(NEW YORK) — Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries, his partner Matt Smith and a third man, Jim Jacobson, were arrested Tuesday as part of a criminal sex trafficking investigation by the FBI and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
The investigation involved whether the men sexually exploited and abused young men at parties they hosted in the United States and around the world, the sources said.
Federal prosecutors acknowledged the investigation in January after alleged victims filed a civil lawsuit a year ago.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York has launched a criminal investigation of the alleged events and occurrences discussed in Plaintiff’s Complaint,” prosecutors said in a court filing.
The attorney for the plaintiff, Brad Edwards of Edwards Henderson, told ABC News in a statement: “As we laid out in our lawsuit, this was an Abercrombie run, sex trafficking organization that permeated throughout the company and allowed the three individuals arrested today to victimize dozens and dozens of young, aspiring male models.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
(LONDON) — A woman in Australia got herself into a tight predicament when she dropped her phone and ended up getting stuck upside-down in between two boulders for seven hours while trying to retrieve it.
The woman got herself into a “spot of bother,” according to a statement from New South Wales Ambulance released on Monday, when she was hiking in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney and dropped her phone which fell into a 10-foot crevice between two boulders when she went in head-first trying to recover it when she got stuck and couldn’t move.
“With no phone reception and unable to call for help herself, her friends called Triple Zero (000) after unsuccessful attempts to free her – the patient was hanging by her feet upside down for over an hour by this point,” authorities said. “NSW Ambulance Specialist Rescue Paramedic Peter Watts worked with a multidisciplinary team to remove several heavy boulders to create a safe access point. With care, a hardwood frame was built to ensure stability while rescuers worked.”
Responders worked for several hours until they were able to access the unnamed woman’s feet, officials said.
“With both feet now accessible, the team faced the challenge of navigating the patient out through a tight “S” bend over the course of an hour. It took teamwork and a specialised Tirfor winch to move a massive 500kg boulder,” NSW Ambulance said.
Finally, after seven hours of being stuck while emergency crews worked to free her, the woman was freed from between the boulders and suffered only minor scratches and bruises during the entire ordeal — though she was, regretfully, unable to retrieve her phone.
“In my 10 years as a rescue paramedic I had never encountered a job quite like this, it was challenging but incredibly rewarding,” Peter Watts said. “Every agency had a role, and we all worked incredibly well together to achieve a good outcome for the patient.”
Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images
(HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS) — Robert Roberson — whose murder conviction in the death of his 2-year-old daughter has come under scrutiny — did not testify Monday before the Texas House committee as previously planned.
Committee members decided against having Roberson address the hearing via video call. However, they did not state whether Roberson would or would not testify before the committee.
“Robert is a person with autism who has significant communication challenges, which was a core issue that impacted him at every stage of our judicial of our justice system,” said state Rep. Joe Moodie. “He’s also spent most of the last two decades alone, locked away from the modern technology we now take for granted. Video conference is poorly suited for Robert specifically to provide his testimony and would only further the harm he’s already suffered.”
Still, the committee continued its hearing on a law that Roberson himself attempted to use to challenge his conviction based on a clinical diagnosis that could be related to different causes.
“I was one of the 12 jurors on the case of Robert the trial, and I took that position very seriously,” a juror on the case told to the House committee on Monday:
“Everything that was presented to us was all about ‘shaken baby syndrome,’ That is what our decision was based on,” she continued. “Nothing else was ever mentioned or presented to us to consider. If it had been told to us, we would have now, I would have had a different opinion. And I would have found him not guilty.”
Among the witnesses speaking before the committee was Dr. Phil McGraw, the talk show host and forensic psychologist. He argued that if legislators execute Roberson, “the death penalty could come under real attack.”
“When we talk about due process and fair trial, that means that all the evidence, everything that is relevant and pertinent to that trial, gets before the trier of fact, whether it be a judge or a jury, and that there’s fair representation and I certainly don’t think that standard has been met here that that high standard by which we would deprive someone of their life has been met,” McGraw said.
Roberson was set to become the first person to be executed in the U.S. based on a death attributed to “shaken baby syndrome,” although several lawmakers, scientists and public figures have cast doubt over the cause of death.
He was set to be executed on Oct. 17. The U.S. Supreme Court had previously decided not to intervene in the case, the Texas Supreme Court issued a temporary stay in the case in what were supposed to be his final hours.
Roberson was found guilty of the 2002 murder of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, in part, based on the testimony from a pediatrician who described swelling and hemorrhages in her brain to support a “shaken baby syndrome” diagnosis.
However, evidence not shown to the jury at the time states that Nikki had chronic interstitial viral pneumonia and acute bacterial pneumonia at the time of her death and had been prescribed respiratory-suppressing drugs by doctors in the days leading up to her death, and had fallen from her bed the night before her death.
Additionally, Roberson’s autism affects how he expresses emotion — a concern that was also presented against him in his arrest, according to his legal team.
(GERMANTOWN, PA) — In the final sprint of the election campaign, local officials in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania have mounted an unprecedented push to engage some of the state’s newest and untested voters: 18-year-old high school seniors.
“They’re the largest registered bloc of voters in the city. It’s just a matter of getting them energized to come out and turn out to vote,” said Philadelphia City Commissioner Seth Bluestein.
