(BIG STONE GAP, Va.) — Three corrections officers at Wallens Ridge State Prison were stabbed by inmates in a “premeditated” attack Friday, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections.
A total of five officers were injured at the prison in western Virginia during the attack, according to the department. The officers were transported for medical care outside the facility.
Three officers have been discharged, the Virginia DOC said. Two officers are in stable condition.
The DOC alleged that five of the six perpetrators are “confirmed MS-13 gang members from El Salvador, who were in this country illegally,” according to a press release provided to ABC News.
Each of the suspects have been convicted of violent crimes, including aggravated murder, first and second degree murder and rape, according to the DOC.
The other inmate involved in the attack is a confirmed member of the Sureño 13 gang and from the U.S., serving a sentence for second degree murder.
“Five of the individuals responsible for this senseless attack should never have been in this country in the first place,” said Virginia DOC Director Chad Dotson in a statement.
“Every single day, our officers put their lives on the line to ensure public safety for the more than 8.8 million people across the Commonwealth,” Dotson said. “This attack is an example of the dangers they face when they show up to work every day. Our officers are heroes, and I commend the team at Wallens Ridge for their swift response.”
Dotson also included an “unofficial” statement saying, “our dedicated staff deserves a Director who makes it crystal clear that the safety of our officers is our highest priority, over literally anything else we’re doing,” adding that “this will not stand.”
The attack is currently under investigation, and no further response will be provided until the investigation is complete, DOC officials said.
(WASHINGTON) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will require new vaccines to undergo placebo testing, marking what a department spokesperson called “a radical departure from past practices.”
The policy change would force vaccines, in order to be approved for human use, to undergo studies in which half of individuals in a study receive a placebo – typically a saline shot – to compare results against the vaccine.
Placebo-controlled trials are already used to test new drugs or vaccines for safety and efficacy, but some experts consider it unethical to conduct such trials when a vaccine or treatment is already considered safe and efficacious. For example, they say, giving half of the kids in a trial a placebo for the measles vaccine when an already proven vaccine exists would put those participants unnecessarily at risk for the virus.
It remains unclear what HHS considers a “new” vaccine and whether that includes the flu and COVID vaccines, which are updated on an annual basis to better protect against currently circulating strains.
“FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary has indicated that significant updates to existing vaccines—such as those addressing seasonal strain changes or antigenic drift—may be considered ‘new products’ requiring additional clinical evaluation,” the department spokesperson told ABC News.
But the spokesperson indicated the yearly flu vaccine might not be affected by the policy, calling it “tried and tested for more than 80 years.”
It appears, instead, that the policy could impact the rollout of future COVID vaccines, which are updated annually.
When asked to elaborate on what the department considers a “new” vaccine, the spokesperson said that federal health agencies would follow the “Gold Standard of Science”.
Kennedy has long questioned the safety of vaccines and argued that placebo-based trials are needed to ensure vaccines aren’t doing more harm than good.
Even as thousands were dying during the COVID-19 public health emergency, COVID vaccines still underwent placebo-controlled studies with more than 100,000 volunteers from diverse populations. Experts say the practice is necessary to determine if a vaccine is not only effective, but also safe.
Many childhood vaccines were originally tested with placebo trials. Others have been available for decades, providing data from millions of people showing those vaccines are overwhelmingly safe and effective.
Once a vaccine for a disease is approved safe and effective, future versions of the shot are tested in clinical trials against the already approved shot. Clinical trials test whether the updated vaccines generate an immune response that’s comparable to or better than previous versions of the vaccine.
Even after vaccines are made available to the public, scientists continue to monitor them for safety. They also review any reports of side effects or reactions and share these facts with the public.
(WASHINGTON) — An Abu Dhabi state-backed investment firm is making a major $2 billion investment in a crypto business deal that could serve as a major boost for Trump family crypto venture World Liberty Financial, according to Zach Witkoff, co-founder of World Liberty Financial.
USD1, World Liberty Financial’s so-called “stablecoin” — a digital asset designed to maintain a stable value — is expected to be used to complete Emirati investment firm MGX’s $2 billion investment transaction in crypto exchange Binance, Witkoff said during an appearance with President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump at a crypto convention in Dubai this week.
“We are excited to announce today that USD1 has been selected as the official stablecoin to close MGX’s $2 billion investment in Binance,” Witkoff announced in a video recording of the event posted on X. “We thank MGX and Binance for their trust in us, and I think it’s only the beginning.”
