U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speak as they pose for a photo, at a world leaders’ summit on ending the Gaza war on October 13, 2025 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. (Photo by Suzanne Plunkett – Pool / Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said he’s terminating trade negotiations with Canada citing a negative TV advertisement about tariffs. Trump claimed, without evidence, that the ad aimed to sway the outcome of a U.S. Supreme Court case over the policy set to come before justices next month.
“TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,” Trump posted on his social media platform.
“Canada is trying to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our Country,” Trump said on Friday morning.
Trump did not specify which law Canada had allegedly broken.
The ad campaign in question was rolled out earlier this month by the Canadian province of Ontario. The ad features audio with excerpts of a 1987 address by then-President Ronald Reagan that came as he imposed some duties on Japanese products but cautioned about the long-term economic risks of high tariffs and the threat of a trade war.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford called for a spirit of partnership between the two countries in a post on X on Friday.
“Canada and the United States are friends, neighbours and allies. President Ronald Reagan knew that we are stronger together. God bless Canada and God bless the United States,” Ford said.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute said in a statement on social media Thursday evening that the Canadian ad campaign used “selective audio and video” of Reagan and “misrepresents” what he said in the address.
Referring to the Canadian ad campaign, Trump said, “They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts.”
The Supreme Court is set to decide this term whether Trump’s sweeping global reciprocal tariffs are an illegal use of emergency authority granted by Congress — and whether tens of billions of dollars collected so far must be refunded.
Earlier this month, in a White House meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump signaled optimism about a potential U.S.-Canada trade deal, saying the two sides had “come a long way” in negotiations.
In July, Trump issued a 35% tariff on most goods and raw materials from Canada.
New York Mayor Eric Adams poses with mayoral candidate, Andrew Cuomo during the NBA game between the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden, October 22, 2025, in New York City. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Less than a month after dropping out of the mayor’s race, embattled incumbentEric Adams on Thursday endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has been ramping up his attacks against Democratic nominee state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.
Adams, who stepped aside due to low poll numbers and scandals involving a federal indictment that was later dismissed, made the announcement the day after he and Cuomo sat courtside together for the New York Knicks NBA home opener at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, right after a contentious mayoral debate between Mamdani, Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
Mamdani responded on his social media accounts.
“Corruption goes courtside,” he wrote, sharing the photo that Cuomo posted.
Adams and Cuomo appeared together Thursday afternoon to announce the endorsement.
“Am I angry that I’m not the one taking down Zohran, the socialist and the communist? You’re darn right I am,” Adams said. “But you know what? The city means more to me than anything, and it is time for us as a family to come together.”
Mamdani is a self-identified democratic socialist but does not identify as a communist.
Cuomo thanked Adams for putting his ambition aside to endorse him “because he cares more about New York City, and he believes Zohran is an existential threat to New York City, and we all have to do our best to make sure that Zohran does not become the next mayor.”
Mamdani, who defeated Cuomo in the primary and is leading in the polls, slammed Adams’ endorsement and linked both men to the Trump administration.
“We also know that this is the art of the deal. We have a president of this country who has spoken publicly of his desire for Eric Adams to drop out of the race. Eric Adams dropped out. [He has] spoken of his desire for candidates to consolidate behind Andrew Cuomo. Today, Eric Adams is endorsing Andrew Cuomo,” Mamdani told reporters at an event.
Adams’s indictment on bribery charges was dismissed by the Department of Justice in the spring and led to several career federal prosecutors resigning in protest. The mayor, who spoke with White House officials since Trump returned to office, had pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.
Cuomo resigned from the governor’s office in 2021 following mounting sexual harassment allegations and probes into his handling of nursing home deaths during the COVID pandemic.
Cuomo denied the sexual harassment allegations and accusations that he didn’t do enough to prevent deaths during the pandemic. The governor hasn’t been charged in either of those instances.
Mamdani argued that Cuomo, who is running on a third-party line after losing the Democratic primary, and Adams are “two illustrations of the same broken politics.”
Adams called Cuomo a “snake” during the campaign and criticized the former governor for his scandals throughout the summer before Adams dropped out of the race. He initially refused to endorse any candidate but vocally opposed Mamdani.
Cuomo has also been attacking Mamdani over several issues, including his inexperience, ties to the Democratic Socialists of America and comments about the Israel and Gaza conflict that the former governor has argued were antisemitic.
