Fine Young Cannibals (L-R): David Steele, Roland Gift, and Andy Cox circa 1989 (LGI Stock/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)
Fine Young Cannibals recently released FYC40, a “definitive anthology” of the British group who topped the charts in the late ’80s. And while the band only released two official albums, their music still endures — especially their first #1 hit, “She Drives Me Crazy,” which has appeared in multiple movies and TV shows over the years.
Fine Young Cannibals frontman Roland Gift says one use of “She Drives Me Crazy” really stands out to him: Dua Lipa‘s Chanel handbag campaign, which came out in January of 2025. “I was very impressed with that ad,” Gift tells ABC Audio.
“There was something about it,” he continues, adding, “I even wrote to the director saying ‘Good job,’ because her sort of lip-syncing [to the song] … was very unexpected, and it was charming. And I think … it’s probably my favorite use of an FYC song.”
Given the success of that song and their album The Raw and The Cooked, many fans were disappointed when Fine Young Cannibals split, and so was Gift.
“I think we had a little bit more in us, and it was a shame that we couldn’t keep the marriage together. You know, that’s kind of a regret that I have,” he tells ABC Audio.
“We hadn’t experienced the kind of success that we’d had. The record company hadn’t experienced that kind of success. The managers hadn’t experienced that. So nobody was really able to contain … the heat that we’d created.”
“It’s great that people still are interested and people still like the songs, but I feel like we had a bit more,” he notes. Despite that, he insists, “We wouldn’t reform.”
But if you miss Gift’s distinctive voice, he has a new holiday song called “Everybody Knows It’s Christmas,” and he still tours, albeit only in the U.K. for the moment.
Chris Young just wrapped up his first ever holiday tour, so on Tuesday, he switched to non-Christmas mode for a performance on Live with Kelly & Mark.
Chris sang the title track of his new album I Didn’t Come Here to Leave, which you can watch online now.
Meanwhile, Chris took to Instagram to share his thoughts on his It Must Be Christmas — An Acoustic Evening with Chris Young tour, which featured him performing his hits as well as holiday songs, like the recently released “Christmas Ain’t Christmas” and “Silver Bells.”
“I wanted to take a moment to thank each and every one of you that attended the It Must Be Christmas acoustic tour. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate the holidays,” Chris wrote. “I hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas and wonderful new year. Can’t wait to get back out on the road next year!”
He also wrote, “Thank you for making this the most magical tour.”
Chris hasn’t announced a full tour for 2026 yet, though he does have a few shows booked here and there.
Taylor Swift ‘The End of an Era’ docuseries (Courtesy Disney+)
Christmas is a time for giving, and boy, does Taylor Swift know how to give.
The charity Feeding America announced on Instagram Tuesday that Taylor had presented them with a $1 million donation. “We’re grateful to @taylorswift for standing with families facing hunger. Her generosity reminds us what’s possible when we come together to help ensure full tables this holiday season and beyond,” read the caption.
In other Taylor news, the last two episodes of her docuseries The End of an Era are streaming now on Disney+, and in the sixth and final one, we get to hear part of a love letter her fiancé Travis Kelce wrote to her ahead of her final Eras Tour shows.
While backstage before her final Eras Tour shows last December, Taylor reads the letter out loud. “So many unbelievable memories in this tour, but my favorite was seeing you in concert for the first time, being mesmerized and swept off my feet by a woman who doesn’t even know me,” she reads.
“I selfishly say thank you for creating this legendary tour and to [tour manager] Robert [Allen] for making you stop through Kansas City, Missouri,” she continues reading. “That night two in KC was the beginning of me meeting the love of my life.”
She reads the rest of the letter to herself, and then says, “Awww, my God! So much for no emotions on the last three shows, huh?”
The final episode ends with a roundup of what happened in Taylor’s life after the Eras Tour: She bought back her masters, got engaged to Travis and released The Life of a Showgirl, which the episode describes as “the biggest album of her career” — cheekily followed by the words “to date.”
Jeffrey Epstein is seen in this image released by the Department of Justice in Washington, December 19, 2025 (U.S. Justice Department)
(NEW YORK) — Even as investigators took Jeffrey Epstein into custody in July 2019, they were already turning their attention to others in the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender’s vast orbit who might also be involved in his crimes, according to a massive new trove of files released by the Justice Department early Tuesday morning.
