(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office in New York lacks the resources to meet “ambitious” deadlines imposed by the judge overseeing the Gilgo Beach serial killing case, DA Ray Tierney said Wednesday.
Tierney called on the Justice Department to release some money tied up in an ongoing investigation into the office to help defray the cost of a prosecution that he said presents “a singularly unique strain on our budget.”
Heuermann is charged in the murders of six women: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Costello, Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. The first victim was found in 1993 and the last victims were found in 2010.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Judge Timothy Mazzei said he wants to set a trial date at the next hearing, which is scheduled for Dec. 17.
Tierney called the schedule “ambitious” because of the large amount of evidence amassed in the case against Heuermann.
“I think the timeline right now is very ambitious and very compressed given the ridiculous nature of our discovery laws, where I have to provide every single piece of paper that was generated in a case that started in 1993,” Tierney said.
Tierney is asking for millions in federal asset forfeiture proceeds frozen by the Justice Department as part of an ongoing investigation into a previous district attorney. He estimated about $13 million is tied up in that investigation.
(ATLANTA) Former President Jimmy Carter has voted in the 2024 election, the Carter Center confirmed Wednesday.
Carter, the oldest living president, voted by mail on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Carter Center.
Jason Carter, the former president’s grandson, told ABC News earlier this week that the former president planned on voting for Vice President Kamala Harris in the “next couple of days.”
“It’s going to be the next couple days; the absentee ballots have gone out,” Jason Carter said.
Carter recently celebrated his 100th birthday. As he neared the milestone, his family said he was trying to live until he could vote for Harris.
Carter entered hospice care in early 2023 amid health challenges. Last year, he made a rare public appearance when he attended a memorial service for his late wife, Rosalynn Carter.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) Special counsel Jack Smith is urging the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case to reject an effort by Trump’s attorneys to throw out obstruction-related charges brought against him following a Supreme Court ruling this summer that narrowed the statute’s use against Jan. 6 rioters.
Trump’s attorneys have argued that the obstruction of an official proceeding statute should no longer apply to Trump’s alleged conduct in the indictment against him, arguing that Trump was never directly involved in obstructing the Jan. 6 vote-certification proceedings.
But Smith, in his new filing, said his recent superseding indictment clearly alleges Trump and his co-conspirators’ involvement in attempting to send fraudulent certificates to Congress that day, for then-Vice President Mike Pence to use as he presided over the certification.
“As set forth in the superseding indictment, the defendant and others began in early December 2020 to cause individuals to serve as the defendant’s purported electors in several targeted states with the intent that those individuals ‘make and send to the Vice President and Congress false certifications that they were legitimate electors,'” Smith wrote.
“Ultimately, the defendant sought” to “certify illegal votes” through “fraudulent elector certificates” that were “mailed to the President of the Senate, the Archivist of the United States, and others in connection with the January 6 proceeding to certify the 2020 presidential election results,” wrote Smith.
Trump last year pleaded not guilty to federal charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election in order to remain in power. In July, the Supreme Court ruled in a blockbuster decision that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken while in office.
Smith subsequently charged Trump in a superseding indictment that was adjusted to respect the Supreme Court’s ruling.
In his new filing, Smith also disputed arguments put forward by Trump’s attorneys that the former president “bears no factual or legal responsibility” for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
The superseding indictment “plainly alleges that the defendant willfully caused his supporters to obstruct and attempt to obstruct the proceeding by summoning them to Washington, D.C., and then directing them to march to the Capitol to pressure the Vice President and legislators to reject the legitimate certificates and instead rely on the fraudulent electoral certificates,” Smith wrote.
(BATTLE CREEK, Mich.) Hundreds of people gathered outside the WK Kellogg headquarters in Michigan on Tuesday calling for the company to hold up its promise to remove artificial dyes from its breakfast cereals sold in the U.S.
Nearly 10 years ago, Kellogg’s, the maker of Froot Loops and Apple Jacks, committed to removing such additives from its products by 2018.
While Kellogg’s has done so in other countries including Canada, which now makes Froot Loops with natural fruit juice concentrates, the cereals sold in the U.S. still contain both food dyes and a chemical preservative.
Food activist Vani Hari, also known as the Food Babe on social media, spoke to the crowd of demonstrators at the cereal giant’s offices in Battle Creek on Tuesday.
“I’m here for the moms, all the moms, who struggle to feed their children healthy food without added chemicals,” she said.
In response to the protests, Kellogg’s insisted its products are safe for consumption, saying its ingredients meet the federal standards set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The agency has said that most children experience no adverse effects from color additives, but critics argue the FDA standards were developed without any assessment for possible neurological effects.
The protests come in the wake of a new California law known as the California School Food Safety Act that bans six potentially harmful dyes in foods served in California public schools. The ban includes all of the dyes in Froot Loops, plus Blue Dye No. 2 and Green Dye No. 3.
The bill was passed by state legislators in August and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September.
Studies suggest that consumption of said dyes and colorants banned under the new California School Food Safety Act may be linked to hyperactivity and other neurobehavioral problems in some children, as the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment outlined in a 2021 report.
While there are still thousands of chemicals allowed for use in our country’s commercial food system, many of those that have been reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration have not been reevaluated for decades. Red 40, for example, was last evaluated for health risks in 1971.
Reports from the American Academy of Pediatrics align with this push to reassess the safety of artificial food coloring.
California previously made history in October 2023, when Newsom signed AB 418 into law, a first-of-its-kind bill that bans four harmful chemicals from candy, cereals, salad dressings and other processed foods in the state starting in 2027.
That law will end the use of brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben and Red Dye No. 3 in food products sold throughout the state.