After once deriding cryptocurrency as a “scam,” President Donald Trump last September announced he and his sons Eric and Don Jr. were throwing their support behind World Liberty Financial, though its business model was largely unclear. This week’s development is the latest example of a foreign entity making a major investment that could boost a Trump family business.
Cryptocurrency and ethics experts told ABC News that the timing and scope of the Trump family’s foray into cryptocurrencies raise questions about whether investors — including those from overseas — could try to leverage their investments to curry favor with the administration. Critics have raised issues with the Trump administration’s regulatory role over cryptocurrencies while he stands to personally benefit from cryptocurrency ventures.
“Essentially, the president is taking the weakness in our current ethics laws that allow a president to continue to hold financial interests in businesses while he’s in a position of presidency to just a whole new level in this administration,” said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan government watchdog.
Trump has yet to release his financial disclosures as president, so it’s unclear what arrangements he has made to ensure a firewall between his personal businesses and his presidency. Last month a White House spokesperson told Reuters in a statement that “President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest.”
The USD1 announcement was made during what the organizers described as a “fireside chat” between Eric Trump and Zach Witkoff, a son of Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, which was moderated by Justin Sun, a Chinese-born crypto mogul who became one of World Liberty Financials’ biggest investors the day before Trump’s inauguration by purchasing $75 million worth of its other coin, WLFI.
A month after that investment, SEC lawyers under the Trump administration moved to halt an alleged fraud case against Sun.
Zach Witkoff during the event also announced that World Liberty Financial will be “natively integrating” its USD1 coin with Tron, a cryptocurrency founded by Sun, boasting that they will be “minting” hundreds of millions of dollars to billions of dollars of coins from the arrangement.
Much of World Liberty Financial’s operation is still shrouded in mystery, but its founders have touted its ambitious goal of integrating their venture into the everyday traditional retail system.
During the event, Zach Wikoff said he wants to walk into a deli in New York City or the Four Seasons in Abu Dhabi and freely use World Liberty Financial’s tokens. Eric Trump, in response, jokingly admonished Zach Witkoff for using Four Seasons Abu Dhabi as an example, and not Trump Tower.
Zach Witkoff claimed World Liberty Financial’s USD1 coin, backed “one-to-one by short-term treasuries and cash equivalents,” will become “the most transparent, the most regulated, stablecoin in the world.”
The Trumps and the Witkoffs have together raised at least $550 million for World Liberty Financial coins, according to the New York Times.
During this week’s event, Eric Trump also discussed additional Trump business ventures in the UAE, saying that the Trump Organization was able to speed through a permit for a new skyscraper with the highest swimming pool in the world — expected to be in the Guinness Book of World Records — just within the last month.
(WASHINGTON) — On the same day that the Trump administration is proposing billions of dollars in cuts to renewable energy, environmental and climate programs, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a significant reorganization of his agency.
“EPA is creating the first-of-its-kind Office of State Air Partnerships within the Office of Air and Radiation. This office will be focused on working with, not against, state, local and tribal air permitting agencies to improve processing of State Implementation Plans and resolving air permitting concerns,” Zeldin said in a video posted to YouTube.
Zeldin said the EPA is also creating an Office of Clean Air program that “will align statutory obligations and mission essential functions based on centers of expertise to ensure more transparency and harmony in regulatory development.”
Further, the agency is making changes to its Office of Water and creating a new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions, which Zeldin says will “prioritize research and put science at the forefront of the agency’s rule makings and technical assistance to states.”
Zeldin says the EPA will add more than 130 new employees to address the backlog of new chemicals and pesticides waiting for a review and “elevate” the issues of emergency response, cybersecurity, water reuse and conservation.
On Monday, the agency announced a new initiative to address contamination by PFAS, which are also known as forever chemicals. During his remarks, Zeldin said the new EPA structure would help the agency better understand how the chemicals impact human health and the environment.
The restructuring moves come on the same day the Trump administration released its 2026 fiscal year budget.
The administration’s budget cuts $15 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a Biden administration initiative that provided funds for carbon capture and renewable energy projects. The budget also calls for slashing $6 billion for EV chargers.
The budget proposal also calls for cutting grants to environmental organizations and eliminating the EPA’s Environmental Justice Program, a division that enforced civil rights laws and ensured that all people received the same level of environmental protection.