The fresh batch of files also add new details to the Epstein saga not previously known, including operational details that went into planning for his 2019 arrest; how some federal officials reacted to his death by suicide in jail; and images of the fake Austrian passport Epstein held under a pseudonym.
And the files included a 2020 heads up from a federal prosecutor that Trump had traveled with Epstein more than was previously known at the time.
The latest DOJ disclosure under the Epstein Files Transparency Act includes more than 10,000 files totaling more than 10 gigabytes of material, ranging from internal government emails to investigative materials, to a blueprint of Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse used by officials executing their search.
The DOJ posted the new materials just after midnight ET on Tuesday morning, marking the latest cache of materials released under a congressional mandate. The law, which President Donald Trump signed in November, required the DOJ to release all the documents by Friday, Dec. 19, although the department has said the vetting process required to protect Epstein’s victims has slowed their delivery.
A statement from alleged victims said the DOJ “violated the law” by “failing to redact survivor identities.”
Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019. A co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking of minors and other offenses.
Investigation into potential co-conspirators
Hours after Epstein had been arrested at Teterboro Airport and his Manhattan home had been raided, investigators also sought to ramp up their pursuit of others who might also potentially be involved in his alleged crimes.
Though it has previously been reported that investigations of possible Epstein co-conspirators were a focus after his death, the new disclosures indicate that those efforts had already begun by the time he was arrested — and were in fact well underway.
“When you get a chance can you give me an update on the status of the 10 co-conspirators?” someone from the FBI’s New York office wrote in an email at 12:24 p.m. July 7, 2019 — the day after Epstein’s arrest. The reply: That contact had been made with some of the alleged accomplices, and investigators were efforting others. Most of the names are redacted; however some are not.
The documents the DOJ chose to release Tuesday do not detail the information investigators sought from these individuals, nor the basis for characterizing them as potential co-conspirators.
“Attempts were made to [redacted] and Brunel,” the update said, referring to Jean-Luc Brunel, a now-disgraced modeling agent and Epstein associate, who would be arrested the following year in Paris and charged with rape of minors over the age of 15 and sexual harassment. It’s not clear if the charges related specifically to any Epstein victim. Brunel, who maintained his innocence, was found dead by suicide in his Paris prison cell in February 2022.
“Attempts to [Ghislaine] Maxwell are being made in Boston today,” the July 7 email said.
“I do not know about Ohio contacting Wexner,” the email added — referring to Leslie Wexner, the Ohio billionaire for whom Epstein served as a longtime personal financial adviser.
Wexner has previously denied any knowledge of Epstein’s behavior and said he had cut ties with him in 2007. “I condemn his abhorrent behavior in the strongest possible terms and am sickened by the revelations I have read over the past weeks,” he said in a written statement to his foundation after Epstein’s arrest, obtained by ABC News at the time. The founder and chairman of L Brands said after Epstein’s death that he was “embarrassed” to have ever been associated with the disgraced sex offender.
Wexner has never been charged and was not identified at Maxwell’s trial as a co-conspirator.
In another email exchange, dated July 9, 2019, a member of the FBI’s Crimes Against Children Human Trafficking Unit received an update on the 10 alleged co-conspirators.
“3 have been located in FL and served GJ subpoenas; 1 in Boston, 1 in NYC, and 1 in CT were located and served,” the email said. “4 of the 10 are outstanding with attempts having been made. 1 is a wealthy business man in Ohio, a lead is being sent to CV; the remaining 3 are currently out of pocket.”
The email added that teams of special agents and prosecutors were shortly flying out to “various locations” in Florida “to interview approximately 25 victims.”
About month later, Epstein would be found dead by suicide in his New York jail cell. But his death did not halt investigations into his associates, according to the files.
In September 2019, prosecutors exchanging updates noted the investigation into Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators was “ongoing,” and that they had had conversations with several people who would cooperate in the investigation. Prosecutors later detailed a seven-page “memo on co-conspirators we could potentially charge” as well as a 86-page “co-conspirator update memo,” according to the files.
In July 2020, Maxwell would be arrested by the FBI in New Hampshire. She was charged by the Southern District of New York with conspiring to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking of a minor and other offenses. She was convicted in 2021 on five of six counts and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
No alleged co-conspirator other than Maxwell has ever been charged, and the Department of Justice said in July that there were no credible allegations that would lead to charges against others.
