Trump transition live updates: Waltz eyed as national security adviser, sources say

Trump transition live updates: Waltz eyed as national security adviser, sources say
Trump transition live updates: Waltz eyed as national security adviser, sources say
Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead. Via Flickr

(WASHINGTON) — After a sweeping victory over Vice President Kamala Harris on Nov. 5, President-elect Donald Trump is now set to become just the second ever to serve nonconsecutive terms in office.

Trump has wasted no time in moving to assemble his team for a second term in the White House — naming Susie Wiles as his chief of staff and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik as U.N. ambassador, among other positions.

 

November 11, 2024, 7:00 PM EST – Trump asks Rep. Mike Waltz to be his national security adviser: Sources

Trump has asked Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., to be his national security adviser, multiple sources said.

Waltz was at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, sources said.

Waltz is a former Green Beret and China hawk who emerged as a key surrogate for Trump, criticizing the Biden-Harris foreign policy record during the campaign.

The Florida Republican sits on the Intelligence, Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees.

He has supported aid to Ukraine in the past but has demanded “conditions,” including increased spending from European allies, additional oversight of funds and pairing the aid with border security measures.

Waltz, who has visited Ukraine, was a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s policy towards Ukraine, criticizing the White House and allies for not providing Ukraine with more lethal aid — such as MiG fighter planes — earlier in the conflict.

Before running for elected office, Waltz served in various national security policy roles in the Bush administration, Pentagon and White House.

-ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Benjamin Siegel, John Santucci and Katherine Faulders

November 11, 2024, 6:06 PM EST – Volunteer-run effort on RFK Jr.’s website crowd-sourcing ideas for Trump admin appointments

A volunteer-run effort on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s website has begun crowd-sourcing ideas for appointments in Trump’s administration.

A website titled “Nominees for the People” gives anyone the chance to submit names of people they’d like to see join the administration.

“President Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. want your help nominating people of integrity and courage for over 4,000 appointments across the future Trump administration,” the website reads.

Stefanie Spear, a Kennedy spokeswoman, told ABC News that the crowd-sourcing effort is “a grassroots initiative run by volunteers,” and is not actually spearheaded by Kennedy, although the page uses the “mahanow.org” URL that Kennedy’s official campaign website adopted after he exited the race.

“We’ve always offered space on our website to our grassroots movement,” Spear said.

This post has been updated to reflect that the crowd-sourcing effort is a volunteer-run effort.

-ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik

November 11, 2024, 5:55 PM EST – Trump’s ‘border czar’ says mass deportation strategy will be a main priority

Former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan, Trump’s newly announced “border czar,” said his main priority will be overseeing and formulating Trump’s long-vowed mass deportation strategy while consolidating decisions related to border security.

“Everybody talks about this mass deportation operation. President Trump talks about. I’ll oversee that and come up with a strategy for that,” Homan said during a lengthy interview with his hometown television station WWNY on Monday.

Homan said Trump’s mass deportations is “going to be a targeted enforcement operation, concentrating on criminals and national security threats first.”

He acknowledged that the deportations would be costly but argued the policy would “save the taxpayers a lot of money.”

Homan said he does not plan to “separate women and children” but acknowledged that deporting alleged criminals would result in breaking up families.

“When we arrest parents here, guess what? We separate them. The illegal aliens should be no different,” Homan said.

Homan also said worksite enforcement — an aspect of immigration policy focused on unauthorized workers and employers who knowingly hire them — is “going to get fired back up.”

“Under President Trump, we’re going to work it and we’re going to work it hard,” he said.

-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous

November 11, 2024, 5:46 PM EST – Melania Trump skipping meeting with Jill Biden: Sources

Melania Trump is not expected to travel to Washington with President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday, two sources told ABC News.

First lady Jill Biden had extended an invite to Melania Trump for a meeting, according to the sources. In 2016, Michelle Obama had hosted Melania Trump at the White House.

The Trump campaign declined to comment. The first lady’s office confirmed to ABC News that a joint invitation was extended to the Trumps to meet at the White House though declined to comment beyond that.

-ABC News’ Rachel Scott, John Santucci and Molly Nagle

November 11, 2024, 4:26 PM EST – RFK Jr. advising Trump transition on health decisions: Sources

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has continued to broadly advise Trump and the transition team on health-related appointments and has been in discussions to possibly fill a major role in the next administration, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

While sources caution that a role has not been finalized, RFK Jr. has been discussed as a potential candidate for the next secretary of Health and Human Services. But other roles are also on the table, including a broad “czar”-like position that would advise on policy and personnel decisions in other health arenas, the sources said.

