(LOS ANGELES) — President Donald Trump and California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom escalated their confrontation on Monday over the handling of protests in Los Angeles triggered by Trump’s immigration crackdown.
After Newsom had objected to Trump sending in the National Guard without his consent, Trump on Monday afternoon ordered hundreds of Marines into the city as well.
Earlier Monday, arriving back at the White House after spending the weekend at Camp David, Trump had told reporters he would arrest Newsom if he were “border czar” Tom Homan — hours after Homan said there had been “no discussion” about arresting Newsom.
“I would do it if I were Tom. I think it’s great,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn.
Newsom quickly fired back.
“The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor,” Newsom posted on Instagram along with a video of Trump’s comments. “This is a day I hoped I would never see in America. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation — this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.”
“These are the acts of a dictator, not a President,” Newsom posted on X.
At a White House event Monday afternoon, Trump was asked by ABC News White House Correspondent Karen Travers what crime Newsom had committed that would warrant his arrest.
“I think his primary crime is running for governor because he’s done such a bad job,” Trump responded.
Homan himself earlier Monday pushed back on the idea he was going to arrest Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, both Democrats.
In an interview with NBC News over the weekend, Homan had not ruled out the possibility — prompting Newsom to respond: “He knows where to find me.”
Homan on Monday morning, during an interview on Fox, commented further on his remarks to NBC.
“The reporter asked about, ‘Could Governor, Governor Newsom, or Mayor Bass, be arrested? I said, ‘Well, no one’s above the law, if they cross the line and commit a crime. Absolutely they can.’ So, there was no discussion about arresting Newsom,” he said.
“I’ve said it many times, You can protest, you got your First Amendment rights, but when you cross that line, you put hands on an ICE officer, or you destroy property, or ICE says that you’re impeding law enforcement … That’s a crime, and that the Trump administration is not going to tolerate. You cross that line we’re gonna see prosecution in the Department of Justice,” Homan said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed solidarity with the president after the president suggested Newsom should be arrested.
“I heard that for the first time sitting next to the president when they asked him that question at the White House. I don’t know what all that involves, but he gave comment there, and I’ll stick by what he said,” Johnson said, adding that he also agrees with the Trump’s decision to send in the National Guard, predicting it will have a “deterrent effect.”
“We have to maintain the rule of law, and if the state and local leaders are unable or unwilling to do so, it is the job of the federal government to step in,” Johnson told reporters outside the White House.
Trump on Monday also doubled down on his decision over the weekend to deploy the National Guard to California, over Newsom’s objections.
Trump said in 2020 that a request from a governor was needed to send in the National Guard. On Monday, ABC News asked Trump what changed between his statement then and now.
“Well, the biggest change from that statement is we have an incompetent governor,” Trump said. Trump contended his administration was “straightening out his problems.”
“I mean, I think we have it very well under control. I think it would have been a very bad situation. It was heading in the wrong direction. It’s now heading in the right direction,” Trump said.
Trump has long expressed a desire to quash protests he considered dangerous by using the military, though the use of federal troops on U.S. soil is mostly prohibited by the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act. Trump deployed the National Guard in this situation under Title 10 of the U.S. Code.
Asked if he would deploy Marines to Los Angeles on Monday, Trump had said “we’ll see what happens.”
Shortly after the president’s comments, a U.S. official confirmed to ABC News 700 Marines from Twentynine Palms, California, had been ordered to assist on the streets of Los Angeles, although it was unclear exactly what role they would play.
Newsom said the state is suing the administration over Trump deploying the National Guard.
“He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard,” Newsom wrote on social media. “The order he signed doesn’t just apply to CA. It will allow him to go into ANY STATE and do the same thing. We’re suing him.”
ABC News’ John Parkinson contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump and California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom are engaged in a bitter fight over the handling of protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement continue in Los Angeles — and both also are framing their confrontation in familiar, sharp political terms.
On Monday, the president said it would be a “great thing” if border czar Tom Homan arrested Newsom; in response, the California governor fired back that the comment is an “unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.”
In a sign of how much politics is driving the confrontation, Trump, when asked on Monday afternoon by ABC News what crime Newsom has committed to warrant his arrest, Trump said the governor’s “primary crime is running for governor because he’s done such a bad job.” Newsom responded on X, “Donald Trump admits he will arrest a sitting governor simply because he ran for office.”
With the protests, Trump, who has characterized them as “violent, insurrectionist mobs” and “Gavin Newscum inspired Riots,” has deployed National Guard members to Los Angeles. Newsom has asked the administration to rescind the deployment and said Monday that he is suing the Trump administration, claiming Trump illegally federalized the National Guard.
But Trump is not only criticizing the protesters — he is blasting the Democrats leading the state and the city, calling them failures.
“The very incompetent ‘Governor,’ Gavin Newscum, and ‘Mayor,’ Karen Bass, should be saying, ‘THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL. WE WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU, SIR,'” Trump wrote on his social media platform on Monday. “Instead, they choose to lie to the People of California and America by saying that we weren’t needed, and that these are ‘peaceful protests.'”
Trump has long been critical of the leadership in most Democratic-run states, often focusing his ire on California.
The situation, separately, gives Trump the chance to take high-profile action on immigration enforcement — a key issue for the president during his 2024 campaign and one that has remained a priority during the first few months of his administration. A recent poll from Marquette Law School taken in early to mid-May found that Trump had positive or around even job approval on border security and immigration.
Newsom, for his part, has explicitly accused the White House of exacerbating the situation for political gain.
