(LAS VEGAS) — A 12-year-old girl has died after she was hit by a school bus while riding her bicycle in Las Vegas, authorities said, marking the second middle schooler in the city to die in a crash within one week.
The girl — identified by the coroner’s office as Haylee Ryan — was struck at about 3:23 p.m. Monday and was flung onto a parked SUV before falling to the ground, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said.
She was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries and died on Tuesday, police said.
Dozens of students were on the bus at the time of the crash, police said, adding that none of them were hurt.
The bus driver and the SUV driver both stayed at the scene and showed no signs of impairment, police said.
Haylee was heading home from school at the time of the accident, according to a GoFundMe page.
Haylee “was a sweet, pure, and fiercely creative child, who dreamed of becoming an artist one day,” the GoFundMe page said. “Haylee’s kindness and spirit touched everyone who knew her.”
Just days earlier, on Friday morning, a 12-year-old boy was crossing a street in an implied crosswalk when he was struck by a car, Las Vegas police said. The boy, who was on the way to school at the time, later died from his injuries, Clark County School District Superintendent Jhone Ebert said.
The driver fled the scene and was later arrested on hit-and-run and driving under the influence charges, police said.
“Both of these students had unlimited potential — potential they will never have a chance to realize,” the superintendent said at a news conference.
Dozens of Las Vegas students have been struck by cars on the way to or from school so far this school year, Ebert said, citing the school district police.
“It’s enough. … Right now we need immediate action, with the community’s help, to protect our children,” she said.
Volunteers with Samaritan’s Purse search for meaningful personal items for members of the Alvarado family in the rubble of their home which burned in the Eaton Fire on February 05, 2025 in Altadena, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
(LOS ANGELES) — An arrest has been made in connection with the Palisades Fire, which caused widespread destruction in Los Angeles County and killed a dozen people earlier this year, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is accused of “maliciously” igniting a fire on Jan. 1 in the Pacific Palisades that ultimately erupted into the Palisades Fire, the Department of Justice said.
The New Year’s Day brush fire was suppressed by fire crews but continued to smolder underground before high winds caused it to surface and spread nearly a week later, “causing what became known as the Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in Los Angeles City history,” acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said during a press conference on Wednesday.
Rinderknecht has been charged by criminal complaint with destruction of property by means of fire. He was arrested on Tuesday near his residence in Florida and is scheduled to make his first court appearance in Orlando federal court on Wednesday, officials said.
The Palisades Fire erupted on Jan. 7, burning more than 23,000 acres over more than three weeks and destroying nearly 7,000 structures, according to California fire officials.
It ignited the same day as the Eaton Fire, which burned more than 14,00 acres in Los Angeles County, destroying more than 9,400 structures and killing 19 people, according to officials.
The fires started burning during strong Santa Ana winds, which, combined with dry conditions, helped their ability to spread quickly. This spread prompted mass evacuations.
The Palisades Fire decimated the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.
What became known as the Lachman Fire was detected at 12:12 a.m. on Jan. 1 on a hilltop in the Pacific Palisades, according to the DOJ.
Rinderknecht, who the DOJ said was working as an Uber driver at the time and once lived in the Pacific Palisades — had dropped a customer off in the area of the fire, according to the complaint. Two of his passengers that night allegedly told law enforcement later that he appeared “agitated and angry,” the complaint stated.
The complaint alleges Rinderknecht caused the fire by lighting a combustible material, such as vegetation or paper, with an open flame, likely a lighter.
He attempted to contact 911 several times to report the fire, before ultimately getting through once he had cell service, according to the complaint. He allegedly made a three-minute screen-recording of his iPhone while attempting to call 911 and asking ChatGPT, “Are you at fault if a fire is lift [sic] because of your cigarettes?” according to the complaint.
“Based on my training and experience and this investigation, this indicates that RINDERKNECHT wanted to preserve evidence of himself trying to assist in the suppression of the fire and he wanted to create evidence regarding a more innocent explanation for the cause of the fire,” a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in an affidavit in the complaint.