RFK Jr. has been in active discussions with the transition team since Trump’s election victory last week. He’s been spotted at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club multiple times and has been engaging in presentations which include candidates for specific Cabinet and health-related jobs, sources said.

He has spent hours with the co-heads of Trump’s transition team — billionaire Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon — in addition to others at Mar-a-Lago such as Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr.; investor and donor Omeed Malik; Tucker Carlson; and Del Bigtree, RFK Jr.’s former campaign spokesperson who produced a documentary called “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe.”

-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders, Olivia Rubin and Will McDuffie

November 11, 2024, 3:30 PM EST – Lee Zeldin named to be EPA administrator

President-elect Donald Trump has tapped former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

“Lee, with a very strong legal background, has been a true fighter for America First policies,” Trump said in a statement. “He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet. He will set new standards on environmental review and maintenance, that will allow the United States to grow in a healthy and well-structured way.

Zeldin, who also ran for New York governor against Andrew Cuomo in 2022, confirmed he had been offered the job via a post on X.

“It is an honor to join President Trump’s Cabinet as EPA Administrator,” he wrote. “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI. We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.”

-ABC News’ John Santucci, Rachel Scott and Katherine Faulders

November 11, 2024, 3:06 PM EST -RFK Jr. suggests he’ll gut NIH, replace 600 employees

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. indicated over the weekend that he would fire 600 employees at the National Institutes of Health, replacing them with a new cohort of workers as he seeks to dramatically reshape America’s health agencies.

Speaking at the Genius Network Annual Event in Scottsdale, Arizona, Kennedy described his role vetting people for Donald Trump’s new administration.

“We need to act fast, and we want to have those people in place on Jan. 20, so that on Jan. 21, 600 people are going to walk into offices at NIH and 600 people are going to leave,” Kennedy said, according to a video of his remarks posted on YouTube.

November 11, 2024, 3:06 PM EST- Trump expected to announce Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to announce Stephen Miller, an immigration hard-liner and one of his senior advisers, will become his deputy chief of staff for policy, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

It’s not clear when Trump plans to formally announce the job, the sources said.

Miller worked in the first Trump administration and played a key role in crafting immigration policies — including those that resulted in thousands of families being separated at the border.

-ABC News’ Rachel Scott, John Santucci and Katherine Faulders

November 11, 2024, 3:00 PM EST – Trump picks Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador

President-elect Donald Trump selected Rep. Elise Stefanik to be his U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, multiple Trump officials told ABC News.

“I am honored to nominate Chairwoman Elise Stefanik to serve in my Cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” Trump said in a statement to ABC News.

Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from New York’s 21st District, was elected last week to her sixth term in the House. She will inherit a role Nikki Haley held for two years in the first Trump administration.

-ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Katherine Faulders and John Santucci

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Six-hour ambient mix of Oasis’ ‘Champaign Supernova’ to soundtrack photography exhibit

Six-hour ambient mix of Oasis’ ‘Champaign Supernova’ to soundtrack photography exhibit
Six-hour ambient mix of Oasis’ ‘Champaign Supernova’ to soundtrack photography exhibit
Simon Ritter/Redferns

Oasis‘ classic song “Champaign Supernova” is already over seven minutes long, but if you wished it was about 50 times longer, you’re in luck.

A six-hour ambient mix of “Champaign Supernova” will soundtrack an upcoming photography exhibit opening Nov. 29 at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Titled Legends, the exhibit spotlights the work of photographer Zoë Law, whose subjects include Oasis’ Noel Gallagher among “over one hundred individuals from the worlds of art, fashion, business and entertainment.”

For more info, visit NPG.org.uk.

Oasis will launch their reunion tour in July 2025, marking the first time Noel and his formerly estranged brother, Liam Gallagher, will share the live stage since breaking up in 2009. The outing comes to the U.S. in August.

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Tuskegee University closes campus to outsiders, fires security director following deadly mass shooting

Tuskegee University closes campus to outsiders, fires security director following deadly mass shooting
Tuskegee University closes campus to outsiders, fires security director following deadly mass shooting
Mark Brown, president and CEO of Tuskegee University in Alabama, speaks at a news conference on Nov. 11, 2024, to announce changes being made at the school to tighten security in the wake of a mass shooting that left a teenager dead and 16 other people injured. Image via ABC News.

