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Ex-model who accused Trump of groping her in 1990s says Epstein mentioned Trump ‘every time we spoke’

October 25, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model who has accused former President Donald Trump of groping her in front of Jeffrey Epstein in the early 1990s is offering more details about what she claims she observed about Epstein’s relationship with the current presidential candidate and what she says Epstein told her.

“I would say that he talked about having just seen Donald or having just done something, I mean, every time we spoke,” Stacey Williams, who worked as a professional model in the 1990s, told ABC News in an interview.

Williams went public this week with an allegation that Trump groped her in front of Epstein after she said Epstein, who would later be known as a serial sex offender, brought her to Trump Tower in the early 1990s.

‘I felt so humiliated’

In her interview with ABC News, Williams said that during her several-month relationship with Epstein, who she said she met in 1992, Trump was among three people who Epstein talked to her about the most, with one of the other two being Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate who has since been sentenced to prison for 20 years for recruiting and grooming the underage girls who Epstein sexually abused.

The third person, Williams said, was Leslie Wexner, the billionaire retail magnate who once employed Epstein to manage his fortune.

“The people he spoke about the most were his boss, or whatever that person was, Les Wexner, hard to understand that role. And then Ghislaine, again, a little ambiguous weird relationship. And then Donald Trump,” Williams told ABC News. “Those are the people he spoke about the most.”

The details come after Williams first publicly discussed the alleged incident in detail on a public “Survivors for Kamala” Zoom call last Monday night in support of Vice President Kamala Harris. The group is not officially affiliated with Harris’ presidential campaign.

In a statement to ABC News, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt denied Williams’ allegations, stating in part, “These accusations, made by a former activist for Barack Obama and announced on a Harris campaign call two weeks before the election, are unequivocally false.”

Asked about the claim that Epstein spoke frequently about Trump, a Trump campaign spokesperson said, “It is widely known that President Trump banned Jeffrey Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago Club when revelations about his sex trafficking became public.”

On the Zoom call, which ABC News obtained a video of, Williams, who first began speaking publicly about the alleged incident with Trump and Epstein in Facebook posts dating back to 2020, said she felt like the alleged groping incident was a “twisted game” between Trump and Epstein.

“I felt so humiliated and so sick to my stomach and was so upset, and as I absorbed what happened a few minutes later, I felt like that was some sort of sick bet or game between the two of them,” Williams said. “I was rolled in there like a piece of meat for some kind of challenge or twisted game, and I felt horrendous.”

“I figured it was time to share this and I’m ready to win this election,” Williams, a longtime Democrat who has been active in politics, said on the Zoom call. “The thought of that monster being back in the White House is my absolute worst nightmare.”

‘It was orchestrated’

Williams told ABC News the alleged encounter, when she was 24, lasted no more than ten minutes. “I was in shock and I was frozen,” Williams said.

“He just put his arms out and pulled me towards him and his hands on some part of my body the entire time,” Williams claimed in the interview. “His hands would touch the sides of my breasts, not the front, but the sides of my breasts, my waist, and then slid down to my butt and just kept kind of running up and down my body while the two of them were carrying on a conversation.”

Speaking with ABC News, Williams explained that shortly after the alleged incident, she began to suspect that the encounter with Trump and Epstein had been “orchestrated,” but went into denial about it because of the shame it made her feel.

“Now there’s no doubt in my mind it was orchestrated,” Williams said.

Not long after the alleged incident, Williams said Trump sent her a handwritten postcard featuring his Mar-a-Lago estate that read, “Stacey — Your home away from home. Love Donald.” A photo of the postcard was shared with ABC News.

Two friends confirmed to ABC News in interviews that Williams told them years ago about the alleged incident with the former president. Longtime friend Allison Gutwillinger told ABC News in an interview that in 2015 Williams invited her over to her home to tell her about the alleged incident after Trump had announced his run for office.

“I came over to her house. There was a postcard on the kitchen counter, with what looked like Mar-a-Lago on the cover. I turned it over, and there was a handwritten note signed ‘Love Donald,'” Gutwillinger said. “She then told me he groped her in Trump Tower.”

‘Not a fan of his’

Trump eventually distanced himself from Epstein, who in 2019 died by suicide in prison while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Authorities say that, in the early 2000s, Epstein sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls at his homes in New York and Florida, among other locations.

In 2002, Trump told New York magazine, “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy.”

“He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,” Trump said at the time.

Epstein was questioned about his relationship with Trump during a March 2010 deposition in a civil suit against Epstein filed by some of Epstein’s victims.

Epstein answered, “Yes, sir,” when asked if he had socialized with Trump. When asked if he “ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18” Epstein replied, “Though I’d like to answer that question, at least today I’m going to have to assert my Fifth, Sixth and 14th Amendment right, sir.”

