(NEW YORK) — President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that heart surgeon-turned-TV-host Dr. Mehmet Oz would lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
“America is facing a Healthcare Crisis, and there may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again,” Trump said in a statement. “He is an eminent Physician, Heart Surgeon, Inventor and World-Class Communicator, who has been at the forefront of healthy living for decades.”
The position of CMS administrator requires Senate confirmation.
Here’s what to know about Oz, his medical career and some medical claims he’s made that have come under fire.
Is Oz a real doctor?
Oz graduated with a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed a Master of Business Administration from UPenn’s Wharton School of Business at the same time.
He completed his surgical training in cardiothoracic surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital (Columbia Campus).
He was previously the director of the Cardiovascular Institute at New York Presbyterian Hospital and vice-chairman and professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. His title was then changed to Professor Emeritus of Surgery in 2018.
Medicine “was my calling,” Oz said in a Wharton Magazine profile from 2010. “I knew it from a very early age. I played a lot of sports growing up, and like a lot of other athletes, I really enjoyed the challenge of using my hands. I just loved the idea of being in a field where you could [do that].”
Oz began his TV career as a health expert on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” before launching “The Dr. Oz Show,” which ran from 2009 to 2022. The show ended when Oz launched an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.
What would Oz run as CMS administrator?
CMS administers the Medicare program, the federal health insurance program for those mostly aged 65 and older.
The agency also works with state programs to administer Medicaid, which is health insurance for disabled and low-income Americans, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides low-cost coverage to children with families that don’t qualify for Medicaid.
Oz has supported Medicare Advantage, which is run by commercial insurers and has been promoted by Trump. Project 2025 — a plan of conservative policy proposals proposed by the Heritage Foundation and not endorsed by Trump — has proposed Medicare Advantage be the default option for Medicare coverage.
Experts have said this could privatize the program and prevent people from receiving care from doctors and hospitals that don’t accept Medicare Advantage.
In Tuesday’s announcement, Trump said Oz would work closely with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. the president-elect’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees CMS.
What are Dr. Oz’s past controversies?
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Oz promoted hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, as a COVID-19 treatment. Trump later touted the drug as a “game changer,” although medical researchers warned more study was needed.
In June 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revoked emergency authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat COVID-19, saying evidence shows the recommended dose is unlikely to be effective against the virus.
Oz also made past statements indicating that he endorsed spacing out childhood vaccines and expressed ambivalence towards a discredited theory that vaccines cause autism, according to a 2022 study. In later episodes of his TV show, Oz would go on to endorse the measles, mumps, rubella shot.
Oz also came under fire due to his claims about certain “miracle” products to help consumers lose weight.
During a 2014 hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on consumer protection, then-Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri grilled Oz, claiming he had a role in “perpetuating” scams.
“When you feature a product on your show, it creates what has become known as the ‘Oz effect,’ dramatically boosting sales and driving scam artists to pop up overnight using false and deceptive ads to sell questionable products,” she said. “While I understand that your message is also focused on basics like healthy eating and exercise, I’m concerned that you are melding medical advice news and entertainment in a way that harms consumers.”
During the hearing, Oz defended his statements, saying he believed in the benefits of the products he promoted on his show.
“I actually do personally believe in the items I talk about in the show. I passionately study them. I recognize that often times they don’t have the scientific muster to present as fact. But, nevertheless, I give my audience the advice I give my family all the time. I give my family these products, specifically the ones you mentioned. I’m comfortable with that part,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — Righteous Torrance “Chevy” Hill had great plans for his future, cut short by a fatal shooting in front of his own home in February.
Hill, a transgender man, left behind a budding legacy of activism as the founder of an LGBTQ-focused salon and barber shop called Evollusion. The salon was born out of his desire for a space where he and other clients weren’t faced with uncomfortable or disparaging comments.
“There’s a need for this,” said Terri Wilson, Hill’s partner of six years. Their relationship began at the salon when Wilson herself came to get her hair done.
The two stayed talking for hours, a common occurrence at Evollusion. Clients often made themselves comfortable in the salon well after the end of their appointments to discuss politics, society and life in the shop — the salon was abuzz with laughter or chatter.
“He wanted to make sure that the trans community had the resources that they need,” Wilson told ABC News.
Wilson told ABC News that Hill believed Atlanta, often touted for having a large and inclusive LGBTQ+ community, was the perfect place to create such a space. Wilson has vowed to continue his work following his passing.
“Grief just hits out of nowhere, like the day can be going wonderful, and then I can just think of something or read something or see something online that I want to share with him, and I know that I’m not able to share it with him,” Wilson said.
Hill is one of at least 36 transgender and gender non-conforming victims of fatal violence from last year’s Transgender Remembrance Day to this year’s, according to the Human Rights Campaign, the vast majority of whom were killed by a gun. Some anti-gun violence advocates told ABC News that growing anti-transgender sentiment in the U.S. is a major cause for concern for the trans community.
“No matter what gender they are, what socioeconomic class they’re from, what race or ethnicity they are — those lives mattered and a lot of the policies that we have in place and even the way that we investigate these homicides send a message about the disposability of these lives,” Sarah Burd-Sharps, Senior Director of Research of gun safety advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, told ABC News.
New research from Everytown published in honor of Transgender Remembrance Day on Wednesday aims to highlight the impact gun violence has had on the trans community. Everytown found that roughly 7 in 10 transgender victims are killed with a gun, which is similar to the national rate. Black transgender residents — particularly Black transgender women — face the brunt of this gun violence, according to Everytown.
