News

(WASHINGTON0 — President Donald Trump is set to headline a fundraiser for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts next month, according to an invitation obtained by ABC News, for which the top sponsorship level is selling for $2 million.

The event, hosted by the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees, includes a VIP reception followed by the center’s opening night performance of Les Misérables.

Trump — who recently overhauled the Kennedy Center’s leadership — is scheduled to appear at the event “as a special guest and friend of the Kennedy Center,” according to the invite, and “is not directly soliciting donations.”

For the event, the top “gold” sponsorship level costs $2 million. It includes a performance box and a photo op with Trump, as well as what’s described in the invitation as premier seating and admission to the VIP reception for 10.

The “silver” level sponsorship costs $100,000, and includes a photo op with Trump, seating for the performance and admission to the VIP reception for two.

The White House referred ABC News to the Kennedy Center for comment. A Kennedy Center spokesperson declined to comment.

Trump — who has referred to the center as an “American jewel” — has overhauled the center since taking office, terminating much of its leadership.

Members of the board appointed by Trump include close allies such as White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and second lady Usha Vance. The board in turn elected Trump as its chair and his longtime ally Ric Grennell as its president.

The management overhaul sparked backlash within the cultural world, with some shows like “Hamilton” canceling planned performances. Trump, in turn, said he “never liked ‘Hamilton’ very much.”

During a visit to the Kennedy Center for the new board’s first meeting in March, Trump said the center had been in “tremendous disrepair” due to “bad management.”

“We’ll bring it back,” he said. “We’ll make it great again.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(BRENHAM, Texas) — The body of a 10-year-old girl was found on Tuesday after she was swept away by floodwaters in Texas. The sad end to the search comes as a a storm threat continues to impact millions in the South and Northeast on Tuesday.

Two sisters were walking home from school in Brenham, Texas, on Wednesday afternoon when an adjacent creek rose quickly and one of the girls, 10-year-old Dhava Woods, got swept away in the water, officials told Houston ABC station KTRK.

A male neighbor saw what happened and got in the water to try and rescue the child. He was able to make contact with her, but couldn’t hold on, officials said. A Brenham police officer also saw the child farther down the creek, but was unsuccessful in rescuing her due to the swift waters, officials said.

“With more severe weather anticipated, we ask the community to keep everyone involved in your thoughts and prayers during this challenging time,” the Brenham Fire Department said in a statement on Monday.

Brenham city officials announced on Tuesday that Woods’ body was recovered at 10 a.m.

“Our hearts are with the student’s family, and we ask our community to keep them in your thoughts and prayers during this incredibly difficult time,” the girl’s school district said in a statement.

This incident came amid nearly 100 storm reports across 10 states — along with one tornado in Jamesville, North Carolina — overnight on Monday.

Severe storms and flash flooding will continue to threaten parts of the south-central U.S., with over 24 million people placed on flood watches across nine states on Tuesday.

A tornado watch has been issued for portions of central, east and southeastern Texas until 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

The threat for severe weather will shift farther east on Tuesday, stretching from the Texas Panhandle to Louisiana.

Cities including Houston, Dallas and Austin remain under a slight risk for severe weather and parts of east Texas are now under an enhanced risk. These areas could see damaging winds, very large hail and storms that could produce strong tornadoes.

A widespread flash flooding threat expands farther east into Wednesday, extending from southeastern Colorado all the way to Alabama. Parts of the Deep South, including most of Louisiana, southeastern Mississippi and eastern Texas, face the greatest threat for flash flooding.

Parts of the lower Mississippi River could receive the most rain over the next few days, with the potential for another 3 to 6 inches. Additionally, parts of southern Louisiana and southeastern Mississippi could see rainfall totals exceed 6 inches over the next two days, with some areas receiving up to 12 inches.

Another 1 to 4 inches of rainfall is expected in parts of north Texas, the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma and the rest of the Lower Mississippi River Valley through Thursday. These areas have already seen significant rainfall over the last few weeks and are still recovering from river flooding.

Parts of eastern Pennsylvania, northwest New Jersey and southern New York state are also under a slight risk for severe storms on Tuesday, which could generate damaging winds and hail.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(BALTIMORE) — A federal judge on Tuesday rejected the Trump administration’s argument that a 20-year-old Venezuelan man deported to El Salvador, whose removal violated a previous court settlement, should not be returned to the U.S. because his asylum application would be denied.

During the hearing in Maryland, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher — who last month ordered the government to facilitate the return of the man, identified as Cristian in court filings — said that a 2024 settlement agreement requires Cristian to be present in the U.S. to be able to argue his case for asylum.

In her opinion last month, Judge Gallagher referenced the case of wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and said that “like Judge [Paula] Xinis in the Abrego Garcia matter, this court will order Defendants to facilitate Cristian’s return to the United States so that he can receive the process he was entitled to under the parties’ binding Settlement Agreement.”

