
(LONDON) — Israel launched airstrikes on Sana’a International Airport in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, warning of the possibility of further attacks on the Iran-backed Houthi movement that controls the area.
“We work according to a simple rule: Whoever harms us, we harm them,” Netanyahu said in a statement posted to X by his office. “Whoever does not understand this with force, will now understand it with greater force.”
“But, as I have said more than once: The Houthis are only the symptom. The main driving force behind them is Iran, which is responsible for the aggression emanating from Yemen,” Netanyahu continued.
The Houthis have been attacking regional shipping and launching drones and missiles toward Israel since Hamas’ deadly surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The Houthis say their attacks are a protest of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
In response, the Israel Defense Forces have attacked a range of targets in Houthi-controlled Yemen. The IDF has previously bombed the airport in Sana’a in December 2024 and earlier this month.
The IDF said in a Wednesday statement that the latest attack targeted “the central airport in Sana’a and an aircraft belonging to the Houthi terrorist organization.”
“The aircraft that were attacked were used by the Houthi terrorist regime to transport terrorists who promoted terrorist acts against the state of Israel,” the IDF said.
“The IDF is determined to continue to act and strike with force anyone who poses a threat to the residents of the state of Israel, at whatever distance is required,” the IDF said.
Yemenia Airlines condemned the strike.
“Another Yemenia Airlines plane was directly and cowardly targeted this morning, just moments before the scheduled boarding of pilgrims,” the airline said in a statement Wednesday. “The plane had received all necessary permits for landing, operation, and takeoff from all relevant authorities.”
“Accordingly, we announce to the Yemeni and international public opinion the complete (temporary) suspension of Yemenia Airlines flights from Sana’a International Airport until further notice,” the statement continued. “This is a result of this cowardly terrorist act that targeted a Yemeni civilian aircraft, belonging to a national company that has distanced itself from all conflicts and is fully dedicated to serving all our noble people without discrimination.”
Last month, the Houthis agreed to end attacks on American commercial shipping in the region in exchange for an end to the intense U.S. airstrikes against them, a campaign President Donald Trump began in March.
The Houthis have said that the agreement does not include stopping its attacks on Israel, and have since launched multiple drones and ballistic missiles toward the country.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump will swear in Jeanine Pirro as the interim U.S. attorney for D.C. during a ceremony in the Oval Office Wednesday afternoon — making her the latest Fox News host appointed by Trump.
Earlier this month, Trump tapped Pirro — a former judge and prosecutor who most recently hosted Fox News’ “The Five” — for the job after controversy around his previous pick, Ed Martin.
Martin, who had served as D.C.’s interim top prosecutor, lost GOP support for the job. Martin’s past, specifically his defense of Jan. 6 rioters and inflammatory rhetoric around the Capitol attack, plagued his nomination.
During a news conference, Pirro said her office is investigating the case as a hate crime and act of terrorism.
“A young couple at the beginning of their life’s journey, about to be engaged in another country, had their bodies removed in the cold of the night in a foreign city in a body bag. We are not going to tolerate that anymore,” Pirro said during a press briefing last Thursday. “Antisemitism will not be tolerated, especially in the nation’s capital.”
Pirro marks the latest Fox News personality to join the ranks of the Trump administration. Some of the most notable Fox News alumni appointed in Trump’s second administration include Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who hosted “Fox & Friends Weekend,” and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, who hosted “Unfiltered With Dan Bongino” before he left the network in 2023.
Pirro has been a longtime ally of Trump, dating back to her time as a prominent prosecutor in New York. She was an early supporter of his 2016 campaign and publicly defended him during the “Access Hollywood” tape scandal.
With less than an hour before his term ended, Trump granted one final pardon to Albert Pirro, who was convicted more than two decades ago on 34 counts of conspiracy and tax evasion after he was found to have improperly deducted over $1 million in lavish personal expenses in tax write-offs for his businesses.
ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and Will Steakin contributed to this report.
(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.”