A heads-up about Trump’s travel
Six months after Maxwell’s arrest, prosecutors receiving Epstein-related records discovered that the onetime friend and current sitting president had in the 1990s traveled with Epstein far more than they had previously known.
“For your situational awareness, wanted to let you know that the flight records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware), including during the period we would expect to charge in a Maxwell case,” according to the Jan. 7, 2020, email to recipients whose names and email addresses are redacted.
“In particular, he is listed as a passenger on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996, including at least four flights on which Maxwell was also present,” the email said. “He is listed as having traveled with, among others and at various times, Marla Maples, his daughter Tiffany, and his son Eric. On one flight in 1993, he and Epstein are the only two listed passengers; on another, the only three passengers are Epstein, Trump, and then-20-year-old [redacted]. On two other flights, two of the passengers, respectively, were women who would be possible witnesses in a Maxwell case. We’ve just finished reviewing the full records (more than 100 pages of very small script) and didn’t want any of this to be a surprise down the road.” It’s not clear if there was any response to the message.
The flight records of Epstein’s private aircraft documents referenced in that email would later become public exhibits during Maxwell’s 2021 trial. There was no allegation raised during those proceedings that Trump’s travels on Epstein’s plane were in any way connected to the charges against Maxwell.
Prosecutors press for interview with Prince Andrew
One of the documents included is an extensive email exchange in September and October 2020 between an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York and a lawyer representing then-Prince Andrew of Britain.
In the email exchange — which took place a few months after Maxwell’s arrest — Andrew’s lawyer lays out restrictions on the manner of the interview, including Andrew only providing a signed witness statement, and the topics he would agree to discuss.
Prosecutors pushed for a live in-person or virtual interview, according to the files. Andrew’s lawyer appeared to refuse, agreeing only to written answers. In the last email of the exchange, the assistant U.S. attorney writes, “[B]ecause the written statement you propose to provide will not assist our investigation, we intend to move forward with our MLA request seeking a compelled interview of your client.” An MLA request, or Mutual Legal Assistance, is a request from one country to another for assistance in a legal matter. It’s not clear from the newly-disclosed files if prosecutors followed through on the MLA request.
The fact that Andrew, who has been stripped of his title as prince, had offered a written statement, and that the SNDY had declined that format and intended to pursue an MLA request were reported at the time — but these communications reveal an extensive inside look at the process of those negotiations.
Details of Epstein’s arrest
Meticulous planning went into the undercover operation that would ultimately take Epstein into custody, according to the newly released DOJ files.
Among the documents is an “Operations Order Form,” dated July 2, 2019 — four days before he would be arrested — that strategizes how it might all go down upon his return from overseas.
“Epstein is presently out of the country. A silent hit notification with [Customs and Border Protection] has been put into effect for his return to the US. Upon Epstein’s return to the US, CBP will detain him at an airport. Agents and NYPD detectives will coordinate with FBI Newark and CBP, then respond to effect the arrest of Epstein,” the document said.
“Once Epstein is in custody, a search warrant for his premises in New York will be sworn out,” the document said. “Agents and NYPD detectives will knock and announce their presence at the subject premises. Upon entry, the subject premises will be secured and the search warrant will be executed. Teams will then break off to conduct interviews.”
The order mentions a “tactical brief” scheduled for July 8. But agents got word Epstein’s return home was imminent, according to the files.
“We received a hit notification that our sub will be landing at Teterboro at 1720 tomorrow, 7/6/2019,” according to a July 5, 2019, email from an FBI special agent. The agent then goes on to suggest that they should plan to meet at the airport at 3:30 p.m. “in case of an early landing.”
The exchange noted Epstein used a private plane and was a “frequent flier out of Teterboro. Ideally we would like to pick him up when he arrives.” Because Epstein would be arriving on an international flight, CBP would need to initiate the arrest, the agents noted.
Also included in the documents is the arrest warrant for Epstein dated July 2, 2019, and issued by SDNY. Epstein was arrested July 6, 2019, when he landed at Teterboro.