Mamdani has refuted those arguments and promised to work for all New Yorkers, including its Jewish population.
The Democratic nominee also slammed Cuomo over recent comments and posts the former governor and his campaign made in the last 24 hours.
Cuomo took a shot at Mamdani during an interview that aired Thursday morning with conservative radio host Sid Rosenberg.
“God forbid, another 9/11 — can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?” Cuomo said.
Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Cuomo, told ABC News that the former governor “was referring to Mamdani’s close friend Hasan Piker, who said ‘America deserved 9/11,’ a statement 9/11 families called on Zohran Mamdani to denounce but he refused for months.”
Cuomo did not bring up Piker’s name or his comments during the Rosenberg interview.
Mamdani was asked on Thursday if he thought Cuomo’s comments were Islamophobic.
“Yes, I believe that they were,” he said. “We’re speaking about a former governor who in his final moments in public life is engaging in rhetoric that is not only Islamophobic, not only racist, is also disgusting and is his final closing argument with less than two weeks before Election Day.”
Cuomo is also under fire for an AI-generated video that was posted briefly by his X account during Wednesday’s debate.
The now-deleted video consisted of stereotypical imagery that declared that Mamdani is supported by criminals. The start of the video features a small watermark saying that it is AI-generated and at the end says it was “paid for by Cuomo for NYC.”
“Zohran Mamdani’s opponents want you to believe he’s an inexperienced radical whose policies will make New York City more dangerous. But what do his actual supporters think?” the video begins.
A slate of people portrayed as aligning themselves with the Democratic candidate are then depicted in a stereotypical manner with stereotypical attire — including a Black man shoplifting and at one point wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh, a domestic abuser, a trespasser, a man with a van full of prostitutes, a drunk driver and a homeless man buying drugs.
Cuomo’s campaign said the video was a “draft proposal” that was not approved and posted by accident.
The Cuomo campaign has launched ads online and on TV over the last few weeks that use AI-generated videos
One took a subtle shot at Mamdani’s lack of experience, showing Cuomo in a several different jobs like Wall Street broker before he says, “I’m Andrew Cuomo and I could pretend to do a lot of jobs, but I know what I know, and I know what I don’t know.”
Another shows former Mayor Bill de Blasio dressed up and talking like the “Austin Powers” character Dr. Evil with his sidekick Mini Me that looked like Mamdani.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill on October 6, 2025 in Washington, DC. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The Senate on Thursday failed to advance Sen. Ron Johnson’s bill that would have provided pay to some federal workers during the shutdown.
The “Shutdown Fairness Act” — put forward by Johnson — failed by a vote of 55-45. It would have needed 60 votes to advance.
Democratic Sens. John Fetterman, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock voted with all Republicans to advance the bill. All other Democrats voted against it, effectively blocking it from advancing.
While the bill would not have ended the shutdown, it would allow some federal employees to get paid.
Johnson’s bill would have provided appropriations to pay the troops and “excepted employees” of federal agencies being affected by the shutdown. That includes employees determined by the Office of Personnel Management to be performing emergency work, or for contractors who provide support to those employees.
Democrats were reluctant to provide votes out of concerns that Johnson’s bill gives the administration and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought too broad of authority to determine which employees would get paid and which wouldn’t.
Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen offered an alternative bill to Johnson’s that would pay all federal employees. Johnson blocked that proposal — along with another similar option from Democrats. Democrats attempted to pass both of these bills unanimously, so Johnson’s objection alone was enough to block them.
Johnson noted that the proposals Democrats offered are “95%” similar. But he noted that the Democrat proposal is different because it only lasts through this fiscal year, includes furloughed employees and limits reduction in force.
The reduction in force issue was a challenge for Johnson, but he said he was open to negotiation on it.
“I don’t think we should limit the chief executive’s ability to properly manage the federal government and make the tough decision sometimes to reduce the workforce,” Johnson said. “That’s something we can talk about.”
Johnson said he blocked the bills in part because he wants Democrats to allow for debate on his legislation so a solution can actually be reached. The best way to work toward a solution for federal employees, Johnson said, was to begin debate on a bill rather than trying to pass one unanimously as Democrats did.
Federal employees, he said, need that.