More than half of all transgender gun homicides took place in the South, according to Everytown. Burd-Sharps also notes these deaths happen predominantly in Southern states with more lenient gun laws.
Hill was shot outside his home in the Atlanta suburb of East Point, Georgia on Feb. 28, 2024, and pronounced dead the following day. In Georgia, about 95% of the trans or gender-expansive victims since 2013 — when the Human Rights Campaign began tracking these deaths — were killed with a gun.
Some researchers argue that violence toward trans people cannot be considered without the context of anti-transgender legislation and rhetoric.
“What it does is it sows further division. It creates an environment where even more hatred exists, which in turn creates more violence against trans folks,” Tori Cooper, the Human Rights Campaign’s director of community engagement, told ABC News.
Federal, state and local agencies across the country have warned about increases in anti-LGBTQ+ violence in recent years as state legislatures break records, introducing more than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills nationwide.
“Words matter, policies matter,” Moms Demand Action Executive Director Angela Ferrell-Zabala told ABC News in an interview on the Everytown report. “When we go down this road of dehumanizing and taking away rights from folks … it’s hard for folks to access health care and other things and just kind of live full lives, then that’s contributing to the problem of violence in this country.”
Both the HRC and Everytown note in their research that there may be other cases of fatal violence against transgender or gender-expansive people that have gone unreported or misreported and, therefore, not recorded in the official count.
Researchers and advocates say deadnaming, misgendering and bias in policing or reporting may hinder efforts to track and solve these cases properly.
“Every life is important, and we need to make sure that we’re protecting everybody,” Ferrell-Zabala said. “Media and law enforcement have a duty to make sure they’re correctly reporting people’s names and genders. It’s not only out of respect for victims and their loved ones and communities, but also so that the research on the ongoing violence against transgender people is accurately understood and represented.”
According to Wilson, Hill was misgendered by law enforcement after his death, despite having the correct gender markers on his ID.
“It’s frustrating because a person who respectfully asks you to address them in a certain way, their request should be accepted. Their request should be recognized. It’s not hurting anyone else,” Wilson said. “It’s frustrating for me, so I can only understand how frustrating it was for him. It’s just from going from medical professionals, going through TSA, law enforcement.”
However, she said East Point’s LGBTQ liaison reached out to her following his death: “They have an LGBT Task Force, and they did have one of the representatives who was over this task force reach out to me, which I did appreciate,” Wilson said.
East Point didn’t respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Everytown researchers also found that clearances of trans homicides — “incidents where a perpetrator is arrested, charged, and given to the court for prosecution, or is otherwise identified” — are lower than among homicides overall nationally. Hill’s loved ones waited more than six months for the suspect — Hill’s cousin Jaylen Hill — turned himself police, and hope the arrest can finally bring some relief in the fight for justice.
Jaylen Hill is in pre-indictment hearings on potential charges of murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm. Jaylen Hill’s legal team has not yet responded to ABC News’ request for comment.
“I can’t be consumed with Jaylen and what his punishment is, because all of this revolves around [Hill]. [Hill] lost his life,” Wilson said. “So continuing what he was doing is definitely at the forefront of receiving justice for [Hill].”
Some researchers hope the new data can help law enforcement agencies and city officials nationwide to address growing concerns about anti-LGBTQ+ violence and the role gun violence plays in these deaths.
Officials in neighboring Atlanta — which has LGBTQ+ liaisons on the city and public safety levels — said it’s working to implement programs to improve the safety and concerns of the LGBTQ+ community in the region. Chief Equity Officer Candace M. Stanciel pointed to the city’s Human Relations Commission which investigates reports of discrimination or the revision of standard operating procedures for local public safety officials on how to engage with the transgender community.
“We look forward to even growing the partnership and the work that we continue to do with all of our public safety teams around supporting LGBTQ communities as a whole,” Stanciel told ABC News.
Wilson hopes Hill can be remembered for his “unconditional love.”
“He didn’t have any enemies,” said Wilson. “He had a forgiving heart. He was selfless, he was genuine. He always wanted everyone to succeed. He could see in you what you couldn’t see in yourself.”
(WASHINGTON) — While the House Ethics Committee will meet behind closed doors on Wednesday to discuss its investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, it’s possible that Congress could go around the committee to release the panel’s findings.
According to House rules, any member of Congress can go to the floor and tee up a vote on a “privileged resolution” that would force the Ethics Committee to release its report on Gaetz within two legislative days.
The member would only have to argue that not releasing the report impacts the “dignity” or “integrity” of the House or “reputation” of its members.
The action would be unusual, but not unprecedented. In the 1990s, Democrats repeatedly tried to force the Ethics Committee to divulge information about investigations into then-Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Those efforts came up short because Republicans closed ranks around Gingrich and the majority. But Gaetz is incredibly unpopular on Capitol Hill, and it would only take a handful of Republicans — along with all Democrats — to pass the resolution.
“If you’re a member of Congress, do you really want to be in the business of defending Matt Gaetz?” former Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pennsylvania, who led the Ethics Committee, told ABC News Monday.
Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said there are “plenty” of precedents of the committee disclosing reports even after a member has resigned.
Wild said that all members of the committee have access to the report and hopes that “one or more” Republicans will vote with Democrats for its release.
Asked if that’s a possibility, Wild said, “I don’t know. I haven’t talked to all of them. I mean, everybody, everybody on the committee now has the report, so they’ve got the opportunity to be reviewing it.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson has opposed releasing the report, saying he’s protecting an “important guardrail for out institution” that any ethics investigation ends once a member leaves the House.
On Tuesday, Johnson denied that Trump or Gaetz have pressured him to bury the report or that he had discussed it with them or Ethics Committee Chairman Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss.
