Democratic candidate for New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill speaks to a crowd alongside Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, in Westville New Jersey on Saturday, October 11, 2025. Sherrill is set to square off against Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli on November 4 for the position as New Jersey’s 57th Governor. (Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Barack Obama formally endorsed New Jersey’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, in a new ad first reported by ABC News.
“Mikie’s integrity, grit, and commitment to service are what we need right now in our leaders. Mikie Sherrill is the right choice for your next governor,” Obama said in the spot, released Friday morning.
Obama highlights Sherrill’s veteran status and argues she’s best suited to lower prices, as the party sees successes homing in on affordability.
“Mikie is a mom who will drive down costs for New Jersey families. As a federal prosecutor and former Navy helicopter pilot, she worked to keep our communities safe,” Obama said in the ad.
Sherrill currently maintains a polling edge over her Republican challenger, Jack Ciattarelli, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump.
In a statement, Sherrill said she was “grateful” for the former president’s support and urged voters to plan to head to the ballot box on or before Election Day.
“This November, we have an opportunity to chart a different path forward — to reject the chaos in Washington and lower costs in New Jersey — and I’m so grateful to have President Obama’s support and endorsement in this race. President Obama led historic efforts to lower healthcare costs and, now, Jack Ciattarelli is all in on Trump’s plans to raise premiums and kick hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans off their healthcare,” said Sherrill.
Per a new Quinnipiac survey, Sherrill leads Ciattarelli by six points. That same poll found that New Jersey voters say Sherrill would do a better job in handling schools and the NJ transit, and 61% of likely voters also say Sherrill’s background serving in the U.S. Navy for nine years makes them think more favorably of her.
Two governors’ races dominate this upcoming off-cycle Election Day, as Democrats hope to cling to power in the Garden State and flip control from Republicans in Virginia, as both incumbents are term-limited. On Wednesday, Obama boosted Virginia Democrats’ pick for governor, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, in a similar fashion.
Obama has been publicly supporting Sherrill, whom he calls a “friend” in the ad. His first fundraiser since the November elections was with the Democratic National Committee in New Jersey back in June, where he appeared alongside Sherrill.
More out-of-state Democrats are also throwing weight behind Sherill in the closing weeks of the race — over the weekend, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are set to campaign with her.
Luigi Mangione appears in court for a hearing on his state murder charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Supreme Court on September 16, 2025 in New York City. (Curtis Means/Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Trump administration is making Luigi Mangione “a pawn to further its political agenda” and uttering or posting statements about him that are prejudicing the accused killer’s prospects at a fair trial, his attorneys argued Friday in a new court filing that asked a federal judge to either dismiss the indictment or take the death penalty off the table.
Federal prosecutors said President Donald Trump’s social media posts calling Mangione “a pure assassin,” and subsequent reposts by Justice Department officials, did not prejudice Mangione “because the statements were made by persons not associated with this matter.” The defense said the government can’t make that claim because of Trump’s unprecedented intervention in Justice Department matters.
“Unlike any of its predecessors since the Watergate era, the Department of Justice has not acted independently of the White House in this case — or in several others,” the new defense filing said. “This departure from the longstanding principle of prosecutorial independence has created a blurred and constitutionally troubling line between the Department of Justice and the Executive Office of the President.”
Mangione is accused of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel in December 2024. He pleaded not guilty to federal charges, including one death-eligible count of using a firearm to commit murder, and pleaded not guilty to state charges in New York and Pennsylvania. Defense attorneys have argued in a separate filing the death-eligible charge should not apply.
In its new filing, Mangione’s defense team expressed concern about tainting the pool of prospective jurors.
“The Department of Justice and the White House have coordinated to cultivate and disseminate negative public rhetoric deliberately designed to taint the prospective jury pool,” defense attorneys Karen Agnifilo and Avi Moskowitz wrote. “The significance of these prejudicial statements is that they have life or death consequences for Mr. Mangione.”
Prosecutors have argued that since no trial date has been set there will be ample time for the public to forget about anything Trump or others have said about Mangione, whose alleged attack was captured on video and who, police said, was arrested with the murder weapon in his backpack.
The defense said the statements still violate the rules.