Epstein’s alter ego, ‘Marius Fortelni’’
The new disclosure also includes several photographs of a fake Austrian passport bearing a photograph of Epstein — but in the name of Marius Robert Fortelni — who listed his occupation as “Manager” and his residence as Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
The passport was issued in 1982 and was valid until 1987. On the inside pages are stamps from airport arrivals in Paris and Nice, France, in the early 1980s as well as entry stamps for England and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
After Epstein’s arrest in 2019, prosecutors said they had discovered that passport in a safe in Epstein’s New York mansion, along with three U.S. passports, 48 loose diamonds and $70,000 in cash.
Epstein’s defense attorneys, seeking to secure bail for their client, said that two of the US passports were expired. The foreign passport, they claimed, was given to Epstein “by a friend,” and he had never used it to travel. They argued he received it in the 1980s for personal protection when traveling in the Middle East.
Internal government reaction immediately after Epstein’s death
Internal communications sent in the hours after Epstein was found unresponsive at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan in August 2019 show how some people with federal email addresses reacted to the news, with one stating that they could not understand how it happened.
“His victims deserve some sort of modicum of justice and this is not how it should have gone down,” one unidentified individual wrote.
The names and email addresses of the people who sent the messages were redacted.
“In separate news and not to be crass but Epstein! Wow. Can we still pursue forfeiture against the estate?” one of the emails said.
“We can bring a civil forfeiture against the properties IF we’re within statute, which we may not be. We’ll have to look at it, but we’ve got some time, since I’m pretty sure no one’s going to want to have that be was our immediate reaction to his suicide,” another person responded. “We can’t pursue any kind of general money judgment against the estate – there we’re out of luck.”
One person wrote in an email that it had not been a “great year” for the Bureau of Prisons in the New York area.
“It’s just slightly more awkward where he was somehow allowed to commit suicide on a second try in two weeks by a branch of our government,” the email noted.
Jeffrey Epstein is seen in this image released by the Department of Justice in Washington, December 19, 2025 (U.S. Justice Department)
(NEW YORK) — Even as investigators took Jeffrey Epstein into custody in July 2019, they were already turning their attention to others in the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender’s vast orbit who might also be involved in his crimes, according to a massive new trove of files released by the Justice Department early Tuesday morning.
The fresh batch of files also add new details to the Epstein saga not previously known, including operational details that went into planning for his 2019 arrest; how some federal officials reacted to his death by suicide in jail; and images of the fake Austrian passport Epstein held under a pseudonym.
And the files included a 2020 heads up from a federal prosecutor that Trump had traveled with Epstein more than was previously known at the time.
The latest DOJ disclosure under the Epstein Files Transparency Act includes more than 10,000 files totaling more than 10 gigabytes of material, ranging from internal government emails to investigative materials, to a blueprint of Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse used by officials executing their search.
The DOJ posted the new materials just after midnight ET on Tuesday morning, marking the latest cache of materials released under a congressional mandate. The law, which President Donald Trump signed in November, required the DOJ to release all the documents by Friday, Dec. 19, although the department has said the vetting process required to protect Epstein’s victims has slowed their delivery.
A statement from alleged victims said the DOJ “violated the law” by “failing to redact survivor identities.”
Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019. A co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking of minors and other offenses.
Investigation into potential co-conspirators
Hours after Epstein had been arrested at Teterboro Airport and his Manhattan home had been raided, investigators also sought to ramp up their pursuit of others who might also potentially be involved in his alleged crimes.
Though it has previously been reported that investigations of possible Epstein co-conspirators were a focus after his death, the new disclosures indicate that those efforts had already begun by the time he was arrested — and were in fact well underway.
“When you get a chance can you give me an update on the status of the 10 co-conspirators?” someone from the FBI’s New York office wrote in an email at 12:24 p.m. July 7, 2019 — the day after Epstein’s arrest. The reply: That contact had been made with some of the alleged accomplices, and investigators were efforting others. Most of the names are redacted; however some are not.
The documents the DOJ chose to release Tuesday do not detail the information investigators sought from these individuals, nor the basis for characterizing them as potential co-conspirators.
“Attempts were made to [redacted] and Brunel,” the update said, referring to Jean-Luc Brunel, a now-disgraced modeling agent and Epstein associate, who would be arrested the following year in Paris and charged with rape of minors over the age of 15 and sexual harassment. It’s not clear if the charges related specifically to any Epstein victim. Brunel, who maintained his innocence, was found dead by suicide in his Paris prison cell in February 2022.