“I wouldn’t have that conversation with [Gaetz]. Because that’s not appropriate for us to do that,” Johnson said. “President Trump respects the guardrails of our institution as well, and I’m very guarded about those things. So neither of those gentlemen would breach that.”
“I haven’t talked to Michael Guest about the report. I talk to all my colleagues, but I know where the lines are. I have no idea about the contents of the report,” Johnson told reporters as he walked back to his office from a news conference.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries gave a brief “Yes” when asked Tuesday if the Gaetz report should be released to the public.
If the Ethics Committee doesn’t vote to release its findings, Democrats could raise the possibility of forcing a floor vote – which would put Republicans on the record about Gaetz.
Sam Costanza/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — A man accused of killing three people in an apparent unprovoked stabbing spree in Manhattan made his first appearance in court on Tuesday.
Ramon Rivera, 51, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, according to the New York Police Department. He confessed to the killings during questioning, according to police sources.
The judge on Tuesday granted the prosecution’s request for remand. Rivera is set to return to court on Nov. 22.
The attacks unfolded within three hours on Monday morning.
The first victim, 36-year-old Angel Lata Landi, was fatally stabbed in the abdomen at 8:22 a.m. in an unprovoked attack by the construction site where he was working on West 19th Street, the NYPD said.
About two hours later, 67-year-old Chang Wang was fatally stabbed multiple times on East 30th Street, police said.
The third victim, 36-year-old Wilma Augustin, was attacked around 10:55 a.m. at 42nd Street and First Avenue. She had multiple stab wounds and was taken to a hospital where she later died, officials said.
The suspect — who was staying at the Bellevue Men’s Shelter on East 30th Street — was apprehended around East 46th Street and First Avenue, police said.
He appeared to pick the victims at random, police said.
“He just walked up to them and began to attack them,” Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said at a news conference.
Two bloody kitchen knives were recovered, police said.
Rivera has eight prior arrests in New York City, according to law enforcement, and is believed to have severe mental health challenges, Mayor Eric Adams said. Rivera’s case renewed frustration with the city’s inability to treat people in mental distress and hold people with a history of low-level criminal activity.
“There’s a real question as to why he was on the street,” Adams said.
(LOS ANGELES, Calif.) — Police and relatives are pleading with the public to help find the driver who struck and killed a father of three in a hit-and-run in Los Angeles.
Oscar Guardado was riding his bike home in south Los Angeles when he was hit by a car just before 10 p.m. on Oct. 27, the Los Angeles Police Department said.
The driver fled and Guardado, 42, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Investigators are now asking the public to help identify the suspect’s car, described by a witness as a dark, four-door sedan, LAPD Sgt. Gabriel Nily said at a news conference Monday.
There’s no video of the collision, Nily said, but video does show many witnesses were in the area at the time.
Guardado leaves behind a 19-year-old daughter, a 17-year-old son and a 14-year-old son.
“He was the best dad for us three in every way. He never gave up on us,” Guardado’s daughter, Angeles Guardado, who started a GoFundMe for the family, told ABC News on Tuesday. “We were always his first priority. And I just want people to know that he was a hard-working dad.”
“It hurts losing a parent. And honestly, I just want to know more information” about the hit-and-run, she said. “It hurt us seeing our own father in a casket. It hurt us to see that we won’t even be getting messages from our father saying that he loves us and to be careful.”
“I really want to know who the person was, and what was the reason,” she said.
Police announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the driver’s arrest and prosecution.
“I’m just looking for justice,” Angeles Guardado said at the news conference.
(PHOENIX, Ariz) — A deaf Black man with cerebral palsy who was violently arrested by two Phoenix police officers in August said he tried to alert the officers that he was deaf before they repeatedly punched and tasered him for an alleged crime he had been falsely accused of by another suspect.
Records show that the incident occurred when officers were dispatched to investigate a report of a man causing problems and wouldn’t leave a Circle K convenience store, according to ABC affiliate in Phoenix KNXV-TV.
According to police records, the original description of the suspect was for a white man who had been creating a disturbance in the store, but that man later claimed he was assaulted by a Black man and pointed to Tyron McAlpin – a claim that was disputed by store employees and surveillance video, KNXV-TV reported.
“The officers took me down … And I told them, I was trying to get to my ears to tell them I can’t hear, I can’t hear, pointing to my ears,” McAlpin said through an interpreter as he used sign language, according to KNXV-TV. “I was trying to gesture, and that’s when the cops grabbed me. (I was) trying to show, hey I can’t hear, pointing to my ears, and they grabbed me.”
McAlpin gave his account in the hospital to a medical worker after his arrest, according to KNXV-TV. Two police officers are seen present in the body camera video during the medical examination.
The Phoenix man is seen in the footage telling medical workers he’s having trouble seeing out of his left eye and complaining of neck and chest pain, according to KNXV-TV.
“White male, 20s, grey shirt, blue shorts,” Ben Harris, one of the officers involved in detaining McAlpin, could be heard saying repeatedly to himself on the way to the call, according to the footage.
The newly released video appears to show that Harris knew the suspect was a white male.
In body-worn camera footage recorded after the arrest, employees at the store told law enforcement that the white male had gotten into a physical altercation the night before, according to KNXV-TV. The staff in the footage explains that McAlpin comes to the store regularly, holds the door for people and was trying to help the employees get the man out of the store.
Harris originally told another officer at the scene that he believed he broke a bone in his hand after striking the Phoenix man in the head, according to body camera footage obtained by ABC News in October.
Harris told a different story in court during an October hearing.