“The government has engaged in purposeful, repeated, unlawful actions specifically designed to hurt Mr. Mangione’s chances at fair legal proceedings and a fair trial and as part of a wider government effort to further a political agenda,” the defense said. “These same officials — whether acting directly or through their subordinates — have continued on this course even after this Court has explicitly directed them not to has caused this case to be unlike any prior death penalty case.”
Meanwhile, Mangione’s Pennsylvania case is effectively on hold as he sits in jail in Brooklyn, New York, according to court documents.
In Pennsylvania, where Mangione was captured after a manhunt, he faces charges including carrying a firearm without a license.
Federal officials previously denied a request by Blair County, Pennsylvania, prosecutors to allow Mangione to be taken to Pennsylvania to make in-person court appearances, and Mangione has thus far refused to appear remotely.
A Pennsylvania judge ruled earlier this week that the case ultimately can’t move forward until Mangione can appear in person, according to court documents obtained by ABC News. The judge gave Mangione’s defense team 14 days to file a formal request for an in-person hearing or reconsider appearing remotely.
ABC News’ Jon Haworth and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
The prestigious award, which was handed out Thursday, honors the best album of the year from a British or Irish artist.
Other nominees included Wolf Alice‘s The Clearing and Fontaines D.C.‘s Romance.
In a fitting bit of timing, Fender’s also just released a new collaboration with the legendary Elton John, called “Talk to You.” The track will appear on the upcoming deluxe edition of People Watching, due out Dec. 5.
“I was playing around with the riff and thought what I need is a really good pianist and then hmmm, I wonder who I can call?” Fender says of writing “Talk to You.” “And of course, who better than Elton John.”
The original People Watching dropped in February.
Kevin Federline’s book ‘You Thought You Knew’ (Listenin Books)
Britney Spears has once again taken to social media to respond to claims that her ex-husband Kevin Federline makes about her in his new memoir You Thought You Knew — and is also accusing her family of neglect.
On X and Instagram, Britney writes that she is “always being threatened or made to believe I’m the bad one as they profit off my pain,” adding, “I 100 percent beg to differ the way he is literally attacking me in his interviews.”
In his book Kevin accuses Britney of abusing drugs and alcohol, and exhibiting disturbing behavior, like watching their sons sleep while holding a knife.
“why is HE SO ANGRY … and what’s scary is he’s convincing. It literally blows my mind the moments he stops before he cries. Are you f****** serious,” Britney writes about Kevin’s current press tour. “I know his book will sell loads more than mine. If you really love someone then you don’t help them by humiliating them.”
“What scared me was how serious and angry he got, people have no idea, it is way worse than anyone could imagine … the boy hates me and it is deep anger to literally say the things he is saying.”
Britney then accuses her mother of calling her only “one time in six years” and not inviting her to her son’s birthday party in Louisiana. “They secretly love to cast me out and make me feel completely isolated,” she adds.
She finishes her lengthy post by writing, “I will start acting, doing real columns monthly … I might even start my own radio podcast,” and gives thanks to “the people supporting my heart right now.”
In a separate post, Britney wonders if she would feel “more confident and not alone and prettier” if she “had a family that respected me.”
In response to Federline’s book, a rep for Britney told ABC News, “With news from Kevin’s book breaking, once again he and others are profiting off her and sadly it comes after child support has ended with Kevin. All she cares about are her kids … and their well-being during this sensationalism.”
President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office at the White House, Aug. 18, 2025. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump, just days after celebrating an Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement he helped broker in the Middle East, turns his attention Friday to the Russia-Ukraine war, hosting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House.
Ukraine’s request for American-made Tomahawk missiles is expected to be a focus of the talks.
“They want to go offensive,” Trump said of Kyiv earlier this week. “I’ll make a determination on that.”
The long-range weapons would give Ukraine the ability to strike deep inside Russia, and Zelenskyy described them as a difference-maker in a conflict that has dragged three-and-a-half years. Moscow, though, warned that Tomahawk deliveries would mark “a dangerous escalation of relations between Russia and the United States.”
Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a long phone call on Thursday, one day before his in-person meeting with Zelenskyy. In a surprise development, Trump announced he and Putin plan to meet again (this time in Budapest) to discuss the war after initial discussions among high-level advisers next week.