(TUSKEGEE, Ala.) — The president of Tuskegee University in Alabama announced Monday that the school is being closed to outsiders and that its security chief has been fired in the wake of a mass shooting Sunday on campus.

The barrage of gunfire left a teenager dead and injured 16 other people attending an unsanctioned homecoming event, officials said.

Mark Brown, president and CEO of the historically black university, announced the changes as the investigation of the mass shooting continued Monday and the local sheriff warned those responsible for the shooting that “we are going to find you.”

“The Tuskegee University community is heartbroken by what happened on our campus Sunday morning,” Brown said during a news conference Monday afternoon.

Moving forward, no one will be allowed on the Tuskegee campus without authorized permission or a school-issued identification badge, he said.

“Tuskegee University is no longer an open campus,” Brown said. “Effective immediately, we require IDs for everyone to be displayed to enter campus and worn at all times while on campus.”

Earlier Monday, the university hired a new campus security leader “and relieved our previous security chief of his duties,” Brown said. He did not take questions or elaborate on why the security chief was being replaced.

“Our new campus security chief and ultimately his team will complete a full review, including all implementations of new security procedures,” Brown said.

He said Sunday’s shooting erupted at the event that was “not approved in advance and in no way was sanctioned by the university.”

“Nonetheless, it happened on our campus and we take full responsibility,” Brown said.

The deadly barrage of gunfire erupted between 11:30 p.m. Saturday and midnight Sunday in a parking lot that was packed with people on campus to celebrate the university’s 100th homecoming, Macon County Sheriff Andre Brunson told ABC News.

The person killed in the shooting was identified as 18-year-old La’Tavion Johnson by the Macon County Coroner’s Office. University officials said Johnson was not a Tuskegee University student.

At least 16 other people, including students, were injured during the shooting, including 12 who suffered gunshot wounds, according to police.

Several videos posted on social media and verified by ABC News captured what sounded like automatic gunfire and showed people diving to the ground or taking cover in vehicles.

Brunson said numerous shots were fired during the incident.

“I would say that with the amount of shots that were fired, there’s going to be multiple shooters,” Brunson said.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, which is leading the investigation, announced Sunday evening that one person had been arrested. Authorities said Jaquez Myrick, 25, of Montgomery, Alabama, was taken into custody while trying to leave the campus after the shooting and faces federal charges of possession of a handgun with a machine gun conversion device.

State police have yet to determine if Myrick was one of the gunmen who opened fire.

No suspect has been charged directly with the shooting.

“I want to say one thing to the people that were shooting: We’re going to make sure we find you. We’re not going to let them disrupt what we do here in Tuskegee.”

Brown said the shooting occurred despite numerous steps the university took before homecoming week to make the festivities safe, including hiring 70 additional law enforcement officers from throughout Alabama and Georgia to help campus and local law enforcement with crowd control.

Brown said efforts were made through social media and advertising to advise visitors that weapons and drugs are prohibited on campus and that visitors could only use clear bags to carry their possessions.

“We did entry checks at all officially sponsored events, some random and some 100% checks,” Brown said. “However, the general campus remained open and we did not, nor could we, have planned for security at an event that was not approved in advance or officially sanctioned by the university.”

Brunson said he and deputies from his department had been at the campus all day and into the night Saturday, assisting university police and the Tuskegee Police Department with security.

He said he was driving back to the school after taking a break when the shooting occurred.

“First of all, it was just chaotic,” Brunson said of what he observed when he arrived at the campus.

He said officers were told an active shooter was held up in a dorm and raced there, running past injured victims, only to learn there was no shooter at the dorm.

“We had to immediately go there. You have to take out the threat first and we found out that it wasn’t that case at that time,” Brunson said. “As we were running to that dorm, trying to get to the active shooter, we saw people hurt, we saw people laying down, people asking for help. But we had to tell them, we’ll be back.”

Brown said he eventually went back to help give first aid to injured victims, including those suffering from gunshot wounds.

“Being there and seeing the faces of the students, seeing the anger and the hurt, being afraid and all of that all into one, it was just a horrific scene,” Brunson said. “I sympathize with the students because you shouldn’t have seen anything like this.”

ABC News’ Faith Abubey and Matt Foster contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

30 escaped monkeys captured in South Carolina, 13 remain on the loose

30 escaped monkeys captured in South Carolina, 13 remain on the loose
30 escaped monkeys captured in South Carolina, 13 remain on the loose
Yemassee Police Department

(YEMASSEE, S.C.) — More than half of the rhesus macaque monkeys that escaped from a South Carolina lab have been recovered.