“They want a spectacle. They want the violence,” he said in an email to supporters sent through his political action committee on Sunday night. “They think this is good for them politically.” Since then, he’s posted a blizzard of attacks on Trump via social media.
The White House responded to an ABC News request for comment late Monday afternoon.
“Gavin Newsom’s feckless leadership is directly responsible for the lawless riots and violent attacks on law enforcement in Los Angeles. Instead of writing fundraising emails meant to score political points with his left-wing base, Newsom should focus on protecting Americans by restoring law and order to his state,” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said.
Newsom and Trump have long been at odds, although the two had a brief detente in their relationship in the past few months.
In the aftermath of wildfires in January that devastated the Los Angeles region, Trump visited the city toward the end of the month and was greeted on the tarmac by Newsom with several handshakes and an embrace; Newsom also met with Trump in Washington in early February, and told CNN afterwards, “I have just all the confidence in the world that it’s going to be a strong partnership moving forward.”
But Newsom, around that time, also approved $50 million for funds that could be used in legal battles against the federal government.
And Newsom grew more critical of Trump in the months afterward — attacking the president’s tariff policy in an ad that aired on Fox News where he said the “tariffs punish families.”
The Trump administration has appeared to direct punishment at California as well. Earlier this month, Trump vowed to impose “large scale fines” on California after a transgender teen competed in a California state final competition in track and field. Last week, the Trump administration signaled that it would cut federal funding for a high-speed rail project in the state.
Newsom, separately, has begun to build a national profile amid speculation that he could run for president in 2028, which included stoking more speculation through a buzzy podcast launch in March. Newsom is term-limited and cannot run for governor in 2026.
While the Los Angeles situation is tied to Newsom’s current work as governor and not to any current or future campaign, it puts him back in the national spotlight and at the center of one of the nation’s highest-profile political issues, standing up to Trump.
Newsom referenced what he framed as the national stakes in his response to Trump’s comments on his potential arrest: “This is a day I hoped I would never see in America… this is a line we cannot cross as a nation.”
ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
(LOS ANGELES) — Protests in Los Angeles are entering their fourth day over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
President Donald Trump, over the weekend, called protesters “violent, insurrectionist mobs” after he deployed the National Guard despite objections from California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The escalatory step is prompting a host of legal questions, including how far Trump is willing to go to use his authority to curb protests over his administration’s immigration raids.
On Sunday, Trump was asked by ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott if he is prepared to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act. The last time the act was used was in 1992 during the Los Angeles riots.
“Depends on whether or not there is an insurrection,” Trump replied.
When asked by Scott if he thought an insurrection was taking place in Los Angeles, Trump replied, “No, no. But you have violent people, and we are not going to let them get away with it,” Trump said at the time. But by Sunday night, he was referring to the protesters on his Truth Social platform as “violent, insurrectionist mobs” and “paid insurrectionists.”
Asked to define insurrection, Trump said, “You actually really just have to look at the site to see what’s happening.”
Trump notably did not rule out sending active-duty Marines to California after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said they were standing by. A U.S. official confirmed on Monday afternoon that 700 Marines from Twentynine Palms, California, have been ordered to assist in Los Angeles.
The bar for sending active-duty Marines? “The bar is what I think is,” Trump had said on Sunday.
What to know about the Insurrection Act
Generally, the use of federal troops on U.S. soil is mostly prohibited. The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act limits the military from being involved in civilian law enforcement unless Congress approves it or under circumstances “expressly authorized by the Constitution.”
One exception is the Insurrection Act, a 218-year-old law signed by President Thomas Jefferson.
The Insurrection Act states, in part: “Whenever there is an insurrection in any State against its government, the President may, upon the request of its legislature or of its governor if the legislature cannot be convened, call into Federal service such of the militia of the other States, in the number requested by that State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to suppress the insurrection.”
Another provision states it can be used “whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings.”
Some legal experts have warned the law is overly broad and vague, and there have been various calls for it to be reformed to provide greater checks on presidential power.
The Insurrection Act has been invoked in response to 30 crises over its history, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, including presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy to desegregate schools after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.
Most of its uses involved federal troops being deployed, though a few situations were resolved after troops were ordered to respond but before they arrived on the scene, the Brennan Center noted.
When it was last used in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush to send the National Guard to Los Angeles, it was at the request of then-Gov. Pete Wilson as riots exploded in the city after the acquittal of four white police officers charged in the beating of Rodney King.
If Trump were to invoke the act, he would likely be doing so against Newsom’s wishes — something that hasn’t been done since President Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s to deal with civil unrest.
How Trump mobilized the National Guard
Trump did not invoke the Insurrection Act when he activated and deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles.
Instead, he cited Title 10 of the U.S. Code — which contains a provision that allows the president to call on federal service members when there “is a rebellion or danger of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States” or when “the President is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
According to a presidential memorandum, Trump said he was sending National Guard to “temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law, and to protect Federal property, at locations where protests against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur based on current threat assessments and planned operations.”
The memo stated that 2,000 National Guard troops could be deployed for 60 days or “at the discretion” of Hegseth.
Troops called up under Title 10 fall generally are prevented from direct involvement in law enforcement duties under the Posse Comitatus Act, unless Trump invokes the Insurrection Act or other limited exceptions apply.
Gov. Newsom said on Monday the state is suing the administration over Trump deploying the National Guard.
“He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard,” Newsom wrote on social media. “The order he signed doesn’t just apply to CA. It will allow him to go into ANY STATE and do the same thing. We’re suing him.”
(NEW YORK) — The walls were closing in on Sean “Diddy” Combs, his former girlfriend testified Monday, and the rap mogul turned fashion tastemaker was allegedly lashing out.