Trump said he would be telling Zelenskyy on Friday what he and Putin discussed in the call.
The president said he talked with Putin “a little bit” about Tomahawks in their two-hour conversation. He said he asked the Russian president how he would feel if he sold them to Ukraine. “He didn’t like the idea,” Trump said.
Trump also expressed concern about depleting the U.S. supply of Tomahawks.
“They’re very vital. They’re very powerful. They’re very accurate. They’re very good. But we need them too. So, I don’t know what we can do about that,” Trump told reporters as he took questions during an Oval Office event.
This latest diplomatic push comes nearly two months after Trump hosted Putin in Alaska for a high-profile summit that ultimately yielded no major breakthrough. Days later, Trump welcomed Zelenskyy to the White House as well as a delegation of European leaders who rushed to Washington to support the Ukrainian leader after an extraordinarily tense scene between Zelenskyy, Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office back in February.
Trump, who once said he could end the Russia-Ukraine war immediately upon his return to office, has lamented that the conflict is more difficult to bring to a close than he anticipated.
“This is a terrible relationship, the two of them have. … Because of my relationship with President Putin, I thought this would be very quick. And it has turned out to be — who would think I did the Middle East before I did this?”
In Alaska, Trump’s immediate goal was to set up a trilateral meeting with himself, Putin and Zelenskyy, or a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy. Those meetings never occurred.
ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce, after Trump announced he planned to meet Putin again in Hungary, asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt if the president still believed he could get Putin and Zelenskyy in the same room.
“I think he thinks it’s possible, and he would, of course, love to see that happen,” Leavitt said. “But right now, there were discussions and plans are now being made for the Russian side and our folks, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to meet and then for President Putin and President Trump to perhaps meet again. But I don’t think the president has closed the door on that at all.”
Meanwhile, Russia continues to bombard Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, firing more than 300 drones and about three dozen missiles at targets throughout Ukraine overnight into Thursday.
Zelenskyy, landing in Washington on Thursday, said he hopes “that the momentum of curbing terror and war, which worked in the Middle East, will help end the Russian war against Ukraine.”
“Putin is definitely not braver than HAMAS or any other terrorist. The language of force and justice will definitely work against Russia as well. We already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue, just hearing about ‘Tomahawks,'” the Ukrainian president wrote on X.
Zelenskyy met with American defense and energy companies on Thursday ahead of his Friday meeting at the White House.
Trump at times blamed Russia’s invasion on Ukraine and Zelenskyy, though has recently expressed frustration and disappointment with Putin. This week, he said “all we want from President Putin” is to stop the killing of Ukrainians and Russians.
“It doesn’t make him look good. It’s a war that he should have won in one week and he’s now going into his fourth year,” the president said on Wednesday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in remarks at a NATO gathering this week, also ramped up rhetoric against Russia, notably calling Moscow the aggressor.
“If this war does not end, if there is no path to peace in the short term, then the United States, along with our allies, will take the steps necessary to impose costs on Russia for its continued aggression,” Hegseth said. “If we must take this step, the U.S. War Department stands ready to do our part in ways that only the United States can do.”
But so far, Trump and his administration has held back from imposing tougher sanctions on Russia. Instead, he’s focused on getting European countries and nations like India to stop purchasing Russian oil.
On Capitol Hill, there are growing calls among Republicans — including Senate Majority Leader John Thune — to proceed with a bill that would put economic penalties on Russia.
Asked what he thought about those efforts on Thursday, Trump was noncommittal: “Well, we’re going to see.”
John Bolton, former national security adviser to President Trump, arrives home as the FBI searches his house August 22, 2025 in Bethesda, Maryland. The FBI conducted a court-authorized search of Bolton’s home. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton was indicted by a grand jury Thursday on charges that he allegedly unlawfully transmitted and retained classified documents.
The indictment, handed up by a federal grand jury in Maryland, charges Bolton with eight counts of unlawful transmission of national defense information as well as 10 counts of unlawful retention of national defense information.
Prosecutors accuse Bolton of using a non-government personal email account and messaging application to transmit at least eight documents to unauthorized individuals that contained information classified at levels ranging from Secret to Top Secret.