By the time Epstein was charged in 2019, then-President Trump told reporters at the White House he was “not a fan of his, that I can tell you” and that he hadn’t “spoken to him in 15 years.”

A year later, Trump wished Ghislaine Maxwell “well” after being asked by a reporter if the longtime Epstein associate should reveal the names of powerful people who were associated with the serial sex offender.

“I don’t know,” Trump said. “I haven’t really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly.”

In 2021, Maxwell was convicted on five of six counts related to the abuse and trafficking of underage girls.

During Maxwell’s trial, flight logs released as evidence showed that Trump was listed as a passenger on Epstein’s private jets at least seven times: four times in 1993, once in 1994 and 1995, and a previously known time 1997.

At least 18 women have accused Trump of varying degrees of inappropriate behavior, including allegations of sexual harassment or sexual assault. During Trump’s first run for the White House, a 2005 video surfaced where he discussed groping women, in which Trump can be heard telling former “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush, “When you’re a star they let you do it.”

“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women, I just start kissing them, it’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything,” Trump said, including “grab ’em by the p—-.”

Trump apologized at the time after the comments were made public, saying in a video, “Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am,” adding, “I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize.”

Trump has long vehemently denied all of the women’s accusations. In some cases, he and his team members have specifically denied individual accusations, but they have also repeatedly issued blanket denials against all the allegations, calling the women liars.

2024 election updates: Harris rips Trump over ‘garbage can’ comment on migrants

October 25, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The race for the White House remained essentially a dead heat on Friday — with 11 days to go until Election Day.

Kamala Harris was headed to Texas to highlight abortion access and Donald Trump was set to appear on Joe Rogan’s highly-popular podcast.

More than 31 million have voted as of Friday morning

As of Friday morning, more than 31 million Americans had voted early, according to the Election Lab at the University of Florida.

Of the total early votes numbering 31,402,309, in-person early votes accounted for 13,687,197 ballots and mail-in ballots numbered 17,715,831.

This means that more than 16 million people have voted since Monday.

-ABC News’ Emily Chang

Harris to hit Trump for not releasing medical records at Texas rally on abortion rights

Harris will go after Trump in her speech in Houston, Texas, on Friday night that will focus on reproductive rights.

“The Attorney General of Texas is suing the United States Government so that Texas prosecutors can get their hands on the private medical records of women who leave the state to get care,” Harris will say, according to released excerpts of her speech.

“So, see what is happening: Donald Trump won’t let anyone see his medical records. But these guys want to get their hands on yours? Simply put: They are out of their minds,” she will say.

The vice president will reiterate her campaign pledge to push Congress to pass a bill restoring Roe v. Wade if elected.

“We are fighting for an America where, no matter who you are, or where you live, you can make that decision based on what is right for you and your family,” Harris will say.

ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie

Harris rips Trump over his ‘garbage can’ comments

Speaking to reporters before her event later today in Houston, Harris said she wanted to address Trump’s comment that America has become a “garbage can” and “dumping ground” for migrants from around the world.

“You know, it’s just another example of how he really belittles our country,” Harris said. “This is someone who is a former president of the United States, who has a bully pulpit, and this is how he uses it, to tell the rest of the world that somehow the United States of America is trash.”

“And I think, again, the president of the United States should be someone who elevates discourse and talks about the best of who we are and invest in the best of who we are, not someone like Donald Trump, who is constantly demeaning and belittling who the American people are,” the vice president added.

Trump’s comments are the latest example of his anti-immigrant rhetoric.

-ABC News’ Will McDuffie

Walz says it’s time to ‘execute’ at fundraiser

In what could have been his final financial event of the campaign, Tim Walz, at a fundraiser in Pennsylvania, said it was now time to use all that money to focus on the ground game.

“Now it’s time to execute … Never in my lifetime, would I have believed that the choice would be so stark,” he said.

The Harris campaign and the Democratic National Committee entered the final three weeks of the election with a clear cash advantage over the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, latest FEC records show.

As of Oct. 16, the Harris campaign, the DNC and their joint fundraising committees reported having nearly $270 million in cash on hand compared to $202 million the Trump campaign, the RNC and their joint fundraising committees had in the bank, the new filings show.

The Trump campaign committee, in particular, had $36 million in the bank as of Oct. 16 compared to the Harris campaign committee having $119 million in cash on hand.

-ABC News’ Isabella Murray and Soorin Kim

Trump repeats threat to jail election officials

Trump on Friday reposted his earlier message promising, before any evidence of fraud, to prosecute and deliver long prison sentences for election workers and others who he deems to have cheated during November’s election.

“Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. “Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.”

