(NEW YORK) — The South is bracing for a potentially major winter storm this weekend, impacting Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.
The storm is still several days away, so exact timing and locations are not yet clear. But as of now, more than 30 million people are under a winter storm watch, from Dallas to Little Rock, Arkansas, to Huntsville, Alabama, to Nashville, Tennessee.
Snow is expected to develop over the Plains on Friday and a wintry mix of sleet and freezing rain is forecast to the south. The storm will become more widespread Saturday morning.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Tuesday he was activating state emergency response resources ahead of the storm, saying the freezing rain, sleet and snow “could create hazardous travel conditions into the weekend and cause impacts to infrastructure.”
The system will reach the East Coast by Sunday and impacts could linger there into Monday. But the specific timing and what to expect is still unclear.
US President Donald Trump, during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. The annual Davos gathering of political leaders, top executives and celebrities runs from Jan. 19-23. (Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(DAVOS, Switzerland) — President Donald Trump, speaking Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland amid heightened tensions with Europe, notably ruled out using military force to acquire Greenland.
“We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force where we would be, frankly, unstoppable. But I won’t do that,” Trump said.
“I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force,” Trump said.
Still, Trump said no other country can defend Greenland but the United States and said he is seeking “immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States.”
“I have tremendous respect for both the people of Greenland and the people of Denmark, tremendous respect. But every NATO ally has an obligation to be able to defend their own territory, and the fact is, no nation or group of nations is in any position to be able to secure Greenland other than the United States. We’re a great power,” Trump said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
People, including a man holding a placard that shows Greenland covered in an American flag, Xed out and that reads: Our Land, Not Yours”, gather to march in protest against U.S. President Donald Trump and his announced intent to acquire Greenland on January 17, 2026 in Nuuk, Greenland. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Thousands of people thronged the snowy streets of the Greenlandic capital of Nuuk on Saturday to have their say on a transatlantic crisis that has shaken the 76-year-old NATO alliance.
“Greenland for Greenlanders,” “Our land, not yours,” and “Yankee go home” were among the signs held aloft by marchers, accompanied by a plethora of red-and-white Greenlandic flags.
The 56,000 Greenlanders who inhabit the world’s largest island — which is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark — have found themselves at the center of a geopolitical storm, as U.S. President Donald Trump wages an escalating pressure campaign to acquire the territory despite intense opposition from Greenlanders, Danes and America’s NATO allies.
The message of the weekend march in Nuuk was clear. But many Greenlanders fear that their voices are being lost in the transatlantic furor, Pele Broberg — the leader of the pro-independence Naleraq party — told ABC News.
“We are currently being caught in broader political conflicts driven by opposition to Donald Trump, because we are just a stepping stone between the Europeans and the Americans,” Broberg said.
“Everybody is busy and stepping on Greenland to make a point that Donald Trump is a bad man,” he added. “I’m not a pro-Trump guy. I’m not pro anything with the U.S. with regards to how they’re handling this situation.”
‘Territories don’t have any rights’ Naleraq is the second-largest party and the official opposition in Greenland’s parliament. While Greenlandic political parties have agreed on independence as a shared eventual goal, Naleraq is widely seen as pushing for a more immediate breakaway from Denmark. The party is also considered by observers to be the most open to U.S. cooperation.
Broberg was clear that he considers Copenhagen at least partly responsible for the crisis engulfing Greenland. “The problem is that everybody talked about the Greenlandic people without the Greenlandic people,” he said.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has repeatedly said that Greenland belongs to Greenlanders and that no decision on the island’s future can be made without their agreement. But Broberg said that the framing of Trump’s bid to acquire Greenland as an attack on Denmark has sown confusion.
“Either Greenland truly belongs to the Greenlandic people, or it is treated as part of the Danish Kingdom. In practice, it cannot be both,” he said. Copenhagen, he said, “has managed to marginalize the Greenlandic government … They have managed to make it a matter of the Danish Kingdom and not the Greenlandic people.”
“Territories don’t have any rights — peoples have rights,” Broberg added.
Broberg said he believes there is “no doubt” that the Danish government is using the current crisis to undermine the goal of Greenlandic independence, using the threat of U.S. domination as a foil.