Fewer than half of 18- and 19-year-old voters nationwide cast ballots in the 2020 election, according to the Center for Information and Research on Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.
But Pennsylvania teens have historically participated at a higher rate than the national average and may be helping to close the gap with other voting groups, experts say. More than 70,000 young Pennsylvanians reach voting age every year.
“There’s really been a much greater and much more visible investment in registering new voters and doing get-out-the-vote efforts in Philadelphia this year,” said political scientist Matt Levendusky at the University of Pennsylvania.
President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania by just 80,000 votes in the 2020 presidential election. Both political parties say they are fighting for every last vote in 2024.
“Really it’s sort of a battle of inches between Trump and Harris. So the campaigns will really be trying to get all of these teenage voters out,” Levendusky said.
With razor thin polling margins in races up and down the ballot, state school district officials, city council members and nonprofit civic groups have joined forces to organize nonpartisan bus tours and student field days to target voting-eligible teens and educate them on how and why to cast ballots.
“We make sure they understand that elected leaders are being hired. When we vote, we’re hiring them to do a job. And when they don’t do that job, we have the power to fire them through our votes,” said Angelique Hinton, who helped create PA Youth Vote, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group leading the effort.
At Martin Luther King High School in Germantown, ABC News joined hundreds of high school seniors assembled for an outdoor field day of election-themed activities.
Students participated in a relay race to the ballot box, a mock election with sample 2024 ballots, and a tug of war meant to illustrate how the number of people on each side can sway the outcome of a contest.
“We want them to have that mindset — run to the polls on Election Day! We have the mock election so they can actually practice voting for the first time,” said Kamryn Davis, the PA Youth Vote program director.
Many of the students said they appreciated the outreach and felt increasingly empowered.
“I am following the political election a lot. I am into the debates, and I am watching the debates. So I do feel pretty positive about who I’m taking on voting for this year,” said Jymirah Wood.
She and fellow senior Janeeiah Simmons said they also volunteered to be poll workers on Election Day.
“I’m not, like, someone who’s super duper political myself,” Simmons said, “but I feel like in this year with the election, it’s really important because so many changes can happen depending on who wins.”
Still, voter apathy remains a big challenge in underfunded communities, organizers said. Many students told ABC News they worried about uncontrolled gun violence, rampant substance abuse, the rising costs of food, and the stress of a better future that often seems out of reach.
Several students said they were unfamiliar with the candidates or unhappy with the choices.
“We’ve just got to find the right language to connect with our young people,” Philadelphia Schools Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. said. “It is not lost on us that the students who are here today registering to vote may very well determine how the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania votes in the presidential election on November 5th.”
Senior and JROTC cadet Gio Arzu, the oldest of seven who works at a fast food restaurant after school to support his family financially, said he is imploring his classmates to participate.
“Don’t be scared to speak, to speak out. To get your voice out there and you’re good,” he said. “Just get your voice out there and just get your votes in.”
As the presidential candidates make their final pitch in Pennsylvania, many of the state’s youngest voters said they are listening.
“Especially coming from, like, an immigrant family, it’s a really important time to educate others on how one can make change and actually stepping up and doing something,” Rochelle Meneses said.
Added Gianna Tran: “I’m voting because I think there’s a lot of change that I want to see in, not just the city, but Pennsylvania state as a whole. And the only way to change it is through voting.”
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — In the tumultuous weeks following the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump and his allies scrambled to challenge his election loss with a flurry of lawsuits.
Their efforts failed, with judges across the country condemning their scattershot claims. But as Election Day 2024 approaches, Trump and the Republican National Committee have adopted what they say is a more aggressive pre-election legal strategy.
“Trump learned his lesson from 2020, and he has a really good legal team at the campaign and the RNC,” said Mike Davis, a lawyer and Trump ally who has been floated for a potential appointment in a Trump administration. “We are so much better prepared.”
Earlier this year, the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign announced what they described as an “historic” “election integrity” program with the mission of deploying 100,000 volunteers and attorneys in battleground states, and implementing what they called a “proactive litigation effort.”
According to a Republican National Committee official, in recent months the program has engaged in over 130 election lawsuits across 26 states, and recruited approximately 5,000 volunteer attorneys who are ready to be activated on Election Day.
Democrats, too, have taken on an offensive posture. They have aggressively pushed back in the courts, intervening in “dozens of baseless Republican lawsuits to debunk their lies and defeat them in court,” according to an internal memo prepared by Vice President Kamala Harris’ chief attorney, Dana Remus.
“We know how to defeat Trump’s tactics,” said the memo, a copy of which was obtained by ABC News.
Some election experts have also expressed concern about the GOP-led legal strategy, accusing some Republicans of peddling lies and seeking to create confusion about voting laws in order to sow chaos should Trump lose the election.
Wendy Weiser, who directs the Democracy Program at the nonprofit Brennan Center for Justice, told ABC News that the 2024 election has become “both the disinformation and the litigation election.”
“We’re seeing a record number of lawsuits filed before the election — nearly every day — in a seemingly coordinated push to use the legitimacy of the courts to lay the groundwork for discrediting an unfavorable result,” Weiser said. “The lawsuits are not about getting legal relief, but about spreading conspiracy theories.”