Seven of the transmissions allegedly occurred during the time when Bolton was serving at Trump’s national security adviser in 2018 and 2019, while another document was allegedly sent by Bolton just days after President Donald Trump removed him from the administration in September of 2019.
“For four decades, I have devoted my life to America’s foreign policy and national security. I would never compromise those goals,” Bolton said in a lengthy statement, saying the indictment is part of a pattern of “Donald Trump’s retribution” against him since leaving Trump’s first administration and publishing a tell-all book.
“I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose his abuse of power,” Bolton said in the statement.
The move to indict Bolton comes on the heels of the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James as President Donald Trump continues what critics call a campaign of retribution against his perceived political foes.
Federal agents in August searched Bolton’s Maryland residence and Washington, D.C., office, related to allegations that Bolton possessed classified information.
Prosecutors say one document listed in the indictment “reveals intelligence about future attack by adversarial group in another country.” Others allegedly contain information about foreign partners sharing sensitive information with the U.S. intelligence community; intelligence related to a foreign adversary’s missile launch plans; intelligence on leaders of a U.S. adversary; and one that detailed plans of covert action by the U.S. government.
The indictment accuses Bolton of abusing his position as national security adviser by sharing “more than a thousand pages” of information in “diary-like entries” about his day-to-day activities with two recipients identified only as “Individual 1” and “Individual 2,” who prosecutors say are Bolton’s relatives.
Sources told ABC News that the relatives referred to in the indictment as ‘Individual 1’ and ‘Individual 2’ are Bolton’s wife and daughter.
Bolton’s wife was present at their home the day the search was executed nearly two months ago.
It was not immediately clear which is believed to be Individual 1 or 2.
Prosecutors further allege that Bolton unlawfully retained documents, writing and notes containing national defense information ranging to levels of Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information at his home in Maryland, stored both as paper files and on a number of personal devices.
The indictment says that at some point after Bolton left office as national security adviser, a cyber actor believed to be associated with Iran hacked his personal email account and gained access to the classified information he had previously emailed to his relatives.
What Bolton and his attorneys say
Bolton has denied ever unlawfully removing classified materials from his time in government and has said no such information was published in his 2020 memoir “The Room Where It Happened.”
In his statement on Thursday, Bolton said his book was “reviewed and approved by the appropriate, experienced career clearance officials.”
Regarding the 2021 email hack, Bolton said the FBI “was made fully aware.”
“These charges are not just about his focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct,” Bolton said in the statement, referring to Trump. “Dissent and disagreement are foundational to America’s constitutional system, and vitally important to our freedom.”
Bolton’s attorneys have denied he ever mishandled classified information and said documents investigators found in their search of his home and residence were no longer considered classified.
“The underlying facts in this case were investigated and resolved years ago,” Bolton’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. “These charges stem from portions of Amb. Bolton’s personal diaries over his 45-year career — records that are unclassified, shared only with his immediate family, and known to the FBI as far back as 2021. We look forward to proving once again that Amb. Bolton did not unlawfully share or store any information.”
“There is one tier of justice for all Americans,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a DOJ statement announcing the indictment. “Anyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable. No one is above the law.”
The 10 documents the indictment says were unlawfully retained by Bolton were allegedly seized during the searches of his home and office in August, and contained similar information to the documents Bolton is alleged to have unlawfully transmitted during his time as national security adviser.
The investigation is being run out of the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland, unlike the Comey and James probes which are being conducted by the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, who sources say brought the Comey and James charges against the advice of career prosecutors.
Comey, who was indicted on charges of lying to Congress, and James, who is charged with mortgage fraud, have both denied wrongdoing.
Last month, a federal judge unsealed a redacted version of the affidavit that had been assembled by prosecutors in order to execute their court-authorized search of Bolton’s home. Most of the document concerned allegations surrounding the publication of Bolton’s book, which the first Trump administration unsuccessfully sued to block.
The federal judge overseeing that lawsuit expressed grave concerns over whether Bolton had included highly classified information in his book that could potentially compromise national security.
On the day that Bolton’s home and office were searched, Trump said that he was “unaware” of the searches but went on to call Bolton a “sleazebag.” Referencing the FBI’s 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago home in his own classified documents case, Trump told reporters that having your home searched is “not a good feeling.”