The Greenlandic government — currently led by the Demokraatit party — and Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen have made clear they have no intention of joining the U.S.
“If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark,” Nielsen said during a press conference earlier this month. “Greenland does not want to be owned by the United States. Greenland does not want to be governed by the United States. Greenland does not want to be part of the United States.”
The next general election in Greenland is scheduled for 2029, the year Trump’s second term ends.
Amid Trump’s threats, the leaders of all five political parties holding seats in Greenland’s parliament also released a joint statement. “We do not want to be Americans, we do not want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” they said.
A bipartisan U.S. Congressional delegation traveled to Denmark last weekend in a bid to reassure Danes and Greenlanders of their support. Delegation leader Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said at an event in Copenhagen, “I hope that the people of the Kingdom of Denmark do not abandon their faith in the American people.”
Broberg, whose party placed second in last year’s elections with 24% of the vote, suggested there had been a damaging lack of communication between Nuuk and Washington.
“The problem is that they are reacting out of panic rather than having a clear strategy,” Broberg said of the Greenlandic government. “I encouraged them last year, before the elections, to actually go to speak to the U.S. representatives. But they didn’t want to do that because they felt insulted by the way they were talked about.”
‘This started with Trump’ Trump first raised the prospect of acquiring the minerals-rich island in his first term. Frederiksen at that time dismissed the proposal as “absurd.”
President Joe Biden’s administration also showed a keen interest in Greenland, though it engaged in a softer approach. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the island in 2021 and told reporters he was there “because the United States deeply values our partnership and wants to make it even stronger.”
His trip followed bilateral successes in 2020 — before Trump left office — that saw the U.S. reopen its Nuuk consulate, expand cooperation at the American Thule Air Base, since renamed as the Pituffik Space Base, and agree to a new economic collaboration strategy.
Broberg said it is clear that Greenland is part of the long-term, bipartisan U.S. strategic picture. But the crisis over the island’s sovereignty, he said, “started with Donald Trump.”
“We’re not a pro-Trump or pro-U.S. party,” he said. “We’re a pro-Greenland party. We don’t tolerate anything of what came out of the American president’s mouth with regards to Greenland and its people’s rights.”
Broberg, a former Greenlandic foreign minister, urged dialogue. “You have to work this problem, not become the problem,” he said.
Still, Broberg acknowledged that the situation “has escalated to a point where simple solutions are no longer available,” citing the brewing transatlantic trade war. “I don’t see a way out of this that doesn’t involve an election in Greenland.”
Broberg said Naleraq foresees a free association agreement with Denmark twinned with a defense-and security-agreement with the U.S., under which Washington would gain exclusive rights to military operations on the island.
“Under the current defense agreement, the U.S. does not hold full military exclusivity over Greenland,” he said, referring to the 1951 Greenland Defense Agreement that gave the U.S. military access across the island. “That’s why you can see that Donald Trump looked at the stationing of troops this week as an escalation, as a provocation.”
Broberg also said Naleraq has discussed the formation of a Greenlandic coast guard — with personnel potentially numbering in the low thousands — to help guard Greenland’s 27,000-mile coastline.
Trump has repeatedly dismissed suggestions that a larger U.S. military footprint on Greenland can address his purported concerns over Russian and Chinese presence in the High North. “I could put a lot of soldiers there right now if I want. But you need more than that. You need ownership,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One this month.
Nonetheless, Broberg said his party is “genuinely interested” in working with the U.S. on security and trade. “We are, from a political point of view, looking to be globalist. We are a free trade country. We don’t impose tariffs on anybody, no matter what,” he said.
Asked if he was currently in touch with the Trump administration, Broberg replied, “Not at all.”
Trump has been dismissive of Greenland’s prime minister. After Nielsen said the island would not join the U.S., Trump told reporters, “That’s their problem. I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is. Don’t know anything about him, but that’s going to be a big problem for him.”
Subs in the fjords Trump’s reasoning for wanting “complete and total control” of Greenland is the purported threat posed by Russia and China in the Arctic.
NATO allies have said they agree that regional military capabilities and readiness should be bolstered. Last year, Copenhagen announced a $6.5 billion Arctic defense package in response to U.S. criticism that it had failed to adequately protect Greenland.