Following the 2020 election, Trump and his allies filed over 60 lawsuits challenging the election’s outcome based on allegations of fraud, despite no evidence of widespread fraud that could have impacted the result. Nearly every single lawsuit was rejected, thrown out, or withdrawn— including two denials from the Supreme Court. In some cases, judges dismissed the lawsuits while expressing frustration over the lack of evidence, and some attorneys who publicly represented the president have since been disbarred, faced defamation claims, or been criminally charged.
Allies of the former president say that this time, they’re determined to be more aggressive in the lead-up to Election Day.
“If you wait till after the election to take legal action, you’re not going to get a judge to side with you,” Davis said. “You need to get injunctions ahead of time on signature verification and other issues, because if you wait till after the election, good luck.”
Some issues have already begun bubbling up in one of the most hotly contested states: Arizona. The Arizona Republican Party recently announced that it had brought in attorney and Trump loyalist Harmeet Dhillon to take over its election integrity operation.
Dhillon’s name was announced following the resignation of Kory Langhofer, who had served as chief legal counsel for the Arizona operation until the first week of October.
Sources familiar with the situation tell ABC News that Langhofer had long planned to hand over the reins. The move, however, reflects what sources said is a broader concern among some Republican lawyers in Arizona who have grown weary about the party’s legal strategies in the state, with some involved already having to halt others from bringing frivolous legal complaints.
Republicans in Arizona have set up a team tasked with receiving and sorting through reported election issues from around the state, which one source familiar with the operation described as a “daily turn of frivolous problems.”
On election night, the RNC is planning to have volunteer attorneys help staff a hotline where poll watchers and others on the ground can report issues, the RNC official said. In some states, there will be lawyers on the ground as well. Already, staff is on the ground in 18 states to handle the “election integrity” effort, the RNC official said.
Responding to critics, the RNC’s Election Integrity communications director Claire Zunk said their “unprecedented election integrity operation is committed to defending the law and protecting every legal vote” and that they will “continue to fight for a fair and transparent election for all Americans.”
Republicans’ efforts this year come after the RNC in 2018 was released from its decadeslong consent decree that had blocked it engaging in “ballot security” measures since the early 1980s.
The Harris campaign, meantime, has marshaled a centralized legal team of over half a dozen lawyers to handle election claims.
“The 2024 presidential election is already the most litigated in American history,” according to the internal Harris campaign memo, “but we are also the most prepared campaign in history for what we face.”
The group is led by Dana Remus, who provides overall strategic direction and leads the campaign’s legal election protection programs. Lawyers including Seth Waxman of Wilmer Hale, Don Verrilli of Munger, Tolles & Olson, and John Devaney of Perkins Coie are litigating cases and working with local counsel in battleground states. Lawyers including Bob Bauer and Marc Elias are also advising the team.
It’s part of an effort that lawyers from the Harris campaign told ABC News they’ve been building up for years, since President Joe Biden took office in 2021 and they immediately began planning for the next cycle. One of the first things that was done when Biden launched his reelection effort in 2023, the lawyers said, was to call a meeting to start putting together the post-election plan.
“We’ve brainstormed the worst scenarios, and are ready to go if we see them,” said Maury Riggan, the general counsel for the campaign, in an interview with ABC News.
“The veteran lawyers who fought and won in 2020 have been preparing for dozens of scenarios, drafting thousands of pages of legal briefs, and working directly with hundreds of lawyers and experts on the ground in battleground states so we are ready for whatever the other side throws our way,” the Harris campaign’s internal memo said.
Together, the Democratic National Committee, with support from the Harris campaign, is involved in 35 lawsuits around the country, lawyers with the Harris campaign told ABC News.
Earlier this month, for example, the DNC, filed a lawsuit in Georgia after the state’s pro-Trump State Election Board passed a series of controversial voting rules over the objection of some of the highest Republican elections officials in the state.
The Democrats won the suit last week after a judge struck down a controversial “hand count” rule that would have required election workers to hand count the ballots on election night — a process they said would invite “chaos” on election night and beyond. Six other rules were struck down as well.
“From the beginning, this rule was an effort to delay election results to sow doubt in the outcome, and our democracy is stronger thanks to this decision to block it,” said a joint statement from the Harris campaign, the DNC, and Georgia Democrats. “We will continue fighting to ensure that voters can cast their ballot knowing it will count.”
The RNC has appealed the decision, with RNC Chairman Michael Whatley saying the judge “exemplified the very worst of judicial activism.”
The Democrats’ aggressive legal posture has trickled down to the individual states. In the battleground state of Nevada, the Democrat secretary of state said his office has started pre-drafting legal filings with his attorney general to try to anticipate any issues that may come up — a process he likened to a game of “Mad Libs.”
“You know the county, you fill in the county name, you fill in the date, you fill in the facts,” said Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar in an interview with ABC News’ Terry Moran. “And you file that thing as soon as you can before the Nevada Supreme Court.”
According to Marc Elias, a prominent election litigation lawyer brought on by the Harris campaign this cycle, there have been almost 180 election lawsuits filed around the country this year — a number he said is “a record for the most new cases ever filed in a single year.”
Active litigation is pending in 39 states, Elias said in a recent post on X, with prominent battleground states seeing the most activity. Georgia leads the way with 23 lawsuits, followed by Pennsylvania with 16.