“At one point, when I was trying to regain control of his arm, following his initial swings, punch swings, it appears that these fingers were jammed in his forearm, and bent over all the way to my palm,” Harris testified, according to KNXV-TV.
The two Phoenix police officers who were involved in the arrest were placed on paid administrative leave in October amid an investigation into the incident, a spokesperson for the Phoenix Police Department confirmed to ABC News.
ABC News reached out to the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, a union representing the officers, but a request for comment was not immediately returned.
The union’s president, Darrell Kriplean, previously defended the officers’ actions in a statement to ABC News, saying that people should know what to do if uniformed officers approach and that the officers, who did now know McAlpin was deaf at the time, had to force him to comply.
McAlpin was initially charged with felony assault and resisting arrest following the Aug. 19 encounter with Phoenix police, but the charges were dropped on Oct. 17.
The decision to drop the charges against McAlpin was announced by Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, who said in a statement that she personally reviewed the case after a member of the local chapter of the NAACP expressed concern over the incident and poured through “a large volume of video recordings, police reports, and other materials that have been forwarded to my office.”
“I also convened a large gathering of senior attorneys and members of the community to hear their opinions as they pertain to this case,” Mitchell said. “I have now completed my review and have made the decision to dismiss all remaining charges against Mr. McAlpin.”
In the body camera video, police are seen pulling up to McAlpin and ordering him down to the ground. He doesn’t appear to immediately comply. The video then shows the officers punching him at least 10 times in the head and shocking him with a stun gun at least four times while yelling: “Get your hands behind your back.”
McAlpin’s attorney said that his client, who is deaf, didn’t know what was going on and could not hear the commands.
“It is our sincere hope that the County Attorney’s Office will respond to what is shown in the video and to the voices in the community who have raised alarms about what is shown in the video and will dismiss all charges against Tyron,” McAlpin’s attorney, Jesse Showalter, told ABC News in a statement on Oct. 14.
ABC News reached out to Showalter for additional comment after the newly released video became available.
Interim Phoenix Police Chief Michael Sullivan said in a statement on Oct. 16 that the Professional Standard Bureau (PSB) launched an internal investigation shortly after the incident took place.
“Their work is important to ensure all facts are known before drawing any conclusions. I ask for the public’s patience during that process,” Sullivan said.
“I recognize the video is disturbing and raises a lot of questions. I want to assure the community we will get answers to those questions,” he added.
According to Sullivan, the findings of the PSB will be reviewed by himself, as well as by the Office of Accountability and Transparency and the Civilian Review Board “to ensure it is thorough and complete.”
When ABC News asked the Phoenix Police Department if the white man who made the allegedly false allegations was charged, a spokesperson said in a statement that no additional arrests have been made at this point during the investigation.
ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — An initial investigation into possible sabotage has been launched by four NATO countries — Finland, Germany, Sweden and Lithuania — after two underwater telecommunications cables connecting Germany and Finland across the Baltic Sea were cut in two separate incidents in recent days, a European official told ABC News.
Sweden is leading the investigation, as both incidents occurred in the Swedish economic zone, a Swedish Ministry of Defense official told ABC News.
“Against the backdrop of the security situation, the government is following developments very closely and is in close contact with its authorities. It is central that greater clarity is brought to the cause of this event,” Swedish Minister for Civil Defense Carl-Oskar Bohlin told ABC News in a written statement.
The German-Finnish cable was one of two Baltic Sea connections damaged in recent days.
An underwater cable that runs between Lithuania and Sweden in the Baltic Sea was cut on Sunday around 10 a.m. local time, Telia spokesperson Audrius Stasiulaitis told ABC News. Telia is a Lithuanian telecommunications company. A cable that runs between Germany and Finland was cut on Monday around 3 p.m. local time.
“Our monitoring systems could tell there was a cut due to the traffic disruption and that the cause was not the equipment failure but physical damage to the fiber cable itself,” Stasiulaitis said.
Internet traffic was not impacted, as the company rerouted the traffic after the disruption occurred, Stasiulaitis said.
The underwater cable has been in place since 1997, Arelion spokesperson Martin Sjogren told ABC News. Arelion is a Swedish telecommunications company that operates and owns the cable.
Arelion is in touch with Swedish authorities about the incident, Sjogren said.
A repair ship will need to get on-site in order to determine the cause of the break, Sjogren said. Repair work is scheduled to start later this week and could be finished by late next week depending on the weather, Sjogren added.
The Lithuanian Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into the matter, a statement from their office said Tuesday. Swedish police have also opened a preliminary investigation into the matter, a statement from Swedish police said Tuesday.
The foreign ministries of Germany and Finland said in a joint statement on Monday they were “deeply concerned” by the severing of an undersea cable connecting the two countries across the Baltic Sea — one of two Baltic Sea connections suddenly damaged in recent days.
Finnish company Cinia reported a “fault situation” with its C-Lion-1 submarine cable on Monday afternoon, saying in a statement that an investigation and repair work were underway.
Cinia did not offer any explanation for the interruption to the connection and said undersea cable repairs generally take between five and 15 days. The 730-mile cable has connected Finland to central European communication networks since 2016.
The German Interior Ministry confirmed to ABC News that authorities believe the cable was severed by an external force near the Swedish island of Oland.
Berlin and Helsinki said they were “deeply concerned about the severed undersea cable.”
“The fact that such an incident immediately raises suspicions of intentional damage speaks volumes about the volatility of our times,” the joint foreign ministries’ statement continued.
“A thorough investigation is underway. Our European security is not only under threat from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, but also from hybrid warfare by malicious actors. Safeguarding our shared critical infrastructure is vital to our security and the resilience of our societies.”