Election officials had called such a threat “dangerous” given the heightened threat environment.

“It makes me concerned that this will set other people off. I think the one thing that we’ve seen before is that words have consequences and meaning,” Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told ABC News last month.

“And while we are concerned, we are also prepared. Elections officials across the country have been working with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to monitor and track threats, to make sure we’re keeping our voters safe and make sure we’re keeping our elections officials safe,” Fontes said.

Harris says she hasn’t voted yet but it’s on ‘priority list’

Harris, taking reporter questions on Friday, was asked if she’s cast her ballot yet.

Her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, voted with his wife and son in Minnesota earlier this week.

Harris said she hasn’t voted but “it’s on my priority list for these next few days.”

Trump to call into Virginia rally after voter purge program halted
Trump is attempting to place doubt about voter rolls in Virginia after a judge ordered voters purged from election rolls as a result of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s directive to be reinstated.

A federal judge said on Friday Youngkin’s program violated the National Voting Rights Act of 1993.

“This is a totally unacceptable travesty, and Governor Youngkin is absolutely right to appeal this ILLEGAL ORDER, and the U.S. Supreme Court will hopefully fix it! Only U.S. Citizens should be allowed to vote. Keep fighting, Glenn – AND REPUBLICANS IN VIRGINIA, KEEP VOTING EARLY!” Trump posted on his social media platform.

Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump is set to rally with Youngkin on Saturday. Trump said he plans to call into the rally to highlight the issue.

“I will be calling in to Glenn’s Rally with Lara Trump tomorrow morning to talk about this crazy Ruling, and announce my final stop in Virginia before Election Day.”

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soorin Kim and Kelsey Walsh

Pennsylvania county says it stopped thousands of voter registration fraud incidents

Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County Board of Elections said that approximately 2,500 suspected fraudulent voter registration applications were dropped off at the election office in two batches around the deadline to register.

The deadline to register in the swing state was Oct. 21.

The board said “concerns were raised” during the normal review process and law enforcement was alerted.

Notably, the board says in its statement that the fraud was “identified and contained” and lauded this incident as one that shows that the election “system is secure.”

“Our system worked,” the board declared. “We will continue to operate with the highest levels of veracity, integrity, and transparency so that Lancaster County voters can be confident in our election.”

-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin

The Washington Post won’t endorse a presidential candidate

The Washington Post announced Friday it will not issue an endorsement in this year’s election — a first for the legacy newspaper in more than three decades.

“The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” publisher William Lewis wrote in a note explaining the decision.

The Post follows the Los Angeles Times in not backing a candidate.

Both newspapers had endorsed President Joe Biden in 2020 against Trump.

McConnell, Johnson rebuke Harris for calling Trump ‘fascist’

In a rare joint statement, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell strongly condemned Harris calling Trump a “fascist” and comparing him to Adolf Hitler.

The two Republican leaders say Harris’ remarks have “only fanned the flames beneath a boiling cauldron of political animus. Her most recent and most reckless invocations of the darkest evil of the 20th century seem to dare it to boil over. The Vice President’s words more closely resemble those of President Trump’s second would-be assassin than her own earlier appeal to civility.”

McConnell and Johnson say they have been briefed on the “ongoing and persistent threats to former President Donald Trump.”

Harris quickly seized on John Kelly’s comments to The New York Times this week that he believed Trump fit the description of a fascist. Kelly served as Trump’s chief of staff and is a retired general.

Trump has claimed for months that Harris is a “fascist” or “communist” or “Marxist.”

-ABC News’ Lauren Peller

Virginia judge strikes down voter purge that impacted 1,600 people

A federal judge issued a partial ruling finding that Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order to conduct a daily voter purge process violated the National Voting Rights Act of 1993.

A total of 1,600 voters removed from the rolls since August must be added back within the next five days.

The judge said the process left no room for individualized inquiry, which violated the act’s requirement that “when in the 90-day provisional, it must be done on an individualized basis.”

-ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson

Trump zeroes in on ‘blue wall’ states

Trump will embark on a rigorous schedule making his final pitch to voters. The former president is focusing on the “blue wall” states this weekend and early next week, specifically targeting Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

After stops in Michigan and Pennsylvania on Saturday, Trump will culminate his weekend campaigning with a rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, in which the former president has coined as a “celebration of the whole thing” with his nine years of campaigning coming to close.

-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa and Soorin Kim

Americans accused of noncitizen voter fraud face doxxing

Eliud Bonilla, a Brooklyn-born NASA engineer born to Puerto Rican parents, was abruptly purged from the voter rolls as a “noncitizen.”

Bonilla later voted without issue, but the nuisance soon became a nightmare after a conservative watchdog group published his personal information online after obtaining a list of the state’s suspected noncitizen voters.