APRIL 2024: Demonstrators marched on the Northrop Mall before setting up tents on the lawn. A few hundred people gathered outside Coffman Memorial Union to call for a cease fire in Gaza before marching on the Northrop Mall and setting up an encampment on the lawn Monday afternoon, April 29, 2024 on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis. Israel/Hamas war protest. (Photo by Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
(MINNEAPOLIS) — A demonstration at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Monday led to 11 arrests after pro-Palestinian protesters barricaded an administrative hall on campus, locking staff members inside the building.
The protesters blocked the entrance and exit of Morrill Hall, which houses the offices of the university president, Rebecca Cunningham.
According to a statement from the university issued Monday night, the protest began with a peaceful assembly on a lawn in front of the campus’ Coffman Memorial Union at about 3 p.m. local time.
However, “A group of these individuals quickly moved north, up the Northrop Mall, and entered Morrill Hall,” according to the university.
“Once inside the building, protesters began spray painting, including covering lenses of all internal security cameras, breaking interior windows, and barricading the building’s entrance and exit points,” the statement said.
The protest’s escalation was first announced as a SAFE-U Emergency Alert at 4:34 p.m., advising students, “If you are currently in Morrill Hall and able to safely exit the building, please do so immediately. Others are advised to avoid this area until further notice.”
The university has said that “a number” of staff were present, and many were unable to exit the building “for an extended period of time.”
Police officers arrived on the scene and began to detain protestors around one hour after the first alert was issued, according to the university’s statement.
“With necessary support from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, UMPD entered the building at approximately 5:40 p.m. and arrested 11 people,” it said.
By 9:10 p.m. there was another SAFE-U Emergency Alert stating that the University of Minnesota Police Department had cleared Morrill Hall and “the situation has been resolved for this evening.”
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities stated that as of Monday night, “The full extent of the damage is unknown.”
No additional information is currently available, but the university has clarified that an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
(NEW YORK) — Harvey Weinstein has been diagnosed with a form of bone marrow cancer, sources told ABC News.
Weinstein has been diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, sources said, adding that the former Hollywood producer is receiving treatment while jailed.
Weinstein’s authorized legal healthcare representative in New York, Craig Rothfeld, declined to comment, saying, “Out of respect for Mr. Weinstein’s privacy, we will offer no further comment.”
According to the American Cancer Society, chronic myeloid leukemia is a type of cancer that starts in the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow and invades the blood. The organization says approximately 15% of leukemias in adults are CML.
Weinstein is currently in prison on Rikers Island in New York, where he has experienced a slew of health issues amid his ongoing sexual assault trials.
In September, Weinstein was rushed to Bellevue Hospital for emergency heart surgery after experiencing chest pains, his representatives told ABC News, at the time.
In July, Weinstein’s representatives said he was hospitalized for a “myriad of health conditions,” including COVID-19 and double pneumonia.
Weinstein was also suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, spinal stenosis, fluid on his heart and lungs, and various other conditions, he representatives said at the time.
The former movie mogul is being prosecuted again for sex crimes after his New York conviction was overturned on appeal.
On Sept. 19, while he was recovering from his procedure, Weinstein pleaded not guilty to criminal sex act in the first degree, based on the allegations of a woman who said he sexually assaulted her on one occasion in 2006 at a Manhattan hotel.
The latest indictment came months after the New York Court of Appeals overturned his 2020 sex crimes conviction. He had been found guilty of criminal sexual assault and third-degree rape and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Weinstein has denied all claims of sexual misconduct, saying his encounters were consensual.
Bridget Bennett for The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The race for the White House is heading into the final stretch with most polls showing Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump neck-and-neck in key states with just about two weeks to go.
Elon Musk’s PAC pays out 3rd $1 million check to voter
Elon Musk’s America PAC said late Monday that it handed out a third $1 million check to a voter who has signed its petition backing the Constitution.
The PAC said in a post to X that the check was given to Shannon Tomei from McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, posting a photograph of Tomei holding the check.
“Every day until Election Day, a person who signs the petition will be selected to earn $1M as a spokesperson for America PAC,” it added.
Musk shared the announcement and congratulated Tomei. In other posts, he has been urging people to register to vote in Pennsylvania — a crucial battleground state in next month’s presidential election.
The first two winners were announced during a town hall in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, over the weekend, with Musk handing over the checks to the winners on stage. It’s unclear how the third check was delivered.
Musk has thrown his weight behind former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, describing Trump as the only candidate “to preserve democracy in America.”
-ABC News’ Soorin Kim
Harris takes jabs at Trump’s dance moves, calls him ‘increasingly unstable’
Vice President Kamala Harris and former Rep. Liz Cheney capped off their battleground tour in a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in their bid to appeal to moderate Republicans and independents.
During the final event on Monday, Harris continued to draw a contrast between herself and former President Trump and even poked fun at his dance moves during his campaign rally last week.
Harris, who called Trump’s onstage dancing a “solo dance,” said that it was proof that the former president is “increasingly unstable.”
“What we see about him in public, whether it be his rallies or, as you said, the — what would it be called? — just a solo dance? I don’t know,” said Harris, drawing laughter from the crowd.
“I think it does lead us, and it should lead us, to observe that he is increasingly unstable,” Harris said.
Harris was referencing Trump’s town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania, last week where two medical emergencies in the crowd interrupted the event, which eventually turned into what his campaign at the time called an “impromptu concert.”