(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces continued intense air and ground campaigns against Hezbollah in Lebanon and against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The uptick in offensive operations came after Israel marked the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault, and as Israeli leaders planned their response to Iran’s latest ballistic missile attack.
Local mayor killed in Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon
At least six people were killed and 43 injured in an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on Wednesday — including the city’s mayor — according to Lebanese health officials.
The strike hit the town’s municipal headquarters and came as officials met to coordinate relief efforts, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said.
“The targeting of the municipality building in Nabatieh occurred during the coordination of relief work and the preparation of aid for distribution to the residents in the cities and villages of the region who are steadfast in the face of the war they are being subjected to and against Lebanon,” Mawlawi said in a statement.
Search and rescue teams are continuing to search for survivors under the rubble of the two buildings targeted in the strike.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta and Guy Davies
Aid trucks enter Gaza, Israeli authorities say
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories organization said more than 145 aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday and 50 on Wednesday, amid allegations that Israel has failed to facilitate humanitarian relief in the northern part of the strip.
COGAT said that four bakeries are operational in northern Gaza, though it is unclear whether humanitarian organizations have been able to distribute any aid into the north.
Dozens of aid organizations published a joint statement Wednesday saying no aid has been allowed into northern Gaza since Oct. 1.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta, Diaa Ostaz, Jordana Miller and Guy Davies
Aid organizations condemn ‘horrifying level of atrocity’ in Gaza
Thirty-eight NGOs signed a new appeal to the international community to stop Israel’s latest military operation in northern Gaza, which they said has “escalated to a horrifying level of atrocity.”
“Northern Gaza is being wiped off the map,” the organizations said, describing the Israel Defense Forces’ order for civilians to leave the northern part of the territory as “forced displacement under gunfire.”
Around 400,000 people are estimated to be subject to the north Gaza evacuation order. Hospitals — already “overwhelmed” according to the NGOs — and their staff are also being ordered to evacuate, with the IDF declaring the area a dangerous combat zone.
Israeli officials have denied they are implementing the so-called “Generals’ Plan,” a proposal by retired Israeli military leaders to put north Gaza under siege and declare anyone who does not evacuate to be a valid military target.
“The world cannot continue to stand by as the Israeli government commits these atrocities,” the NGOs wrote. “We demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel’s illegal occupation.”
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
IDF claims killing of Hamas drone commander in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday it killed a Hamas drone commander in an airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip.
The IDF said Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was Hamas’ UAV commander in the northern part of the territory.
The IDF said on social media that Mabhouh was responsible for launching unmanned aircraft towards Israel and against Israeli forces.
Israel resumes Beirut airstrikes
Israel launched its first airstrike on Beirut in nearly a week early on Wednesday.
The Israel Defense Forces claimed a strike “on strategic weapons belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization” in the capital’s southern Dahiya suburb. It was the first such attack in the capital since a strike killed 22 people on Oct. 10.
“These weapons were stockpiled by Hezbollah in an underground storage facility in the area of Dahiya, a key Hezbollah terrorist stronghold in Beirut,” the IDF wrote on X.
The strike came shortly after a new evacuation order issued online by IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee for residents of the Haret Hreik area of southern Beirut.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Hezbollah has the right to ‘target any point’ within Israel, acting leader says
Hezbollah’s acting leader Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said Hezbollah has the “right to target any point within the enemy’s entity” in a prerecorded video address released Tuesday.
“The occupation seeks to destroy and eliminate everything that stands in its way, but the resistance is prepared to confront it and establish a new equation based on inflicting pain on the enemy,” Qassem said. “We have the right to target any point within the enemy’s entity, and we will choose the appropriate time and place to do so.”
Delta pauses JFK-Tel Aviv flights through March 31
Delta will pause flights between New York’s JFK International Airport and Tel Aviv through March 31 due to “ongoing conflict in the region,” the airline said Tuesday.
Travel waivers will be issued to customers impacted by the change, the airline said.
“As always, the safety of customers and crew remains paramount,” Delta said. “Customers should be prepared for possible adjustments to Delta’s TLV flight schedule, including additional cancellations on a rolling basis.”
UK issues sanctions in response to continued violence in the West Bank
The United Kingdom announced sanctions against Israeli settler outposts and four organizations in response to “continued violence by extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank,” Tuesday, according to a release from the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
The sanctions target outposts and organizations “that have supported, incited and promoted violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank,” the U.K. said in a statement.
“When I went to the West Bank earlier this year, on one of my first trips as Foreign Secretary, I met with Palestinians whose communities have suffered horrific violence at the hands of Israeli settlers. The inaction of the Israeli government has allowed an environment of impunity to flourish where settler violence has been allowed to increase unchecked. Settlers have shockingly even targeted schools and families with young children,” U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a statement.
“Today’s measures will help bring accountability to those who have supported and perpetrated such heinous abuses of human rights. The Israeli government must crack down on settler violence and stop settler expansion on Palestinian land. As long as violent extremists remain unaccountable, the UK and the international community will continue to act,” Lammy said.
Gazan soccer player killed alongside 9 family members
Emad Abu Tai’ma, a 20-year-old Gazan soccer player, was killed alongside nine members of his family, after a strike hit a house in Bani Sahalia where the family was sheltering early Tuesday morning, according to local health officials.
It took rescuers over two hours to free Abu Tai’ma’s body from the rubble, a Gaza Ministry of Health spokesperson told ABC News.
Abu Tai’ma was a soccer player for the Khan Yunis-Tokyo Union for about a year before he was killed, his friend, 19-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Muzain, told ABC News.
“We studied together in one of the Bani Suhaila schools east of Khan Younis. Imad was a smart student, and he was a famous player even in school. I have not seen him for eight months due to the repeated and continuous displacement. I feel very sad for his loss. He was displaced in a house belonging to the Baraka family, and he is a civilian,” Al-Muzain said.