“I became worried because of safety,” he told ABC News, “because, unfortunately, we’ve seen too many examples in this country when one person wants to right a perceived wrong and goes through with an act of violence.”

Bonilla’s story highlights a real-world impact of aggressive efforts to purge state voter rolls of thousands of potential noncitizens who have illegally registered. Many of the names end up being newly naturalized citizens, victims of an inadvertent paperwork mistake or the result of a clerical error, experts say. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections.

Read more about Bonilla’s story and a fact check of noncitizen voting claims here.

Half of Americans see Trump as fascist, Harris viewed as pandering: POLL

A new poll from ABC News and Ipsos found half of Americans (49%) see Trump as a fascist, or “a political extremist who seeks to act as a dictator, disregards individual rights and threatens or uses force against their opponents.”

A majority of voters (65%) also said Trump often says things that are not true.

But Harris also faces perception headwinds, though far fewer Americans (22%) said they viewed her as a fascist.

Fifty-seven percent of registered voters said Harris is making proposals “that just are intended to get people to vote for her,” not that she intends to carry out. Just more than half (52%) said the same about Trump.

Harris taps Beyoncé for Houston rally on reproductive rights

October 25, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(HOUSTON) –With only a little more than a week until Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris is stopping in Houston on Friday where she will give a speech on abortion rights with some help from megastar singer, Beyoncé, according to sources familiar with the planning.

Although Texas seems to be a strange choice in the final stretch before the election when both candidates target key battleground states, the campaign argues it was chosen because of the state’s restrictive abortion ban, which bans abortion in almost all circumstances. It also allows private citizens to sue abortion providers and those who assist patients who are seeking an abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy.

Abortion remains a rallying issue among Democrats who were able to stave off a “red wave” during the 2022 midterms by centering their messages around it. The campaign claims reproductive freedom is still one of the top issues among undecided voters, and they consider Texas to be “ground zero.”

The campaign said it plans on featuring powerful stories from several women whose lives have been put at risk over these abortions bans. That includes Ondrea, a Texas woman who first shared her story in a new Harris campaign ad out this week. Ondrea was pregnant in the fall of 2022, but when her water broke at 16 weeks, she was told her daughter wouldn’t survive. She was not offered necessary medical care — an abortion, the ad says. The ad shows the wound and scars Ondrea says she incurred after undergoing a six-hour emergency surgery — during which doctors cut her open from her breast to her pelvis in order to save her life.

On Friday, Harris said the abortion ban in Texas will be central to the event.

“It is a very important state, and we are here to really highlight that, sadly, the elected leaders of Texas, a lot of them have made Texas ground zero in this fundamental fight for the freedom of women to make decisions about their own body. So, tonight we will be discussing the impact of that, not only to the women and their families, but to people around the country because of Trump abortion bans,” she said.

“And I do believe it is critically important to acknowledge that this is not just a political debate, this is not just some theoretical concept. Real harm has occurred in our country, a real suffering has occurred. People have died,” she added.

Harris’ rally will also feature Houston native, Beyoncé. Although the popular “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer has yet to officially endorse Harris, the vice president uses Beyoncé song “Freedom” as her walk-out song, which is often woven into her messaging.

Also in attendance will be famous folk singer Willie Nelson, another Texas native, along with Beyoncé’s mom, Tina Knowles, who has campaigned for Harris in the past.

It is not yet clear if Beyonce and Nelson will perform.

Roughly two hours away, former President Trump will also be in Texas in Austin where he will speak on immigration before interviewing with influential podcaster Joe Rogan who has the most-listened-to podcast in the United States.

Harris will go on to Michigan on Saturday where she will campaign with former first lady Michelle Obama for the first time after holding her first joint rally with former President Barack Obama at a get-out-the-vote rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday.

Trump calls US ‘garbage can for the world’ in latest anti-immigrant rhetoric

October 25, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(ARIZONA) — Former President Donald Trump escalated his anti-immigrant rhetoric at a rally in battleground Arizona on Thursday, calling the United States a “garbage can for the world.”

“We’re a dumping ground. We’re like a — we’re like a garbage can for the world. That’s what, that’s what’s happened to us. We’re like a garbage can,” Trump said at a rally in Tempe, Arizona, on Thursday.

Trump made the comments as he criticized the Biden-Harris administration for its handling of the border, a key voter issue — especially in Arizona, a border state and swing state that President Joe Biden flipped to edge out Trump by 0.3 percentage points in 2020. Trump also made the comments with less than two weeks until Election Day — and as the former president and Vice President Kamala Harris duke it out in what’s expected to be a close contest.

The former president went on to claim that criminals and other bad figures are from all over the world are coming into the country unchecked.