Sierra Club legislative director Melinda Pierce wrote in a statement, “This budget outline would dangerously slash funding to protect our air and water, disinvest in the clean energy manufacturing boom that has powered our economic recovery, and raise costs for working families who are already struggling to get by amidst the chaos and uncertainty that this administration has created in just three short months.”
Zeldin said the reorganization would save more than $300 million a year and that the agency’s goal is to reduce staffing to match the level of Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
“EPA will strive to accomplish all this while fulfilling our commitment to the rule of law, advancing cooperative federalism, and being good stewards of your hard-earned tax dollars,” Zeldin said in his remarks.
(HENRY’S LAKE, Idaho) –Seven people were killed in a fiery crash between a van and a pickup truck on an eastern Idaho highway near Yellowstone National Park, officials said.
The Mercedes passenger van — which was operating as a tour vehicle — collided with the Dodge Ram pickup around 7:15 p.m. Thursday on U.S. Highway 20 near Henry’s Lake, the Idaho State Police said. The van was traveling eastbound, toward Yellowstone National Park, while the truck was traveling westbound, police said.
Fourteen people were in the van and one was in the pickup. Six people in the van — all foreign nationals — and the truck driver died in the crash, police said.
The truck driver was identified by the Fremont County Coroner’s Office as 25-year-old Isaih Moreno of Humble, Texas, police said.
The names of the victims in the van will be released by the coroner once their families are notified, police said.
“Due to the complexity of the incident, the identification of all individuals involved and notification of their next of kin will take time,” Idaho State Police said in a statement Friday afternoon.
Local resident Roger Merrill said he was driving home when he came upon the crash site just a few minutes after the accident apparently occurred.
“It had appeared they had maybe hit head-on — catastrophic damage to both” vehicles, Merrill told ABC News.
“Good Samaritans had already come out to help. There were several other pickup trucks alongside the road that were assisting,” he said.
“The fire did not start immediately — there was no fire present for probably 10 to 15 minutes after I arrived. And I observed what appeared to be steam coming from the pickup,” he said. “About that time, the first responder showed up, a member of the sheriff’s department. I could see they were trying to put the fire out under the truck with a fire extinguisher, but the flames quickly spread and engulfed both vehicles within minutes.”
All occupants involved in the crash were transported to hospitals, including three flown by air ambulance. The others were transported by ground ambulance with likely non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Two survivors have been hospitalized at Madison Memorial in stable condition; three others who suffered injuries were treated and released, according to a hospital official. Two patients were also taken to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, the hospital said.
The cause remains under investigation, police said.
Henry’s Lake is about 17 miles from West Yellowstone, Montana, which is a gateway to Yellowstone National Park.
U.S. Highway 20 closed for nearly seven hours after the crash and has since reopened, police said.
ABC News’ Jeffrey Cook and Alyssa Pone contributed to this report.
Firefighters extinguish a blaze after a Russian drone strike on May 3, 2025 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Yevhen Titov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — An estimated 50 people were hurt, including an 11-year-old child, when Russia attacked the city of Kharkiv with drones late Friday, officials said.
Calling it a “massive attack,” Kharkiv governor Oleg Synegubov wrote on Telegram that the drones hit four parts of the city while causing fires and damaging homes, buildings and cars.
The Kharkiv mayor said 12 different locations in those four districts were hit and that eight people are still in the hospital in moderate condition.
Even though there could be more attacks, emergency workers are on the ground putting out fires and cleaning up damage as medical staff worked hard to help the injured.
Only hours early, Russia had launched another attack, this time on Zaporizhzhia, hurting 29 people.
These attacks happened just before Russia’s planned three-day ceasefire for its World War II holiday as Ukraine says this “ceasefire” is just for show and not real, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying the drones hit homes, not military places.
“Russia attacks when people are in their homes, putting their children to bed,” he said.
Earlier this week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned on Wednesday that “a whole series of nuances” needs to be addressed before Russia will agree to any U.S.-brokered peace deal to end Moscow’s 3-year-old invasion of Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin, Peskov said, “said that he supports this initiative — the establishment of a ceasefire, he supports it, but before going for it, a whole series of questions need to be answered and a whole series of nuances need to be resolved,” as quoted by the state-run Tass news agency.
Zelenskyy again urged greater international pressure on the Kremlin this week, citing the latest round of drone strikes a few days ago in which 45 people were injured in Kharkiv — including two children — and one person was killed in Dnipro.
“Russian drones continue flying over Ukrainian skies all morning,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. “And this happens every single day. That’s why pressure on Russia is needed — strong, additional sanctions that actually work. Not just words or attempts at persuasion — only pressure can force Russia to agree to a ceasefire and end the war.”