“Attempts to [Ghislaine] Maxwell are being made in Boston today,” the July 7 email said.
“I do not know about Ohio contacting Wexner,” the email added — referring to Leslie Wexner, the Ohio billionaire for whom Epstein served as a longtime personal financial adviser.
Wexner has previously denied any knowledge of Epstein’s behavior and said he had cut ties with him in 2007. “I condemn his abhorrent behavior in the strongest possible terms and am sickened by the revelations I have read over the past weeks,” he said in a written statement to his foundation after Epstein’s arrest, obtained by ABC News at the time. The founder and chairman of L Brands said after Epstein’s death that he was “embarrassed” to have ever been associated with the disgraced sex offender.
Wexner has never been charged and was not identified at Maxwell’s trial as a co-conspirator.
In another email exchange, dated July 9, 2019, a member of the FBI’s Crimes Against Children Human Trafficking Unit received an update on the 10 alleged co-conspirators.
“3 have been located in FL and served GJ subpoenas; 1 in Boston, 1 in NYC, and 1 in CT were located and served,” the email said. “4 of the 10 are outstanding with attempts having been made. 1 is a wealthy business man in Ohio, a lead is being sent to CV; the remaining 3 are currently out of pocket.”
The email added that teams of special agents and prosecutors were shortly flying out to “various locations” in Florida “to interview approximately 25 victims.”
About month later, Epstein would be found dead by suicide in his New York jail cell. But his death did not halt investigations into his associates, according to the files.
In September 2019, prosecutors exchanging updates noted the investigation into Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators was “ongoing,” and that they had had conversations with several people who would cooperate in the investigation. Prosecutors later detailed a seven-page “memo on co-conspirators we could potentially charge” as well as a 86-page “co-conspirator update memo,” according to the files.
In July 2020, Maxwell would be arrested by the FBI in New Hampshire. She was charged by the Southern District of New York with conspiring to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking of a minor and other offenses. She was convicted in 2021 on five of six counts and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
No alleged co-conspirator other than Maxwell has ever been charged, and the Department of Justice said in July that there were no credible allegations that would lead to charges against others.
A heads-up about Trump’s travel
Six months after Maxwell’s arrest, prosecutors receiving Epstein-related records discovered that the onetime friend and current sitting president had in the 1990s traveled with Epstein far more than they had previously known.
“For your situational awareness, wanted to let you know that the flight records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware), including during the period we would expect to charge in a Maxwell case,” according to the Jan. 7, 2020, email to recipients whose names and email addresses are redacted.
“In particular, he is listed as a passenger on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996, including at least four flights on which Maxwell was also present,” the email said. “He is listed as having traveled with, among others and at various times, Marla Maples, his daughter Tiffany, and his son Eric. On one flight in 1993, he and Epstein are the only two listed passengers; on another, the only three passengers are Epstein, Trump, and then-20-year-old [redacted]. On two other flights, two of the passengers, respectively, were women who would be possible witnesses in a Maxwell case. We’ve just finished reviewing the full records (more than 100 pages of very small script) and didn’t want any of this to be a surprise down the road.” It’s not clear if there was any response to the message.
The flight records of Epstein’s private aircraft documents referenced in that email would later become public exhibits during Maxwell’s 2021 trial. There was no allegation raised during those proceedings that Trump’s travels on Epstein’s plane were in any way connected to the charges against Maxwell.
Prosecutors press for interview with Prince Andrew
One of the documents included is an extensive email exchange in September and October 2020 between an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York and a lawyer representing then-Prince Andrew of Britain.
In the email exchange — which took place a few months after Maxwell’s arrest — Andrew’s lawyer lays out restrictions on the manner of the interview, including Andrew only providing a signed witness statement, and the topics he would agree to discuss.
Prosecutors pushed for a live in-person or virtual interview, according to the files. Andrew’s lawyer appeared to refuse, agreeing only to written answers. In the last email of the exchange, the assistant U.S. attorney writes, “[B]ecause the written statement you propose to provide will not assist our investigation, we intend to move forward with our MLA request seeking a compelled interview of your client.” An MLA request, or Mutual Legal Assistance, is a request from one country to another for assistance in a legal matter. It’s not clear from the newly-disclosed files if prosecutors followed through on the MLA request.