And last week, eight NATO nations sent small contingents of troops to Greenland for what they said were military exercises. In an interview early this week, Broberg was fiercely critical of what he described as that “very stupid” move, saying he felt it would be interpreted as “an escalation” by the U.S.
Broberg also said it was a mistake to send the troops to Nuuk and Greenland’s west coast. “The Russians are on the east coast, they’re in the northeast,” he said.
“If they really wanted to placate the US … they should put them on the northeast coast where nobody lives,” Broberg added.
Asked whether the Russian-Chinese threat to Greenland was genuine or concocted, Broberg replied, “I think the truth is somewhere in between … You don’t have smoke without some fire.”
But he noted that hunting parties — traveling over the frozen terrain quickly and quietly on dogsleds, a mode of transport Trump appeared to mock when criticizing Danish military capabilities in Greenland — “have, on occasion, reported seeing submarines near the coast or fjords.”
“We have never been told what kind of subs there are. But the presumption is Russian subs. So there is some truth to it. But if it’s crawling with them, or if it’s one every 10 years — I have no idea.”
People walk through fresh snow in the city center on January 18, 2026 in Nuuk, Greenland. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney added his voice to the condemnation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to acquire Greenland during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, warning that the international community is “in the midst of a rupture.”
Several allied leaders have used their speeches at the annual event in the Swiss Alps to push back on Trump’s pressure campaign over Greenland, which has seen Trump and administration officials propose tariffs on NATO allies and even threaten the use of force to seize control of the massive Arctic territory.
Greenland is a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. Trump first raised the prospect of acquiring the minerals-rich island in his first term. Danish and Greenlandic politicians have repeatedly rebuffed such proposals.
NATO allies have mobilized to bolster Greenlandic security in response to Trump’s assertions that the territory — and the wider Arctic region — are at risk from growing Chinese and Russian regional influence.
On Tuesday, Carney warned that the world has entered a new “era of great power rivalry,” in which “the rules-based order is fading … the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must.”
“Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition. Over the past two decades, a series of crises in finance, health, energy and geopolitics have laid bare the risks of extreme global integration,” Carney continued.
“But more recently, great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited,” he added.
“On Arctic sovereignty, we stand firmly with Greenland and Denmark and fully support their unique right to determine Greenland’s future,” Carney said. “Canada strongly opposes tariffs over Greenland and calls for focused talks to achieve our shared objectives of security and prosperity in the Arctic.”
Trump is scheduled to speak at Davos on Wednesday afternoon local time. Speaking with reporters before heading to Switzerland, the president showed no sign of softening his approach to the Greenland issue.
“I think that we will work something out where NATO is going to be very happy and we’re — we’re going to be very happy,” Trump said of the upcoming Davos trip during a press briefing. “But we need it for security purposes. We need it for national security and even world security. It’s very important.”
When asked by a reporter how far he was willing to go to secure Greenland, Trump replied, “You’ll find out.”
Other European leaders on Tuesday spoke at Davos and criticized Trump’s threat of tariffs on NATO allies related to Greenland.
The president announced new 10% tariffs on all goods from the eight nations — Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands and Finland — that sent small contingents of troops to Greenland last week. The European nations said the deployments were for a military exercise intended to boost regional security.
Trump said the new tariffs will come into force on Feb. 1 and will increase to 25% on June 1. The president said the measures would remain in place until the U.S. is able to purchase Greenland.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech in Davos that the “proposed additional tariffs are a mistake.” Referring to the trade deal signed by the EU and U.S. in July, von der Leyen added, “In politics as in business, a deal is a deal.”
“Plunging us into a dangerous downward spiral would only aid the very adversaries we are both so committed to keeping out of the strategic landscape,” she said. “Our response will be unflinching, united and proportional.”
On Wednesday, von der Leyen said during a press conference at the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, France, “The threat of additional tariffs for security reasons is simply wrong.”
“We are at a crossroads. Europe prefers dialogue and solutions, but we are fully prepared to act, if necessary, with unity, urgency, and determination,” von der Leyen added.
European Council President Antonio Costa said, “Further tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and are incompatible with the EU-US agreement.” He added, “We stand ready to defend ourselves, our member states, our citizens, our companies against any form of coercion.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, criticized “competition from the United States of America through trade agreements that undermine our export interests, demand maximum concessions, and openly aim to weaken and subordinate Europe.”