“To see that they get their paycheck, so they don’t have to work Door Dash, so they don’t have to go to food banks, so they’re not under that stress — I am asking in good faith, let’s figure out how to get that done,” Johnson said.
The vote on the bill came as federal workers will miss their first full paycheck on Friday.
The legislation put Democrats in an interesting spot, as Republicans work to brand votes against this bill as votes against paying federal workers.
Van Hollen attacked Johnson’s bill, saying it would “essentially weaponize the government shutdown to allow President Trump to decide who works and gets paid and who doesn’t work and doesn’t get paid.”
“Our belief is that no federal employee, no one should bear the burden or be punished for a shutdown they have nothing to do with. So our view is that we want to make sure everybody gets paid at the end of the day.”
When pressed on why he would not, therefore, support the clean bill Republican’s have put forward 11 times, Van Hollen said it’s important to both pay Americans and protect health care.
“Of course we want to open the government. That’s the best way to address this issue. We also need to address these other big issues,” Van Hollen said.
No vote is expected for Thursday on the clean short-term funding bill. With senators leaving town for the weekend, the shutdown will drag on to Monday.
(WASHINGTON) — New images appear to show the entire White House East Wing has been demolished to make way for President Donald Trump’s $300 million ballroom.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the demolition as she faced questions from reporters at a briefing on Thursday.
President Trump initially said in July that the project would not interfere with the existing White House structure. Then this week, as crews began to raze the East Wing, the administration said the entire wing would need to be “modernized” to make way for the massive 90,000 square foot ballroom.
By Thursday, satellite images from Planet Labs PBC showed the East Wing reduced to rubble.
“This is the People’s House. Why not inform the public of that change and when it was decided that the East Wing would have to be demolished?” ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked Leavitt.
“With any construction project changes come. And we have informed all of you, we’ve been keeping you apprised of this project. We’ve shown you the renderings,” Leavitt said.
“The plans changed when the president heard counsel from the architects and the construction companies who said that in order for this East Wing to be modern and beautiful for many, many years to come, for it to be a truly strong and stable structure, this phase one that we’re now in was necessary,” Leavitt added.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao leaves the U.S. District Court on November 21, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. Zhao pleaded guilty to a money-laundering charge. (Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has pardoned Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed to ABC News on Thursday.
Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to a money laundering charge.
The pardon comes as Zhao made recent moves to boost World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company that Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., launched earlier this year.
Leavitt said in a statement that Trump “exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency.”
“In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden Administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims. The Biden Administration sought to imprison Mr. Zhao for three years, a sentence so outside Sentencing Guidelines that the even the Judge said he had never heard of this in his 30-year career,” Leavitt said in the statement. “These actions by the Biden Administration severely damaged the United States’ reputation as a global leader in technology and innovation. The Biden Administration’s war on crypto is over.”
In this Jan. 4, 2024, file photo, Rep. Robert Garcia looks on as Ranking member of the House Oversight Committee Rep. Jamie Raskin speaks during a media briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Drew (Angerer/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Top House Democrats asked President Donald Trump on Thursday to provide documents — including correspondence between his lawyers and his Justice Department — as they investigate his demand for the DOJ to pay roughly $230 million as a settlement for investigations he faced during the Biden administration and in his first term in office.
Reps. Jamie Raskin and Robert Garcia, the ranking members on the House Judiciary and Oversight committees, respectively, sent a letter directly to Trump requesting that he provide documents and information to their committees.
“In remarks to the press this week, you described a blatantly illegal and unconstitutional effort to steal $230 million from the American people,”Raskin and Garcia wrote in their letter. “Your plan to have your obedient underlings at the Department of Justice (DOJ) instruct the U.S. Treasury to pay you, personally, hundreds of millions of dollars–especially at a time when most Americans are struggling to pay rent, put food on the table, and afford health care–is an outrageous and shocking attempt to shake down the American people.”
The committees want Trump to provide “all administrative claims filed by you on your legal representation under Federal Torts Claims Act” as well as “all correspondence between you or your legal representatives and any DOJ official.”
The Democrats also want “all DOJ memoranda, legal analyses, or recommendations shared with you and your legal representative, or any White House official.”