“First time I’ve ever said ‘garbage can,'” Trump said. “But you know what? It’s a very accurate description.”

Harris told reporters in Houston on Friday that Trump’s assertion that America is a “garbage can for the world” “belittles our country.”

“This is someone who is a former president of the United States, who has a bully pulpit, and this is how he uses it, to tell the rest of the world that somehow the United States of America is trash,” Harris said. “And I think, again, the president of the United States should be someone who elevates discourse and talks about the best of who we are and invest in the best of who we are, not someone like Donald Trump, who is constantly demeaning and belittling who the American people are.”

While the “garbage can” remarks may be a first for Trump to utter at a rally, it’s not the first time he has used anti-immigrant rhetoric — now a common element at his events. Since he began campaigning for president this cycle, Trump has said immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” and called them “criminals” who will “cut your throat.”

Earlier this year, Trump repeated false claims about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating the dogs and cats of the town’s residents. Notably, Trump mentioned the baseless claims — which were amplified by right-wing politicians, including vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance – on the presidential debate stage.

Earlier this month, the former president used anti-immigrant rhetoric during an interview on Newsmax’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight” to disparage many of the legal Haitian migrants living in Springfield Ohio, referring to their temporary protective status as “a certain little trick.”

“Look at Springfield, where 30,000 illegal immigrants dropped, and it was, they may have done it through a certain little trick, but they are illegal immigrants as far as I’m concerned,” said Trump. “They’re destroying the town … they’ll end up destroying the state. We cannot let this happen.”

He has also called for the round up and deportation of millions of migrants living in the U.S. without legal permission.

Also in October, the former president suggested he believes that migrants have it “in their genes” to murder people, adding “we got a lot of bad genes in our country.”

“How about allowing people to come through an open border — 13,000 of which were murderers, many of them murdered far more than one person, and they’re now happily living in the United States. You know now a murderer, I believe this, it’s in their genes. And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now,” Trump said during an interview on the “Hugh Hewitt Show.”

Despite the fact that U.S. citizens commit crimes at higher rates than undocumented immigrants, Trump painted them as “criminals” who will “cut your throat” at a campaign stop in Wisconsin in September.

“And you remember when they say no, no, these are migrants and these migrants, they don’t commit crimes like us,” Trump said. “No, no, they make our criminals look like babies. These are stone-cold killers. They’ll walk into your kitchen, they’ll cut your throat.”

Trump also featured anti-immigrant rhetoric in his 2016 White House bid — often casting them as rapists and drug traffickers.

ABC News’ Will McDuffie, Fritz Farrow and Gabriella Abdul-Hakim contributed to this report.

Biden to apologize for government forcing Native American children into boarding schools

October 25, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(PHOENIX) — President Joe Biden was in Arizona on Friday to apologize to Native Americans for the federal government forcing Indian children into boarding schools where the White House said they were abused and deprived of their cultural identity.

Departing the White House Thursday, Biden said he was going to Arizona “to do something that should have been done a long time ago.”

He said he would make “a formal apology to the Indian nations for the way we treated their children for so many years.”

The White House called his trip to Gila River Indian Community outside Phoenix — his first to Indian Country as president — “historic.”

Officials said he will discuss the Biden-Harris administration’s record of delivering for tribal communities, including keeping his promise to visit the swing state, which is happening close to Election Day.

“The president also believes that to usher in the next era of the Federal-Tribal relationships we need to fully acknowledge the harms of the past,” the White House said.

“For over 150 years, the federal government ran boarding schools that forcibly removed generations of Native children from their homes to boarding schools often far away. Native children at these schools endured physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and, as detailed in the Federal Indian Boarding School Investigative Report by the Department of the Interior (DOI), at least 973 children died in these schools,” the White House said.

“The federally-run Indian boarding school system was designed to assimilate Native Americans by destroying Native culture, language, and identity through harsh militaristic and assimilationist methods,” it said.

Biden apologizes for Native American children forced into federal boarding schools

October 25, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(PHOENIX) — President Joe Biden in Arizona on Friday apologized to Native Americans for the federal government forcing their children into boarding schools where he said they were abused and deprived of their cultural identity.

“For Indigenous peoples, they served as places of trauma and terror for more than 100 years. Tens of thousands of Indigenous children, as young as four years old were taken from their families and communities and forced into boarding schools run by the U.S. government and religious institutions,” he said.

“Nearly 1000 documented Native child deaths, though the real number is likely to be much, much higher. Lost generations, culture and language. Lost trust. It’s horribly, horribly wrong. It’s a sin on our soul,” he continued.

“I formally apologize as president of United States of America for what we did,” he said, emphatically. “I formally apologize!”