As of Monday evening, 30 of the 43 furry runaways, that broke loose Wednesday from the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center in Yemasee, have now successfully been captured.

“Efforts to safely capture the remaining primates will continue throughout the evening and as long as necessary, ” a spokesperson for the Yemassee Police Department said.

A team of veterinarians, which have been brought in to conduct wellness exams, said all the recovered primates are in good health.

“As the monkeys are recaptured, they are given snacks. A favorite is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” police said.

Yemasee officials said that “a significant number” of the escaped primates were located in a facility near where the rescued animal was found and were “jumping back and forth over the facility’s fence.”

“Alpha Genesis management and staff are on-site, actively feeding and monitoring the animals, and they will continue these efforts throughout the weekend,” the town’s officials said in a statement.

“The primates continue to interact with their companions inside the facility, which is a positive sign,” they added.

Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard said the monkeys were having a nap Saturday afternoon.

“They are coming down to the ground a bit more now. It is a slow process,” he said.

The creatures escaped when a new employee at the Alpha Genesis center left the door to their enclosure open, Yemassee Town Administrator Matthew Garnes said during a briefing Thursday with town officials.

The primates are all very young females weighing 6 to 7 pounds each who have never been tested, according to police. There is no public health threat, police said.

Recovery efforts will continue until all the monkeys are recovered, police said, and requested the public call 911 if they spot any of the remaining animals.

“We thank the public for their cooperation in avoiding the area and kindly ask that drones not be used in the vicinity,” police said.

ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Music Notes: Lil Wayne joins ‘NFL GameDay Morning,’ Eve’s birthday and Cordae’s upcoming album

Music Notes: Lil Wayne joins ‘NFL GameDay Morning,’ Eve’s birthday and Cordae’s upcoming album
Music Notes: Lil Wayne joins ‘NFL GameDay Morning,’ Eve’s birthday and Cordae’s upcoming album

Want to hear Lil Wayne‘s NFL takes? You’re in luck. He’s been announced as a weekly guest for NFL GameDay Morning on the NFL Network, where he’ll discuss the remainder of the NFL season with Rich Eisen, Kurt Warner, Steve Mariucci and Gerald McCoy. He’ll start on Nov. 17.

Eve turned 46 on Sunday and spent her birthday in Seoul, South Korea. “#48hours in SEOUL 🇰🇷 got to celebrate my Birthday in two different time zones,” she wrote. “I am BEYOND grateful!!! Thank you for all the BIRTHDAY LOVE .” The post included Eve sitting pretty in a brown robe with pink-tinged blond hair.

Cordae has shared the cover art and track list for his upcoming album, The Crossroads, due out Friday. The artwork features a blurry photo of Cordae with his hands over his face. Features on the album include Lil Wayne, Anderson .Paak, Juicy J and Ty Dolla $ign.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Thanks to AI, Jerry Garcia can now read to you

Thanks to AI, Jerry Garcia can now read to you
Thanks to AI, Jerry Garcia can now read to you
Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

Jerry Garcia has been gone for almost 30 years, but thanks to AI, Grateful Dead fans can now enjoy the experience of the late rocker reading to them. 

According to Billboard, Garcia’s estate has teamed with AI company ElevenLabs for an AI-generated version of Garcia’s voice, which will read audiobooks, poetry, articles and more through the Iconic Listening Experience on the ElevenReader app.

A company spokesperson tells Billboard they worked “in close collaboration with the Jerry Garcia estate to ensure that the reproduction of Garcia’s voice was as authentic and true to his legacy as possible.”

In addition to use on the app, the Jerry Garcia Foundation has plans to use the AI-generated voice in future projects. 

“My father was a pioneering artist, who embraced innovative audio and visual technologies,” Jerry’s daughter Keelin Garcia, who’s the co-founder and VP of the Jerry Garcia Foundation, shares. “Now, as technological landscapes continue to expand, ElevenLabs AI Audio technology will offer fans the first opportunity to hear and stream a replica of my father’s voice reading their favorite books and other written content.”