The damage to the C-Lion-1 cable came one day after Telia Lietuva — a Swedish telecoms company in Lithuania — said one of its undersea telecommunications cables linking Lithuania and Sweden across the Baltic Sea sustained damage.
That cable — which intersects with the C-Lion-1 Finnish-German cable — was damaged on Sunday morning, company spokesperson Andrius Semeskevicius told local media.
The damaged cable has been the subject of faults and accidents in the past. But, Semeskevicius told Lithuanian National Radio and Television, “since both are damaged, it is clear that this was not an accidental dropping of one of the ship’s anchors, but something more serious could be going on.”
The cause of the damage to the cables has yet to be established. The interruptions come against a backdrop of concerns over Russian sabotage operations in Europe and elsewhere, prompted by Western support for Ukraine in its defensive war against Moscow.
The Baltic Sea has been the scene of mysterious undersea incidents in recent years, such as the sabotage attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines running from Russia to Germany in 2022.
The following year, a Chinese container ship — the Newnew Polar Bear — dragged its anchor for more than 100 nautical miles through the Gulf of Finland, damaging an undersea natural gas pipeline and two telecommunications cables. Finnish and Estonian authorities are conducting a joint criminal investigation into the incident.
ABC News’ Aicha El Hammar and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.
(ATHENS, Ga.) — The last moments before Laken Riley was killed while out on a run on the University of Georgia’s campus were shown in court Tuesday on the third day of the trial involving the murder of the 22-year-old nursing student.
The Augusta University student was found dead in a wooded area on the Athens campus on Feb. 22.
Jose Ibarra, 26, is accused of murdering Riley after prosecutors said she “refused to be his rape victim.” Ibarra, an undocumented migrant, was charged with malice murder and felony murder in connection with her death, which became a rallying cry for immigration reform from many conservatives, including President-elect Donald Trump.
On the morning of the murder, at 8:55 a.m., Riley texted her mother, “Good morning, about to go for a run if you’re free to talk,” according to University of Georgia Police Sgt. Sophie Raboud, one of the lead investigators in the case, who testified on Tuesday about Riley’s cellphone activity.
Riley called her mother at 9:03 a.m., then started listening to music, Raboud said. She was captured on a trail camera at 9:05 a.m. running with her iPhone in her left hand toward the intramural fields, Raboud said. She runs out of view of the camera at 9:06 a.m.
At 9:11 a.m., she called 911, Raboud said. Witnesses previously testified that Riley initiated the call through the SOS application on her phone. The dispatcher was not able to speak with anyone before the call was hung up and called back twice with no answer, the witnesses said.
At 9:24 a.m., Riley received a call from her mother that went unanswered, Raboud said.
At 9:38 a.m., her mother texted, “Call me when you can,” Raboud said.
Raboud said Riley’s mother continued to try to reach Riley but the calls went unanswered, before texting at 9:58 a.m., “You’re making me nervous, not answering when you’re out running. Are you OK?”
Riley received subsequent calls from her mother and sister that went unanswered, Raboud said.
At 11:47 a.m., her mother texted, “Please call me, I’m worried sick about you,” Raboud said.
Subsequent calls, including from her stepfather, also went unanswered, Raboud said.
Trail camera footage from later that morning shown in court captured Laken’s roommates, Lilly Steiner and Sofia Magana, on the trail searching for her.
Riley’s roommates reported her missing, and a University of Georgia police officer found her body at 12:38 p.m., witnesses previously testified. Data from the Garmin watch she was wearing on her run showed her heart stopped at 9:28 a.m., witnesses previously testified.
Riley had sustained significant blunt force trauma to her head, including eight injuries to the left side of her skull and an injury just above her right temple, Dr. Michelle DiMarco, who conducted her autopsy, testified on Tuesday. One of the injuries was significant enough that it caused brain bleeding and could have been fatal, she said.
There was also evidence of asphyxiation, though DiMarco said she was unable to categorize how that occurred. Her cause of death was determined to be the “combined effects of blunt force head trauma and asphyxia,” DiMarco said.
Ibarra was interviewed on Feb. 23 in connection with her death and had multiple scratches observable on his arms, police testified. His DNA was found under Riley’s fingernails, prosecutors said. A man was captured on a trail camera the morning of the murder heading toward the intramural fields shortly before 8 a.m., Raboud said.
Prosecutors said the person was wearing clothes similar to what Ibarra had on in a Snapchat selfie posted earlier that morning, including a black Adidas cap.
Ibarra was also seen discarding a bloodied jacket and disposable gloves near his apartment on Feb. 22 at 9:44 a.m., prosecutors said.
Hairs removed from the jacket were determined to have originated from Riley or “someone with hair possessing the same distinct characteristics,” Anne Kisler-Rao, with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s crime lab, testified on Tuesday.
The gloves recovered from a bush near Ibarra’s apartment were determined to have matched ones recovered from a drawer in his apartment, GBI specialist Alexander Covin testified on Tuesday. Under cross by the defense, Covin admitted that the gloves may have matched but could also have come from different sources.
Ibarra has pleaded not guilty. He waived his right to a jury trial and the case is being presented in the Athens-Clarke County courtroom to Judge H. Patrick Haggard, who will render a verdict.
Police have said they believe Ibarra — a migrant from Venezuela who officials said illegally entered the U.S. in 2022 — did not know Riley and that this was a “crime of opportunity.”
ABC News’ Janice McDonald contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday called for a halt in confirming judges until he takes office, accusing Democrats of “trying to stack the courts.”