“I remember we were sleeping and one of the sons knocked on the door and said that something happened, and then I was just by myself,” the former girlfriend told a hushed Manhattan courtroom. “I went downstairs and could see everyone speaking amongst each other.”
Combs was huddling with his team and his family. They needed a response — urgently. A hotel security video obtained by CNN was being played repeatedly on national television, and it showed Combs kicking and beating another of his former romantic partners, the singer Cassie Ventura.
“They were trying to come up with some kind of sincere apology post or something regarding the video,” she said.
Testifying under the pseudonym “Jane,” the woman offered jurors a window into the last two years of Combs’s life, as legal troubles and bad publicity threatened to unravel his music empire and fiercely protected reputation.
Until that point, she said that Combs had not resorted to the type of violence Ventura said she suffered at Combs’ hands. But she told the jury she was subjected to the same coerced and degrading sex on demand with male prostitutes to satisfy Combs’ urges — just as Ventura has testified in her own account.
“I just couldn’t sleep. I was just reading these pages and going through a nightmare,” Jane testified, explaining her first reaction after reading Ventura’s 2023 lawsuit in which Ventura narrated a story that Jane said was painfully similar to the life she had been forced to lead. “I can’t believe I am reading my own story.”
Ventura’s lawsuit, settled only hours after it was filed for $20 million, was the first domino to fall, as Combs faced a wave of public criticism, a federal investigation, and criminal indictment. He is accused of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted on all counts. He denies all charges.
The emotional and graphic testimony from Jane comes as jurors are entering the fifth week of testimony in Combs’ sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial. His lawyers have told jurors that Combs is a flawed and violent man who has abused drugs and his romantic partners, but they insist he did not commit the crimes he is being tried for.
“Jane” testified that Ventura’s lawsuit was like “reading my own sexual trauma.”
Jane testified that she reached her breaking point with Combs by October 2023, after three years of what she believed was unrequited love. She told jurors how nearly every one of their dates or romantic getaways would become an opportunity for Combs to push her to have sex with male escorts during marathon sex parties she called “hotel nights” that could last days and were often fueled by drugs and booze.
“I’m not a porn star. I’m not an animal. I need a break. I don’t want to do anything. I’ve hit a wall,” Ventura texted Combs after he asked her to arrange a marathon evening of sex with a male prostitute while Combs watched and masturbated. “It’s been three years of me having f— strangers. I’m tired.”
Her testimony grew more emotional as she read aloud texts she sent Combs in 2023 in which she tried to salvage a relationship with the rapper without having to participate in the alleged prolonged orgies.
“My spirit and my soul is tired. I need a break,” she wrote in one message. “I can’t be used like this anymore. I wanted to make you happy but it’s creating a war inside me.”
As their relationship deteriorated, Jane told jurors that learning of Ventura’s lawsuit in November 2023 prompted her to look at her own relationship with Combs in a new light. She testified she nearly fainted when she recognized her own relationship with Combs in the pages of Ventura’s retelling.
“I can’t believe I am reading my own story,” Jane told jurors about learning about Ventura’s allegations.
In one of her messages to Combs, Jane wrote, “I feel like I’m reading my own sexual trauma.”
Jurors hear recording of Combs allegedly pressuring her into silence about sexual encounters
Three days after the lawsuit was filed, Combs and Jane spoke on the phone about the allegations. The jury heard a recording of the phone call taken from the phone of Combs’ top assistant after it was seized at the airport in Miami. Jane testified she did not know she was being recorded.
“This is when I need you to be there for me,” Combs is heard saying, as the recording echoed through the hushed courtroom. “You know we did all that s— together.”
“You know, I have been feeling so manipulated. What am I to do with that feeling? Who is there for me?” Jane is heard saying back.
Prosecutors then played for the jury a second recording of a call Combs made to Jane 22 minutes later.
“I need your friendship right now,” Combs is heard saying. “I can’t even talk on the phone. Please don’t send no texts.”
“I just needed to tell you that I need your friendship,” Combs is heard saying. “You know you ain’t got to worry about nothing else, you feel me?”
Jane testified she believed Combs was offering to continue paying her $10,000 monthly rent. Prosecutors have argued the recording is proof that Combs tried to tamper with Jane’s testimony by attempting to pressure her into saying their sexual interactions were consensual.
“Jane” said Combs threatened to release her sex tapes
As her relationship with Combs deteriorated in the days after Ventura’s lawsuit was filed, Jane testified that Combs escalated his threats. For the first time, she told jurors that Combs threatened to release videos he recorded of her having sex with male prostitutes.
She told the jury that Combs’ first threatened to release the tapes after he offered her money to end their relationship quietly.
“I remember he said, ‘Charge me, charge me, charge me for your resentment. I don’t want any loose ends,'” she alleged Combs said over a video call.
But after Jane requested hundreds of thousands of dollars to end the relationship — saying she deserved compensation for the three years she lost during their relationship — she testified that Combs erupted.
“F—- you. I am blocking you,” Combs texted Jane. “Leave me alone. Con artist.”
“You keep describing yourself. You conned me into…having strangers run trains on me,” she wrote back.
As their fight escalated — and Jane texted Combs that she would kill herself — Jane testified that Combs began to threaten to release the recordings of her having sex with other men.
“At the height of this anger, he said I am just going to show your child’s father these tapes. I have nothing to lose,” Jane testified.
She told the jury that she tried to contact Combs’ chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, to defuse the situation and stop Combs from releasing any of the tapes.
“Why did you reach out to [Khorram] after Sean threatened to release your tapes?” prosecutor Maureen Comey asked.