-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim
Tim Walz reacts to ‘Daily Show’ appearance with Jon Stewart while fundraising in NYC
Fresh off his taping of the “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” Gov. Tim Walz told a crowd at the Standard Hotel in New York City on Monday night that the experience was “great” but that the comedian’s monologue at the start of the show was filled with what he considered “doom.”
“I’m like, ‘Quit with the doom.’ You know?” Walz said.
“Yes, Donald Trump is horrible, and the stakes are incredibly high, and women’s lives are at risk, and they demonize immigrants. And then he goes to McDonald’s to try and distract us, even though, the day before that, he said, you know, ‘We need to do something against the enemy from within,’” he went on.
“But there’s an antidote to this,” he concluded, explaining that there was more than enough positivity in the support he has been receiving as he campaigns in battleground states.
At the fundraising event, Walz was introduced by New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Hochul told the crowd that she got to know Walz when they were both representing red districts as Democrats in Congress.
She said that she gives Vice President Kamala Harris “a lot of credit” for choosing Walz as a running mate, whom she called “a genuine human being.”
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
Trump recalls assassination attempt while courting religious voters in North Carolina
At a Believers and Ballots event in North Carolina Monday, former President Donald Trump worked to court religious voters.
Trump talked about his spiritual journey with the crowd as he emphasized a faith background we don’t often hear him talk about.
“But as I look back at my life’s journey and events, I now recognize that it’s been the hand of God leading me to where I am today,” said Trump.
The former president reflected on the assassination attempt made against him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania over the summer.
“My faith took on new meaning on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, where I was knocked to the ground, essentially by what seemed like a supernatural hand,” Trump said.
“I would like to think that God saved me for a purpose, and that’s to make our country greater than ever before,” he added.
-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa
Judges in Michigan and North Carolina reject challenges to overseas votes
Judges in Michigan and North Carolina on Monday ruled against legal challenges that attempted to disqualify votes cast by eligible American voters overseas.
Republican plaintiffs claimed that election offices in those two states, as well as in Pennsylvania, had created loopholes that would allow ineligible people to vote through overseas absentee ballots.
In Michigan, the judge dismissed one of three suits filed, calling it in his opinion “an 11th-hour attempt to disenfranchise these electors.”
In North Carolina, the judge denied a request by plaintiffs to set aside the ballots of overseas voters until a time at which their individual eligibility could be verified. Superior Court Judge John Smith wrote in that instance that there was “absolutely no evidence that any person has ever fraudulently claimed that exemption and actually voted in any North Carolina election.”
His ruling also stated conclusively that, “This court has weighed the hypothetical possibility of harm to plaintiffs against the rights of the defendants and finds that on balance the equitable discretion of this court should not be invoked to treat an entire group of citizens differently based upon unsupported and speculative allegations for which there is not even a scintilla of substantive evidence.”
A ruling on a similar lawsuit in Pennsylvania is expected soon.
-ABC News’ T. Michelle Murphy and Ivan Pereira
Trump spends millions on anti-trans ads despite lack of voter interest
Donald Trump and his Republicans allies are aggressively pushing anti-trans messaging in the final stretch of his campaign — despite the fact that transgender issues are among the least important issues motivating voters to head to the ballot box, according to a Gallup poll.
The Trump campaign and Republican groups have spent more than $21 million on anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ television ads as of Oct. 9.
Additionally, in recent months, Trump-aligned political groups have flooded the airwaves with ads disparaging policies that support the transgender community.
Despite the small size of the transgender population in the U.S., these issues have played a key role in many Republican campaigns on both the state and federal levels.
Trump’s own political agenda, titled Agenda 47, is laden with transgender-based proposals, including a ban on transgender participation in women’s sports, an end to gender-affirming care funded by federal or state dollars, and more.
ABC News has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment on his ad spending.
-ABC News’ Kiara Alfonseca and Soo Rin Kim
Walz to travel to Kentucky, North Carolina and Pennsylvania later this week
After Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz campaigns in Wisconsin on Tuesday (where he’ll be joined by former President Barack Obama for a rally in Madison), he’ll remain out on the trail this week.
On Wednesday, Walz will speak at an evening fundraiser in Louisville, Kentucky.
On Thursday, he will spend the morning making political stops in Durham, North Carolina — just a week after he visited the city with former President Bill Clinton. He’ll then make local stops in Greenville, North Carolina, in the afternoon and hold a rally in Wilmington that night.
On Friday, Walz will campaign in Philadelphia, where he’ll speak at a fundraiser in the city around noon.
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
Harris says she wakes up in middle of night from election stress
Harris said she finds herself waking up in the middle of the night from the stress of the final days of the election, when asked how she handles stress and anxiety during a discussion in Michigan on Monday.
“You know, I wake up in the middle of the night, usually these days. Just to be honest with you,” Harris told Maria Shriver, who moderated the discussion between the vice president and former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney in Royal Oak. “But I work out every morning. I think that’s really important to just kind of, you know, mind, body and spirit.”
“Say more about that,” Shriver pressed Harris.
“I work out, I try to eat,” Harris responded. “You know, I love my family, and I make sure that I talk to the kids and my husband every day.”
“My family grounds me in every way,” she added.
The exchange started with Harris making something clear: She’s not taking edibles.