The settlement negotiations with DOJ stem from two separate administrative claims attorneys for Trump submitted while he was out of office in 2023 and 2024. One sought damages over the investigation he and some in his orbit faced surrounding ties between his 2016 campaign and the Russian government.
The second claim related to accusations that he was prosecuted maliciously by then-special counsel Jack Smith and that his privacy rights were violated when the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago estate for classified documents in August of 2022.
Those claims would likely first need sign-off from top officials in the DOJ who previously served as Trump’s defense attorneys or otherwise represented his allies.
Trump, asked Tuesday by reporters in the Oval Office about the New York Times’ story that first reported Trump’s demand, said the decision would “go across my desk.”
“It’s interesting, because I’m the one that makes a decision, right?” Trump said. “And you know that decision would have to go across my desk, and it’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself.”
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill on October 6, 2025 in Washington, DC. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — There’s going to be a different sort of government funding vote on Thursday as the ongoing shutdown reaches in 23rd day.
The Senate on Thursday will vote on a bill put forward by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson called the “Shutdown Fairness Act.” While the bill would not end the shutdown, it would allow some federal employees to get paid.
Johnson’s bill would provide appropriations to pay the troops and “excepted employees” of federal agencies being affected by the shutdown. That includes employees determined by the Office of Personnel Management to be performing emergency work, or for contractors who provide support to those employees.
Meanwhile Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he’d offer an alternative bill to Johnson’s that would pay all federal employees.
Johnson urged his colleagues to support the bill and slammed Democrats ahead of Wednesday night’s note to fund the government — which failed to advance for the 12th time.
“If Democrats vote for a 12th time to keep the government shut down, they should at least vote to pay those who are still working,” Johnson wrote on X. “It’s common sense and common courtesy — there’s no excuse to oppose the Shutdown Fairness Act.”
The bill would need 60 votes to pass and it’s unclear if it will get the support it needs to pass.
The vote on this bill comes as federal workers will miss their first full paycheck on Friday.
The legislation puts Democrats in an interesting spot, as Republicans will work to brand votes against this bill as votes against paying federal workers.
Over the last few days, several Democrats have said that they support paying federal employees — but some have added that they oppose the bill because it gives too broad of discretion to the White House and Office of Management and Budget to determine who is considered essential enough to be paid.
Meanwhile, some Republicans say there’s a simpler way for Democrats to ensure all federal employees get paid: funding the government.
“Ron Johnson’s bill would essentially weaponize the government shutdown to allow President Trump to decide who works and gets paid and who doesn’t work and doesn’t get paid,” Van Hollen said. “Our belief is that no federal employee, no one should bear the burden or be punished for a shutdown they have nothing to do with. So our view is that we want to make sure everybody gets paid at the end of the day.”
When pressed on why he would not, therefore, support the clean bill Republican’s have put forward 11 times, Van Hollen said it’s important to both pay Americans and protect health care.
“Of course, we want to open the government. That’s the best way to address this issue. We also need to address these other big issues,” Van Hollen said.
Van Hollen said he will likely offer his counter proposal on the floor and seek unanimous consent for its passage. It will almost certainly be blocked.
If Johnson’s bill passes, the House would have to return from recess to take it up in order for it to pass.
No vote is expected for Thursday on the clean short-term funding bill. With senators leaving town for the weekend, this shutdown will drag on to Monday.
(NEW YORK) — The knives came out during Wednesday night’s second and final New York City mayoral debate.
While answering questions on policy issues such as housing and education, the candidates onstage — Democratic candidate and state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, Republican candidate and “Guardian Angels” founder Curtis Sliwa, and independent candidate and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — relentlessly attacked each other over what they said were each others’ shortcomings.
Some of the most acrimonious moments came during what were ostensibly meant to be discussions on policy.
Cuomo said that the number of homeless people in New York City had “more than doubled” since he stepped down as governor, criticizing what he claimed was Mamdani’s lack of action on the issue as an assemblyman.
Cuomo, who resigned the governorship in 2021 amid allegations of sexual harassment that he has long denied, used the phrase “since I left,” to refer to the end of his tenure — which Sliwa quickly jumped on.
“Andrew, you didn’t leave. You fled! From being impeached by the Democrats in the state legislature — you fled!” Sliwa cried out.
A question to Mamdani about his position on schools turned into a free-for-all between him and Cuomo.