“Because [Khorram] is like his right brain – she is one of the people he listens to,” Jane testified.
Despite the threats to release her sex tapes and her concerns about the allegations in Ventura’s civil lawsuit, Jane told jurors that she reconciled with Combs by February 2024. She testified that she resumed participating in hotel nights — now hosted in private residences instead of hotel rooms — and spending time with Combs, even as negative publicity stemming from Ventura’s lawsuit was growing.
On the day in 2024 that federal agents raided Combs’ residences, she said an agent from Homeland Security Investigations left a card at her home. Jane testified she contacted Combs, who got her a lawyer, and that the rap mogul continues to pay for her legal expenses, even as her testimony is being used by prosecutors trying to lock Combs up for life.
“Jane” testified Combs attacked her, forced her to participate in sex with male escort
After the hotel video was broadcast, Jane testified she watched Sean Combs pledge in an Instagram post to become a “better man,” and next saw Combs in person on June 18, 2024.
“It was a very terrible day,” Jane testified.
She told the jury she had been “bottling up a lot of resentment and anger towards him” and confronted him about a younger woman who had accompanied him on a recent trip.
“I said, ‘You’re a pedophile,'” Jane testified. The woman he had been with was over 18, but “I felt like he was 25 or 27 years her senior,” Jane explained.
Jane told jurors that she initiated the fight, pushing Combs’ head into a counter and throwing candles at him. She said she retreated to her bedroom, shouting “just leave, just leave,” when he kicked open the door. She went into the bathroom, where, she said, Combs then kicked the bathroom door “literally off the hinges.”
Jane testified that Combs “kicked me on the back of my thigh,” causing her to fall. “He put me in a chokehold on the ground, and I couldn’t breathe,” she said.
Jane testified she managed to escape, hide for about two hours and return, thinking he would be gone. But, she testified, Combs once again found her and chased her to the backyard of the residence, where she balled herself up to protect her face from Combs’ attack.
Jane testified that Combs punched and kicked her while she was on the ground, grabbed her by the hair and arm and dragged her toward the house. Inside the house, Jane said she noticed Combs’ phone and tried to call the woman she believed Combs had travelled with.
“I took his phone, and I ended up calling the girl I assumed he was with,” Jane testified. “Sean was holding me down and making me listen to her insults.”
In the bathroom later, Jane testified she noticed two welts on her forehead and a black eye forming. She went to take a shower, where she testified that Combs slapped her face three times, causing her to lose balance.
“Sean said just put some ice on it and put an outfit on,” Jane testified, saying that she covered her bruises with makeup before a male escort, Anton, arrived.
In the bathroom preparing for the evening, Jane said she remembered Combs telling her, “Take this f—— pill. You’re not going to ruin my f—— night. Get out there and suck his d—.. F— him. I don’t care.”
“I don’t want to, I don’t want to, I don’t want to,” Jane said she responded. She told the jury that Combs got right in her face and asked, “Is this coercion?” before forcing her to take ecstasy and perform oral sex on Anton.
“For how long?” Comey asked.
“It just felt like forever,” Jane answered.
She said she received about $12,000 in cash from Combs’ bodyguard the next day to cover the damage to her home and the cost of the male escort. The jury saw multiple photos of the doors damaged by what she testified was “Sean’s kick,” which Jane said she sent to a repair company.
Jane testified she saw Combs a few days later at his home. The jury saw a video she took that captured her alleged injuries through the foundation and concealer she told the jury she had put on. The jury saw a second selfie video that also briefly captured the injuries she testified Combs inflicted.
“Jane” tells jury about her final interactions with Combs before his arrest
At the end of July 2024, Jane testified she visited Combs in Miami where she said he gave her the drug “liquid molly” and she had “high octane” sex with a male escort named Paul.
She said the final trip to see Combs in Miami occurred in August 2024, when she testified she had sex with a male escort named Don.
She told the jury that she originally planned to visit Combs in New York in September 2024, as Combs was staying at a hotel, on the verge of being arrested by federal authorities.
Their plans were cut short by agents who took him into custody.
“I guess he got arrested,” she told the jury.
She said she hasn’t seen Combs since August 2024 but has met with his defense attorneys as recently as April of this year. She testified that his lawyers were the first people she told about the violent incident in June 2024.
Jane said she has been in therapy for about three months and hired her own lawyer, though Combs still pays her legal bills and rent.
To conclude the direct questioning, a prosecutor asked Jane the pointed question: “Sitting here today, how do you feel about Sean now?”
“I just pray,” Jane testified, “for his continued healing and I pray for peace for him.”
(NEW ORLEANS) — The girlfriend of one of the two remaining inmates who broke out of a New Orleans jail last month has been arrested for allegedly helping in his escape, officials said Monday.
Derrick Groves is among 10 inmates who escaped from the Orleans Justice Center on May 16, according to Louisiana State Police. Eight of the inmates have since been captured, but Groves and another inmate — Antoine Massey — remain on the run, police said.
Over a dozen people have been arrested on suspicion of helping the escapees, including another inmate in the jail and a jail maintenance worker who is accused of shutting off water to the toilet, allowing escapees to remove it.
Most recently, Darriana Burton, 28, of New Orleans, was arrested on Monday for allegedly helping Groves escape, the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office announced.
Burton is a former Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office correctional employee, according to the office, which described her and Groves as having an on-again, off-again relationship for three years.
She allegedly had an “active involvement in the planning phase of the escape,” according to the affidavit for her arrest warrant, including relaying “escape-related information” and coordinating communications between Groves and people outside the jail.