“The Democrats are trying to stack the Courts with Radical Left Judges on their way out the door,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, urging Republican senators to “show up and hold the line.”
“No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!” Trump wrote.
The directive from the president-elect comes as Senate Democrats are expected to dedicate hours of floor time in the coming weeks as part of a last-minute effort to confirm as many of President Joe Biden’s nominees to the federal judiciary before Trump takes over in January. Senate Republicans thwarted their efforts late Monday night, a plan from their soon-to-be leader Sen. John Thune and a reversal from his previous stance on blocking confirmations of qualified judicial nominees.
Senate Republicans rebelled late Monday night, dragging out the floor process by forcing Democrats to hold time-consuming votes on procedural motions that are usually routine and otherwise mundane. Actions that should have taken minutes on the floor instead took hours.
Thune, who takes over as Republican leader of the Senate in January, took credit for the rebellion saying in a statement that Republicans would not “roll over” to appoint Biden’s nominees to the federal bench in the “final weeks of the Democrat majority.”
“If Sen. Schumer thought Senate Republicans would just roll over and allow him to quickly confirm multiple Biden-appointed judges to lifetime jobs in the final weeks of the Democrat majority, he thought wrong,” Thune said in a statement to ABC News.
Thune’s statement vowing to obstruct the judicial confirmation process in the final hours of the Biden presidency is a departure from comments he made just a few years ago toward the end of Trump’s administration. At the time, Thune touted the importance of confirming judges to the bench, saying it was “one of our most important responsibilities as senators” and one of the main reasons he ran for the Senate.
“Mr. President, confirming good judges is one of our most important responsibilities as senators. And it’s a responsibility I take very seriously,” Thune said during a floor speech on Nov. 18 2020 — after Biden won the election.
“After George W. Bush’s election, Democrats decided that the president’s judicial nominees might not deliver the results Democrats wanted. And so, they decided to adopt a new strategy — blocking judicial nominees on a regular basis,” Thune said during his remarks in 2020. “I was one of the many Americans upset by the blockade of talented, well-qualified nominees. And it was one of the main reasons I ran for the Senate. I promised South Dakotans that if they elected me, I would help put outstanding judges on the bench.”
“In fact, one of the main reasons I was first elected to the Senate was to make sure outstanding judicial nominees were confirmed to the federal bench. It’s hard to imagine now, but confirming judges used to be a pretty bipartisan affair,” Thune said at the time.
His comments from 2020 are a notable reversal from his comments this week, as Senate Republicans look to obstruct Democrats as they attempt to do the same for Biden.
Schumer though, doubled down on his efforts Tuesday, and said he expects the Senate to work late into the night again this Wednesday to get the nominees through. Senate Democrats are hoping to confirm as many judges to lifetime appointments as they can while Biden is still president.
“Members should be prepared for another late night on Wednesday to vote on the nominations I filed last night,” Schumer warned.
“Voting on the president’s judicial nominees is a core function of the Senate. It’s one of our basic responsibilities, and we’re going to carry out that responsibility as long as this majority continues. I’m very proud of the judges we’ve confirmed over the past four years under this administration, they have all been highly qualified individuals, and together, they represent a wide range of experiences and areas of expertise.”
Schumer touted the quality of judges the Senate has passed under his leadership, noting their many backgrounds and cultures and identities. He said under his watch, the Senate has confirmed a record number of women and people of color to the federal bench.
Republicans have Democrats’ record on judicial confirmations beat.
Republicans confirmed 234 of Trump’s nominees to the federal courts during his four years in office, and so far the Democrat-controlled Senate has confirmed 216 under Biden’s administration.
“We’re not done,” Schumer said on the floor Tuesday. “There are more judges to consider and confirm.”
Schumer vowed to spend the rest of the week — and the year — confirming more judges. Every judge confirmed in this lame-duck session of Congress is one fewer vacancy Trump can fill come January.
(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces continued its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza — particularly in the north of the strip — and in Lebanon, with Israeli attacks on targets nationwide including in the capital Beirut. The strikes form the backdrop for a fresh diplomatic push by the White House ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January.
Tensions also remain high between Israel and Iran after the former launched what it called “precise strikes on military targets” in several locations in Iran following Tehran’s Oct. 1 missile barrage.
US sanctions Hamas leaders as officials say group’s political wing has rebased in Turkey
The U.S. is rolling out sanctions against six senior Hamas leaders accused of facilitating the transfer of weapons and funds into Gaza to support the group’s terror activities as well as smuggling in construction materials to build the underground tunnels critical to its operations, according to the Biden administration.
“There is no distinction between Hamas’ so-called military wing and its political leadership,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement announcing the tranche of sanctions.
Three of the targeted individuals are based in Turkey, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
Despite the denials coming from Hamas and the Turkish government, two U.S. officials say that the bulk of Hamas’ political wing has now relocated to Turkey following the group’s ouster from Qatar.
The U.S. has turned a blind eye to Hamas’ relationship with NATO ally Turkey for years, which allows the U.S. designated terror group to openly recruit, fundraise and interface with its government officials.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he hopes to strengthen ties with the U.S. when President-elect Donald Trump takes office. However, Trump’s cabinet is expected to feature many staunchly pro-Israel voices who will object to Turkey’s tolerance of Hamas — potentially complicating Erdogan’s plans.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
Hospitals in northern Gaza running out of medical supplies, requesting patient transfers as attacks continue
Kamal Adwan Hospital is running out of medical supplies, and more people with cases of malnutrition are arriving at the hospital because of the lack of food and water allowed into northern Gaza, the hospital director said in comments Tuesday.