“I did things — you have never had a job,” Cuomo said to Mamdani at one point. “You’ve never accomplished anything. There’s no reason to believe you have any merit or qualification for 8 and 1/2 million lives … Shame on you. Shame on you.”
Mamdani countered, “Always a pleasure to hear Andrew Cuomo create his own facts at every debate stage. We just had a former governor say in his own words that this city has been getting screwed by the state. Who was leading the state? It was you!”
“Governor Hochul, Governor Hochul,” Cuomo countered, referring to current Gov. Kathy Hochul. “You were the legislator–“
They both continued to talk over each other until a moderator intervened.
Sliwa seized on the fighting to get in a shot.
“I heard the both of them again, fighting like kids in the schoolyard,” Sliwa said. “Zohran, your resume could fit on a cocktail napkin, and Andrew, your failures could fill a public school library in New York City.”
Overall, on the issue of dealing with President Donad Trump, the candidates were asked what combination of “defiance, diplomacy and cooperation” they’d use if the Trump administration attempts to interfere in the running of the city or threatens to cut funding.
Sliwa, who has a frosty relationship with Trump — and has not courted his endorsement — criticized the other two candidates as too confrontational.
“My adversaries have decided to bump chests with President Trump to prove who’s more macho,” Sliwa said. “You can’t beat Trump. He holds most of the cards … So if you’re all of a sudden going to get adversarial, you’re going to lose and who gets hurt? The people of New York City. With Trump, it’s always the art of the deal.”
Cuomo, meanwhile, said the mayor has to both confront and work with the president — and then painted a mayoral victory by Mamdani as an invitation for Trump to wreak havoc.
“He has said he’ll take over New York if Mamdani wins, and he will, because he has no respect for him,” Cuomo said. “He thinks he’s a kid, and he’s going to knock him on his tuchus” — using the Yiddish slang term for someone’s rear end. He added that the mayor both has to combat and work with the president at different points
“We first just heard from the Republican candidate for mayor, and then we heard from Donald Trump’s puppet himself, Andrew Cuomo,” Mamdani retorted. “You could turn on TV any day of the week, and you will hear Donald Trump share that his pick for mayor is Andrew Cuomo, and he wants Andrew Cuomo to be the mayor, not because it will be good for New Yorkers, but because it will be good for him.”
In terms of the running of the city, the debate moderators asked Mamdani about recent reports that he would ask New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to remain in her position if elected, which he said he would.
“Commissioner Tisch broke the status quo, started to deliver accountability, rooting out corruption and reducing crime across the five boroughs. I have said time and again that my litmus test for that position will be excellence, and the alignment will be of that position,” he said.
Cuomo said he would ask Tisch to stay on and said he didn’t believe Mamdani’s pledge.
Sliwa said he, too, also would ask Tisch to stay on the job “for stability” but said he didn’t think she would serve in a Cuomo or Mamdani administration.
As for the support of incumbent Democratic Mayor Eric Adams — both Mamdani and Sliwa said they would not accept an endorsement from Adams, who suspended his reelection campaign late last month.
Cuomo said he would and posted a photo of himself online sitting courtside with Adams at a New York Knicks game after the debate.
Larry Hoover, in prison since 1973, faces the parole board with his wife, Winndye Jenkins, at the Dixon Correctional Center on on Feb. 7, 1995, in Dixon, Illinois. John Dziekan/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(CHICAGO) — For 23 hours a day, Larry Hoover, the founder of notorious street gang Gangster Disciples, had been sitting in a 7-by-12-foot concrete cell at the ADX Florence federal supermax facility in Colorado, where he spent 27 years in almost complete isolation, according to his attorneys.
Hoover, 74, remains imprisoned under a separate Illinois state sentence, an up-to-200-year term stemming from a 1973 murder conviction.
Since that transfer to the Colorado State Penitentiary earlier this year, his attorneys say, Hoover has suffered three heart attacks while performing prison labor, the most recent in September. They describe, in a newly filed legal petition with the prison board, his condition as fragile and his treatment as “a slow, state-sanctioned death sentence.”
Hoover’s lawyers are asking Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to do what the federal government has already done, recognize his transformation and grant Hoover a chance to live out his remaining years in freedom.