The Palestinian Football Association confirmed Emad’s death and reflected on his soccer career playing for Ittihad Khan Yunis Club and the Palestinian national soccer team.
“With the passing of Abu Taima, the number of martyrs of the Palestinian sports and scouting movement, as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression since October 7, has risen to 455 martyrs, including 314 in football (87 children, 227 young men), in addition to 90 martyrs from the Olympic sports federations, and 50 martyrs from the scouting movement. The occupation forces also destroyed 57 sports facilities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” the association said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Dia Ostaaz
At least 29 killed in northern Israel amid fighting with Hezbollah
At least 29 civilians were killed in northern Israel amid fighting with Hezbollah, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office.
Twenty-nine Israeli soldiers were also killed in the north, according to the prime minister’s office.
Attacks on hospitals, health workers jeopardize health care in Lebanon, WHO warns
Nearly half of the health care centers and dispensaries in conflict-affected areas in Lebanon are now closed, jeopardizing access to health care, according to the World Health Organization
“Increasing conflict, intense bombardment and insecurity are forcing a growing number of health facilities to shut down, particularly in the south,” the WHO said in a statement Tuesday. “Hospitals have had to close or evacuate due to structural damage or their proximity to areas of intense bombardment.”
The World Health Organization said it has verified 23 attacks on health care in Lebanon, killing 72 and injuring 43 health workers and patients since the escalation of hostilities on Sept. 17.
Fifteen incidents impacted health facilities and 14 impacted health transport, according to WHO.
Northern Gaza cut off from food aid, health systems have ‘all but collapsed,’ aid groups warn
Escalating violence in northern Gaza is having “a disastrous impact on food security for thousands of Palestinian families,” the United Nations World Food Programme warned on Tuesday as aid groups issue sharp warnings.
“The north is basically cut off and we’re not able to operate there,” Antoine Renard, WFP country director for Palestine, said in the release. “WFP has been on the ground since the onset of the crisis. We are committed to delivering life-saving food every day despite the mounting challenges, but without safe and sustained access, it is virtually impossible to reach the people in need.”
Over 90,000 children in Gaza vaccinated in second round of polio vaccine campaign
Over 92,800 children in Gaza were vaccinated on Monday, the first day of the second phase of the polio vaccine campaign, the United Nations Children’s Fund said Tuesday.
“Despite the incredibly complex situation in Gaza, the second phase of Gaza’s polio vaccination campaign began smoothly yesterday, reaching over 92,800 children with polio vaccines and administering Vitamin A to more than 76,000 children between the ages of 2 and 10,” UNICEF said in a statement Tuesday.
“This campaign is crucial not only for preventing the resurgence of polio but also for safeguarding the long-term health of Gaza’s children, who are already facing huge vulnerability due to ongoing conflict, restricted access to healthcare, and malnutrition. Each dose of the vaccine is a lifeline, in an environment where every safeguard counts,” UNICEF said.
The health systems in northern Gaza have “all but collapsed,” United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said.
Lazzarini said they are “unable to reach” UNRWA teams in northern Gaza “due to telecommunications cuts.”
The Israel Defense Forces said they are assisting patients, personnel and hospital staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza “to other functioning hospitals in Gaza,” in a statement Tuesday. An Israeli agency that manages logistics inside of Gaza, including the flow of aid into Gaza, is leading the transfer of patients and staff, the IDF said.
Three hospitals in northern Gaza are inside of the zone where Israeli forces have asked people to evacuate.
The IDF also acknowledged they have been operating “in the Jabalia area” in northern Gaza for “over a week,” in a statement Tuesday. The IDF claims they conducted “targeted raids on dozens of terrorist infrastructure sites in the area, eliminated dozens of terrorists, and confiscated numerous weapons,” in the Jabaliya area during operations there, the statement said.
-ABC News’ Sami Zyara, Diaa Ostaz and Jordana Miller
US sends letter to Israel demanding it improve humanitarian situation in Gaza
U.S. officials sent a letter to Israeli officials demanding that Israel take steps within 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, or Israel will face consequences with a potential change in U.S. policy, two Israeli sources confirmed to ABC News.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sent a letter to Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant Monday focusing on increasing the supply of humanitarian aid into Gaza by the beginning of winter, facilitating the aid delivery route through Jordan and ending the “isolation” of northern Gaza.
“Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures may have implications for US policy under NSM-20 and relevant US law,” the letter stated.
The National Security Memorandum, or NSM-20, states the secretaries of State and Defense are “responsible for ensuring that all transfers of defense articles and defense services” by the departments under “any security cooperation or security assistance authorities are conducted in a manner consistent with all applicable international and domestic law and policy, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” according to the law.
Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed Austin and Blinken sent a letter to their Israeli counterparts over humanitarian conditions in Gaza, but refused to give additional details.
“I can confirm that Secretary Austin with Secretary Blinken, they co-signed a letter that went to their Israeli counterparts. This was personal, private correspondence, so I’m not going to get into more specifics of it, other than it was expressing concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza,” Singh said on Tuesday.
The letter was first reported by Israeli media and Axios reporter Barak Ravid.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Dorit Long and Matt Seyler
25% of Lebanon under Israeli evacuation orders, UN says
Over 25% of Lebanon is now under Israeli evacuation orders as Israeli airstrikes continue to increase the number of areas impacted, according to the United Nations refugee agency.
“We have over 25% of the country under a direct Israeli military evacuation order. Just yesterday, we had another 20 villages issued with an evacuation order in the south of the country,” Rema Imseis, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees director for the Middle East, said Tuesday.