ABC News’ David Brennan contributed to this report.
“We’re seeing lots of customer demand for the M5 Touring,” said Juliana Ochs, a manager of business development for BMW Luxury Class and M. Image via BMW.
(NEW YORK) — Think your giant sport-utility vehicle is cooler than the middling station wagon? Think again.
German automaker BMW recently entered the U.S. “super wagon” category with its high performance M5 Touring, a ludicrously fast family hauler (starting price $121,500) that can smoke a two-seater sports car on a racetrack — again and again. This is the wagon you wish your parents drove.
The wagon’s turbocharged 4.4-liter V8 packs 717 horsepower and BMW claims a 0 to 60 mph sprint in 3.5 seconds. Bonus: the M5 Touring is a plug-in hybrid and gets about 25 miles of pure electric range, allowing owners to cruise through town (almost) unnoticed.
“We’re seeing lots of customer demand for the M5 Touring … customers don’t want to sacrifice utility and performance,” Juliana Ochs, a manager of business development for BMW Luxury Class and M, told ABC News. “The Touring is the new kid on the block. There was a strong ask for it here in the U.S. and we listened to our customers.”
The M5 Touring, which has been on sale in Europe, is just starting to arrive at U.S. dealerships. Few enthusiasts have ever seen one in person.
“People are definitely calling in about the M5 Touring,” Jordan Bray, a sales adviser at BMW of Latham, New York, told ABC News. “There’s a cult following when it comes to wagons — not just BMW, but all manufacturers. We’re super excited to see it.”
Bray said interested buyers may have trouble getting access to one.
“I don’t know how many dealers want to give up allocations for that car,” he said.
Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power, said wagons, like the forgotten minivan, have been unfairly maligned by U.S. motorists.
“There are excellent minivans out there and excellent wagons,” he told ABC News. “They both have a stigma that is long out of date in my opinion. Wagons are a sleeper agent — you can probably get away with a lot of stuff that may be frowned upon by your local police.”
Jominy noted that the market for premium, six-figure wagons like the M5 Touring and Audi RS6 Avant caters to a very niche customer — one who may also have a Ferrari parked in the garage.
“A ‘super wagon’ is fan service to your most loyal owners,” he said. “Your most loyal owners know about your global portfolio and the forbidden fruit that exists out there. And one of the secrets in the auto industry is that wagon buyers spend real money. Premium luxury wagon buyers typically get zero incentives.”
Plus, there are many other reasons to own a wagon, Jominy argued.
“They will drive better because they’re lower to the ground and keep their center of gravity,” he noted. “They’re better handling vehicles and drivers should get better fuel economy than an SUV.”
When Audi introduced enthusiasts to its RS6 Avant in 2019 (starting price $126,600), the wait time to get one was two to three years, according to Mark Dahnke, an Audi spokesperson. The automaker sells about 1,000 units in the U.S. and interest is still strong — including with families.
Like the M5 Touring, the RS6 Avant’s performance credentials match or exceed sports cars that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more: 621 hp, 627 lb.-ft. of torque, 0-60 mph in 3.3 seconds. And unlike low-slung, compact sports cars, the menacing RS6 doubles as a stylish people mover that can go just about anywhere and perform capably on dirt trails and and slippery roads.
“It is a very special car for which its buyers receive applause from every fellow enthusiast,” Dahnke told ABC News. “Everyone from Bugatti to R8 owners applaud your decision to buy an RS6 Avant Performance.”
Mercedes-Benz recently said the 2026 E53 Hybrid wagon heads to U.S. dealers later this year. The company’s last high-performance wagon, the E63 S, immediately won over wealthy enthusiasts’ hearts and wallets. Mercedes is expecting a similar reaction to this model, which makes 577 hp from a turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six and an electric motor.
“As a performance plug-in hybrid, it combines the best of both worlds: exhilarating driving dynamics and performance with the efficiency of all-electric driving for daily commutes,” a Mercedes spokesperson told ABC News. “The wagon also benefits from the numerous advancements introduced with this new generation E-Class, including all-new electronic architecture, third-generation MBUX infotainment, greater connectivity and expanded comfort features.”
The U.S. wagon market has been shrinking, however. Volvo recently ended production of its well-liked V60 Polestar Engineered plug-in wagon. The new Subaru Outback, which was unveiled at the New York International Auto Show in April, looks more like, well, an SUV.