Such measures, he said, were “combined with an endless accumulation of new tariffs that are fundamentally unacceptable — even more so when they are used as leverage against territorial sovereignty.”
The Greenland military exercises, Macron said, posed no threat and were a step taken to support Denmark. “Cooperating is not about blaming others,” Macron said. “We do prefer respect to bullies.”
On Wednesday, Paris called for new allied drills. “France requests a NATO exercise in Greenland and is ready to contribute,” a source at the Elysee Palace — which houses the presidential office — told ABC News.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, meanwhile, said in a post to Facebook on Tuesday that the autonomous territory must be “prepared for the worst.”
“It is unlikely that we will be arrested by force, but we cannot be indifferent either,” Nielsen wrote. “Our neighbor did not miss this opportunity. It is therefore important that we be prepared for the worst.”
Nielsen said Greenland is in “constant dialogue with the EU and NATO and others,” about the situation.
U.S. President Donald Trump disembarks Air Force One as he arrives at Zurich Airport before attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, on January 21, 2026 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(DAVOS, Switzerland) — President Donald Trump arrived on Wednesday in Zurich, Switzerland, ahead of his scheduled address in Davos.
Air Force One had earlier turned around mid-flight, after the crew identified “a minor electrical issue,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday night.
The aircraft turned back and landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where the president and those traveling with him were set to board a different aircraft and then resume travel to Switzerland for the global economic conference.
The flight issue came as Trump is making his first international trip of 2026.
In Davos, Trump is expected to deliver remarks focused on his vision of American dominance, including his desire to take over Greenland.
Trump’s increasingly antagonistic language over acquiring the Danish territory puts him at odds with fellow NATO countries and other allies.
Trump will lead the largest U.S. delegation to the World Economic Forum, according to event organizers, where he plans to meet with top business CEOs and international leaders, deliver a speech to conference attendees, and participate in the formal signing ceremony to solidify his Board of Peace that was proposed to oversee the recovery of Gaza but has since raised questions that it could expand to rival the United Nations.
This week, Trump will once again face some world leaders he has spent months criticizing as he continues to test the limits of his presidential power and his standing in the world following weeks of reignited controversy over the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and seizing the country’s oil and his public threats of acquiring Greenland by force, if necessary.
Since the start of his second term, Trump has slowly been building the case for why the U.S. should take control of Greenland, arguing it is vital for U.S. national security needs. In recent weeks his rhetoric on a takeover has escalated as he has refused to rule out military action.
Despite global pushback on his Greenland ambitions, Trump has refused to back down on his threats, saying “You’ll find out” when asked during a White House press briefing on Tuesday on how far he was willing to go to secure Greenland while dismissing the lack of support for a U.S. takeover.
When pressed by ABC News’ Mary Bruce about the many Greenlanders who have loudly voiced disagreement with the idea of U.S. control, Trump said that once he talks to them, they’ll be “thrilled.”
Asked about the possibility of the NATO alliance breaking up if the U.S. seizes Greenland, Trump said: “I think that we will work something out where NATO’s going to be very happy and where we’re going to be very happy. But we need it for security purposes. We need it for national security and even world security. It’s very important.”
“We have a lot of meetings scheduled on Greenland. I’m leaving tonight, as you know, Davos, and we have a lot of meetings scheduled on Greenland, and I think things are going to work out pretty well, actually,” Trump said later.
“So I think something’s going to happen that’s going to be very good for everybody,” he said.
However, the president’s optimistic outlook on a resolution to both sides’ satisfaction comes as he increases attacks on NATO countries who are seeking to protect Greenland. Over the weekend, Trump threatened to impose a 10% tariff on eight NATO countries starting Feb. 1 if no deal is reached. The move, stemmed in part from the countries’ decision to send a small contingent of troops to Greenland in the wake of Trump’s threats.
When Trump travels to Switzerland, the economic forum will be focused on “a spirit of dialogue” about how to better the world; however, ahead of his departure, the president touted his administration’s success during his second term while critiquing the leadership of his European counterparts in a show of force likely to be displayed during his visit.