The White House had called his trip to Gila River Indian Community outside Phoenix — his first to Indian Country as president — “historic.”

Beforehand, officials said he would discuss the Biden-Harris administration’s record of delivering for tribal communities, including keeping his promise to visit the swing state, which is happening close to Election Day.

“The president also believes that to usher in the next era of the Federal-Tribal relationships we need to fully acknowledge the harms of the past,” the White House said.

E. coli cases linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders rise to 75 across 13 states: CDC

October 25, 2024 by WDNY Radio

The number of cases in a deadly E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders has risen to 75, according to new federal data released Friday.

Cases have been reported in 13 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Most of the cases have been in Colorado, which has 26 reported cases, and Montana, which has 13 reported cases, according to the CDC.

Cases have also been reported in Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming, according to the CDC, which further notes that illnesses have occurred between Sept. 27 and Oct. 10 of this year.

Of the 61 people about whom the CDC has information, 22 have been hospitalized, and two developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious, potentially fatal complication of E. coli infection that can cause kidney failure, according to the CDC.

One death has been reported in Colorado in connection with the outbreak. The person was a resident of Mesa County in the western part of the state, according to the Mesa County department of health.

“The true number of sick people in this outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported, and the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses,” the CDC said in its update. “This is because many people recover without medical care and are not tested for E. coli. In addition, recent illnesses may not yet be reported as it usually takes 3 to 4 weeks to determine if a sick person is part of an outbreak.”

McDonald’s says either fresh, slivered onions or beef patties used for the Quarter Pounder may be behind the outbreak.

Following the initial announcement of the outbreak on Tuesday, the fast-food company announced it had proactively removed two ingredients from stores across two affected regions. The company’s leadership team said that a majority of other menu items are not impacted, according to the CDC investigation.

McDonald’s confirmed in a statement to ABC News that Taylor Farms is the supplier of the sliced onions the fast-food chain removed, but it is unclear whether Taylor Farms provides its products directly to McDonald’s or through an intermediary.

Taylor Farms issued a voluntary recall on Wednesday for its raw onions.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that raw slivered onions and the beef patties are the focus of their investigation as potential E. coli sources, but also indicated that preliminary data suggests the onions are “a likely source of contamination.”

ABC News’ Kelly McCarthy and Taylor Dunn contributed to this report.

Judge declines to reconsider criminal charges for Alec Baldwin in fatal ‘Rust’ shooting

October 25, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(SANTA FE, N.M.) A New Mexico judge has declined to reconsider criminal charges against Alec Baldwin over the fatal shooting on the set of “Rust” in October 2021.

“Because the State’s Amended Motion raises arguments previously made, and arguments that the State elected not to raise earlier, the Court does not find the Amended Motion well taken,” the decision said.

The court dismissed the state’s application to reinstate involuntary manslaughter charges that were thrown out in July after it was learned during trial that prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense, namely ammunition brought to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.

Baldwin’s attorneys claimed live ammunition that came into the hands of local law enforcement related to the investigation was “concealed” from them.

The judge in the trial, Mary Marlowe Sommer, said the state’s discovery violation regarding the late disclosure of a supplemental report on the ammunition evidence “injected needless delay into the proceedings,” approached “bad faith” and was “highly prejudicial to the defendant.”

Marlowe Summer also issued the new ruling on Friday saying the charges would not be reconsidered for Baldwin.

“State does not raise any factual or legal arguments that would justify the grant of a motion to reconsider,” she wrote in the opinion.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed on Oct. 21, 2021, when she was shot by Baldwin while he was practicing using a Colt .45 revolver. The prop gun, which Baldwin believed to contain dummy rounds, actually had a live round of ammunition in it. Director Joel Souza was also struck in the shooting, but recovered from his injuries.

“Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in connection with Hutchins’ death in March. Prosecutors argued during the trial she was the source of the live bullet and had failed to follow safety protocols meant to protect the crew while handling the firearms.

Gutierrez is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence, the maximum for the offense.

Last month, Marlowe Sommer denied a motion from Gutierrez’s attorneys arguing she was entitled to a new trial or dismissal of the case for “egregious prosecutorial misconduct” and “severe and ongoing discovery violations by the State,” related to the same evidence that resulted in Baldwin’s trial being dismissed. Marlowe Summer also denied a separate motion from the defense seeking immediate release from detention.

The judge ruled the issues raised by the defense did not justify a new trial or dismissal, and that the state did not suppress the ammunition evidence in Gutierrez’s trial that was at the heart of Baldwin’s dismissal.