The fact that Andrew, who has been stripped of his title as prince, had offered a written statement, and that the SNDY had declined that format and intended to pursue an MLA request were reported at the time — but these communications reveal an extensive inside look at the process of those negotiations.
Details of Epstein’s arrest
Meticulous planning went into the undercover operation that would ultimately take Epstein into custody, according to the newly released DOJ files.
Among the documents is an “Operations Order Form,” dated July 2, 2019 — four days before he would be arrested — that strategizes how it might all go down upon his return from overseas.
“Epstein is presently out of the country. A silent hit notification with [Customs and Border Protection] has been put into effect for his return to the US. Upon Epstein’s return to the US, CBP will detain him at an airport. Agents and NYPD detectives will coordinate with FBI Newark and CBP, then respond to effect the arrest of Epstein,” the document said.
“Once Epstein is in custody, a search warrant for his premises in New York will be sworn out,” the document said. “Agents and NYPD detectives will knock and announce their presence at the subject premises. Upon entry, the subject premises will be secured and the search warrant will be executed. Teams will then break off to conduct interviews.”
The order mentions a “tactical brief” scheduled for July 8. But agents got word Epstein’s return home was imminent, according to the files.
“We received a hit notification that our sub will be landing at Teterboro at 1720 tomorrow, 7/6/2019,” according to a July 5, 2019, email from an FBI special agent. The agent then goes on to suggest that they should plan to meet at the airport at 3:30 p.m. “in case of an early landing.”
The exchange noted Epstein used a private plane and was a “frequent flier out of Teterboro. Ideally we would like to pick him up when he arrives.” Because Epstein would be arriving on an international flight, CBP would need to initiate the arrest, the agents noted.
Also included in the documents is the arrest warrant for Epstein dated July 2, 2019, and issued by SDNY. Epstein was arrested July 6, 2019, when he landed at Teterboro.
Epstein’s alter ego, ‘Marius Fortelni’’
The new disclosure also includes several photographs of a fake Austrian passport bearing a photograph of Epstein — but in the name of Marius Robert Fortelni — who listed his occupation as “Manager” and his residence as Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
The passport was issued in 1982 and was valid until 1987. On the inside pages are stamps from airport arrivals in Paris and Nice, France, in the early 1980s as well as entry stamps for England and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
After Epstein’s arrest in 2019, prosecutors said they had discovered that passport in a safe in Epstein’s New York mansion, along with three U.S. passports, 48 loose diamonds and $70,000 in cash.
Epstein’s defense attorneys, seeking to secure bail for their client, said that two of the US passports were expired. The foreign passport, they claimed, was given to Epstein “by a friend,” and he had never used it to travel. They argued he received it in the 1980s for personal protection when traveling in the Middle East.
Internal government reaction immediately after Epstein’s death
Internal communications sent in the hours after Epstein was found unresponsive at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan in August 2019 show how some people with federal email addresses reacted to the news, with one stating that they could not understand how it happened.
“His victims deserve some sort of modicum of justice and this is not how it should have gone down,” one unidentified individual wrote.
The names and email addresses of the people who sent the messages were redacted.
“In separate news and not to be crass but Epstein! Wow. Can we still pursue forfeiture against the estate?” one of the emails said.
“We can bring a civil forfeiture against the properties IF we’re within statute, which we may not be. We’ll have to look at it, but we’ve got some time, since I’m pretty sure no one’s going to want to have that be was our immediate reaction to his suicide,” another person responded. “We can’t pursue any kind of general money judgment against the estate – there we’re out of luck.”
One person wrote in an email that it had not been a “great year” for the Bureau of Prisons in the New York area.
“It’s just slightly more awkward where he was somehow allowed to commit suicide on a second try in two weeks by a branch of our government,” the email noted.
In a screen grab from a video released by Secretary Kristi Noem, the US Coast Guard apprehends an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela, on Dec. 20, 2025. (@Se_Noem)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. is still actively pursuing a sanctioned oil tanker linked to Venezuela, but that he’s confident the vessel will be seized.
“It’s moving along and we’ll end up getting it,” Trump said while unveiling a new class of battleships from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. “Yeah, we’re actually pursuing it. Can you imagine? Yeah, because it came from the wrong location. It came out of Venezuela, and it was sanctioned.”