“In a country of that size, which is relatively small, and a population that’s estimated around 5 million people, you can imagine how dramatic it is that over 1 million people are now without shelter and on the move … being forced to flee their homes in search of safety,” Imseis said.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
‘Impossible’ to separate conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza, Hezbollah leader says
Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said it is “impossible to separate Lebanon’s front from Palestine,” in a recorded video address released on Tuesday.
There had been speculation over whether Hezbollah would be open to a cease-fire agreement that didn’t include Gaza.
Israeli officials have asserted that the aim in Lebanon is to return Israelis home to the north and separate the war in the north from the war in Gaza.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
US troops arrive in Israel to support THAAD deployment
Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement Tuesday that American troops are already in Israel to support the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to the country.
“An advance team of U.S. military personnel and initial components” required to operate the system arrived in Israel on Monday, Ryder said.
“Over the coming days, additional U.S. military personnel and THAAD battery components will continue to arrive in Israel,” he added.
“The battery will be fully operational capable in the near future, but for operations security reasons we will not discuss timelines,” Ryder said.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
10 members of 1 family killed in Khan Younis strike
Ten members of the same family were killed in an airstrike in southern Gaza early on Tuesday, a health ministry official told ABC News.
The strike hit a house in Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis, at 12:30 a.m. local time Tuesday morning, local health officials said.
Ten members of the Abu Tai’ma family were killed, including three children aged 7, 8 and 11, a spokesperson for the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry told ABC News.
The Israel Defense Forces is yet to comment on the strike.
-ABC News’ Dia Ostaaz and Guy Davies
Israeli police officer killed in shooting attack
The Israel Police said in a statement Tuesday that an officer was killed in a shooting attack near the southern city of Ashdod.
The attacker shot the officer and then “continued on a shooting spree and wounded four more civilians,” police said. The attacker was then “neutralized by a civilian,” police said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Netanyahu listening to US ‘opinions’ in Iran attack planning
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday “our national interests” will be the prime consideration in Israel’s response to Iran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack.
Netanyahu was responding to a Washington Post report suggesting he had assured the U.S. that Israel would target Iranian military — and not nuclear or oil infrastructure — targets in its planned retaliation for Tehran’s recent missile barrage.
“We listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interests,” the prime minister’s office said in a post on X.
Iran accuses Israel, US of ‘psychological operation’
Iran’s mission to the United Nations has denied “any role in the planning, decision-making, or execution” of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack against Israel, as Tehran braces for an expected Israeli response to its Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack.
In a statement posted to social media, the mission said Iran’s assistance to the “Resistance Front” — which includes forces like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen — is “a matter of common knowledge and an obvious fact.”
“However, dragging Iran or Hezbollah into the Oct. 7 operation represents a fabricated conclusion and a cynical attempt to mislead public opinion — all aimed at covering up the Israeli regime’s major intelligence failure in relation to Hamas,” the mission said.
The mission accused “certain American media outlets” of having “morphed into tools for disseminating this psychological operation.”
Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct. 8 in support of Hamas. The group has vowed to continue its attacks until Israeli forces conclude a cease-fire in Gaza and withdraw from the devastated Palestinian territory.
Israel targeting civilian infrastructure in north Gaza, UNRWA chief says
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said Tuesday that “two long weeks” of Israeli military operations have “all but collapsed” the health system in northern Gaza.
“Hundreds of Palestinians are reported killed, among them children,” Lazzarini wrote on X. “More than 400,000 people continue to be trapped in the area.”
“We are not able to reach our teams due to telecommunications cuts,” he added. “The U.N. has not been allowed to provide any assistance, including food” since Sept. 30, he said. “The two crossing points into northern Gaza have been closed since.”
The Israel Defense Forces is pressing its operation in north Gaza around the Jabalia refugee camp, which the Palestinian Civil Defense said has been put under “complete siege.” The IDF said Tuesday it had “eliminated dozens of terrorists over the past day” there with the assistance of airstrikes.
Lazzarini said the camp is the worst affected part of northern Gaza. Around 50,000 people have fled, while basic UNRWA services have been interrupted or forced to halt, he added.
“Such attacks, the sabotage of civilian infrastructure and the deliberate denial of critical assistance continue to be used as a tactic by the Israeli authorities to force people to flee,” he said.
“Civilians are given no choice but to either leave or starve.”
“In Gaza, too many red lines have been crossed,” Lazzarini said. “What might constitute war crimes can still be prevented.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
IDF claims 230 strikes in Lebanon, Gaza in 24 hours
The Israel Defense Forces said in a Tuesday statement it struck “over 230 terrorist targets throughout the past day” as it continues its operations in Lebanon and Gaza.
The force claimed to have “eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters combat” and airstrikes in southern Lebanon, along with the dismantling of “Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure” and the discovery of “vast quantities of weaponry.”
In north Gaza, the IDF continued its intense operation around the Jabalia refugee camp. The Palestinian Civil Defense said the area has been put under “complete siege.”
The IDF said its forces “have eliminated dozens of terrorists over the past day” with the assistance of airstrikes.
Fighting is also ongoing in the south of the strip. There, “troops eliminated multiple terrorists and dismantled terrorist infrastructure,” the IDF said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
100 US soldiers will go to Israel with THAAD deployment
On Monday, U.S. Army leaders said the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to Israel will include approximately 100 soldiers to operate it.
“The THAAD deployment is going to have about 100 soldiers who will go over to Israel,” Christine Wormuth, the secretary of the U.S. Army said at the Army’s annual AUSA conference.
Wormuth did not provide operational or timing details about the deployment of the THAAD system or its deployment for security and force protection reasons.
“I think we should view this THAAD deployment as for what it is, which is another visible statement of our commitment to the security of Israel as it deals with everything that’s coming at it from Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon,” said Wormuth.