Two days before the escape, Groves and Burton had a FaceTime video call via the facility’s iPads during which Burton “was observed holding a secondary device in front of the camera” that displayed an unknown man in a separate FaceTime call, according to the affidavit.
“This conversation remained intentionally vague, as Groves, Burton and the unknown male appeared to recognize the call was being recorded,” the affidavit stated, noting that it was implied that Burton and the unknown man would have a separate, unmonitored call to allegedly discuss details of the escape.”
Shortly after the initial video call, the three were present on another call during which the unknown man “advised against the escape, calling it a ‘bad move’ and warning that it would trigger a ‘manhunt,'” the affidavit stated.
“This exchange confirmed that Burton had already disclosed the escape plan to the outside contact, actively soliciting his involvement,” the affidavit stated. “It further demonstrates her direct role in facilitating communication and supporting the coordination of Groves’ escape.
Burton has been transported to the Plaquemines Parish Jail and faces a felony charge of conspiracy to commit simple escape, officials said.
“We will continue to pursue anyone and everyone who has aided and abetted these criminals. We will find you, arrest you, and prosecute you to the full extent of the law,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement. “We will arrest all aiders and abettors, and we will eventually get Antoine Massey and Derrick Groves back to prison where they belong.”
Burton was employed at the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office from August 2022 until her termination in March 2023, the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office said. She was arrested and charged for allegedly bringing contraband into the jail and “malfeasance in office,” though the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office refused the charges, according to the state attorney general’s office.
The reward for the arrest of Groves and Massey increased to $50,000, authorities announced late last month, as police said they believe they are closing in on the “dangerous” fugitives.
Groves was convicted last year of two counts of second-degree murder in a 2018 Mardi Gras Day shooting and faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, prosecutors said. Unrelated to that case, he also subsequently pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter, online court records show.
(MILWAUKEE, WI) — Federal prosecutors argued Monday that a court should reject a Wisconsin judge’s attempt to have the obstruction case against her dismissed based on judicial immunity.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, 65, was arrested by the FBI on April 25 and is charged with concealing a defendant, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, to prevent his arrest by immigration authorities.
Prosecutors contend that her motion to dismiss the charges ignores “well-established law that has long permitted judges to be prosecuted for crimes they commit,” according to court documents.
“Her state judicial post is not a license to engage in conduct that violates federal criminal law,” wrote Richard Frohling, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
The government’s filing also takes aim at Dugan’s claim that federal agents on April 18 disrupted active proceedings in her courtroom when they showed up in the courthouse seeking to arrest Flores-Ruiz on alleged immigration violations, arguing that it was Dugan “who took it upon herself to interfere with the federal agents’ performance of their responsibilities,” according to the filing.
Prosecutors allege that “Dugan chose to pause an unrelated case, leave her courtroom, disrupt proceedings in a colleague’s courtroom to commandeer her assistance, and then confront agents in the public hallway.”
The filing goes on to allege that Dugan directed agents through a set of double doors to the chief judge’s office even though she knew the chief judge was not in the office. “Dugan quickly returned to her courtroom and, among other things, directed E.F.R.’s attorney to ‘take your client out and come back and get a date’ and then to go through the jury door and ‘down the stairs’ before physically escorting E.F.R. and his attorney into a non-public hallway with access to a stairwell that led to a courthouse exit,” stated the filing, which refers to Flores-Ruiz by his initials. “She did this all just days after thanking a colleague for providing information which explained that ICE could lawfully make arrests in the courthouse hallway.”
The filing is the first time federal prosecutors have alleged that Dugan instructed the man to go “down the stairs,” and the first time they have referenced access to a stairwell leading to an exit.
Video from more than two dozen surveillance cameras at the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, obtained by ABC News through a public records request, shows the man and his attorney did not, in fact, take the stairs after the encounter with the judge but exited a private door that led to a public hallway. From there, the video shows the man and his attorney take the elevator down to the court’s main floor while being followed by federal agents. The videos obtained by ABC News do not have sound.
Flores-Ruiz, who was due to appear before Dugan that day on a battery charge, was captured outside the court building after a brief foot chase.
“Put simply, nothing in the indictment or the anticipated evidence at trial supports Dugan’s assertion that agents ‘disrupted’ the court’s docket; instead, all events arose from Dugan’s unilateral, non-judicial, and unofficial actions in obstructing a federal immigration matter over which she, as a Wisconsin state judge, had no authority,” prosecutors said in the filing.
In the filing, the prosecution argues that even if judicial immunity applied in this case, it would “not help Dugan” because her actions “went well beyond her official role when she endeavored to prevent federal law enforcement officers from executing a valid arrest…in a public area of the Milwaukee County Courthouse.”
Dugan has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and a trial date is set for July 21.
Lawyers for Dugan, in part citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in President Donald Trump’s immunity case, have argued she has judicial immunity for official acts and that her prosecution is unconstitutional.
“The problems with this prosecution are legion, but most immediately, the government cannot prosecute Judge Dugan because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts,” her attorneys wrote in a motion to dismiss filed last month. “Immunity is not a defense to the prosecution to be determined later by a jury or court; it is an absolute bar to the prosecution at the outset. The prosecution against her is barred. The Court should dismiss the indictment.”
The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Dugan in the wake of her arrest, stating in an order that it found it was “in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties.”
(LOS ANGELES) — President Donald Trump defended his decision to send the National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quash protests that turned violent, saying in a social media post on Sunday that “if we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated.”
Trump alleged the nation’s second largest city, which covers more than 500 square miles, had been “invaded and occupied by illegal aliens and criminals” and that he had directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi to coordinate with all relevant agencies to “take all such actions necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion, and put an end to these Migrant riots.”