Climate and environment updates: UN issues vital warning on avoiding climate disaster

October 25, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The climate crisis is not a distant threat; it’s happening right now and affecting what matters most to us. Hurricanes intensified by a warming planet and drought-fueled wildfires are destroying our communities. Rising seas and flooding are swallowing our homes. And record-breaking heatwaves are reshaping our way of life.

The good news is we know how to turn the tide and avoid the worst possible outcomes. However, understanding what needs to be done can be confusing due to a constant stream of climate updates, scientific findings, and critical decisions that are shaping our future.

That’s why the ABC News Climate and Weather Unit is cutting through the noise by curating what you need to know to keep the people and places you care about safe. We are dedicated to providing clarity amid the chaos, giving you the facts and insights necessary to navigate the climate realities of today — and tomorrow.

2024’s list of billion-dollar weather disasters keeps growing

The number of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in the United States keeps growing. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has added Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton to their official 2024 Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disaster list. The agency also added a tornado outbreak.

This brings the year-to-date total for billion-dollar disasters to 24 unique events. That’s the second-highest total for the same period, only eclipsed by 2023, when there were 27 billion-dollar disasters in the same time frame.

The final damage costs for Hurricane Helene and Milton are still being determined, but NOAA says they will both surpass the billion-dollar threshold..

According to NOAA, tropical cyclones (or hurricanes) cause more damage than any other kind of weather disaster, with over $1.3 trillion in damages since 1980.

-ABC News Climate Unit’s Dan Manzo and Matthew Glasser

UN says it will take ‘a quantum leap in ambition’ to avoid climate disaster

The United Nations is calling out the world’s largest polluting nations for failing to take decisive action in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions significantly. And they’re warning that it will require nothing short of “a quantum leap in ambition” if we are to avoid the worst-case global warming scenarios.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap Report 2024, aptly titled, “No more hot air … please!” the world has made little progress in reversing the use of fossil fuels and faces twice as much warming as agreed to during the Paris Climate Agreement. The report finds that unless we significantly reduce our global emissions and do so quickly, the planet is headed toward a 3.1° C (5.6° F) increase in warming above pre-industrial levels by 2100.

The annual report looks at countries’ emission reduction promises and where we are in meeting those goals. The report said that despite the urgent need to reduce GHG emissions, global emissions actually set a new record in 2023, increasing by 1.3%.

However, the report made a point to emphasize that the majority of global emissions are coming from G20 countries, specifically China, the United States and India. Only the U.S. showed a slight reduction in emissions in 2023, down 1.4%. China and India saw an increase of 5.2% and 6.1% respectively. Both countries produce many of the products purchased and used by American consumers, and some experts say their emissions are our emissions.

In 2015, during a summit in Paris, the majority of the world’s governments agreed to work toward limiting global warming to 1.5° C (2.7° F). This new report said it would require a 42% cut in yearly GHG emissions by 2030 if we want to try to avoid surpassing that milestone.

World leaders will meet in Azerbaijan next month for the UN climate summit COP29 to work on meeting the goals first agreed to in Paris.

-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser

Central Park and Philly could break no rain records

The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions are experiencing an unprecedented dry spell, raising concerns of fire danger.

Central Park in New York City is also facing an unusually dry October. The world-renowned landmark has seen zero rainfall this month. Since record-keeping began in 1869, there has never been a month in Central Park that didn’t have some rainfall. With no rain in the forecast through the end of the month, this could be a first.

Similarly, Philadelphia is on the brink of shattering its record for the longest period without rain, reaching 25 days as of Oct. 24. If the city doesn’t receive any precipitation by the end of Monday, Oct. 28, it will surpass an historic 29-day dry streak, the current record. Records go back to 1871.

As a result of these near-record dry conditions, fire danger levels have surged. Elevated warnings stretch from Massachusetts to Virginia, with humidity levels plummeting to around 30% and gusty winds of nearly 30 mph. New Jersey is particularly vulnerable, with most of the state under a Red Flag Warning, indicating a high threat of wildfires. The combination of low moisture and wind creates an environment ripe for the spread of any fire, making it crucial for residents to remain vigilant.

-ABC News meteorologists Max Golembo and Kenton Gewecke and ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser

World’s coral in peril: Largest bleaching event in history is underway

A global coral bleaching event that began in Feb. 2023 is now the largest bleaching event on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The agency says nearly 77% of the world’s coral reef areas have experienced bleaching-level heat stress.

NOAA says the previous record, which occurred between 2014 and 2017, impacted 65.7% of the world’s reef area.

“We’ve eclipsed the previous record by 11.3% and did so in about half the amount of time,” said NOAA in a statement to ABC News. “This percentage is still increasing in size.”

The world’s oceans experienced record-breaking temperatures in 2024, and when the water is too warm, coral can expel the algae inside it, causing it to turn completely white. While bleaching doesn’t necessarily kill the coral, it can increase the likelihood of permanent damage or death.