A U.S. official told ABC News that discussions about deploying the THADD system to Israel in order to shore up its defenses against ballistic missile barrages have been underway for months.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez and Shannon Kingston
Northern Gaza still waiting for food supplies, group says
Thirty trucks carrying flour and food entered Gaza on Monday, according to Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli agency that oversees logistical coordination within the Gaza Strip.
This aid was meant for northern Gaza, COGAT said. However, a spokesperson for the World Food Programme told ABC News it has not yet reached the people there.
“Israel is not denying the entry of humanitarian aid, with an emphasis on food, into the Gaza Strip,” COGAT said in response to an inquiry from ABC News.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Guy Davies
IDF claims it killed head of Hamas Aerial unit
Samer Abu Daqqa, the head of Hamas’ Aerial Unit, has been killed, the Israel Defense Forces claimed in a statement Monday.
Abu Daqqa was killed during an Israeli airstrike in September, the IDF said, but did not say where the attack took place.
— ABC News’ David Brenna and Julia Reinstein
54 killed, 258 wounded in Lebanon in past 24 hours
In the past 24 hours, 54 people have been killed and 258 have been wounded in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
The total number of casualties since Israel’s increased attacks on Lebanon in mid-September is now 2,309 people killed and 10,782 people injured, the ministry said.
A situational report from the Lebanese Prime Minister’s Office on Monday said 200 airstrikes and shellings were recorded in various parts of Lebanon over the past 48 hours.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a release Monday that they found an underground compound in southern Lebanon stocked with “weapons, ammunition and motorcycles ready to be used in an invasion into Israel.”
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Jordana Miller
Netanyahu: ‘We will continue to hit Hezbollah mercilessly in all parts of Lebanon’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “will continue to hit Hezbollah mercilessly in all parts of Lebanon” while visiting the Golani camp, which was hit by a Hezbollah drone Sunday evening, killing four IDF soldiers and injuring dozens.
“I want to make it clear: We will continue to hit Hezbollah mercilessly in all parts of Lebanon — also in Beirut, all according to operational considerations. We have proven this in recent times, and we will continue to prove it in the coming days as well,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu extended his condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers and said he would visit the injured later on Monday.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Doctors Without Borders staffer killed in northern Gaza
A Doctors Without Borders staffer has been killed in northern Gaza, the organization announced Monday.
Nasser Hamdi Abdelatif Al Shalfouh, 31, was struck by shrapnel Tuesday and died of injuries to his legs and chest two days later, according to the organization.
He is survived by his wife and two children.
In a statement, Doctors Without Borders condemned Israeli forces for having “systematically dismantled the health system in Gaza, impeding access to life-saving care for people.”
“He was unable to receive the necessary level of care due to the hospital’s lack of capacity and an overwhelming number of patients in the facility,” the organization said of Al Shalfouh.
Al Shalfouh joined Doctors Without Borders as a driver in March 2023, but had not been able to work for them recently as operations have been impacted by the war, the group said.
He is the seventh Doctors Without Borders staffer to be killed in Gaza since the war began, the organization added.
“We are horrified by the killing of our colleague which we strongly condemn and call yet again for the respect and protection of civilians,” the NGO said. “In this tragic moment, our thoughts are with his family and all colleagues mourning his death.”
Americans in Lebanon should ‘depart now,’ embassy says
American citizens in Lebanon “are strongly encouraged to depart now,” the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said in a new alert Monday.
The embassy has been urging Americans to depart Lebanon via commercial flights in recent weeks. Monday’s warning was the starkest yet.
The embassy noted it had helped add thousands of extra seats to commercial flights to help Americans leave amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
“Much of this capacity has gone unused,” Monday’s alert said. “Please understand that these additional flights will not continue indefinitely.”
“U.S. citizens who choose not to depart at this time should prepare contingency plans should the situation deteriorate further,” the embassy said.
“These alternative plans should not rely on the U.S. government for assisted departure or evacuation,” the notice read.
The embassy has been warning citizens not to travel to Lebanon since July.
Airstrike kills 18 in north Lebanon, Red Cross says
Eighteen people were killed and four wounded in an airstrike in the town of Aitou in northern Lebanon on Monday, the Lebanese Red Cross wrote on X.Seven Red Cross teams were dispatched to the area in the Zgharta district, the organization said. “Our teams are working to provide first aid and evacuate the wounded,” it added.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Guy Davies
Hezbollah launches dozens of cross-border attacks, marking daily record
Hezbollah issued 38 statements claiming cross-border attacks into Israel on Sunday — the highest tally since renewed fighting began on Oct. 8, 2023, per ABC News’ count.
The attacks included the drone strike on an Israel Defense Forces training base in northern Israel, which killed four soldiers and injured 55.
Hezbollah has expanded its attacks into Israel despite the IDF’s monthslong campaign of targeted killings of top commanders and airstrikes on Hezbollah military facilities and weapons caches.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Guy Davies
IDF claims killing of Hezbollah anti-tank commander
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday it killed a Hezbollah commander responsible for anti-tank missile forces.
The IDF said in a statement posted to social media that Muhammad Kamal Naim was killed in an airstrike in the Nabatieh region of southern Lebanon.
Naim, it said, was responsible for the elite Radwan Force’s anti-tank weapons.
Naim “was responsible for planning and carrying out many terrorist plots, including firing anti-tank missiles at the Israeli rear,” the IDF wrote.
Israel kills 20 in strike on UNRWA school, health ministry says
At least 20 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East school-turned-shelter in central Gaza, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said.
The school was being used to shelter displaced people in Nuseirat camp, health authorities said. It was bombed on Sunday.