While Trump has painted Los Angeles as being under siege and out of control, most of the demonstrations this past weekend over his administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration has been concentrated in downtown Los Angeles near the federal building and federal detention center. Other protests have also occurred outside of the downtown area, one in the Los Angeles County city of Paramount, about 14 miles from downtown, and another in Compton, which is next to Paramount, and about 12 miles from downtown LA, according to local law enforcement.
Meanwhile the rest of Los Angeles appeared to go about life as normal over the weekend. The city’s annual Pride Parade even took place on Sunday without incident in Hollywood about 7 miles from downtown.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have accused Trump of making sensational public claims about how widespread the violence has been, and both have said the Los Angeles police and sheriff’s departments could handle the unrest on their own.
“He flamed the fires and illegally acted” by mobilizing the National Guard to go to LA without the conscent of local and state officials, Newsom said of the president in a statement on Monday posted on social media. “The order he signed doesn’t just apply to CA. It will allow him to go into ANY STATE and do the same thing. We’re suing him.”
On Monday, a U.S. official confirmed that 700 Marines in California have been ordered to assist in Los Angeles and they’re expected to arrive over the next 24 hours, a U.S. official confirmed.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has decried the escalation of violence during the protests, saying officers had been targeted with Molotov cocktails, fireworks and rocks.
But he also said Monday that the arrival of the military troops in Los Angeles “presents a significant logistical and operation challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city.”
“The Los Angeles Police Department, alongside our mutual aid partners, has decades of experience managing large-scale public demonstrations, and we remain confident in our ability to do so professionally and effectively. That said, our top priority is the safety of both the public and the officers on the ground,” McDonnell said.
At a news conference Monday evening, as the protests entered their fourth night — with some tense confrontations between protesters and police leading to the firing of less lethal munitions by police — Bass insisted the city could handle the unrest on its own.
Asked about the deployment of the Marines, Bass responded incredulously.
“We didn’t need the National Guard,” she told reporters. “Why on earth — what are they going to do? Do you know what the National Guard is doing now? They are guarding two buildings. They’re guarding the federal building here in downtown and they’re guarding the federal building in Westwood. That’s what they’re doing. So they need Marines on top of it, I don’t understand that.”
Trump bypassed Newsom and activated 2,100 California National Guard troops, including 1,700 on the ground in Los Angeles as of Monday night and the remainder on standby to be sent there, the U.S. Northern Command said in a social media post late Monday night. It marks the first time a president has mobilized troops without a governor’s consent since President Lyndon B. Johnson did so in 1965, when he sent National Guard troops to Alabama to protect civil rights activists marching from Selma to Montgomery.
Protest erupts
The protests erupted on Friday in downtown Los Angeles after word filtered into the community that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were conducting raids on multiple locations in the downtown area without the consent of city officials, including a Home Depot in the Westlake neighborhood near downtown. The raids resulted in the arrests of 40 people, 35 of them Mexican citizens, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Sunday.
Dozens of protesters began gathering in the Fashion District of downtown, where one of the raids occurred at an apparel business, officials said. Around 3 p.m. local time on Friday, aerial footage taken by ABC Los Angeles station KABC, showed what appeared to be ICE agents loading two white vans with people in handcuffs. As the vans left the apparel business, protesters tried unsuccessfully to stop them, including one individual who was seen lying down the road in the path of one of the vans.
As the raids were unfolding on Friday, Mayor Bass, issued a post on X, condemning ICE’s actions, writing, “we will not stand for this.”
Around 6 p.m. on Friday, crowds gathered outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and the U.S. Courthouse downtown and began vandalizing the buildings, spay painting profanities directed at ICE on the facade and clashing with ICE agents. Federal authorities asked the LAPD to assist around 6:30 p.m., but it took city officers about an hour to arrive at the scene due to “significant traffic congestions, and the presence of demonstrators, and notably, by the fact that federal agents had deployed irritants into the crowd prior to LAPD’s arrival.”
The LAPD declared the protest an “unlawful assembly” soon after officers arrived on scene on Friday night, writing on social media that “officers are reporting that a small group of violent individuals are throwing large pieces of concrete” and warning protesters that “the use of less lethal munitions has been authorized by the Incident Commander” to disperse the crowd.
“Within 55 minutes of receiving the call, we began to disperse the hostile and riotous crowd,” the LAPD said.
Video showed police in riot gear confronting protesters with batons and firing what appeared to be tear gas canisters and flash bangs at the demonstators.
Around the same time, a protest broke out in neighboring Compton, where a vehicle was set ablaze in the street near the iconic Dale’s Donuts sign, according to video taken at the scene.
Demonstration moves to Paramount
On Saturday, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department received calls around 10:15 a.m. that a “significant” crowd was gathering in Paramount and obstructing traffic and that deputies observed the presence of federal agents in the area.
“As the situation escalated, the crowd of protesters became increasingly agitated, throwing objects and exhibiting violent behavior toward federal agents and deputy sheriffs,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement. “In response, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) requested additional resources countywide, deploying additional deputies to maintain order.”
The sheriff’s department said it responded to the scene to protect federal agents under attack, but emphasized, “This does not mean that we are assisting with their immigration actions or operations.”
Bass said that there were no ICE raids in Paramount or anywhere else in Los Angeles County on Saturday. She said the building that protesters gathered near was being used as a staging area for federal resources.
The LAPD said 29 people were arrested during Saturday’s protest, mostly for failing to disperse, but overall it said in a statement that demonstrations across the city of Los Angeles on Saturday “remained peaceful, and we commend all those who exercised their First Amendment rights responsibly.”