This latest mass bleaching event marks the 4th global bleaching event since 1998 and the second since 2010. NOAA says each event has been more extensive than the last, with the current one setting a global record.

Since Feb. 2023, 74 countries and territories have been impacted by the mass coral bleaching event, affecting the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, according to NOAA.

Coral reefs are among the planet’s most diverse and valuable ecosystems. While they only cover 1% of our oceans, they provide a home to at least 25% of our marine life and significantly impact the global economy. Reefs attract millions of tourists and visitors, supporting local businesses and jobs.

-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser and Dan Manzo

Study finds biodiversity isn’t safe even in protected areas

In 2022, world leaders agreed to a landmark deal to protect the planet’s biodiversity at the UN Conference of Parties convention (COP15) in Montreal. Dubbed “30 by 30,” the historic agreement called for protecting 30% of the globe’s land and waters by 2030. As a result, many of the participating nations strengthened and expanded protected areas for plants and animals.

But, according to new research conducted by the National History Museum in London, biodiversity in these protected areas is declining faster than in non-protected areas. Using their own “Biodiversity Intactness Index,” which estimates how much of an area’s biological diversity is left in an area in response to human interventions, the Museum found that life in protected areas declined by around 2% compared to 1.8% globally.

The difference was even more significant in areas with the most critical ecosystems. Protected areas saw a loss of 2.12% compared to 1.91% overall.

The study’s authors don’t know for sure why there is this discrepancy but say it could be because many protected areas only focus on protecting a specific species. They also say many of the protected areas were already in trouble, and that’s why they were protected.

The team says we need to not only protect individual species but the land and ecosystem where they live. They are also calling for better monitoring of these critical areas.

The study comes while world leaders meet in Columbia for the UN’s COP16 Biodiversity Conference—a global effort to protect the planet’s biological diversity.

-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser

Delphi suspect went to police 3 days after the murders, but he ‘fell in the cracks’ for years: Sheriff

October 25, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(DELPHI, Ind.) — Delphi, Indiana, double murder suspect Richard Allen self-reported being at the crime scene in the days after the killings, but the tip sheet “fell in the cracks,” leaving him “hiding in plain sight” in the small town for years, the sheriff told the jury at Allen’s trial.

Best friends Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams, 13, were walking along a Delphi hiking trail when they were killed on the afternoon of Feb. 13, 2017. Allen, a Delphi resident, was arrested in October 2022 and has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Kathy Shank, a volunteer file clerk who arranged boxes of information and tips in the case, testified Thursday that on Sept. 21, 2022 — weeks before Allen’s arrest — she came across a file folder that was not with the others she was managing.

The sheet said that on Feb. 16, 2017 — three days after the murders — a person listed as “Richard Allen Whiteman” self-reported being on the trails between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on the day of the crime. According to Shank, the self-reporter listed seeing three girls.

Shank testified that she wrote a lead sheet and changed the name to Richard Allen. Allen lived on Whiteman Drive, so she said she believed the names were transposed and it was misfiled.

She said she notified the sheriff after finding Allen’s tip sheet.

Allen’s defense attorney asked Shank, “There was no other tip, to your knowledge, that involved Richard Allen?” Shank replied, “To my knowledge, no.”

Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett acknowledged on the stand that Allen was never a suspect from 2017 to 2022 and said the tip sheet generated about him was marked “clear.” When pressed by Allen’s defense on how that could have happened, Liggett responded, Allen “got lost” and “fell in the cracks.”

The sheriff also conceded that Allen came forward on his own and never left town. “He was hiding in plain sight,” Liggett said to defense attorney Andrew Baldwin.

When Allen was arrested, Liggett was running for sheriff, which Allen’s attorneys argued was good timing for his campaign. Liggett denied the two were linked.

“This was about the murders of two little girls,” he said. Indiana State Police investigator Jerry Holeman testified about his conversation with Allen during the search of Allen’s home in the fall of 2022.

Holeman said, as the two sat in his police car, he told Allen that once the search was done he could file a claim for any damage to his house.

Holeman claimed that Allen replied, “It doesn’t matter. It’s over.”

Holeman said he didn’t record that conversation even though Allen was considered a suspect at the time. Defense attorneys pushed back on Holeman’s story, saying the jury could only take his word for it.

Indiana State Police trooper David Vido, who helped administer the search warrant at Allen’s home, testified there was no physical evidence in Allen’s car or on his jacket that linked him to the crime scene.

Prosecutors said police analysis of Allen’s gun determined that the .40-caliber unspent round discovered by the girls’ bodies was cycled through Allen’s gun.

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