“I think more than anything else, what I’m going to be speaking about is the tremendous success that we’ve had in one year. I didn’t think we could do it this fast … We have the most successful country in the world. We have the hottest country anywhere in the world by far,” Trump said.
“A lot of them could use some of the advice as to what we did,” he said of European allies, going on to lash out about energy and immigration.
Meanwhile, questions are swirling about the Board of Peace, which was originally billed as a committee that would oversee the reconstruction of Gaza from the Israel-Hamas war.
Critics and government leaders are now decrying the board, saying it undermines the United Nations.
A draft of the charter now says the Board of Peace would “secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict,” not just Gaza. It also called for “a more nimble and effective international peace-building body.”
On his domestic agenda, Trump has for weeks now teased unveiling “some of the most aggressive housing reforms in American history” in Davos, including a ban on large institutional investors from buying single-family homes and calling for the federal government to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds.
Trump’s speech will follow months of the White House recasting the nation’s economic story as one of growth and falling prices due to Trump’s economic policies as the midterm election season looms. The president has spent time traveling the country to deliver this message to Americans, but now he will do so on a global stage.
Despite Trump’s rosy imagery of the state of the American economy, voters are still experiencing rising costs and Republicans have been expressing concerns with messaging on the economy. Pressed about this dichotomy on Tuesday, Trump dismissed assertions that he was failing to address the needs of Americans, once again pointing blame to the Biden administration, calling the job he has done as president “a miracle.”
A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24, 2022 during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on January 06, 2026 in Uvalde, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) — As soon as Wednesday afternoon, a Texas jury will begin deliberating whether a law enforcement officer should be held criminally responsible for failing to act in the face of one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.
After nine days of testimony, prosecutors and defense lawyers in the trial of former Uvalde schools police officer Adrian Gonzales are scheduled to deliver their closing arguments in a Corpus Christi courtroom on Wednesday morning. Deliberations could begin as early as Wednesday afternoon.
At issue is whether Gonzales — one of the first officers to arrive at Robb Elementary on May 24, 2022 — ignored his training and endangered dozens of students when he responded to the shooting.
Prosecutors allege he “intentionally, knowingly, recklessly and with criminal negligence” put children in danger by failing to “engage, distract, and delay the shooter” in the critical first minutes of the shooting. If convicted on all 29 counts, Gonzales could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Nineteen students and two teachers died in the shooting nearly four years ago, with police officers waiting 77 minutes to confront the gunman as he was holed up inside a double classroom with students and teachers. While the shooting response has been the subject of hearings and investigations, the case against Gonzales marks the first criminal trial related to the shooting and the delayed police response.
What is he charged with? Gonzales was charged with 29 felony counts of abandoning/endangering children – one count for each of the 19 students who died in the shooting and the 10 children who survived in classroom 112.
Each count carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison, and Gonzales could spend the rest of his life in prison if he is convicted. While juries in Texas sometimes determine criminal sentences, Gonzales has opted to be sentenced by Judge Sid Harle if he is convicted.
What happened to the police chief’s case? Along with Gonzales, prosecutors also charged former Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who was the scene commander during the Robb shooting. His case has been indefinitely delayed due to a pending civil lawsuit involving the tactical unit that ultimately breached the classroom and killed the shooter.
Why is the trial in Corpus Christi? Judge Sid Harle began overseeing the case after a local judge in Uvalde recused themselves from the matter.
Taking place 200 miles from Uvalde, the trial is being held in a Corpus Christi courtroom after Gonzales’ attorneys successfully argued he would be unable to have a fair trial in the county where the shooting took place.
Who is in the jury? While emotions flared during jury selection — with some now-disqualified jurors vocally criticizing the police response to cheers from other jurors — Harle was able to seat a jury in less than a day.
The jury and alternates included 11 women and five men, though one of the male jurors was excused last week due to a family emergency.
Are there any comparable cases? According to Phil Stinson — a professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio who maintains a database of police officers who have been arrested — the case against Gonzales is uncommon but not unprecedented.
Prosecutors in Florida attempted to similarly charge a law enforcement officer for his response to the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen were killed when a gunman opened fire that day, Feb. 14, 2018, in Parkland.