Trump deploys National Guard
On Saturday night, Trump signed a presidential memorandum authorizing the deployment of National Guard members to Los Angeles, saying it was necessary to “address the lawlessness” in Los Angeles.
Newsom called Trump’s move, “purposely inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.”
Bass agreed and issued a plea to the White House to reverse the decision.
“Deploying federalized troops on the heels of these raids is a chaotic escalation,” Bass said in a statement posted on social media on Saturday afternoon. “The fear people are feeling in our city right now is very real — it’s felt in our communities and within our families and it puts our neighborhoods at risk. This is the last thing that our city needs, and I urge protestors to remain peaceful.”
Newsom called the president’s decision “an alarming abuse of power.”
Around 2:18 a.m. local time time on Sunday, the LAPD issued a traffic advisory, reporting that demonstrators were approaching the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles and warned that the unlawful assembly order declared on Friday was still in effect. Around the same time, the LAPD said it received reports that demonstrators were jumping onto the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation tracks near the Little Tokyo Train Station downtown, causing all trains to be halted as officers reponded.
The National Guard began arriving in Los Angeles around 4 a.m. on Sunday, taking up a position outside the Roybal federal building.
Protesters who defied the order to stay away, assembled in front of the Roybal federal building and detention center, heckling National Guard members and police within earshot. Around 3:30 p.m., the LAPD issued another traffic advisory that a group of demonstrators was marching into the downtown area.
Later Sunday, demonstrators began approaching to 101 Freeway and eventually got onto the southbound lanes of the freeway, prompting authorities to close the freeway in both directions, police said.
The protest soon devolved into demonstrators standing on an overpass throwing concrete, bottles and other objects at officers attempting to remove demonstrators from the freeway.
As the protest grew more rowdy, several Waymo autonomous vehicles were set on fire in the downtown area, prompting the company to halt service to downtown LA. Police said protesters threw fireworks at officers during the standoff and police said stores were looted in the downtown area.
Officials said two LAPD officers were injured by motorcyclists attempting to breach a skirmish line police had established.
The LAPD said 21 people were arrested on Sunday on charges ranging from attempted murder with a Molotov cocktail to looting to failure to disperse. The California Highway Patrol said 19 people were arrested for disobeying orders to disperse from the 101 Freeway.
The LAPD announced on Monday that the police force was going on “Tactical Alert,” meaning all personnel are to remain on duty as the city braced for another evening of protests.
As protests in Los Angeles entered their fourth night, photos from the scene showed tense moments as demonstrators confronted authorities.
At one point, police said protesters near Temple Street and Los Angeles Street in downtown LA began throwing objects at police and police authorized the use of “less lethal munitions” in response.
(DETROIT) — A Michigan man has been arrested after missing his flight to Los Angeles and calling in a fake bomb threat after being made to book another flight, officials said.
The incident took place last Thursday at approximately 6:25 a.m. at Detroit Metropolitan Airport when an individual, later identified as 23-year-old John Charles Robinson of Monore, Michigan, “used a cell phone to call into Spirit Airlines and conveyed false information about a bomb threat to Flight 2145 departing from Detroit Metro bound for Los Angeles,” according to a statement from United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. from the Eastern District of Michigan United States Attorney’s Office.
“During the call, Robinson stated in part, ‘I was calling about 2145… because I have information about that flight,’ and ‘there’s gonna be someone who’s gonna try to blow up the airport,’ and ‘there’s gonna be someone that’s gonna try to blow up that flight, 2145,’” according to the affidavit. “After giving a description of an individual, he then stated: ‘they’re going to be carrying a bomb through the TSA,’ and ‘they’re still threatening to do it, they’re still attempted to do it, they said it’s not going to be able to be detected. Please don’t let that flight board.’”
The flight was immediately canceled, officials said and the flight’s passengers and crew were deplaned for safety precautions.
“Bomb sniffing dogs and FBI agents were deployed to sweep the airplane, officials said. “No bomb or explosives were found.”
Federal agents investigating the bomb threat soon learned that Robinson was booked on Flight 2145 but missed the flight and was told at the gate that he needed to rebook.
“FBI agents subsequently arrested Robinson when he returned to the airport to depart on another flight bound for Los Angeles,” officials said.
After taking Robinson into custody, authorities played back the phone call that was made for him.
“Robinson listened to the above-mentioned recording and confirmed he was the one that made the recorded phone call to Spirit Airlines,” officials said. “Robinson also stated that the phone number that called the bomb threat in to Spirit Airlines was his phone number (and had been for approximately 6 years), that the target cellular device was his device, and he gave written consent for a search of his device.”
Robinson was subsequently charged with two charges. The first being use of a cellphone to threaten/maliciously convey false information concerning an attempt or alleged attempt to damage/destroy an airplane by means of an explosive and the second being false information and hoaxes.
“No American wants to hear the words ‘bomb’ and ‘airplane’ in the same sentence. Making this kind of threat undermines our collective sense of security and wastes valuable law enforcement resources,” said U.S. Attorney Gorgon.
“Anyone who threatens to bomb an aircraft and endanger public safety will be swiftly investigated and brought to justice,” said Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office. “The alleged bomb threat prompted a coordinated response by our FBI Detroit Joint Terrorism Task Force, in partnership with the Wayne County Airport Authority Police Department and the U.S. Federal Air Marshal Service, leading to the arrest of John Robinson as he attempted to board another flight at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. We remain committed to protecting the public and confronting those who seek to spread fear in our communities.”
Robinson appeared in federal court in Detroit on Friday afternoon and was released on a $10,000 bond, according to court documents. His next court appearance will be June 27 for a preliminary examination.