Trump pleaded not guilty in June 2023 to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House in 2021, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back.
After Trump was reelected president last November, the case was dropped due to a long-standing Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.
Trump, asked about Bolton in a June 2022 Oval Office interview with Fox News, said, “He took classified information and he published it, during a presidency. It’s one thing to write a book after. During. And I believe that he’s a criminal, and I believe, frankly, he should go to jail for that, and that probably, possibly will happen. That’s what should happen.”
Did you miss the Tony-Award-winning revival of Merrily We Roll Alongwhen it was on Broadway? You’re in luck. The live, filmed version of the hit production is coming to theaters worldwide on Dec. 5. Tickets are now on sale for the Sony Pictures Classics event, which is releasing in theaters in collaboration with Fathom Entertainment. The production starred Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez …
The official trailer for season 2 of Palm Royale has arrived. Apple TV released the trailer for the upcoming batch of episodes on Thursday. Kristin Wiig stars again as Maxine Dellacorte in the new season, which premieres on Nov. 12 …
Answer: This streaming service is the new home of Pop Culture Jeopardy! Question: What is Netflix? Season 2 of the popular quiz show is moving from Prime Video to Netflix for its second season. The upcoming sophomore season of the show arrives in 2026 …
Chris Young’s ‘I Didn’t Come Here to Leave’ (Black River)
Chris Young started his career when his self-titled debut came out on RCA Records in 2006. Now another chapter begins with the arrival of his 10th album, I Didn’t Come Here to Leave, his first for Black River.
His final RCA project, Young Love & Saturday Nights, landed in March 2024; its title track topped the chart the following September.
Even though he didn’t quite understand it, Chris couldn’t seem to stop making new music.
“I was like, ‘What am I doing? I’ve got a record out. We’d just had a #1. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m just continuing to write more and more songs,'” he recalls.
Once his RCA deal was up and he started exploring other opportunities, it started to make sense.
“I had most of this album teed up, ready to go,” he explains. “I definitely rerecorded all of the demos that I had. I normally just do three or four passes, but on this record, I spent a whole lot of time just making sure we got it right, even if it was a single word.”
Ultimately, Chris believes some divine intervention might’ve played a part.
“It is sort of a God thing,” he reflects. “It was like upstairs knew I needed this music and I was just being pushed to create. And I was like, ‘I’m gonna to take January, February, and March off this year.’ Nope, that did not happen.”
In the end, he couldn’t be happier with the collection, which features his current hit, “Til the Last One Dies.”
“This album just sort of came together in such a cool way that it just feels right,” Chris says. “I’ve used this quote, ‘Art’s never finished or completed. It’s only abandoned.’ I feel like this record was completed.”
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon in ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’ season 3, episode 7. (Carla Oset/AMC)
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon airs its season 3 finale on Sunday, nearly 15 years since the original Walking Dead series premiered on Oct. 31, 2010.
Norman Reedus plays Daryl and is one of only a few actors who’s remained in The Walking Dead universe over those 15 years. He says it has been an honor fighting zombies all this time.
“It’s been a great opportunity to be able to play this character this long and keep him interesting, and be interested in it. It’s taught me a lot,” Reedus tells ABC Audio.
Melissa McBride also returned for season 3. She plays fan-favorite Carol from the original show, who met up with Daryl in France in season 2 of Daryl Dixon.
“Melissa and I have that kind of a relationship where we are really close,” says Reedus. “When we’re in a scene together I know it’s going to work.”
Fans have long speculated about a relationship between their two characters, but Reedus says he’s glad the writers prioritized their friendship.
“I’m glad that we never went down that road of, ‘We’re together, we’re a couple.’ … They value their friendship so much that — why mess with it?” he says.
He also discovered how global The Walking Dead fanbase has become while filming in Spain this season.
“The Spanish people—they’re very passionate,” says Reedus. “They like to hug, they like to talk, they like to smile, they like to have conversations. It’s really fun to be there and work there.”
As for the future of the show, Reedus says fans should expect to see a more introspective side of Daryl in season 4.
“Daryl goes deep deep inside himself,” he says, referencing a conversation from early this season. “All we do is run and fight — maybe there’s a better way to live.’”