Essayli said the suspect left in his car but then returned and filmed firefighters responding to the blaze.
There is no indication that anyone else was in the area at the time the fire started, Essayli said.
Investigators interviewed Rinderknecht on Jan. 24, during which he allegedly lied about where he was when he saw the Lachman Fire, according to the DOJ.
“He claimed he was near the bottom of a hiking trail when he first saw the fire and called 911, but geolocation data from his iPhone carrier showed that he was standing in a clearing 30 feet from the fire as it rapidly grew,” the DOJ said in a press release.
Essayli said he didn’t want to discuss motive, though he pointed to digital evidence included in the complaint of an image Rinderknecht allegedly generated in July 2024 using ChatGPT, showing in part “a burning forest and a crowd fleeing from it.”
“You could see some of his thought process in the months leading up, where he was generating some really concerning images up on ChatGPT, which appears to show a dystopian city being burned down,” Essayli said.
The charge is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted, the DOJ said.
Essayli said the DOJ will make determinations on additional charges against Rinderknecht in the coming days.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell called the investigation into the Palisades Fire “extremely intensive and thorough.”
“I’m proud of the professionalism and dedication shown by our detectives and the team who work collaboratively with our federal, state and local partners,” he said during the press briefing. “That teamwork ultimately led to the arrest of the suspect responsible for this devastating crime.”
Over the past eight months, investigators pursued more than 200 leads, conducted hundreds of interviews and collected more than 13,000 pieces of evidence, including fire debris, digital data and DNA samples, as part of the probe, according to Kenny Cooper, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Los Angeles Field Division.
“We have a lot of different data that all concluded where this fire started, and the fire behavior from that origin, from that Lachman Fire, was clearly established in the Palisades Fire,” Cooper said at the press briefing.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the city will release the Los Angeles Fire Department’s report on the Palisades Fire “shortly,” now that an arrest has been made.
“More than 9 months ago, our city faced one of the most devastating periods our region had ever seen. Lives were tragically lost. Thousands of homes were destroyed. Our heroic firefighters fought the blaze valiantly with no rest,” she said in a statement. “Each day that families are displaced is a day too long and as we are working tirelessly to bring Angelenos home, we are also working towards closure and towards justice — and today is a step forward in that process.”
(LONDON) — A supply of U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine could help “push Russia back,” Margus Tsahkna — the foreign minister of NATO ally Estonia — told ABC News, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had “sort of made a decision” on whether to green-light the long-range weapon for Ukrainian use.
Tsahkna said in an interview Tuesday that Trump approving the supply of the cruise missile to Kyiv would send “a very strong message” to Moscow.
“Whatever we can give — without any restrictions — to Ukraine, it is helping to win the war and push Russia back,” Tsahkna said. “So, if President Trump and the U.S. is deciding to take down restrictions from military support, as well Tomahawks, it’s just helping Ukraine to win and push Russia back.”
“It’s up to the U.S. to decide that,” Tsahkna said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed that Kyiv is seeking access to the American-made long-range missile, different variants of which have ranges of up to 1,550 miles, according to the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Russia’s most populous and politically important cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and a host of important air, naval, oil refining and drone production facilities would be within range if the longest-range version of the Tomahawk is supplied to Ukraine.
There remain major obstacles to any Ukrainian use of Tomahawks. For one, the main launch platforms for the cruise missile are naval vessels — most commonly submarines — and bomber aircraft, neither of which Ukraine possesses.
Only in recent years has the U.S. developed a small and very limited capability of firing Tomahawks from large launch vehicles, known as the Typhon missile system. Germany and the Philippines have reportedly expressed an interest in obtaining the Typhon, but to date, only the U.S. operates the platform. The small numbers of such launch vehicles in the U.S. military’s inventory makes it likely that they would not be on the battlefield anytime soon if approved by President Trump.
NATO allies have said little on the potential for Ukrainian Tomahawk use, or allied support for their supply.