The class action case from 2019 was filed on behalf of individuals who entered the U.S. as unaccompanied minors and later sought asylum.

The group sued the government to be able to have their asylum applications adjudicated while they remained in the United States. The parties settled in 2024.

Attorneys for the Department of Justice say Cristian is a member of the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua and argued that because U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued an “Indicative Asylum Decision” last week declaring that Cristian’s asylum application would be denied, the order to return him should be dismissed.

“The Indicative asylum decision makes clear that if Christian asylum application is more or less moot, his claim to asylum is moot,” said DOJ attorney Richard Ingebretsen.

Judge Gallagher, however, pushed back on that argument and said the indicative ruling submitted by the Trump administration “prejudges the outcome of the asylum proceeding with no ability for Christian or his legal representatives to provide any input into the process.”

“We don’t skip to the end and say we all know how this is going to end up, so there’s no point in going through this process,” Judge Gallagher said. “We go through the process. People are entitled to that. And there was a process that was specifically bargained for in this agreement.”

“Due process is important,” she said.

Judge Gallagher declined the government’s request to vacate her order requiring Cristian’s return and said that she will issue a 48-hour stay to allow the government to file an appeal with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If no appeal is filed, the judge said she will amend her order to set a timetable for the government to facilitate Cristian’s return and order status updates.

“There is some urgency here,” Judge Gallagher said. “We have a 20-year-old young man who’s been in prison in El Salvador for almost two months.”

When asked, Ingebretsen declined to say what steps, if any, have been taken to comply with the judge’s order to facilitate Cristian’s return, but added that the defendants and the State Department are aware of the order.

Kevin DeJong, an attorney representing Cristian, said that he is concerned the government is making an effort to “significantly delay compliance with the court’s order.”

DeJong added that he received notice last week from the government that another class member “was improperly removed” under Title 8 authorities.

“I will flag your honor that in fact, they notified us 15 days after that class member had been removed,” DeJong told the judge.

DeJong said that he is considering what legal strategy to employ for that particular class member.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(JEROME, Fla.) — An 89-year-old man and a dog were killed in apparently separate bear attacks near the victim’s home in Florida, officials said.

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office said it received a call shortly after 7 a.m. Monday involving a “bear encounter.”

The incident was reported in the area of State Road 29 and U.S. 41 near Jerome, just south of the Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area, a conservation area, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC).

In the wake of the attacks, FWC personnel killed three bears in the area, the agency said Tuesday. The bears’ DNA will be tested to confirm if any were involved in the incident.

The attacks occurred “some time apart” on Monday, and the man and the dog were found within a couple of hundred yards of the area, according to FWC spokesperson George Reynaud.

The victim was identified as Robert Markel, a longtime resident of the Jerome area. Officials believe his daughter called 911 to report the attack, Reynaud said. FWC previously said the Markel was 88, though updated on Tuesday that he was 89.

His daughter saw a bear attack the dog and then went looking for her father, who is believed to have been attacked earlier on Monday, Reynaud said.

“We do know it was a bear attack. We don’t know if it was the same bear or multiple bears,” Reynaud said at a press briefing Monday evening.

Once the investigation is confirmed, this would mark the first documented fatal bear attack in the state’s history, Reynaud said.

The animal would most likely be a Florida black bear, based on the region, FWC spokesperson Tyson Matthews said at a press briefing earlier Monday.

Markel had been alone with the dog at the residence, and there are several other residences within the property, FWC officials said.

The FWC warned residents and visitors to continue to avoid the area “out of an abundance of caution.”

“Do not approach or attempt to track wildlife,” the FWC said in a statement on Tuesday. “Law enforcement and FWC personnel are continuing to monitor bear activity and ensure public safety.”

The FWC is investigating the incident.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHESTER, N.Y.) — A New York town official has been arrested for allegedly shooting a DoorDash driver who was lost and trying to get directions, police said.

The 24-year-old victim was attempting to deliver food to a house Friday night when he got lost in Chester, a town about 50 miles north of Manhattan, the New York State Police said.

He “approached several homes asking for directions before arriving at the residence of John Reilly III,” who is the Town of Chester highway superintendent, police said.

Reilly, 48, told the victim “to get off his property,” and then Reilly allegedly fired multiple shots at the driver while he was trying to leave in his car, police said.

The driver was shot once in the back and hospitalized with serious injuries, police said. He’s currently in stable condition, police said on Tuesday.

A DoorDash spokesperson said the company is “devastated by this senseless act of violence” and is wishing the driver “a full and speedy recovery.”

“No one should ever fear for their safety just for trying to make deliveries in their neighborhood,” the spokesperson said in the statement, adding, “We’ll continue to work closely with law enforcement as they investigate this tragic incident.”