Garcia is one of several celebrities whose voice has been recreated by ElevenLabs using AI. Others include Judy Garland, James Dean and Sir Laurence Olivier.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Kai Trump’s election night vlog: Behind the scenes of the historic evening

Kai Trump’s election night vlog: Behind the scenes of the historic evening
Kai Trump’s election night vlog: Behind the scenes of the historic evening
Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images

(PALM BEACH, Fla.) — Kai Trump, President-elect Donald Trump’s 17-year-old granddaughter, released an “Election Night Vlog” on her YouTube channel Monday afternoon, where she took viewers behind the scenes into her family’s experience awaiting results on election night.

“I’m ready to party it up tonight, and hopefully we can catch a dub,” Kai Trump said, tapping into Gen-Z slang.

She provided an inside look into the viral family photo taken in Mar-a-Lago on election night, with footage featuring Trump talking about “dark MAGA” hats and insisting on including surrogate Elon Musk in the shot.

“Elon? You have to have a picture with your boy,” Trump said. “You have to get Elon with his boy. Gorgeous, perfect boy.”

Early in the evening, the family was seated around four TV screens displaying ABC News, Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC newscasts as they eagerly awaited for results to filter in. Trump could be briefly seen sitting silently facing the TV screens.

“He’s up right now 20 Electoral College votes, so I think that’s pretty solid,” Kai said, describing the newscast results at the moment.

Providing a more casual, lighthearted glimpse into night, Kai also recorded herself getting her hair and makeup done, picking out her outfit, and taking selfies with family members.

Additional shots featured Kai driving to Mar-a-Lago and the Palm Beach County Convention Center, cracking jokes with a friend about Nutella, and singing along to “Money, Money, Money” from the “Mamma Mia” soundtrack — what she said was her go-to song whenever she pulls into Mar-a-Lago. The crowd could also be seen emulating Trump’s signature dance moves.

In addition to these lighter moments, Kai also opened up about the emotional aspect of the night, particularly in terms of her nerves.

“The past five days, I have been so nervous, like I feel like I’ve had butterflies in my stomach for so long,” she said, in addition to later expressing her anxieties by “stress-eating” sweet treats. Later in the video, she explains how she began “tearing up” when Pennsylvania was called for Trump.

Towards the end of the vlog, Kai announced that they were headed to say hello to Vice President-elect JD Vance, though the footage did not feature him. Melania Trump was also not seen or mentioned in the video.

While Kai did not record Trump’s ultimate victory or the celebratory events/reactions following the results, she later filmed a one-on-one explaining her admiration of her grandfather.

“I just finished playing 18 holes with him. It was his first time playing in probably 90 days or more,” she said, before recapping the sentimental value of Election Night. “It’s his last time running, so it was so special for him to win,” she said.

The oldest daughter of Donald Trump Jr., Kai recently stepped into the public eye after delivering a speech at the Republican National Convention in July in which she described Trump as a “normal grandpa” who is “very caring and loving.”

Kai’s YouTube channel, which has 133k subscribers, consists of additional vlogs featuring her golf skills and other behind-the-scenes glimpses into her life. She is also active on TikTok with 934.7k followers.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Teens around US report receiving racist text messages

Teens around US report receiving racist text messages
Teens around US report receiving racist text messages
STOCK IMAGE/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — Many teenagers and college students reported being among those who received racist text messages sent to phone numbers across the U.S. last week.

The texts, which tell the user they’re going to be taken to a plantation to “pick cotton,” have been reported in at least 24 states, plus Washington, D.C, and primarily appeared to target Black users from teenagers to adults, according to investigators in several states.

Most of the texts were sent last Wednesday, the day after the presidential election.

“I don’t understand why there’s so much hate in this world,” Nicole Nuñez, whose 15-year-old son attends a Los Angeles charter school, told ABC7. “I don’t understand why they don’t like us because of the color of our skin.”

TextNow, a mobile provider that allows people to create phone numbers for free, said Friday that it discovered “one or more” of its users allegedly sent out racist text messages and that the service quickly shut down the accounts. The text messaging service told ABC News that they were cooperating with law enforcement and condemned the messages.

Some of the messages address the recipients by name.

The TextNow representative said once the accounts that were allegedly behind the texts were reported, the accounts were disabled in less than an hour.

Los Angeles Superintendent Alberto Carvalho addressed the many students in his district that reported receiving the messages.

“We are aware of racist and incendiary texts that are being sent to students nationwide, including to some of our students,” Carvalho said in a statement acquired by ABC News. “We unequivocally condemn this hateful and threatening rhetoric. We are investigating this situation. If you receive one of these messages students and families should contact their school for support.”