“Everybody I talked to says, you know, I have to turn off the news, I can’t read anything, I’m meditating, I’m doing yoga. I’m so anxious. I just don’t even know. I’m eating gummies, all kinds of things, you know?” Shriver said to Harris, asking, “What are you doing?”
“Not eating gummies,” Harris said to laughs from the crowd.
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Will McDuffie
Liz Cheney makes a case for conservatives to back Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris participated in a series of moderated conversations with former Rep. Liz Cheney in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin on Monday.
In those appearances, Cheney made a case for conservatives to vote Democrat in the upcoming election and support Harris’ bid for the White House.
“What I would say is that if people are uncertain, if people are thinking, ‘Well, you know, I’m a conservative, I don’t know that I can support Vice President Harris,’ I would say, I don’t know if anybody is more conservative than I am,” said Cheney, who was the third-ranking member of the House Republican Conference from 2019 to 2021.
Cheney also warned Republicans considering voting for Trump that Congress would not be a check on him.
“For anybody who is a Republican who is thinking that, you know, they might vote for Donald Trump because of national security policy, I ask you, please, please study his national security policy,” Cheney said. “Not only is it not Republican — it’s dangerous. And without allies, America will find our very freedom and security challenged and threatened.”
“And one final point on this: Don’t think that Congress can stop him,” Cheney added.
In Malvern, Pennsylvania, Cheney said she thought there would be Republican voters who would cast their ballots for Harris — even if they did not reveal it publicly.
In Michigan, she went further, encouraging voters to do just that, saying, “If you’re at all concerned, you can vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody, and there will be millions of Republicans who do that on Nov. 5, vote for Vice President Harris.”
-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow, Will McDuffie and T. Michelle Murphy
Trump pushes false claims that Democrats are trying to cheat in election
Rallying in Greenville, North Carolina, on Monday, Trump launched baseless claims about possible fraud in the 2024 election — despite earlier in the day saying he hadn’t seen evidence of it.
At one point during the rally, Trump turned to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley to ask him about election security.
“He’ll stop the cheating. He’s going to stop the cheating,” Trump said to Whatley. “Are they cheating? Michael, they’re trying, but are they? They’re not going to get away with it, right? … They got away with it in plenty of places.”
Earlier in Asheville, North Carolina, Trump told his supporters that he hasn’t seen any evidence of cheating in the election thus far, but added, “I know the other side and they are not good.”
-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Kelsey Walsh and Soo Rin Kim
More than 1.5M have voted early in battleground Georgia
The office of the Georgia Secretary of State announced Monday that more than 1.5 million voters have voted early in person in Georgia as of Monday afternoon.
“Georgia voters know we’ve made it easy to cast a ballot. It’s really that simple,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a statement.
In-person early voting started in the key battleground state on Tuesday, Oct. 15.
As of Monday afternoon, more than 15 million early votes have been cast nationally, including almost 5 million in-person early votes, according to an analysis by the Election Lab at the University of Florida.
-ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim
Harris reiterates she worked at McDonald’s after Trump stunt
On her way to her moderated conversation in Michigan, Harris was asked if she had worked at a McDonald’s while deplaning Air Force 2.
“Did I? I did,” she said.
Her past experience at McDonald’s has become a fixation of Trump’s, who over the weekend worked the fryer at one of the chain’s restaurants in the Philadelphia area.
Trump has claimed Harris never worked at the fast food giant. Harris, in introducing herself to voters this campaign, has told the story of working there between her freshman and sophomore years at Howard University in an effort to contrast her working-class roots with Trump’s background.
-ABC News’ Gabrielle Abdul-Hakim
Cheney gives Harris backup on abortion
Harris got backup on a hot-button cultural issue from an unlikely source Monday — conservative former Rep. Liz Cheney.
Cheney — who has broken with Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot — still boasts a conservative record. But Monday, she waded into an issue that Democrats hope will help them win over voters on Election Day.
“I think there are many of us around the country who have been pro-life but who have watched what’s going on in our states since the Dobbs decision and have watched state legislatures put in place laws that are resulting in women not getting the care they need,” Cheney said, referencing the Supreme Court decision that scrapped federal abortion protections.
“In places like Texas, for example, the attorney general is talking about suing, is suing, to get access to women’s medical records. That’s not sustainable for us as a country, and it has to change.”
The remarks, made in a Philadelphia suburb, were notable as Harris looks to cement support among suburban female voters.
Harris works to earn Pennsylvania’s Republican votes alongside Liz Cheney
Harris is doing a series of moderated conversations with former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney in suburban cities in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin on Monday.
While in Pennsylvania, Harris and Cheney worked to pick off Republicans disaffected with their party’s nominee who may vote for the vice president and focus on the dangers Trump poses to the country and to democracy.
“There are months in the history of our country which challenge us, each of us, to really decide when we stand for those things that we talk about, including, in particular, country over party,” Harris said.
Cheney, a staunch Trump critic who endorsed Harris in September despite their party and policy differences, said “every single thing in my experience and in my background has played a part” in her supporting Harris.
“In this race, we have the opportunity to vote for and support somebody you can count on. We’re not always going to agree, but I know Vice President Harris will always do what she believes is right for this country. She has a sincere heart, and that’s why I’m honored to be in this place.”
Read more about Harris and Cheney’s events here.