A jury in 2023 acquitted Scot Peterson, a former Broward County sheriff’s deputy, after he was charged with child neglect and culpable negligence for his alleged inaction following the shooting.
How did prosecutors approach the case? Prosecutors called three dozen witnesses — including investigators, teachers, and the families of victims — over nine days of testimony to argue that Gonzales missed a critical opportunity to stop the shooter before he entered Robb Elementary. They allege he was one of the first to respond to the shooter, was explicitly told the location of the gunman before he entered the school but failed to act.
“I told him that he needed to get stopped before he went into the fourth-grade building. We needed to stop him,” teaching aide Melodye Flores testified.
“And what did he say?” prosecutor Bill Turner asked.
“He, just, nothing,” Flores said.
According to a Texas Ranger who testified for prosecutors, Gonzales had more than a minute to stop the shooter before he entered the school, and the gunman was able to fire more than a hundred rounds during a two-minute period while Gonzales was standing outside Robb Elementary.
How did defense lawyers approach the case? Defense lawyers spent less than three hours on Tuesday calling two witnesses before resting their case. Gonzales declined to testify in his own defense.
His lawyers have argued that Gonzales not only followed his training that day but also highlighted that other officers had similar — if not better — opportunities to stop the shooter.
They accused prosecutors of “Monday-morning quarterbacking” Gonzales’ actions that day and argued he acted appropriately based on the limited information he had in the moment. They also highlighted that Gonzales attempted to enter the building with other officers but was directed by his commanding officer to retreat to call in for SWAT support.
A huge dinosaur sits outside the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on August 26, 2016. (Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)
(PITTSBURGH) — The Carnegie Museum of Natural History has made the behind-the-scenes inventory of rare fossils and other ancient artifacts available for public viewing for the first time.
The exhibition, dubbed “The Stories We Keep,” features items from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, museum’s inventory that are typically not displayed, chosen by the researchers and curators who work to preserve them.
Museum curators were inspired to create the exhibition in an effort to display items that wouldn’t otherwise be seen, Sarah Crawford, director of museum experience at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, told ABC News.
Museum staff cares for more than 22 million objects and specimens, less than 1% of which are on view at any given time, similar to other natural history museums around the country, Crawford said. The exhibition was designed in part by asking collection managers to choose objects and specimens to highlight.
“Every fossil, every animal and every object has a story that it can tell about our planet and the universe and our place in it,” Crawford said.
One of the most unique aspects of the exhibition is its Visible Collections display, which features a care lab in which visitors can watch as conservation staff work with fossils and other items in real time.
Guests even have the opportunity to speak with the scientists as they preserve and maintain the items, Crawford said.
When visitors walk in, the first thing they see behind the window is a 40-foot Egyptian funerary boat — the planks of which were all taken apart and individually restored, Crawford said.
Also within the Visible Collections are a cuneiform cylinder from King Nebuchadnezzar II that was made over 2,500 years ago, a fossilized bird feather that was found in Utah from about 48.5 million years ago and the lower jaw of a pygmy hippopotamus.
Currently on display within the Minerals and Earth Science Collection are toxic, radioactive specimens that could potentially kill people, as well as a meteorite that fell in Pennsylvania several years ago.
And a display named “Collecting So Many Bugs” features many of the museum’s 13 million invertebrate specimens, many of which are rare or from habitats that were previously lost.
Museums often do not have the space to display all of their items, or they are still in the process of being prepared and conserved, Crawford said.
The exhibition was unveiled in November and has since struck the curiosity and awe of new and repeat visitors alike.
“Because we have that visible lab, it means that the exhibition could be new every time you come,” Crawford said.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) (R), joined by Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) (C) and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), speaks to reporters after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not appear for a closed-door deposition in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on January 14, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — House Republicans are set to take the next steps on Wednesday to hold former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with committee subpoenas related to the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
On Wednesday, Oversight Chairman James Comer is set to hold a markup of two resolutions finding the Clintons in contempt of Congress after they defied a subpoena for a deposition with the committee last week.
“The Clintons are not above the law, and the House Oversight Committee will move to hold them in contempt of Congress,” Comer, a Republican, said in a statement last week. “If Democrats refuse to hold the Clintons accountable, they will expose themselves as hypocrites.”