“I think I want to find out what they’re doing with them,” Trump said of Ukraine’s Tomahawk request on Monday. “I would ask some questions. I’m not looking to escalate that war.”
The Kremlin has warned that a Tomahawk supply to Ukraine would do just that.
“This will lead to the destruction of our relations, or at least the positive trends that have emerged in these relations,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a video clip released on Sunday by Russian state television.
On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow is “carefully analyzing” related developments.
“The question, as before, is as follows: Who can launch these missiles, even if they are on the territory of the Kyiv regime — can only Ukrainians launch them, or should the U.S. military do so?” he asked.
“Who sets the targets for these missiles — the American side or the Ukrainians themselves?” Peskov added. “Therefore, a very thorough analysis is needed here. We have certainly heard the statements, they are very serious, and we are studying them.”
“Even if this happens, there is no panacea that can now change the situation on the front lines for the Kyiv regime, there is no magic weapon, be it Tomahawks or missiles — they will not be able to change the dynamics,” Peskov said.
Officials in Kyiv said they disagree.
The Tomahawk “is extremely important as a deterrent weapon, because the presence of this weapon for Russia will be a clear signal that we have something to respond with if they continue this terror,” Serhiy Leshchenko, an adviser to the head of Zelenskyy’s office, said in a television appearance.
Andriy Kovalenko — the head of the Counter-Disinformation Center operating as part of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council — said in posts to Telegram that the Tomahawk would represent “not tactical deterrence, but a strategic turning point.”
“As soon as Moscow and St. Petersburg fully and consistently feel the war, it will mean either a search for a replacement for Putin by the elites and an exit from the war, at least temporarily, or Putin himself will do everything to stop the war,” Kovalenko suggested.
But significant practical challenges remain.
Ivan Stupak, a former officer in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), suggested in an interview with ABC News that the Tomahawk is the latest headline-grabbing “wonder weapon” that would have a limited battlefield effect, even if the White House decided to approve its transfer to Ukrainian arsenals.
It is not clear how many Tomahawks the U.S. military could spare for Ukrainian use. The rate of Tomahawk production has ranged from 55 to 90 annually in recent years, according to Reuters. The Pentagon has already said it plans to purchase just 57 missiles in 2026.
The intensity of the war in Ukraine dwarfs those numbers. Recent months have seen Russia launch between 100 and 200 missiles of all types into Ukraine each month, per Ukrainian air force data analyzed by ABC News. On a nightly basis, Ukraine launches dozens of long-range drones into Russia, according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow.
Stupak, who has advised Ukrainian parliamentarians on security matters during Russia’s full-scale invasion, said he was skeptical that the U.S. would deliver enough Tomahawks to turn the tide of the war.
U.S. control over target selection may limit their effectiveness further, Stupak said, as may American concerns about sensitive technical data falling into Russian hands if any Tomahawks were captured.
Along with the issue of launch platforms, there would be a need for training. Unless American military personnel are on the ground to assist in their usage — and Trump has already publicly ruled out deployed U.S. troops to Ukraine — Ukrainian operators will also need significant training to be able to use the weapon.
Ukraine is already using shorter-range Western-supplied cruise missiles — the Storm Shadow/SCALP British-French cruise missile, which have a maximum range far shorter than the Tomahawk at around 155 miles.
The extent of allied involvement in their use is unclear, but Germany’s then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz was widely criticized for hinting in 2024 that British and French personnel were involved in “target control.”
Yuriy Boyechko, the CEO of the Hope For Ukraine humanitarian organization, told ABC News he was skeptical of any Tomahawk proposal.
“Ukraine currently does not possess the specialized launch equipment or the trained personnel needed to field the Tomahawk missile system,” he said. “Right now, Ukraine is under daily mass attacks and needs quick, practical solutions to protect civilians and to conduct offensive operations deep into Russian territory.”
The “only solution” for Kyiv, Stupak suggested, is for Ukraine to continue its own cruise missile and ballistic missile production drive.