-ABC News’ Will McDuffie, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Fritz Farrow
Trump appears on The Undertaker’s podcast
Trump continued his alternative media outreach effort by sitting down for a podcast interview with retired pro wrestler Mark Calaway, also known as “The Undertaker.”
During the podcast, Trump repeated his anti-trans rhetoric, promising to not allow “men playing in women’s sports” as Calaway brought up his teenage quarterback daughter.
“You don’t want to go and wrestle a guy like if you were doing that, because people do that — like your father — right? He’s a little too much to handle,” Trump said to Calaway’s daughter, who was present for the interview, after Calaway asked him about Title IX..
“I will get rid of it fast. Men playing in women’s sports is insane,” Trump said.
Republicans have invested heavily in ads targeting the transgender community this cycle.
-ABC News’ Soorin Kim, Lalee Ibssa and Kelsey Walsh
Walz on what he’d do differently from the Biden admin and appealing to voters
Tim Walz joined ABC’s “The View” on Monday, where he discussed what he would have done differently than the Biden-Harris administration — a questioned that Harris herself struggled with in her own appearance on the talk show.
The governor said that he wished one of their ticket’s proposals — an expansion on Medicare — “would have been proposed sooner.” He argued their campaign is focusing heavily on things like the care economy and child care affordability.
Walz also discussed how they can appeal to men and Black voters, two voting blocks where Trump is having success.
“As as vice president says, we have a responsibility to earn the votes from everyone and not make the assumption that men or women are going to be with us. I hear oftentimes about the Black community. Why would we assume that they were with us, unless we’re putting out proposals that positively impact their life?” Walz said.
He argued that they are trying to make voters aware of their proposals on housing, child care, small businesses and more.
Trump won’t denounce violence against FEMA workers during North Carolina stop
Trump toured devastation caused by Hurricane Helene just outside Asheville, North Carolina, and later delivered remarks to the press where he began by slamming the job from the White House for their hurricane response, continuing to push false claims about FEMA assistance in the wake of violence against FEMA workers.
“The power of nature. Nothing you can do about it, but you got to get a little bit better crew in to do a better job than has been done by the White House. It’s been not good. Not good. I’m here today in western North Carolina to express a simple message to the incredible people of the state, I’m with you, and the American people are with you all the way,” Trump said.
Later, he pushed false claims about the allocation of FEMA assistance, once again falsely saying that money dedicated to hurricane relief was going to offer assistance to migrants unaffected by the storm.
“FEMA has done a very poor job … They had spent hundreds of millions of dollars doing other things, things that I don’t think bear any relationship to this money, there was, they were not supposed to be spending the money on taking in illegal migrants, maybe so they could vote in the election. Because that’s what a lot of people are saying. That’s why they’re doing it,” Trump falsely said.
-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Kelsey Walsh and Soorin Kim
Sen. Bernie Sanders to join Biden in New Hampshire
In a strategic visit to boost Democrats’ presence in the purple state ahead of the election, President Joe Biden will be joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Tuesday in New Hampshire to talk about lowering the cost of prescription drugs, a senior administration official told ABC News.
The president is also expected to stop by a New Hampshire Democratic Party campaign office to support Vice President Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the official said.
The economy and costs are a top issue to voters in New Hampshire, polling shows, and Sanders, who made the high price of U.S. health care a central point of both his presidential campaigns, is a popular figure in the state, which neighbors his own.
Sanders and Biden will discuss new data on savings brought about by the administration’s hallmark Inflation Reduction Act, the senior official said. The act implemented significant price caps for Medicare enrollees, including a $35 cap on insulin already in effect and a $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket drug costs that kicks in in 2025. The White House estimates the caps will bring about cost savings of $400 per year for nearly 19 million seniors.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Tim Walz to join ABC’s ‘The View’
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Harris’ running mate, will join ABC’s “The View” on Monday.
His interview comes after Harris herself appeared on the show as part of a media blitz earlier this month.
Walz recently quipped on Trump’s visit to a McDonald’s on Sunday as part of his mockery of Harris’ past employment there. Walz said he took “full responsibility” for the campaign stop after he once joked he couldn’t imagine the former president working a McFlurry machine.
Harris, Cheney to make the case to disaffected Republican voters
Harris is stumping with former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney on Monday in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. The two will hold a moderated conversation in each of the “blue wall” states.
Cheney endorsed Harris in early September, warning Trump posed a threat to democracy after what happened on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Donald Trump was willing to sacrifice our capitol to allow law enforcement officers to be beaten and brutalized in his name and to violate the law and the Constitution in order to seize power for himself,” Cheney said at her first joint appearance with Harris earlier this month.
“I don’t care if you are a Democrat or a Republican or an independent, that is depravity, and we must never become numb to it,” she continued. “Any person who would do these things can never be trusted with power again. We must defeat Donald Trump on Nov. 5.”
Trump to survey hurricane damage before rally in North Carolina
At noon, Trump will survey devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in Asheville, North Carolina.
He’ll later hold a 3 p.m. rally in Greenville before a 6:30 p.m. meeting with faith leaders in Concord.
Trump has criticized the Biden-Harris response to the storm, and spread misinformation about the federal government’s recovery efforts and assistance. Such misinformation, Biden and other officials have said, is harming those who need assistance and resulting in threats against FEMA workers.
Polls show close race between Harris, Trump
The latest polling averages from 538 show the two candidates running even in key swing states Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Trump, meanwhile, has a slight lead over Harris in Georgia and Arizona.