“There are a number of cases of malnutrition that have begun to arrive, including children and the elderly,” Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan hospital said.
“The health system is working under extremely harsh conditions to the point that we have started losing numbers of infected people due to the lack of medical supplies,” Abu Safia added.
At least 50 people were killed, and 110 people were injured in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Palestine Red Crescent Society transferred 15 patients from Al Awda Hospital in north Gaza to Al Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City Sunday, the ICRC said in a statement Tuesday. The patient transfers were requested by the hospitals, the ICRC said.
The organizations also delivered medical supplies to three hospitals in Gaza City Monday, the ICRC said in a post on X.
“The delivery and medical transfer came in the wake of another large-scale attack in the Beit Lahia area of the Northern Governorate, in which dozens of people were killed and many more injured,” the ICRC said.
-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz and Sami Zyara
UN peacekeepers, buildings targeted in 3 incidents in south Lebanon
United Nations peacekeeping forces in Lebanon and facilities were targeted in “three separate incidents in south Lebanon,” Tuesday, UNIFIL said in a post on X.
Four Ghanian peacekeepers on duty “sustained injures as a rocket … hit their base,” UNIFIL said in a post on X. Three of the injured peacekeepers were transferred to a hospital in Tyre, Lebanon for treatment, UNIFIL said.
In a different attack, a UNIFIL building was “impacted by five rockets,” UNIFIL said.
“In another incident, UNIFIL Sector West Headquarters in Shama was impacted by five rockets, which struck the maintenance workshop,” UNIFIL said. “Although it caused heavy damage to the workshop, no peacekeeper was injured. This was the second time this UNIFIL base was impacted by the ongoing clashes in the area in less than a week.”
In a third incident, a UNIFIL patrol was “passing through” a village, and “an armed person directly fired at the patrol,” UNIFIL said. No injuries were reported from this incident.
UNIFIL is investigating the incidents and has informed the Lebanese armed forces about them, UNIFIL said.
“UNIFIL once again reminds all actors involved in the ongoing hostilities to respect the inviolability of United Nations peacekeepers and premises,” UNIFIL said in a post on X.
5 killed, 31 injured after Israeli strike on central Beirut
At least five people were killed, 31 were injured and at least two people remain missing after an Israeli airstrike in the Zuqaq al-Blat neighborhood of central Beirut, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.
The Israeli Defense Forces did not issue a warning before conducting this airstrike on central Beirut Monday.
At least 28 people were killed and 107 were wounded across Lebanon from Israeli attacks Monday, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.
Overall, 3,544 people have been killed, and 15,036 have been injured since Israel’s increased attacks on the country began in mid-September, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said in a post on X.
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein met with Lebanese House Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut Tuesday, according to Lebanese state media.
After meeting with Hochstein for two hours, Berri said the cease-fire negotiations were “good in principle,” but warned Israel could change its minds about the proposal as it has done before.
Berri said the U.S. is managing guarantees about Israel’s position on the proposal, according to Lebanese state media.
-ABC News’ Morgan Winsor
Israel kills 5 in central Beirut strike, officials say
At least five people were killed and 31 wounded by an Israeli strike in the Zuqaq al-Blat neighborhood of central Beirut on Monday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health. Two other people are missing.
The Israel Defense Forces did not appear to issue any public evacuation order prior to the strike. ABC News has reached out to the IDF for comment on the target of the strike.
The attack made Monday the second consecutive day of Israeli strikes within central Beirut. To date, the vast majority of airstrikes on the capital have hit the southern Dahiya suburb, known as a Hezbollah stronghold.
Israel has intensified its bombardment in and around Beirut over the past week, while Hezbollah has continued missile fire into Israel. Fresh discussions are ongoing as to a potential cease-fire to end the fighting.
-ABC News’ Morgan Winsor, Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti
Israel demands ‘immediate’ action against pro-Iran militias in Iraq
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Tuesday published a letter sent to the president of the United Nations Security Council in which he called for “immediate action regarding the activity of the pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, whose territory is being used to attack Israel.”
“The Iraqi government is responsible for everything that happens on its territory,” Saar wrote, noting Israel’s right to self-defense.
“I called on the Security Council to act urgently to make sure that the Iraqi government meets its obligations under international law and to make these attacks on Israel stop,” Saar said.
Iran-backed Iraqi militias have been launching drone attacks into Israel from the east in support of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, with whom Israeli forces have been engaged since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Nearly 100 aid trucks looted: UNRWA
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Monday their aid convoy was “violently” looted over the weekend, one of the largest such cases of looting since the war began.
The 109-truck U.N. convoy was carrying food supplies to people in Gaza when it was looted on Saturday, UNRWA said.
“The vast majority of the trucks, 97 in total, were lost and drivers were forced at gunpoint to unload aid,” UNRWA said in a statement.
UNRWA said the Israel Defense Forces made the convoy leave a day earlier than planned.
The IDF has not yet commented on this incident.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Israel’s October attack damaged some of Iran’s nuclear program: Netanyahu
Israel damaged some of Iran’s nuclear program in its October attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday.
Iran’s air defense, ballistic missile production and ability to produce “solid fuel” were impacted, Netanyahu said during remarks to Israel’s parliament.
“There is a certain element of their nuclear program that was damaged in this attack,” he said, though added that its ability to operate “has not yet been thwarted.”
Netanyahu said Iran’s nuclear threat must be dealt with.
“If we don’t deal with the nuclear program, then all the other problems will come back and resurface, both in the axis, and in armaments, and in other things,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also said Israel is “currently talking about possible negotiations for a settlement” to be reached between Israel and Lebanon, but added, “Even if there is a cease-fire, no one says it will last.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
US envoy en route to Lebanon for cease-fire talks, official says
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein is on his way to Lebanon for talks on a cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel, an official familiar with the plans confirmed to ABC News.