One text message reviewed by ABC News read, “You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. Be ready at 12 pm sharp with your belongings. Our executive slaves will come get you in a brown van. Be prepared to be searched down once you’ve enter the plantation. You are in plantation group W.”

As of Saturday, the texts were reported by authorities in California, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Connecticut, Illinois, Nevada, Tennessee, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Washington, D.C.

At least five students at Fisk University, a historically Black institution in Nashville, received the offensive text messages, the university told ABC News in a statement. Some told the school that their peers had received the texts as well, it noted.

“We are aware of disturbing and offensive messages circulating on social media, appearing to target members of our community,” Fisk University said in its statement. “These messages, which suggest threats of violence and intimidation, are deeply unsettling. However, we want to assure you that these are likely the work of an automated bot or malicious actors with no real intentions or credibility.”

Local and federal investigators, including the FBI, said they were looking into the messages and urged anyone who received them to contact the authorities. The probes are ongoing.

A senior law enforcement official told ABC News that it has not been determined if the source of the racist texts is domestic or foreign, but efforts are underway to determine their origin.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a video statement posted on X Friday that “some” of the racist text messages “can be traced back to a VPN in Poland.”

“At this time, they have found no original source — meaning they could have originated from any bad actor state in the region or the world. We will continue to investigate,” Murrill said.

Murrill told ABC News that, in addition to the messages being “vile” and “racist,” they could also contain malware.

The president of the NAACP’s San Francisco branch Reverend Amos Brown called for the community to come together and denounce the offensive texts, ABC7 reported on Monday.

“City officials, pastors, democratic clubs, need to speak up and speak out and cannot be silent if you are silent it suggests you are complicit with evil,” Brown said, according to ABC7.

Carryn Freeman, who runs a non-profit near Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, said that she and some of friends’ children received the texts. Their parents are angry and want to know what to do to make sure this doesn’t happen again, she said.

“I got mad that my friends’ children were receiving this, 15 year olds who are having to process very overt pre-Jim Crow, transatlantic slave trade level racism in their text messages,” Freeman told ABC News on Friday. “Then they have to go to school the next day.”

ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Abby Cruz, Luke Barr and Emmanuelle Saliba contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Quincy Jones laid to rest in private ceremony

Quincy Jones laid to rest in private ceremony
Quincy Jones laid to rest in private ceremony
Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Quincy Jones was laid to rest in an “intimate ceremony [that] included Mr. Jones’ seven children, his brother, two sisters, and immediate family members,” The Associated Press reports.

Details about where the ceremony was held were not revealed, but the family says they remain “enormously grateful for the outpouring of condolences and tributes from his friends and fans from around the world.”

Details for a more public memorial celebration will be announced soon. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to the Jazz Foundation of America.

Jones, producer of Michael Jackson’s Thriller album and more, died Nov. 3 with his family by his side. He was 91.

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U2’s The Edge gives update on band’s next album: ‘We’ve got an awful lot of material to wade through’

U2’s The Edge gives update on band’s next album: ‘We’ve got an awful lot of material to wade through’
U2’s The Edge gives update on band’s next album: ‘We’ve got an awful lot of material to wade through’
ABC/Isa Mae Astute

U2 is celebrating the 20th anniversary of How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb with the Nov. 29 release of the shadow album How to Re-Assemble an Atomic Bomb. And while that may be exciting, U2 fans are anxiously awaiting word on a new album — and in a new interview with Rolling Stone, guitarist The Edge gave them a little update.

Edge says he created a lot of tracks and song ideas during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now they have to narrow things down.

“So we’re starting to go through some of those, and we’ve got an awful lot of material to wade through to see what it is,” he said. “And I guess we’re at that great honeymoon period of a lot of experimentation, and looking at all kinds of possible themes musically.” 

While in the past Bono has said the next album would be a rock record, Edge clarifies, “I think the guitar will be a big part of the next record, but I don’t think it’s going to be a heavy rock album. I think it’s going to be a very different kind of use of the guitar, not a straight-up rock thing.” 

He added, “We’ve always tried to find ways to use the guitar that has never been heard before, and it seems that that’s an important part of what gets us excited.”

Edge also shared a health update about drummer Larry Mullen Jr., who had to sit out their Las Vegas residency after having surgery, revealing they’ve already done one session with him and “we’re having a great time.”

“So yeah, obviously we don’t want to be over-doing it, but yes, it’s going great and he’s in great form,” he said. “It’s lovely to spend time with him in the studio in a creative environment.” 

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