Reilly — who is a federally licensed firearms dealer — was charged with first-degree assault, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a firearm, police said. He was arraigned at the Orange County Centralized Arraignment Part and his preliminary hearing is set for Friday, police said.

Chester Town Supervisor Brandon Holdridge said in a statement Sunday that the board is “deeply troubled by what has been reported so far,” adding, “We hope the person who was injured in the incident makes a full and healthy recovery.”

“The Town of Chester is not taking any position on any investigation or legal proceeding,” Holdrige said, and he noted that the Chester Police Department recused itself from the case.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — The Columbia University student who was detained in Vermont by Immigration and Customs Enforcement told ABC News that he was about to sign a document saying he was willing to take the Pledge of Allegiance, one of the final steps in the process to become a U.S. citizen, when masked agents suddenly arrested him.

In an interview nearly a week after a federal judge ordered him released from detention while his case proceeds, Mohsen Mahdawi recounted his arrest and detainment, saying that he feared his citizenship interview was a “trap” and that he’s concerned that democracy in the U.S. is under attack.

“It was a moment of like, should I be happy or should I be cautious when I received the notice?” Mahdawi told ABC News about receiving the notice for his citizenship interview. “And I sense that this might be a trap. And for sure, indeed, it was an alarm bell where I directly reached out to my legal team in order to navigate, you know, the pros and cons and this risk that I think that I may lose my freedom.”

Mahdawi said that, as he was completing his interview, “at that moment, [I had] very strong feelings of, ‘Oh my god, things are working out. And then they came into the office … and you can imagine the feeling between, I am being excited to receive the citizenship, and then feeling of betraying disappointment.”

A Department of Homeland Security official pushed back on concerns that the interview may have been a trap staged to detain Mahdawi.

“The Department does not ‘stage’ interviews or any other type of adjudication,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “If an alien is seeking a benefit, they will almost assuredly be interviewed. If the alien is subject to detention, that alien will almost assuredly be detained. One has no bearing on the other.”

“Illegal aliens do not have a right to roam freely in our country, nor do they have a right to elude federal authorities,” McLaughlin said.

Mahdawi, who co-founded a university organization called the Palestinian Student Union with detained Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank before moving in 2014 to the U.S. where he has been a legal resident for 10 years.

His lawyers believe that, like Khalil, he is being targeted by the Trump administration under Immigration and Nationality Act section 237(a)(4)(C)(i), which asserts that the secretary of state can deem a person deportable if they have reasonable ground to believe that the person’s presence or activities in the U.S. could have adverse foreign policy consequences.

In response to the government’s allegations against him, Mahdawi and his lawyers have firmly refuted allegations that he ever threatened Israelis or those of the Jewish faith. He told ABC News he has been advocating for peace and protesting against the war in Gaza.

“So for them to accuse me of this is not going to work, because I am a person who actually has condemned antisemitism,” Mahdawi said. “And I believe that the fight against antisemitism and the fight to free Palestine go hand in hand, because, as Martin Luther King said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

After his arrest at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Vermont, where he was undergoing his citizenship interview, Mahdawi said he was quickly put in handcuffs, but was not given a reason for why he was being detained.

“The first thing they’ve done is they isolated me from my lawyer, separated me from my lawyer,” Mahdawi said of his arrest. “They did not show us any paperwork they had on them. I told them, ‘I am a peaceful man and I will collaborate.'”

Mahdawi claims ICE officials were planning to send him to Louisiana where Khalil is detained, but missed the flight by a few minutes. His lawyers, who crafted several habeas petitions in anticipation that he could be detained, filed an emergency request for a temporary restraining order, which a federal judge granted.

“They were preparing to send me to Louisiana,” Mahdawi said. “They had my flight tickets really printed, and two agents came to take me … to ship me on a commercial flight from Burlington Airport to New York and from New York to Louisiana.”

At his bail hearing last week, the Department of Justice argued against Mahdawi’s release, saying that during a 2015 FBI investigation, a gun shop owner alleged that Mahdawi had claimed to have built machine guns in the West Bank to kill Jews, proving that he was a threat. According to a police report obtained by ABC News from Windsor Police in Vermont, a “concerned citizen” alleged that Mahdawi “seemed to have knowledge about gun design and function.”

But that investigation was closed and Mahdawi was never charged with any crime, a point that Judge Geoffrey Crawford highlighted when he ordered Mahdawi’s release last week.

During the hearing, the federal judge said that while the allegations were “shocking,” he noted that because the FBI at the time decided to close the case, he understood that to mean that the FBI came to the conclusion that the allegations made by the gun shop owner and the other individual were unfounded claims.

Judge Crawford noted during last week’s hearing that Mahdawi had received letters of support from over 90 community members, including from members of the Jewish community, adding that “people who have in a consistent pattern described him as peaceful.”