But Tony Quiroga, editor-in-chief of Car and Driver, said the options available for this niche segment are “pretty cool.”
“I think the RS6 Avant sort of proved that there is a market and BMW wants to tap into that,” he told ABC News. “The M5 Touring is a halo car … it’s for the enthusiasts who maybe are disappointed that BMW built so many SUVs. A wagon works just as well as an SUV in so many cases. And it’s more fun to drive.”
Patrick Lalewicz, a product manager at BMW, acknowledged that BMW owners can get a thrill from other M vehicles on the market, like the M5 Sedan and X5M SUV. The M5 Touring, however, grabs all the attention.
“New and young customers coming into the brand with the M5 Touring,” he told ABC News. “They car is so rare and sought after. Customers want something special.”
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Army is planning a historic parade through the streets of Washington, D.C., on June 14 that will coincide with and be part of the Army’s long-planned 250th celebration.
The parade will involve some 6,600 soldiers, tanks and infantry vehicles, helicopter flyovers and parachute jumps, according to several people familiar with the planning effort, and will also occur on President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday.
“The Army is celebrating its 250th Birthday with multiple events leading up to June 14,” the Army said in a statement Friday evening. “The national level celebration will include a spectacular fireworks display, a parade, and a day-long festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The festival will feature displays of Army equipment, military demonstrations, musical performances, and a fitness competition.
“Given the significant milestone of 250 years, the Army is exploring options to make the celebration even bigger, with more capability demonstrations, additional displays of equipment, and more engagement with the community,” it added. “Parade planning is actively underway, and we anticipate approximately 150 vehicles, 50 aircraft, and 6,600 Soldiers to highlight the Army’s 250 years of service to the nation.”
Officials said earlier Friday that the parade had been a possible add-on but had cautioned that no final decisions had been made. The Associated Press first reported details involving the latest plans.
The timing and White House involvement in planning efforts have stoked speculation that Trump is using the Army’s birthday as an excuse to get the kind of grand military parade he wanted during his first term in office. That event was scrapped after estimates topped $90 million.
The cost for this year’s June 14 parade is unclear, officials said, but it will likely be steep. The event will require involvement from several federal agencies, including those requiring security. The Army plans to have soldiers from each of the its 10 divisions represented in the parade, according to a U.S. official.
Earlier this year, city officials expressed concern that heavy vehicles such as tanks would tear up the roads and noted the city would require significant reimbursement to fix any damaged infrastructure.
The tanks would not be allowed to cross the bridges from Virginia into Washington, D.C., only allowing them to operate inside the city along certain roads, according to one official familiar with the planning.
Last month, the Army confirmed the possibility of a parade but called it pre-decisional.
(Photo by Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — One of the key witnesses in the Karen Read murder retrial continued to testify for a third day Friday on the events surrounding the death of Read’s boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, who was found unresponsive in the snow outside a Massachusetts home in 2022.
Prosecutors allege, following a night of drinking in Canton, that Read struck O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV outside of a get-together at another officer’s home and left him to die in a blizzard in January 2022. An autopsy found that the 46-year-old died of hypothermia and blunt force injuries to the head.
After a jury was unable to reach a verdict in the initial murder trial last year, Read is being retried on charges including second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of a collision causing death. She has pleaded not guilty and maintains her innocence.
Jennifer McCabe, a friend of O’Keefe who had testified during the first trial, took to the stand for the third day during the retrial on Friday in Dedham, Massachusetts.
In her extensive testimony this week, McCabe recounted that she had attended a social gathering at a bar the night before O’Keefe was found unresponsive in the snow with him, Read and others. McCabe was also at the get-together following the gathering at the bar at a home belonging to her sister and brother-in-law, a Boston police officer.
McCabe and another friend of O’Keefe’s — Kerry Roberts — another key trial witness who testified last week — drove with Read through a blizzard to search for O’Keefe after he never came home the night before, ultimately finding him outside McCabe’s sister’s home unresponsive.
McCabe testified Wednesday that while talking to a first responder at the scene, she heard Read say, “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.”
Defense attorney Alan Jackson grilled McCabe on her recollection of the events of that day and in the days, weeks, months and years after, highlighting inconsistencies in her various testimonies and against police reports.
In one instance, Jackson noted that, after receiving a call from O’Keefe’s niece and Read that O’Keefe was missing, McCabe had called her sister, though she did not mention that call while testifying to the grand jury that indicted Read on the manslaughter and murder charges.