The school was earmarked for use in the planned second round of the Gaza polio vaccination campaign, which was due to begin on Monday.
-ABC News Diaa Ostaz and Guy Davies
10 killed amid ‘total siege’ in northern Gaza
Ten people were killed in shelling at an aid distribution center in the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza on Monday morning, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the strip.
The area has been the focus of intense recent Israeli military activity, with the Israel Defense Forces reporting fierce fighting with Hamas militants there.
The IDF has ordered residents of northern Gaza — of whom there are an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 — to leave the region, which it has classified as a military zone.
Hamas is urging residents to stay, suggesting Israel will not allow those who leave to return.
Gaza’s Civil Defense said there was a “complete siege” of Jabalia. Aid agencies have said that no food has been allowed to enter the north of Gaza since Oct. 1.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta and Guy Davies
Israel to probe deadly drone attack on troops, Gallant says
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the scene of a deadly Hezbollah drone strike in northern Israel on Monday, telling soldiers there the incident “was a difficult event with painful results.”
Four troops were killed and 55 wounded in Sunday’s attack on the Golani Training Base close to the town of Binyamina, some 20 miles south of Haifa.
“We must investigate it, study the details and implement lessons in a swift and professional manner,” Gallant said, according to a Defense Ministry readout.
“We are concentrating significant efforts in developing solutions to address the threat of UAV attacks,” he added
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
IDF claims 200 strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday its warplanes targeted around 200 “Hezbollah terror targets” in its continuing operation against the Iranian-backed group in southern Lebanon.
The targets included “launchers, anti-tank missile launch posts, terrorist infrastructure and weapons storage facilities containing launchers, anti-tank missiles, RPG launchers and munitions,” the IDF wrote on X.
Ground forces, meanwhile, “eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters encounters and aerial strikes” in their ongoing cross-border incursion, the force reported.
The IDF is still describing its ground operation as consisting of “limited, localized, targeted raids” in southern areas close to the border.
Airstrikes, though, continue across southern Lebanon. Around a quarter of all Lebanese territory is under IDF evacuation orders and some 1.2 million civilians are displaced, according to the government in Beirut.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Hezbollah drone attack on IDF base ‘painful,’ commander says
The Israel Defense Forces identified the four soldiers killed in a Hezbollah drone attack on a training base in the north of the country on Sunday.
Sgt. Omri Tamari, Sgt. Yosef Hieb, Sgt. Yoav Agmon and Sgt. Amitay Alon were killed, an IDF press release said. The strike occurred at the Golani Training Base close to the town of Binyamina, some 20 miles south of Haifa.
Around 55 more are reported to have been injured.
IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi addressed Golani Brigade troops on Sunday night following the attack.
“We are at war, and an attack on a training base in the rear is difficult and the results are painful,” the commander said according to a post on the IDF’s official Telegram channel.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Israel strike on Gaza hospital kills 4, wounds dozens
At least four people were killed and 40 others wounded Monday in an Israeli airstrike on tents housing displaced Palestinians inside the Al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gaza’s city of Deir al-Balah, health officials said.
The Israeli military said it targeted militants operating from a command center inside the compound. Israel accuses Hamas of routine use of civilian facilities such as hospitals for military purposes — a charge Hamas denies.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Defense Secretary Austin discusses safety of UNIFIL forces with Israel’s Gallant
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant by phone on Sunday to express his condolences for the IDF soldiers killed in a Hezbollah drone attack and discuss the IDF’s military operations in Lebanon.
According to a readout of the call from the Pentagon, Austin, “reinforced the importance of Israel taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of UNIFIL forces and Lebanese Armed Forces, and the need to pivot from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway to provide security for civilians on both sides of the border as soon as feasible.”
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon established by the U.N. Security Council.
The conversation comes after the IDF has repeatedly fired on the UNIFIL headquarters in southern Lebanon.
Additionally, Secretary Austin “reaffirmed the deep U.S. commitment to Israel’s security,” which he says is demonstrated by the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).
According to the Department of Defense, THAAD employs interceptor missiles, using “hit-to-kill” technology, to destroy threat missiles.
During the call, Austin “again raised concern for the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and stressed that steps must be taken soon to address it,” the Pentagon said.
At least 3 killed in IDF strike on Gaza hospital
At least three people were killed and dozens more were injured after Israel Defense Forces struck Al Aqsa Hospital in Gaza on Sunday.
(TAMPA, FL) — The former owner of a dog that was left tied to a post off a Florida highway in floodwaters ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall has been arrested for animal cruelty, officials announced Tuesday.
The dog was found up to its chest in floodwaters off Interstate 75 in Tampa on Oct. 9, as many residents were evacuating due to Milton, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
A state trooper rescued the dog, now known as Trooper, the department said. Florida Highway Patrol shared a video on social media last week of the dog tied to the post with the caption, “Do NOT do this to your pets please…”
The former owner of the dog — identified by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles as Giovanny Aldama Garcia, 23, of Ruskin, Florida — was arrested on Monday for aggravated animal cruelty, a felony.
State Attorney Suzy Lopez, whose office is prosecuting the case, also announced the arrest on Tuesday, saying, “We take this crime very seriously and this defendant will face the consequences of his actions.”
Aldama Garcia was released Tuesday on $2,500 cash bond, according to online jail records. ABC News’ attempts to reach him were unsuccessful. Online court records do not list any attorney information.
(PHOENIX, AZ) — A disabled Black man in Arizona faces multiple charges after a pair of Phoenix police officers punched him and shocked him with a stun gun. Tyron McAlpin, who is deaf and has cerebral palsy, faces charges of felony assault and resisting arrest.