The judge also said Mahdawi had “made substantial claims that his detention was in retaliation for his protected speech.”

Mahdawi told ABC News that his Buddhist faith has kept him grounded as his immigration and federal cases continue to play out in court and the threat of deportation still lingers.

He said he believes “everybody should be alert and alarmed” that the Trump administration targeted him for his advocacy.

“We are at a very critical time,” Mahdawi said. “What is happening in America is going to affect the rest of the world. The attack on democracy that guarantees many rights for people, democracy that has established international order and human rights, is a very dangerous phenomenon.”

During the interview, Mahdawi said he first experienced true freedom when he moved to the United States — a feeling he claims to still have despite his legal battle.

“They can put me in prison, but my spirit is free, and the free spirit is a spirit that does not give up on the idea of justice,” he said. “The free spirit is a spirit that empathizes with everyone, including its oppressor, so I do feel free.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(HONOLULU) — Hawaii has passed legislation to increase people staying at hotels to help the islands cope with the increasing pressures from climate change.

The bill, SB1396, adds a 0.75% levy to existing taxes on tourist lodging within the state — including hotels rooms, timeshares and vacation rentals starting Jan. 1, 2026. It also imposes an 11% tax on cruise ship bills for each night the ship is in a Hawaiian port.

The new legislation is expected to raise nearly $100 million a year, and will be used for environmental protection and defenses against natural disasters amplified by climate change, including rising sea levels, coastal erosion and shifts in rainfall patterns. The state sees up to 10 million visitors per year, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Among the projects needed on the island are coral reef protections and clearing invasive grasses that can fuel wildfires.

The new tax will be added to the existing 10.25% tax Hawaii imposes on short-term rentals, raising the total to 11%. In addition, counties in Hawaii charge a separate 3% lodging tax. Travelers also pay a 4.712% general excise tax that applies to virtually all goods and services.

Come Jan. 1, the state’s total tax on short-term rentals will climb to 18.712%.

The bill passed by a large margin in the state’s House and Senate. Gov. Josh Green also supports the bill and intends to sign it, according to a statement released on Friday.

It represents “a generational commitment” to protect the ‘āina — a Hawaiian word that mean “land” but also signifies the deep connection between people and the environment — Green said. It is also the nation’s first statewide tax on lodging meant specifically to address the impacts of climate change, Green said.

“Hawai’i is truly setting a new standard to address the climate crisis, and I want to thank lawmakers for their unrelenting work these past two years in bringing this to fruition,” Green said.

Green told The Associated Press that he predicts visitors will be willing to pay taxes that help to protect the environment.

Care for ‘Āina Now, a local environmental advocacy group, estimates a $560 million gap for environmental stewardship on the Hawaiian islands.

A higher tax increase was initially proposed but was pared down after legislators heard concerns from the travel industry, AP reported.

The governor has until July 9 to sign the bill into law.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York ruled Tuesday that the Alien Enemies Act “was not validly invoked” by the Trump administration when it opted to deport alleged Tren de Aragua members, marking the second time a judge has deemed the administration’s use of the AEA unlawful.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein on Tuesday granted a preliminary injunction in the case of two plaintiffs identified by their initials, GFF and JGO, who were pulled off planes to El Salvador and transferred back to New York from Texas, where they had been detained on suspicion of alignment with the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.

Tuesday’s ruling comes after a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas last week permanently blocked the Trump administration from detaining, transferring or removing Venezuelans targeted for deportation under the Alien Enemies Act in the Southern District of Texas — ruling that the administration’s invocation of the AEA “exceeds the scope” of the law.

The Trump administration has invoked the Alien Enemies Act — an 18th century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process — to deport alleged migrant gang members by arguing that Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision last month, lifted an injunction issued by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that had halted deportations under the AEA — but said detainees must be given due process to challenge their removal in the district where they were detained.

GFF and JGO “have not been given notice of what they allegedly did to join TdA, when the joined, and what they did in the United States, or anywhere else, to share or further the illicit objectives of the TdA,” Judge Hellerstein’s opinion said. “Without such proof, Petitioners are subject to removal by the Executive’s dictate alone, in contravention of the AEA and the Constitutional requirements of due process.”

Hellerstein also said Trump was not justified when he invoked the Alien Enemies Act.

“I hold that the predicates for the Presidential Proclamation that TdA has engaged in either a ‘war,’ ‘invasion’ or a ‘predatory incursion’ of the United States do not exist,” Hellerstein’s opinion said. “There is nothing in the AEA that justifies a finding that refugees migrating from Venezuela, or TdA gangsters who infiltrate the migrants, are engaged in an ‘invasion’ or ‘predatory injunction.'”

Judge Hellerstein set a hearing in the matter for May 21.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.