The Clintons have insisted that the subpoena is without legal merit, fighting the subpoena for months.
Last summer, Republicans and Democrats on Oversight’s Federal Law Enforcement Subcommittee approved a motion to issue subpoenas to 10 individuals, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, for testimony related to their investigation into Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Republicans have pointed at the former president’s travels on Epstein’s private aircraft in the early 2000s and the Clinton “family’s past relationship” with Epstein and Maxwell.
The contempt resolution is expected to advance out of the committee Wednesday afternoon — teeing up a full vote on the House floor days later. The timing of floor consideration won’t become clear until after the committee markup.
If Democrats oppose the floor vote, Speaker Mike Johnson can afford to lose just two Republican votes before a third GOP defector could upset passage.
The resolution, if passed, would direct the speaker of the House to refer the case to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia — under the Department of Justice — for possible criminal prosecution. A simple majority is needed to clear a contempt resolution, though it does not require passage in the Senate.
Besides defying the subpoena, neither Bill Clinton nor Hillary Clinton has been accused of wrongdoing and denies having any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. No Epstein survivor or associate has ever made a public allegation of wrongdoing or inappropriate behavior by the former president or his wife in connection with his prior relationship with Epstein.
Last month, in response to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the Justice Department released several photographs of former President Clinton apparently taken during his international travels with Epstein and Maxwell between 2002 and 2003.
Following that disclosure, a spokesperson for the two-term Democratic president argued that the Trump administration released those images to shield the Trump White House “from what comes next, or from what they’ll try to hide forever.”
For months, David Kendall, the Clintons’ lawyer, has continuously argued that the Clintons have no information relevant to the committee’s investigation and should not be required to appear for in-person testimony.
Comer wrote in a letter to Kendall in October that the committee is “skeptical” that the Clintons have only limited information, and argued it was up to the committee, not the Clintons, to make determinations of the value of their testimony.
“[T]he Committee believes that it should be provided in a deposition setting, where the Committee can best assess its breadth and value,” Comer wrote.
Comer said in a statement on Tuesday that Bill Clinton’s lawyers made an offer for Comer, Ranking Member Robert Garcia and two members of each of their staffs to have a conversation with only former President Bill Clinton in New York. A Comer spokesperson said he “rejected the Clintons’ ridiculous offer.”
“The House Oversight Committee rejects the Clintons’ unreasonable demands and will move forward with contempt resolutions on Wednesday due to their continued defiance of lawful subpoenas,” Comer wrote in the statement.
In response to Comer’s statement, Clinton spokesperson Angel Ureña told ABC News that the Clintons “never said no to a transcript.”
“Interviews are on the record and under oath. Whether it was written or typed isn’t why this is happening. If that were the last or only issue, we’d be in a different position,” Ureña said in a statement.
“You keep misdirecting to protect you-know-who and God knows what,” she said, referring to Comer.
Last week, the ex-president’s office publicly released two written declarations — dated Jan. 13 from each of the Clintons — which it said were provided to the Oversight Committee. Both Clintons denied any personal knowledge of the criminal activities of Epstein and Maxwell. Both also denied ever visiting Epstein’s private estate in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“Once I left office, I devoted my time to the Clinton Foundation. As part of the work of the Foundation, I accepted offers from others to use private air travel for the philanthropic and life-saving humanitarian efforts,” former President Clinton wrote. “In the early 2000s, Mr. Epstein offered a plane that was large enough to accommodate me, my staff, and my U.S. Secret Service detail, in support of visiting the Foundation’s philanthropic work. As has been widely reported, I and my staff took trips on his plane from 2002-2003, visiting Foundation projects and attending conferences and meetings. I have never visited Little St. James Island, and I do not recall speaking to Mr. Epstein for more than a decade prior to his 2019 arrest.”
The former president acknowledges in his declaration that Epstein “may very well have attended” White House events during Clinton’s two terms in office and may have been among the “tens of thousands” of people photographed with him. But Clinton claimed he did “not recall encountering Mr. Epstein, or any specific interaction with him, while in office.”
Each of the Clintons contend that they had no involvement — while in office or afterward — in any criminal investigations or prosecutions of either Epstein or Maxwell.