The U.S. Coast Guard over the weekend was “in active pursuit of a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion,” an official told ABC News.
“It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order,” the official said at the time.
The tanker, named Bella 1, was not filled with cargo and en route to get oil when U.S. authorities attempted to board it, an official told ABC News on Monday.
Trump said the United States will keep the oil and ships after seizing sanctioned tankers.
“We’re keeping it. We’re keeping the ships also,” he said.
On President Nicholas Maduro, Trump said it would be “smart” for him to step down when asked if the administration’s ultimate goal in Venezuela is to force him from power.
“Well, I think it probably would. I can’t tell him. That’s up to him what he wants to do. I think it would be smart for him to do that. But again, we’re going to find out,” Trump said. Though the president also warned, “if he plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’s ever able to play tough.”
The Bella 1 tanker fled into the Atlantic Ocean and was not flying a legitimate national flag, giving the Coast Guard the jurisdiction to attempt to seize it.
These details were first reported by the New York Times.
The action came after the U.S. Coast Guard seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Saturday, just ten days after the seizure of a sanctioned oil tanker.
Unlike that first vessel seized, the tanker seized Saturday is not on any sanctions list maintained by the U.S., EU, U.K. or U.N., according to Kpler, a data firm that tracks transportation and logistics networks.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed Saturday’s operation in a post on social media, saying that the Coast Guard “apprehended” the tanker with support from the Department of Defense in a pre-dawn action. She said the tanker had last made port in Venezuela.
“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region,” Noem said in the post. “We will find you, and we will stop you.”
Last week, President Trump threatened to impose what he called “a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers” traveling to and from Venezuela – a move that could devastate the Venezuelan economy, since oil exports are the lifeblood of Maduro’s regime.
In response to Trump’s announcement, Maduro said Venezuela would continue to trade oil and that Trump’s “intention” is regime change.
“This will just not happen, never, never, never – Venezuela will never be a colony of anything or anyone, never,” Maduro said.
The U.S. has amassed the largest military presence in the Caribbean in decades, including the world’s largest aircraft carrier.
The Pentagon also has so far struck 28 alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, killing at least 100 people, without providing any public evidence that the boats were carrying illegal drugs or identifying those killed.
In a screen grab from a video released by Secretary Kristi Noem, the US Coast Guard apprehends an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela, on Dec. 20, 2025. (@Se_Noem)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. is still actively pursuing a sanctioned oil tanker linked to Venezuela, but that he’s confident the vessel will be seized.
“It’s moving along and we’ll end up getting it,” Trump said while unveiling a new class of battleships from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. “Yeah, we’re actually pursuing it. Can you imagine? Yeah, because it came from the wrong location. It came out of Venezuela, and it was sanctioned.”
The U.S. Coast Guard over the weekend was “in active pursuit of a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion,” an official told ABC News.
“It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order,” the official said at the time.
The tanker, named Bella 1, was not filled with cargo and en route to get oil when U.S. authorities attempted to board it, an official told ABC News on Monday.
Trump said the United States will keep the oil and ships after seizing sanctioned tankers.
“We’re keeping it. We’re keeping the ships also,” he said.
On President Nicholas Maduro, Trump said it would be “smart” for him to step down when asked if the administration’s ultimate goal in Venezuela is to force him from power.
“Well, I think it probably would. I can’t tell him. That’s up to him what he wants to do. I think it would be smart for him to do that. But again, we’re going to find out,” Trump said. Though the president also warned, “if he plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’s ever able to play tough.”
The Bella 1 tanker fled into the Atlantic Ocean and was not flying a legitimate national flag, giving the Coast Guard the jurisdiction to attempt to seize it.
These details were first reported by the New York Times.
The action came after the U.S. Coast Guard seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Saturday, just ten days after the seizure of a sanctioned oil tanker.
Unlike that first vessel seized, the tanker seized Saturday is not on any sanctions list maintained by the U.S., EU, U.K. or U.N., according to Kpler, a data firm that tracks transportation and logistics networks.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed Saturday’s operation in a post on social media, saying that the Coast Guard “apprehended” the tanker with support from the Department of Defense in a pre-dawn action. She said the tanker had last made port in Venezuela.
“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region,” Noem said in the post. “We will find you, and we will stop you.”