“There’s nothing nefarious,” McCabe said about the call, testifying that her sister did not answer and she didn’t remember calling her.
Asked by Jackson on her use of the word “nefarious,” McCabe said, “There’s nothing about me calling my sister that is nefarious, and I feel like you’re insinuating it might be and it’s not.”
Mark Jarret Chavous/The Enterprise via AP Jackson also questioned McCabe about a broken taillight on Read’s SUV. McCabe testified that Read first mentioned the broken taillight in the early morning call with O’Keefe’s niece, though Jackson said that wasn’t included in a police report. McCabe stood by her account.
When pressed on forgetting certain details from that time, McCabe said, “There are certain things I’ll never forget.”
Jackson’s cross-examination also focused on McCabe’s Google search for how long it takes to die in the cold. She testified this week that Read asked her to Google that after finding O’Keefe in the snow, with the search made after 6 a.m. Though Jackson said there is evidence it was made at 2:27 a.m. that morning, hours before O’Keefe was found. McCabe denied she made the search at 2:27 a.m. and said she searched it later that morning, upon Read’s request.
Jackson also alleged that a group chat including McCabe and several family members showed they were colluding in the days following the death to coordinate their statements, which McCabe denied.
As he wrapped up his cross-examination, Jackson grilled McCabe on the moments after they found O’Keefe in the snow outside her sister’s home, and why she didn’t run in to check on her sister and brother-in-law.
“The reason you didn’t go inside the house is because you knew better,” he charged.
McCabe said she wasn’t worried because “something happened on the front lawn that had nothing to do with anything inside that house.”
“You weren’t worried about them at all because you knew what really happened, didn’t you?” he countered.
“At that moment, I didn’t know that he was hit by a vehicle and there was taillight found next to him,” she responded.
On re-direct, special prosecutor Hank Brennan questioned McCabe on her state of mind upon finding O’Keefe.
“I was shocked, confused, nervous, scared, anxious — my friend was lying there on the ground, I didn’t know what happened,” she said.
On the Google search, McCabe affirmed that Read asked her to search how long to die in the cold, and that she had never attempted that search before then.
Brennan brought up McCabe’s texts with Roberts later that day, including one in which Roberts texted, “I can’t stop seeing him in the snow, Jen, this is awful.”
“Is your state of mind collusion?” Brennan asked McCabe, to which she responded, “No.”
McCabe has been dismissed as a witness. The trial adjourned for the day, with a forensic scientist from the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab on the stand.
Following McCabe’s testimony on Wednesday, Read alleged McCabe was lying on the stand, saying she never told the witness to make a Google search that morning.
“Every statement’s different. Under oath. Not under oath,” she said. “This is very similar to what we saw a year ago.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice has reached an agreement in principle to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of Ashli Babbitt, a pro-Trump rioter who was shot by a U.S. Capitol Police officer during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The details of the proposed settlement were not made clear during a Friday hearing before federal Judge Ana Reyes, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Babbitt’s family members sued the government in January 2024 seeking $30 million for what they allege was her wrongful shooting death by Capitol Police Officer Michael Byrd.
Byrd was cleared of any wrongdoing following an internal investigation into the actions leading up to his shooting of Babbitt as she tried to climb through a broken window that led to the House Speaker’s Lobby, where several lawmakers and their staff were sheltering from rioters.
Babbitt’s attorneys disclosed the agreement in principle was reached during the hearing, which was convened on an emergency basis after one of Babbitt’s prior attorneys sought a preliminary injunction on Friday to ensure he received payment for his work on the case if a settlement was formally announced.
Robert Sticht, the lawyer for Babbitt’s family, said he expected the family to sign the formal settlement agreement within the next three weeks.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his solidarity with Babbitt’s family and called for “justice” for what he has said was her “murder” at Byrd’s hands — in line with his broader vocal support for the pro-Trump rioters who attacked the Capitol to overturn his 2020 election loss.
In March, Trump said in an interview with Newsmax he wasn’t aware of the lawsuit brought by Babbitt’s family but promised he would “look into” it.
“I’m a big fan of Ashli Babbitt, OK, and Ashli Babbitt was a really good person who was a big MAGA fan, Trump fan, and she was innocently standing there — they even say trying to sort of hold back the crowd,” Trump said. “And a man did something unthinkable to her when he shot her, and I think it’s a disgrace. I’m going to look into that. I did not know that.”