Hoover founded the Gangster Disciples on Chicago’s South Side in the late 1960s. In 1973, he was convicted on state charges of ordering the murder of William “Pooky” Young, a 19-year-old drug dealer accused of stealing from the gang. Hoover was sentenced to 200 years in prison under Illinois’ former indeterminate sentencing system.
In 1997, following a 17-year federal investigation, Hoover was convicted on 40 counts including drug conspiracy and racketeering for allegedly directing gang activity from prison. He was sentenced to six life terms, sentences that President Donald Trump commuted earlier this year.
On Wednesday, Hoover’s attorney, Justin Moore of the Stafford Moore Law Firm, filed a 39-page petition for clemency, obtained exclusively by ABC News. His plea now rests with the Illinois Prisoner Review Board and Pritzker.
Ron Safer, who served as the former lead federal prosecutor in Hoover’s 1997 conviction, told ABC News’ Chicago station WLS that he was disappointed Hoover was granted federal clemency.
“I believe in redemption. I believe in rehabilitation. I believe in mercy. There are some crimes that are so heinous, so notorious, that they’re not deserving of mercy,” Safer said. “If Larry Hoover said there was going to be a killing, there was a killing.”
Wednesday’s filing argues that Hoover’s continued imprisonment, given his age, health and decades of rehabilitation, no longer serves justice or public safety.
At the heart of the filing are Hoover’s words, breaking his silence for the first time in 25 years in two deeply personal letters to an as-yet-assigned judge and to the public, offering a window into his remorse, aging and reckoning.
“People, when writing about me in the papers, always use photos of me depicting the way I appeared 40 years ago, as if I’m still a young, strong and rebellious gang leader. That man no longer exists,” Hoover wrote in a typed letter to the judge. The letter is undated.
“I am no longer the Larry Hoover people sometimes talk about, or he who is written about in the papers, or the crime figure described by the government,” he wrote. “That man has over these many years transformed into the man I am today. It is true that some men never learn, or that prison makes some into monsters; I’ve seen it, but for me, over time, prison — this prison in particular — became a place of reflection.”
In a separate and also undated letter addressed to the public, Hoover wrote, “I have come to realize that with my silence over these years I have done myself a grave disservice.”
“I have been involved, and in fact, had initiated, I cannot avoid taking responsibility. With this responsibility, now being able to honestly assess and appreciate the magnitude and scope of the harms my actions had wrought, I cannot help but to have immense remorse,” Hoover wrote.
In his letter, Hoover expressed deep remorse for the harm his past actions caused, saying he had wasted his talents on choices that hurt his Chicago, his community and society. He emphasized that he has long renounced all ties to the Gangster Disciples and any form of criminal activity, declaring that he wants nothing to do with that life “now and forever.”
After more than five decades in prison, including over 25 years in isolation, Hoover said, there is no chance he would reoffend, noting that most men his age devote their final years to steering others away from crime. He said he hopes to spend his remaining time honoring a promise he made to his late mother not to waste his final years.
His letters center on a petition written by his lawyers and filed on his behalf that portrays a man shaped by decades of confinement, failing health and personal reckoning. His attorneys argue that half a century behind bars has already fulfilled the purpose of punishment and that his rehabilitation stands as proof of transformation.
Hoover’s lawyers note that he has not committed a serious infraction during his decades in prison and has completed more than 100 educational and rehabilitation programs.
“My father has suffered multiple heart attacks from being forced to perform hard labor despite his age and medical condition,” said his son, Larry Hoover Jr., in a statement to ABC News “All he wants now is to come home, spend what time he has left with his family, and use his experience to help bring peace to the same communities he once came from.”
The filing also details what Hoover’s attorneys said were the stark conditions of his confinement and his deteriorating health. ABC News has contacted prison officials for comment.
Hoover is one of just 35 people still incarcerated under Illinois’ pre-1978 indeterminate sentencing system, which left prisoners with open-ended “C-numbers” and no release date except at the discretion of the review board, according to the filing. His lawyers note that Hoover’s co-defendant in the 1973 case, Andrew Howard, was paroled more than 30 years ago, a disparity his lawyers cite as evidence of continued punishment without purpose. Both were accused of murder and Howard was convicted of carrying out the killing.