“I did not direct, oversee or participate in the handling of the investigations or prosecutions of the Epstein or Maxwell cases,” both Clintons stated in their declarations.
Both Clintons also wrote that they could not recall the circumstances of how they met Maxwell — but remember that she later “began a personal relationship with a mutual friend.”
“To be clear, I had no idea of Mr. Epstein’s or Ms. Maxwell’s criminal activities,” former President Clinton wrote. “And, irrespective of any intent either may have ever had, I did not take any action for the purpose of helping them to avoid any type of scrutiny.”
“During my tenure in public office, from 1993 to 2013, I never had any responsibility for, or involvement with, the Department of Justice’s handling of the Epstein and Maxwell investigations or prosecutions,” Hillary Clinton wrote in her declaration.
(NEW YORK ) — Fewer people are dying from heart disease, but the condition is still the leading cause of death in the U.S., a new report from the American Heart Association (AHA) finds.
Although death rates from heart disease have dropped for the first time in the past five years, it still kills more Americans than any other condition, according to the report, published early Wednesday in the journal Circulation.
Annual heart disease deaths decreased by 2.7% between 2022 and 2023 — from 941,652 to 915,973, according to the report. However, cardiovascular disease still killed more people in the U.S. than cancer and accidents combined.
Deaths related to blockages in the coronary arteries, which are blood vessels that wrap around the heart’s surface, decreased by 5.9% from 371,506 to 349,470 over the same period, the report found.
Coronary artery disease often leads to a heart attack, with two people dying of coronary heart disease every three minutes, the report noted.
Other chronic conditions that damage blood vessels and increase risks for heart disease are also common among Americans, according to the report.
The percentage of U.S. adults with high blood pressure increased slightly to 47.3% while the rate of obesity decreased slightly to 50%, the report found. However, obesity is on the rise among the younger generation — increasing from 25.4% to 28.1% among those between ages 2 and 19, according to the report.
Prevention, including addressing risk factors, remains key in reducing heart disease deaths, Dr. Sadiya Khan, a board-certified cardiologist at Northwestern and vice chair of the volunteer committee behind the report, told ABC News.
“We cannot cure heart disease and so, if we wait until symptoms are present, we are left with trying to manage symptoms and treat, which saves lives but the yield of prevention is even greater,” she said.
There are four lifestyle behaviors and four health metrics essential for heart health, according to the AHA report. These include healthy eating, physical activity, sleeping well and quitting tobacco as well as controlling weight, cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure.
Addressing these eight factors could prevent up to 40% of heart disease deaths and lower the risk of developing major heart disease symptoms by up to 74%, according to a 2024 analysis from researchers in the Netherlands and Sweden.
Those same preventative measures have benefits beyond the heart, Khan pointed out. They can also help slow brain aging and lower the risk for dementia. Managing blood pressure is especially helpful against cognitive decline, she added.
Reducing cardiovascular disease in the U.S. could improve the health of not just the general public but also the health of the economy, Dr. Jennifer Miao, a board-certified Yale cardiologist and ABC Medical Unit fellow, told ABC News.
“We’re seeing an incredible financial burden of cardiovascular disease on the U.S. economy, with an estimated average of $414.7 billion in direct and indirect costs of treating cardiovascular disease from 2021 to 2022,” she said.
Despite the well-documented positive effects from good lifestyle habits, getting Americans to focus on their cardiovascular health has been an uphill battle, Khan said.
For example, only one in four US adults currently meet national guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening exercise. Additionally, only 43.5% of Americans with type 2 diabetes have their condition under control, according to the report.
“Staying physically active and engaging in regular exercise routines to the best of your ability are day-to-day goals that can significantly impact your overall health,” Miao said. “Talk to your health care provider about any questions you might have on safe exercise plans and appropriate health screenings that are suited for you as an individual.”
Lindsey Halligan, attorney for US President Donald Trump, holds ceremonial proclamations to be signed by US President Donald Trump, not pictured, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Trump exempted Canadian goods covered by the North American trade agreement known as USMCA from his 25% tariffs, offering major reprieves to the US’s two largest trading partners. (Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance announced Tuesday that the couple is expecting their fourth child.
“We’re very happy to share some exciting news. Our family is growing!” Usha Vance wrote in the post on social media.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