The case against Robinson is being investigated by special agents from the FBI and is currently ongoing.
(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to testify before a House panel on Tuesday, his first time on Capitol Hill since being sworn in five months ago and as questions swirl about the deployment of troops to Los Angeles as part of an immigration crackdown.
Hegseth planned to appear before the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee alongside Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, and acting Pentagon Comptroller Bryn Woollacott MacDonnell to discuss the administration’s upcoming 2026 budget request.
During the hearing, Hegseth is widely expected to dodge many of the specifics on the military’s spending blueprint, which has not been released, and instead highlight recent gains in recruiting numbers and new technology initiatives in the Army.
But overshadowing much of his testimony will be the Pentagon’s decision to send some 4,800 troops, including 700 Marines, to Los Angeles following several days of clashes between protesters and law enforcement there. The troops, known as Task Force 51, are being called under a law known as Title 10, which allows the president to send military forces to protect federal property and personnel.
Gen. Eric Smith, commandant of the Marine Corps, is scheduled to testify separately Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
On the eve of Hegseth’s testimony, Rep. Betty McCollum on Minnesota, the top Democrat on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, accused President Donald Trump of deliberately escalating the situation in Los Angeles by pushing for military reinforcements not requested by California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. She called decision to send Marines in particular “outrageous.”
“The active duty military has absolutely no legal role in domestic law enforcement. President Trump and Secretary Hegseth should read the Constitution and follow the law,” she said.
The Pentagon has not had a news conference since the deployment of troops to Los Angeles, referring reporters with questions about the mission to Hegseth’s posts on X.
On X, Hegseth said the troops were needed to protect federal immigration officers and detention buildings.
“There is plenty of room for peaceful protest, but ZERO tolerance for attacking federal agents who are doing their job. The National Guard, and Marines if need be, stand with ICE,” Hegseth said in a statement.
U.S. officials said the troops would carry guns and ammunition separately for use only in self-defense and to protect federal property. They would not patrol the streets or help law enforcement arrest protesters, the officials said.
Unclear is whether Trump is preparing to invoke the Insurrection Act, an 1807 law that says the president can call on a militia or the U.S. armed forces if there’s been “any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy” in a state that “opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.”
On his Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump referred to the L.A. protesters as “violent, insurrectionist mobs” and “paid insurrectionists.”
When asked if Hegseth had spoken with Trump on Monday, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told ABC News, “the Secretary is in regular contact with the President regarding the National Guard presence in Los Angeles.”
Following his testimony, Hegseth is expected to travel with the president to Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Tuesday to participate in activities tied to the Army’s 250th birthday celebration.
Under Hegseth, the military has taken over control of hundreds of miles along the U.S. southern border with Mexico in an effort to tamp down unauthorized entry by migrants. He’s also eliminated programs aimed at increasing diversity among military personnel, slashed the number of general officers and initiated efforts to build a $175 billion U.S. missile defense shield.
At the same time, Hegseth also faces reports of dysfunction and infighting among his personal staff at the Pentagon. Since his Jan. 25 swearing in, Hegseth has fired or sidelined several of his own top political advisers and he’s gone without a chief of staff since April.
Tuesday’s hearing also would be Hegseth’s first appearance since revelations that he relied on a commercial messaging app known as Signal to relay details about a pending military attack to other high-ranking officials and others, including his wife. Hegseth’s use of Signal is now under internal investigation by the Defense Department’s inspector general.
From left, Ed Kelly, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., and Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., conduct a news conference to advocate for inclusion of the state and local tax (SALT) deduction in the Build Back Better Act reconciliation bill, outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, December 8, 2021. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(TRENTON, NJ) — Voters head to the polls on Tuesday for New Jersey’s primary elections, which will set up the state’s 2025 gubernatorial election — the results of which could be a potential harbinger for the mood of the country ahead of 2026’s critical midterm elections.
The Democratic candidates are sparring over how to best respond to President Donald Trump’s agenda in the Garden State and each hopes to keep the state’s governorship in Democratic hands. The state’s current governor, Democrat Phil Murphy, can’t run again after serving two terms.
There are six candidates in the Democratic primary. Polling has shown that Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot who represents the state’s 11th Congressional District, leads the crowded Democratic field, but the race could still be anyone’s to win.
The other Democratic candidates are Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who represents the state’s 5th District; Newark Mayor Ras Baraka; Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop; New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller; and former state Senate president Steve Sweeney.
Republicans, meanwhile, hope to flip New Jersey’s governorship red in November and also have a crowded primary field. President Donald Trump has endorsed former state assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, who ran for governor in 2021, narrowly losing to Murphy.
“This year’s election for governor is critical for New Jersey’s future. You’ll decide whether New Jersey is a high tax, high crime, sanctuary state,” Trump said during a rally held by telephone last week. “New Jersey is ready to pop out of that blue horror show.”
Ciattarelli faces conservative radio personality Bill Spadea, state Sen. Jon Bramnick, former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac, and contractor Justin Barbera.
The contest is on track to become the priciest election in New Jersey history, with over $85 million spent on advertising as of last Wednesday, according to a report from media tracking agency AdImpact.
Among Democrats, Gottheimer has the most ad spending supporting him ($22.8 million), followed by Fulop ($17.8 million).
Ciattarelli leads among Republicans with $5.9 million in ad spending or reservations supporting him, dwarfing Spadea’s $2.2 million and Bramnick’s $1.2 million.
About 70% of broadcast ad airings have mentioned Trump, according to AdImpact.
-ABC News’ Emily Chang and Halle Troadec contributed to this report.