Overall, 538’s national polling average shows Harris ahead by just 1.8%.
Arnold Palmer at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge on March 17, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. Via Chris Condon/PGA TOUR/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Arnold Palmer’s daughter, Peg Palmer Wears, reacted to former President Donald Trump’s vulgar comments about her late father, calling them “disrespectful,” “inappropriate,” and “unacceptable.”
“Being at the airport, which is named for my dad, where he flew out of to go to work every day or every week, you know, to come there and talk about … hackneyed anecdotes from the locker room … seemed disrespectful and inappropriate to me,” she told ABC News Monday afternoon.
Not only was Arnold Palmer a renowned American golfer with a popular beverage named in his honor, he also has a regional airport named after him in his hometown of Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Campaigning at that airport on Saturday evening, Trump kicked off the rally with a long-winded story about Palmer, who dies in 2016, specifically referring to the golfer’s genitals.
“When he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there. They said, ‘Oh my God. That’s unbelievable,’” Trump joked.
According to Wears, Trump was “appropriating someone he admires to bolster his own image,” and that “people deserve better.”
“The people coming to these rallies deserve substance about plans Trump has as a candidate, if he could elucidate on some of the threats he’s made to people,” she continued. “I mean, these are important issues that should be discussed for people when they’re getting ready to vote, and using my dad to cover over the important things just seems unacceptable to me.”
Wears also confirmed to ABC News that she will be voting in the presidential election, though she did not disclose which candidate she plans to vote for.
An unaffiliated North Carolina voter, Wears plans to cast her ballot from one of the seven critical battleground states that could impact the election.
According to 538’s polling averages, Trump is leading in North Carolina by 0.8 points.
ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa, and Soorin Kim contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The FBI and Defense Department are investigating what could be a significant intelligence breach, disclosing what appears to be classified information about Israel’s plans to strike Iran, U.S. officials said Monday.
Here’s what we know so far:
Two leaked documents seem to divulge US analysis on Israel’s plans against Iran
Earlier this month, Israel vowed to retaliate against Iran for its Oct. 1 missile attack, when Iran launched 200 missiles at various targets inside Israel. It wasn’t clear, however, how or when Israel would respond.
Amid speculation on Israel’s next move, two documents marked “top secret” surfaced on social media last week that purported to show analysis by the U.S. military on Israeli operations.
One document purports to be from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), a military agency that collects, analyzes and distributes intelligence gleaned from satellite and aerial imagery. The second claims to contain intelligence generated by the National Security Agency. (NSA).
ABC News is not quoting directly from or showing the documents, which appear to detail movement of Israeli military equipment and munitions that could be used in a potential strike.
One of the documents claimed Israel could strike Iran without the U.S. seeing any further visual clues from above.
According to one person familiar with the investigation, the FBI was investigating the leak as part of a criminal probe. The White House said Monday the Defense Department was also investigating the disclosure and that officials have discussed the suspected breach with Israel.
“We’re deeply concerned, and the president remains deeply concerned about any leakage of classified information into the public domain. That is not supposed to happen, and it’s unacceptable when it does, so he’s deeply concerned about that,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday.
Kirby said there is no indication more documents could be released, but “we’re certainly going to keep our antenna up and our eyes open for any potential future disclosures.”
When asked Monday about the leak, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin declined to talk specifics other than to say “we take these types of things very seriously. Very, very seriously.”
It’s not clear yet if the documents were leaked by an insider or stolen by a hacker
Both documents have markings indicating that, if authentic, they would have been shared with the so-called Five Eyes, the intelligence-sharing alliance made up of the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
The documents surfaced on a Telegram channel called Middle East Spectator, an anonymous blog that frequently publishes pro-Iran content. The channel’s administrator told ABC News they obtained the documents through an acquaintance who received them from an unknown source. The administrator denied being affiliated with any government.
The documents have markings indicating that, if authentic, they would have been shared with the so-called Five Eyes, the intelligence-sharing alliance made up of the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
It’s possible that a foreign entity such as the government of Iran stole the documents by hacking the systems of nations with access to the intelligence. But at least one official familiar with the investigation said the probe will focus aggressively on anyone who works for or with the U.S. government and had access to the material.
When asked about the possibility that the leak was done by an insider, Kirby declined to speculate.
“We’ll let the investigation pursue its logical course there,” Kirby said.
Earlier this year, Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information. According to prosecutors, Teixeira leaked information in a Discord chat room on the type of equipment the U.S. was sending Ukraine, troop movements in Ukraine and a plot by a foreign adversary to attack U.S. forces abroad.
What’s next?
Lawmakers are likely to have serious questions about how another major public disclosure of classified information could happen again after the Teixeira case.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN on Sunday that lawmakers were receiving a classified briefing.
Another question is whether the leak has forced Israel to adjust its military plans.
“If it is true that Israel’s tactical plans to respond to Iran’s attack on Oct. 1 have been leaked, it is a serious breach,” said Mick Mulroy, an ABC News national security and defense contributor who served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East.
“Everyone that has access to this information has an obligation to keep it secure,” Mulroy said. “The men and women of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] that would carry out this mission could be compromised because of this, the future coordination between the U.S. and Israel could be challenged as well.”
ABC News’ Christopher Looft and Luke Barr contributed to this report.