Authorities are searching for two suspects from the Atlanta area: Jahaun Suber, 20, and Devell Ortiz, 19. Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto
(NEW ORLEANS) — Two suspects have been arrested and two more are at large in connection with a burglary at the home of New Orleans Saints defensive end Cam Jordan.
The four suspects allegedly broke in through a back door while the house was empty on Sept. 14 — the day of a Saints home game, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said.
Jordan spoke out about the break-in on social media on Tuesday, saying, “Yah that Sunday sucked… the most important things, my family, was and is safe.”
It appears no one else was targeted; the suspects, who are from the Atlanta area, drove back to Georgia right after the burglary, Lopinto said at a news conference.
Two men — Donald Robinson, 28, and Jadon Brown, 19 — were arrested after being identified within 24 hours of the break-in, according to the sheriff’s office.
Authorities are still searching for the two other suspects, identified as Jahaun Suber, 20, and Devell Ortiz, 19, the sheriff’s office said.
Charges have not been finalized but will likely include simple burglary and possession of stolen property, the sheriff said. The FBI is working with local officials on the case and federal charges are possible, the sheriff added.
Some of the property has been recovered, but Lopinto didn’t disclose what was stolen.
It is not clear if the suspects are linked to other burglaries, the sheriff added.
The Saints lost the Sept. 14 home game to the San Francisco 49ers 26-21.
Jordan, who has played his entire 15-year career for the Saints, is an eight-time Pro Bowler and has 124 career sacks, second-most among active players.
This is the latest in a string of burglaries targeting professional athletes. Other victims of break-ins include Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Dončić.
Volunteers with Samaritan’s Purse search for meaningful personal items for members of the Alvarado family in the rubble of their home which burned in the Eaton Fire on February 05, 2025 in Altadena, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
(LOS ANGELES) — An arrest has been made in connection with the Palisades Fire, which caused widespread destruction in Los Angeles County and killed a dozen people earlier this year, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is accused of igniting a fire on Jan. 1 in the Pacific Palisades that ultimately erupted into the Palisades Fire, the Department of Justice said.
The brush fire was suppressed by fire crews but continued to smolder underground before high wind caused it to surface and spread nearly a week later, “causing what became known as the Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in Los Angeles City history,” acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said during a press conference on Wednesday.
Rinderknecht has been charged by criminal complaint with destruction of property by means of fire. He was arrested on Tuesday near his residence in Florida and is scheduled to make his first court appearance in Orlando federal court on Wednesday, officials said.
The fire erupted on Jan. 7, burning more than 23,000 acres over more than three weeks and destroying nearly 7,000 structures, according to California fire officials.
It ignited the same day as the Eaton Fire, which burned more than 14,00 acres in Los Angeles County, destroying more than 9,400 structures and killing 19 people, according to officials.
The fires started burning during strong Santa Ana winds, which, combined with dry conditions, helped their ability to spread quickly. This spread prompted mass evacuations.
The Palisades Fire decimated the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Britney Gard is seen in an undated photo released by the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. Putnam County Sheriff’s Office
(PUTNAM COUNTY, Ind.) — An Indiana woman was reported missing last week following a “suspicious” fire in her house, authorities said.
Britney Gard, 46, last had contact with her family the evening of Sept. 30, according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. She is considered a missing endangered person “due to her unknown whereabouts,” the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities responded to her home on Oct. 1, following a 911 call for a fire at her home in Bainbridge, located about 40 miles west of Indianapolis, the sheriff’s office said. Smoke was reported coming from the residence around 7:40 p.m., the office said.
Fire crews extinguished the blaze, which investigators believe is “suspicious in nature,” Putnam County Sheriff Jerrod Baugh said in a statement on Friday. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Baugh said in an update on Wednesday.
No one was found in the fire-damaged home, and attempts by family and friends to contact Gard following the fire have been unsuccessful, the sheriff’s office said. She was not located following a drone-assisted search of the area and searches of a pond on the property following the fire, the sheriff’s office said.
Gard was supposed to attend her daughter’s volleyball game on Oct. 1, but did not show up, her sister, Stephanie Bowen, told Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV.