Last week, President Trump threatened to impose what he called “a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers” traveling to and from Venezuela – a move that could devastate the Venezuelan economy, since oil exports are the lifeblood of Maduro’s regime.
In response to Trump’s announcement, Maduro said Venezuela would continue to trade oil and that Trump’s “intention” is regime change.
“This will just not happen, never, never, never – Venezuela will never be a colony of anything or anyone, never,” Maduro said.
The U.S. has amassed the largest military presence in the Caribbean in decades, including the world’s largest aircraft carrier.
The Pentagon also has so far struck 28 alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, killing at least 100 people, without providing any public evidence that the boats were carrying illegal drugs or identifying those killed.
Snoop Dogg on red carpet for 19th annual TIME100 Gala (Getty Images)
We’ve seen Snoop Dogg provide commentary for boxing and Olympics games, but now, he’ll be doing it for an NBA matchup.
Snoop will be making his debut as a NBA game analyst on Jan. 5, when the LA Clippers take on the Golden State Warriors at the Intuit Dome in his native Los Angeles. NBCSN and Peacock tapped him for the job, which fans will be able to watch on Peacock NBA Monday. He’ll specifically comment on the second half of the game alongside Terry Gannon and Reggie Miller, after taking part in pregame activities that include attending shootarounds and production meetings.
“This is a dream come true for me,” Snoop Dogg said in a statement. “I’m fired up to be joining Reggie Miller and Terry Gannon on the call for the Clippers-Warriors game on Jan. 5. I can’t wait to bring a fresh vibe to the analysis while celebrating the skills and strategy these teams bring every night.”
The Clippers/Warriors game will start at 10 p.m. ET.
Snoop will then make his way to northern Italy in February to help with NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Winter Olympics.
Marvel has publicly released the first teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday, and it stars Chris Evans back in his role of the former Captain America, Steve Rogers. This teaser trailer, which was released Tuesday, arrives after footage leaked of it playing in theaters ahead of early screenings of Avatar: Fire and Ash.
The trailer finds Steve riding a motorcycle up to a farmhouse where he presumably lives. We see a close-up of his hand, showing off that he wears a wedding band on his ring finger. As the Avengers main theme plays, Steve then heads inside the home, where he cradles a newborn baby close to his chest.
He also pulls his Captain America suit out of storage to give it a nostalgic once-over.
The teaser ends with a black screen and text that reads, “Steve Rogers will return in Avengers: Doomsday.”
Directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo took to Instagram to share the new teaser, writing, “The character that changed our lives. The story that brought us all here together. It was always going to come back to this.”
Evans has not appeared as Steve Rogers in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, where he passed the title of Captain America on to his close friend, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie).
Avengers: Doomsday will arrive in theaters on Dec. 18, 2026.
Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson during Willie Nelson and Friends: “Outlaws & Angels” – Show and Backstage at Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by M. Caulfield/WireImage for NBC Universal Photo Department)
Legendary musician Willie Nelson is the subject of a New Yorker profile, but what has everyone talking is BobDylan‘scontribution to the piece, where he had quite a few things to say about the 92-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer.
Dylan has spent the last two summers on Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival, and when asked by the New Yorker journalist to describe Nelson, Dylan replied with, “It’s hard to talk about Willie without saying something stupid or irrelevant, he is so much of everything.”
But apparently he somehow found the words.
“How can you make sense of him? How would you define the indefinable or the unfathomable?” Dylan shared. “What is there to say? Ancient Viking Soul? Master Builder of the Impossible? Patron poet of people who never quite fit in and don’t much care to? Moonshine Philosopher? Tumbleweed singer with a PhD? Red Bandana troubadour, braids like twin ropes lassoing eternity?”
He added, “What do you say about a guy who plays an old, battered guitar that he treats like it’s the last loyal dog in the universe? Cowboy apparition, writes songs with holes that you can crawl through to escape from something. Voice like a warm porch light left on for wanderers who kissed goodbye too soon or stayed too long,” noting, “I guess you can say all that. But it really doesn’t tell you a lot or explain anything about Willie.”
Getting personal, Dylan explained, “I’ve always known him to be kind, generous, tolerant and understanding of human feebleness, a benefactor, a father and a friend,” adding, “He’s like the invisible air. He’s high and low. He’s in harmony with nature. And that’s what makes him Willie.”