The incident, which took place on Aug. 19, was captured on both surveillance video and police body-worn camera. The officers said they were investigating an assault at a nearby Circle K and McAlpin fit the description of the suspect given by a bystander. However, the original description of the suspect was for a white man who had been creating a disturbance in the store. They also claimed that McAlpin became combative and tried to run when they approached him.
McAlpin’s lawyers said the video shows otherwise.
In the 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 10 times in the head and shocking him with a stun gun four times while yelling “Get your hands behind your back.” McAlpin’s attorney said he didn’t know what was going on and could not hear the commands.
A union for the department’s officers argues that people should know what to do if a police car comes up and uniformed officers approach and that the officers had to force McAlpin to comply not knowing he was deaf at the time. The union also said McAlpin took a fighting stance and bit the officers.
“After reviewing all evidence presented, Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner Nick Saccone determined there was sufficient evidence for the felony charges against the suspect due to his actions against the officers,” Phoenix Law Enforcement Association President Darrell Kriplean said. A Maricopa County judge has ruled there was probable cause for the arrest and is cause for the charges.
The department said it stood behind the officers and suggested people avoid making judgments about the incident until all the evidence is reviewed rather than focusing entirely on an excerpt of the footage. The police department is investigating the arrest.
The incident came after the Department of Justice in June released a report concluding that the Phoenix Police Department engaged in civil rights violations including racial discrimination and bias against the disabled. Their investigation found “systemic problems” within the department’s policies, training, supervision and accountability systems that were “perpetuated” for years.
The DOJ opened its investigation in August 2021 after complaints about use of excessive force among Phoenix police. The department said it welcomed this inquiry to help them understand how they can better serve the community.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — For a second day this week, Vice President Kamala Harris is focusing on a key voting bloc that is a critical base for the Democratic Party: Black men.
On Tuesday, Harris will participate in an audio town hall event with Charlemagne tha God, host for the popular “The Breakfast Club” podcast. Also on Tuesday, the vice president is meeting with Black entrepreneurs in Detroit.
Her events come a day after her campaign rolled out a comprehensive plan — just three weeks until the election — to help Black men “get ahead” economically, which includes providing one million fully forgivable loans to Black entrepreneurs and an effort to invest in Black male teachers.
In an interview on “Roland Martin Unfiltered,” also released on Monday, Harris argued that economic policies that consider “historical barriers” facing Black people benefit all Americans.
“If you have public policy, and I’m talking about economic public policy specifically at this point, but if you have public policy that recognizes historical barriers and what we need to do then to overcome,” Harris said. “First, speak truth about them and then overcome them, that in the process of doing that, not only are you directly dealing with the injustices and the legal and procedural barriers that have been focused on Black folks, but by eliminating those barriers, everyone actually benefits, right?”
The focus on Black voters comes after former President Barack Obama sternly chided Black men over “excuses” to not vote for Harris while speaking to a group of Black at a campaign field office in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood last week.
“You have [Trump], who has consistently shown disregard, not just for the communities, but for you as a person, and you’re thinking about sitting out?” Obama asked. “And you’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses?”
Harris is polling ahead of Trump with Black voters who are registered to vote, 82-13%, according to the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll. That compares with 87-12% in the 2020 exit poll (a slight 5 points lower for Harris; no better for Trump). Black men are at 76-18% (compared with 79-19% four years ago), the poll found.
These differences from 2020 aren’t statistically significant, and Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock said he agrees.
“I don’t buy this idea that there will be huge swaths of Black men voting for Donald Trump. That’s not going to happen. What I would urge folks to do is to show up, to understand that if you don’t vote, that is a vote for Donald Trump. That’s the concern.,” said Warnock on a Tuesday campaign call with reporters.
Part of the Harris campaign’s plan for Black men includes legalizing recreational marijuana nationwide. Such a move would “break down unjust legal barriers that hold Black men and other Americans back,” the campaign said in its release.
This takes the Biden administration’s current stance, which includes pardoning people convicted of marijuana possession, a step further. For Harris’ part, such a proposal is evidence of her evolving position. She has become more progressive since her time as attorney general of California when she was heavily criticized for aggressively prosecuting weed-related crimes.
Asked if she ever smoked by Charlamagne tha God back in 2019, Harris responded, “I have. And I inhaled — I did inhale. It was a long time ago. But, yes.”
She went on to clarify that she believes in legalizing the substance.
“I have had concerns, the full record, I have had concerns, which I think — first of all, let me just make this statement very clear, I believe we need to legalize marijuana,” she said. “Now, that being said — and this is not a ‘but,’ it is an ‘and’ — and we need to research, which is one of the reasons we need to legalize it. We need to move it on the schedule so that we can research the impact of weed on a developing brain. You know, that part of the brain that develops judgment, actually begins its growth at age 18 through age 24.”
Her answer garnered backlash due to her record prosecuting the substance, particularly given the racial disparities in punishment nationwide. Harris’ new proposal looks to correct those historical inequities.
But is it enough?
In addition to the new proposals, Harris has aggressively been campaigning in Black communities in the past week, stopping at several local Black-owned businesses and churches in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan as well as appearing on several media programs with predominately Black audiences.
In September, Harris told a group of Black reporters in a moderated conversation hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists that she was “working to earn the vote, not assuming I’m going to have it because I am Black.”
Her campaign launched a “Black Men Huddle” organizing call on Monday, which featured remarks from campaign senior officials Tony West, Brian Nelson, Quentin Fulks and Rep. Cedric Richmond. Later, there was a weekly event focused on Black men supporting Harris featuring actor Don Cheadle.
“What the vice president is doing is giving us the tools to be able to go and have meaningful, impactful conversations when Black men turn back around to us and say, ‘Well, what’s in it for me,’ I think that we have policy and tools like this that we can say exactly that,” said Fulks.