“Her car’s at home, her purse is at home. She’s nowhere to be found, and the house is on fire. It makes no sense,” Bowen told WRTV.
“I just feel like there’s something here bigger that we don’t know,” she said.
The search continued this week for the mother of two, with dozens of people, including her sisters, looking through cornfields and wooded areas near Gard’s property on Monday, WRTV reported.
Drones have continued to be deployed in the area, and conservation officers with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources have been conducting searches of the ponds at the residence and in the surrounding area, the sheriff’s office said Wednesday.
Detectives have also been working with the FBI and Indiana State Police, “looking for any leads into the current and past locations of any and all devices that could lead investigators to the location of Britney Gard,” Baugh said Wednesday.
Baugh asked anyone with information about her whereabouts to contact the sheriff’s office.
“As this is an active investigation and the location of missing Putnam County resident Britney Gard remains unknown, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office will not be releasing detailed information about the scene, the ongoing investigation, or any speculation as to the whereabouts or condition of Ms. Gard,” Baugh said Wednesday.
Bowen urged people to be “vigilant” and to check their home security cameras.
“Britney, we love you,” she told WRTV. “We hope to see you safely return home.”
Former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey speaks to members of the media at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill December 07, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(ALEXANDRIA, Va.) — Former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty Wednesday to both counts in a federal indictment, and his attorneys said they will seek to have the case dismissed for vindictive and selective prosecution.
A federal grand jury indicted Comey on Sept. 25, just days after President Donald Trump publicly demanded Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Justice Department act “now” against Comey and other political opponents.
Comey is charged with one count of false statements and one count of obstruction of a congressional proceeding, related to his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020.
The plea was entered by his attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who asked for a jury trial.
The judge read the charges and said they carry a penalty of up to 5 years in prison with a $250,000 fine.
He asked if Comey understood the charges, and he replied, “I do, Your Honor.”
A trial date was set for Jan. 5.
The judge asked how long the government anticipated the trial lasting, and the government said 2-3 days.
The judge said that he was prepared to move forward with a speedy trial. The government said the case was “complicated,” but didn’t appear to object to the trial date in court.
“This doesn’t appear to be a complicated case,” the judge said.
Fitzgerald agreed, saying, “We see this as a simple case.”
Comey has been a longtime target of Trump’s criticism over his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump on Monday, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, called Comey a “dirty cop” and claimed it was a “simple case.”
But the Comey matter has thrown the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia into turmoil, according to sources. The previous U.S. attorney, Erik Siebert, resigned over pressure from the Trump administration to bring criminal charges against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump said he fired Siebert.
Trump then handpicked Halligan, a White House aide and his former defense attorney, to replace Siebert and lead the office. Halligan presented the Comey case to the grand jury, despite prosecutors and investigators determining there was insufficient evidence to charge him, ABC News reported at the time.
Comey attorneys told the judge Wednesday they plan to file a motion challenging the lawfulness of Halligan’s appointment, but that will be heard by a different judge appointed by the chief judge of 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The judge on Wednesday instructed the government to respond to those motions by Nov. 3 and directed the defense to respond by Nov. 10. The judge said he wants the case to be fully briefed by Nov. 19 and said hearings will be planned for Nov. 19 and Dec. 9.
Oral arguments will be held Dec. 9 on the defense’s motion to dismiss because of grand jury abuse, “outrageous government conduct” and other motions Comey’s attorneys did not disclose.
Both the defense and the judge expressed some confusion as to why the government said there would be a substantial amount of classified information involved in the case.
At one point Fitzgerald said that he believed the government should have figured out the issue with classified information before bringing the case. It appears the “cart has been put before the horse,” Fitzgerald said.
The judge said there should be no reason the case gets off track because of classified information.
“We will go through the fastest CIPA process you have ever seen in your life,” he joked, referring to the litigation that occurs around cases involving classified information.
The judge also said, “I will not slow this case down” over the government’s obligations to produce discovery to the defense.