Hochstein left from the U.S. for Lebanon on Monday, the official said.
Israel is getting close to being ready to agree to the U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal, which is very similar to the proposal that was floated by the U.S. at the end of September. The U.S. needs to see how Hezbollah feels about this proposal, which is what Hochstein aims to do during his trip, according to the official.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
4 killed in Israeli attack in Beirut: Health ministry
Four people were killed and at least 18 injured in an Israeli attack in Beirut, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said Monday.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
1 killed, 10 injured in strike on residential building in Israel: Officials
A woman was killed and 10 people injured after a Hezbollah rocket directly hit a residential building in northern Israel, Israeli emergency services said Monday.
Dozens of projectiles were fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon into Israel Monday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces said. Not all of the projectiles were intercepted, the IDF said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
US sanctions entity, 3 individuals tied to West Bank violence
The State Department said Monday it is sanctioning three individuals and one entity for allegedly undermining “peace, security, and stability in the West Bank.”
The department accuses the entity, Eyal Hari Yehuda Company LTD, of having supported Yinon Levi, an Israeli settler who was sanctioned by the Biden administration over accusations of attacks and harassment against Palestinians earlier this year.
The three impacted individuals are Itamar Levi, Shabtai Koshlevsky and Zohar Sabah, the State Department said. Itamar Levi, the brother of Yinon Levi, is being designated for his role as the owner of the aforementioned company, while Koshlevsky is accused of holding a leadership position at Hashomer Yosh, an Israeli nongovernmental organization that provides material support to U.S.-designated outposts in the West Bank and was sanctioned in August of this year.
Sabah is accused of engaging “in threats and acts of violence against Palestinians, including in their homes” as well as “a pattern of destructiveness targeting the livestock, grazing lands and homes of local Palestinians to disrupt their means of support,” the State Department said in a press release.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
Hamas denies that leaders relocated from Qatar to Turkey
Hamas denied reports in Israeli media that its leadership has relocated from Qatar to Turkey amid a breakdown in Doha-supported cease-fire talks earlier this month.
Hamas dismissed the news reports as “rumors” spread by Israeli authorities in a statement posted to its official website.
Qatar told Israel and Hamas earlier this month it could not continue to mediate cease-fire and hostage release talks “as long as there is a refusal to negotiate a deal in good faith.”
Doha is under U.S. pressure to expel Hamas leaders. A senior administration official told ABC News earlier this month that the group’s “continued presence in Doha is no longer viable or acceptable.”
-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz, Shannon K. Kingston and Somayeh Malekian
Gaza death toll nears 44,000, health officials say
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Monday that 43,922 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since Oct. 7, 2023, with nearly 104,000 more injured.
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 96 people and wounded at least 60 in Gaza through the weekend, officials said. The dead included 72 people in north Gaza and more than 20 from other areas of the strip.
Most of those killed were displaced women and children sheltering in residential buildings in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, officials said.
Beit Lahiya is at the heart of the Israel Defense Forces’ recent northern offensive, which has been accompanied with sweeping evacuation orders and spiking civilian casualties.
-ABC News’ Samy Zyara and Joe Simonetti
Hezbollah positive on US cease-fire proposal, reports say
Hezbollah responded positively to the U.S.-proposed cease-fire deal between Israel and Lebanon, Israeli and Lebanese media reported Monday.
U.S. special envoy for Lebanon Amos Hochstein is expected to arrive in Beirut on Tuesday to discuss the proposal before heading to Israel to speak with leaders there.
The proposal is reportedly based on the United Nations Security Council’s resolution 1701 that sought to end the last major cross-border conflict in 2006.
That deal ordered Hezbollah to withdraw all military units and weapons north of the Litani River, which is around 18 miles north of the Israeli border. The resolution also prohibited Israeli ground and air forces from crossing into Lebanese territory.
Israeli leaders have demanded open-ended freedom to act against threats in Lebanon, a stipulation reportedly opposed by Hezbollah and Lebanese leaders.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti
Khamenei meets with ambassador injured in pager attacks
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with the country’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, as the latter continues his recovery from injuries sustained during Israel’s detonation of Hezbollah communication devices in September.
Khamenei’s official X account posted a short video of their interaction on Monday, in which Amani told the Iranian leader he lost around half of the vision in his right eye in the attack.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Hezbollah media relations chief killed in Israeli strike
Mohammed Afif, Hezbollah’s media relations chief, was killed in an Israeli strike Sunday, Hezbollah confirmed.
The strike on central Beirut partially collapsed a building and injured three others, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
The Israel Defense Forces also confirmed Afif’s death. In a statement, the IDF said he joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and went on to become a “central and veteran figure in the organization who greatly influenced Hezbollah’s military activity.”
Citing one particular incident, the statement claimed that he had played a key role in the drone attack on Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea in October.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Pope calls for investigation to determine whether Israeli attacks on Gaza are ‘genocide’
Pope Francis, in an upcoming book to be released ahead of his 2025 jubilee, called for an investigation to determine whether Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide, according to the Vatican.
“In the Middle East, where the open doors of nations like Jordan or Lebanon continue to be a salvation for millions of people fleeing conflicts in the region: I am thinking above all of those who leave Gaza in the midst of the famine that has struck their Palestinian brothers and sisters given the difficulty of getting food and aid into their territory,” he wrote in a passage released by the Vatican.
“According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” the pope wrote. “It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”