Doc Rivers, who interviewed Harris for his “ALL the SMOKE” podcast on Monday, said he agreed with Obama’s comments last week and pushed for Black men to cast their ballots.
“I agree 100% with President Obama — it’s unacceptable not to vote. When you look back at what your parents and your grandparents had to do to get the right to vote, that’s unacceptable for me,” said Rivers. “But there are Black men who out there that feel hopeless, they don’t believe a vote helps them in either way, and I’m here to tell them they’re wrong.”
ABC News interviewed Black men in Pittsburgh’s predominately Black Homewood Brushton neighborhood last Friday about their impressions of Harris and what she needed to do to get their vote.
Aquail Bey, a student at The Community College of Allegheny County and president of its veterans club, said Harris needs to meet them where they are and genuinely speak with them.
“She’s doing a good job right now, but I think she should have — go to places where they are, you know, meet them on their own terms, you know. Go to the neighborhoods where they are, go to the barber shops … ” Bey said. “Wherever the Black men are, go to where they are, speak to them a way that they understand.”
Aaron Stuckey said people shouldn’t assume Black men aren’t getting behind Harris.
“Just poll us instead of assuming that that’s where we’re not going,” he said.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday declined to say if he’s been in touch with Russian President Vladimir Putin since he left the White House but said it would have been smart if he had.
“Well, I don’t comment on that, but I will tell you that if I did, it’s a smart thing,” Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg Editor-In-Chief John Micklethwait at the Chicago Economic Club. “If I’m friendly with people, if I have a relationship with people, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing.”
Trump’s interactions with Putin have been the source of speculation since journalist Bob Woodward’s book reported that the two have communicated multiple times since Trump left the presidency in early 2021.
Throughout his presidency, Trump praised Putin, including saying he believed Russian intelligence over the U.S. intelligence community with regard to Moscow’s efforts to meddle in the 2016 election.
Trump last week flatly denied during an interview with ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl that the two leaders had recently been in touch.
“So, you haven’t spoken to him since you left the White House? Karl asked Trump. “No, I have not. That’s false.”
Despite repeatedly touting his close relationship with Putin in the Tuesday interview, Trump insisted he was tough on him, again saying he terminated the Nord Stream II pipeline.
“I said I don’t comment on those things,” Trump said when Micklethwait repeatedly followed up.
Trump also insisted that the 2020 election ended with a peaceful transition of power despite the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a pro-Trump mob on the U.S. Capitol.
“People were angry,” Trump said of the reaction to the election results before noting that he traveled home to Florida the day President Joe Biden was inaugurated.
“And it was love and peace. And some people went to the Capitol and a lot of strange things happened there. A lot of strange things with people being waved into the Capitol by police, with people screaming, ‘Go in,'” Trump said.
Looking forward to a possible second Trump administration, the former president defended his plans to slap significant tariffs on many imports, which critics have said will amount to a sales tax on American consumers.
Micklethwait opened up the conversation with a critique from multiple economists — a concern that his proposals for tax cuts would raise the national debt by trillions. Trump reiterated his claim that a major growth from his proposals would make up for the cuts, saying the auto industry and other factories will come back to the United States.
“We’re all about growth. We’re going to bring companies back to our country,” Trump said. “And we’re going to bring the companies back. We’re going to lower taxes still further for companies that are going to make their product in the USA.”
Trump claimed that he’s not going to allow foreign companies to sell a single car in the United States, throwing out self-admittedly random numbers for tariffs like “100%, 200% or 2,000%.”
“The higher the tariff, the more likely it is that the company will come into the United States and build a factory in the United States so it doesn’t have to pay the tariff,” Trump said.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for the first time this cycle, will soon hit the campaign trail with former President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton, according to a senior campaign official.
The vice presidential nominee will be out with his party’s former standard bearers this week and next week in an effort to push for early voting in battleground states, ABC News has exclusively learned.
The governor will first rally with Clinton in Durham, North Carolina, on Thursday — the first day of early voting in the critical battleground state. Next Tuesday, Walz will travel to Wisconsin, another battleground, with Obama for the start of early voting in that state.
The joint campaign blitzes come as the Harris-Walz ticket has deployed both former presidents — some of its strongest political assets — headed into the final stretch of the election cycle.
Obama hit the trail for the ticket starting on Oct. 10 and has additional stops planned in the run-up to Election Day, according to the campaign.
His first stop was in battleground Pennsylvania in the Pittsburgh area — a visit where he sternly chided Black men over “excuses” to not vote for Harris, saying he finds them sitting out or voting for former President Donald Trump “not acceptable.”
Obama will also independently hit the campaign trail in the Sun Belt this week, with stops on Friday in Arizona and on Saturday in Nevada — the first days of early voting in the state.
On Sunday and Monday, Clinton made his trail debut with travel across rural communities in Eastern and South Georgia to encourage Georgians to vote early.
Last night, on the eve of early in-person voting in the state, Clinton stumped for the Harris-Walz ticket in battleground Georgia, mounting the stakes of the election and the importance of voting.
“I want you to be happy, and I want you to know that I am here because I believe. I believe, based on my personal knowledge of the job and the candidates, that Kamala Harris will be a fine president,” he said.
“All we gotta do is show up. If we show up, we’ll win,” Clinton added.
The joint principal campaign events also come as Walz himself has made campaign stops related to early voting. The governor campaigned last week in Phoenix and Tucson on the first day of early voting in Arizona.
“I know you’ve started voting here in Arizona. It’s happening across the country. We can make a difference. And I think just the idea of having an administration building on these strong relationships, this is our opportunity to take this to the next level that we need to do,” Walz said at event with tribal leaders in Chandler, Arizona last Wednesday.
ABC News’ Selina Wang, Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.