Comey was in court Wednesday for the first time since he was indicted last month, where he was joined inside the Alexandria, Virginia, courtroom by Fitzgerald and attorneys David Kelley and Jessica Carmichael.
The government was being represented by Halligan and Nathaniel “Tyler” Lemons, a prosecutor from the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Comey’s wife and his daughter, Maureen Comey, were seen arriving at the Alexandria courthouse ahead of the proceeding.
Comey has denied any wrongdoing and has said he looks forward to a trial.
Ahead of Wednesday’s arraignment, the Department of Justice added two assistant U.S. attorneys from out of state to work on the case.
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler, Alexander Mallin, Peter Charalambous and Ely Brown contributed to this report.
Volunteers with Samaritan’s Purse search for meaningful personal items for members of the Alvarado family in the rubble of their home which burned in the Eaton Fire on February 05, 2025 in Altadena, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
(LOS ANGELES) — An arrest has been made in connection with the Palisades Fire, which caused widespread destruction in Los Angeles County and killed a dozen people earlier this year, sources close to the investigation confirmed to ABC News.
Federal and local law enforcement officials are scheduled to announce a “significant development” in the criminal investigation into the fire on Wednesday.
The fire erupted on Jan. 7, burning more than 23,000 acres over more than three weeks and destroying nearly 7,000 structures, according to California fire officials.
It ignited the same day as the Eaton Fire, which burned more than 14,00 acres in Los Angeles County, destroying more than 9,400 structures and killing 19 people, according to officials.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump is ramping up a war of words with the mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois, suggesting in a social media post on Wednesday that they “should be in jail” for refusing to protect ICE agents.
Trump’s social media post came as Texas National Guard troops arrived in Illinois on Monday night and were preparing to be deployed in Chicago.
“Illinois will not let the Trump administration continue on their authoritarian march without resisting,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said on Tuesday as the Texas National Guard troops appeared at an Army Reserve training center in the Chicago suburb of Elwood.
“We will use every lever at our disposal to stop this power grab because military troops should not be used against American communities,” Pritzker said.
The military deployment drew outrage from Democratic leaders, as well as from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
“Donald Trump declared war on Chicago. That’s what he did. What the Trump administration is doing is intentionally fomenting chaos,” Johnson said on Tuesday. “The federal government is out of control. This is one of the most dangerous times in our nation’s history.”
Trump fired back on Wednesday on social media.
“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE Officers!” the president wrote. “Governor Pritzker also.”
Johnson responded in a social media post on Wednesday, writing, “This is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested. I’m not going anywhere.”
Pritzker also reacted to Trump’s post, writing on social media on Wednesday, “I will not back down.”
“Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power,” Pritzker said. “What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?”
The back-and-forth between the Illinois leaders, both Democrats, came as after Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Chicago. The act, which dates back to 1807, empowers the president to nationally deploy the military and federalize National Guard units to suppress civil disorder, insurrection, or an armed rebellion against the federal government.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon, Trump said he did not yet see the need to use the Insurrection Act, but “if I had to enact it, I’d do it, if people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up.”
Meanwhile, the Texas National Guard has been seen at an Army Reserve training center in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, ABC News has learned.
Groups of soldiers were seen walking the grounds of training center in Elwood, with most of the troops apparently having arrived on Monday night, according to ABC News’ Chicago station WLS.
Pritzker said at a news conference on Monday that over the weekend, he called on Abbott “to immediately withdraw his support of this decision” to send the Texas National Guard members to Chicago.
Earlier Tuesday, Abbott had replied to Pritzker on social media, saying, “I fully authorized the President to call up 400 members of the Texas National Guard to ensure safety for federal officials.”
The deployment drew outrage from Democratic leaders, as well as Chicago Mayor Johnson.
“Donald Trump declared war on Chicago. That’s what he did. What the Trump administration is doing is intentionally fomenting chaos,” Johnson said on Tuesday. “The federal government is out of control. This is one of the most dangerous times in our nation’s history.”