The Illinois Parole Board, in it’s decision to deny Hoover’s release in 2022, stated, “The Board feels that parole release at this time would not be in the interest of public safety, as there is a substantial risk that Mr. Hoover would not conform to reasonable conditions of parole release, and that parole release at this time would deprecate the serious nature of the offenses and promote a lack of respect for the law.”
The new petition for his release revisits Hoover’s early life in Chicago’s South Side, describing a boy shaped by poverty, segregation, and systemic neglect.
“From his bedroom window as a child,” the filing states, “he saw drug deals, prostitution, fights, stabbings, and shootings. His daily reality was the theater of urban abandonment.”
One of his attorneys, Justin Moore, wrote in the petition, “Hoover did not create the fire. He grew up in it.”
Hoover’s story has drawn attention far beyond Chicago. In 2021, rappers Kanye West and Drake set aside their long-running feud to headline the “Free Larry Hoover” benefit concert in Los Angeles, calling attention to criminal justice reform and urging compassion for aging inmates like Hoover. West, a Chicago native, had previously advocated for Hoover’s release during a 2018 meeting with Trump in the Oval Office.
That public support has continued to grow. Among those backing Hoover’s clemency bid are civil rights leaders Jesse Jackson Sr. and the Rev. Al Sharpton, Rep. Jonathan Jackson, Chance the Rapper, Judge Greg Mathis, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Yohance Lacour and former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Also lending support is Alice Marie Johnson, Trump’s current White House pardon czar, who also serves as CEO of Taking Action for Good. Johnson wrote in a letter in the filing to the Illinois review board that Hoover is repentant and has the potential and the desire to live the rest of his life as a force for good in his community. She added that if he were released, she would personally help support his reintegration into society.
Rep. Jonathan Jackson expanded on that theme in a statement released by his office supporting clemency, questioning “whether continued imprisonment serves the public interest — or whether compassion is now the more just response.”
Hoover’s petition now rests with Pritzker and the Illinois board, which reviews clemency cases and can make recommendations to the governor.
Pritzker did not offer a comment following Trump’s commutation order, but has met with family and supporters of Hoover. A spokesperson for Pritzker’s office did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The filing lands at a time of renewed friction between Trump and Pritzker, whose relationship has long been strained over the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration and public safety policy in Illinois. In recent months, the two have clashed over ICE enforcement in Chicago, with Trump accusing Pritzker of “failing to protect” federal officers, while Pritzker has described Trump’s tactics as “acts of aggression against our people.”
Detractors, including some former prosecutors, law enforcement officials and community anti-violence advocates, argue that Hoover’s release could reopen wounds in Chicago neighborhoods still scarred by gang violence.
They maintain that, despite his renunciations, Hoover’s name still holds symbolic power among some Gangster Disciples factions.
Chicago FBI Special Agent in Charge Doug DePodesta said in a statement to WLS in Chicago in May that “Larry Hoover caused a lot of damage in Chicago. He was also convicted on state charges and is likely to continue serving time in state prison where he belongs.”
His supporters counter that his transformation and the decades he has already served show a man committed to peace, not power.
In his own words, Hoover wrote, “I want my legacy to be peace. I want my name to mean growth, not destruction. I want to be remembered not as who I was, but as who I fought to become.”
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR). Ali Moustafa/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Democrats are again making a run at a Senate floor marathon, this time led by Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon.
Merkley has been speaking on the Senate floor about the President Donald Trump’s “growing authoritarianism” since 6:24 p.m. Tuesday with no indication that he’ll end any time soon. He’s been standing in front of a lectern at his desk for the entirety of the time.
He began the night standing next to a poster board that said, “Ring the alarm bells: Authoritarianism is here now.”
Merkley is still short of eclipsing the 25 hour, 5 minute record set earlier this year by Sen. Cory Booker. In similar fashion to Booker’s record-breaking speech, Merkley is occasionally yielding for questions from his fellow Democratic colleagues, allowing them to give small mini speeches while Merkley still technically holds the floor.
The shutdown entered its 22nd day on Wednesday with no movement toward a deal that would fund the government.
The Senate could vote for the 12th time on the short-term, clean funding bill that was passed by the House, but no votes can be called as long as Merkley holds the floor.
All 11 previous votes on the continuing resolution have failed.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says Trump shouldn’t leave on his Asia trip on Friday without first negotiating with Democrats on funding, but Trump said he won’t meet with Democratic leadership until the government is reopened.
ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
