(WASHINGTON) — Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego announced Monday he is launching a bid for U.S. Senate to unseat independent Kyrsten Sinema.
“I have been deeply humbled by the encouragement I have received from the people of Arizona, and today I am answering the call to serve,” Gallego said in a press release.
In a video announcement, Gallego shared his vision for Arizona and went after Sinema, who has yet to announce if she’ll seek reelection.
“She’s repeatedly broken her promises and fought for the interests of big pharma and Wall Street at our expense,” he said. “I’m running for the U.S. Senate because the rich and the powerful don’t need any more advocates in Washington — but families who can’t afford groceries do.”
Gallego has spoken out against Sinema in the past for holding back several key pieces of Democratic legislation during her time in office. Most recently, he has come after her for switching party affiliation, leaving the Democratic Party and registering as an independent ahead of the 2024 elections.
Last week, Gallego’s fellow Arizona Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton announced that he would not seek to run for Senate next year, forging the path for Gallego to win the Democratic primary.
Gallego said in December some senators and representatives have privately urged him to run against Sinema.
A Gallego-Sinema matchup would make for an important campaign, given Arizona’s battleground state status. Meanwhile, on the Republican side, reports have circulated that former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is also mulling a senatorial run following her loss to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs by less than a percentage point.
Gallego, a former Marine, represents Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes parts of Phoenix and Glendale. He won reelection in 2022 with 77% of the vote, defeating Republican challenger Jeff Zink. He was first elected to Congress in 2014.
He currently serves on the House Armed Services Committee, the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Veterans Affairs.
Gallego, a first-generation American, is of Colombian and Mexican descent. If elected, he would be the first Latino senator to represent Arizona.
“The odds that a single immigrant mom with a Latino boy, statistically, I was never supposed to end up, even in college. I slept on a floor, on a couch, on a roll-out mat,” Gallego said in the announcement video. “Hearing her cry, like, every night, being stressed out about how she was gonna raise like four kids on a secretary’s salary, you know, with an absent father.”
Gallego and his wife Sydney have a 6-year-old son and are also expecting a baby girl in July.
Among Riley Keough‘s words, read by her Aussie stuntman husband Ben Smith-Petersen at her mom Lisa Marie Presley‘s memorial service Sunday, was a mention that the couple now have a daughter.
Now a rep for the Mad Max: Fury Road star confirmed to Page Six that the couple, married since 2015, welcomed a child at some point, but it’s not known when or what the baby’s name is.
On Sunday, an emotional Smith-Petersen eulogized his late mother-in-law with Riley’s written words, expressing in part, “Thank you for showing me love is the only thing that matters in this life. I hope I can love my daughter the way you loved me…”
Riley also said of her mother, who died on January 12 at age 54, “Thank you for giving me strength, my heart, my empathy, my courage, my sense of humor, my manners, my temper, my wildness, my tenacity. I’m a product of your heart, my sisters are a product of your heart, my brother is a product of your heart.”
Presley was laid to rest Thursday at her father Elvis’ Graceland estate, where the memorial service was held Sunday morning. Lisa Marie was laid to rest next to Benjamin, her son and Riley’s brother, who died by suicide in 2020 at 27.
Lisa Marie was also mom to 14-year-old twin daughters Finley and Harper Lockwood.
If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or by visiting 988lifeline.org. You can also contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
Beyoncé made a return to the stage over the weekend, performing in Dubai at the grand opening of Atlantis The Royal, a new luxury resort.
During Saturday’s event, the powerhouse singer performed a variety of hits from throughout the years, starting with a cover of Etta James‘ “At Last.” Other tracks she performed included “Ave Maria,” “Halo,” “Countdown,” and “Crazy In Love.” The 41-year-old also performed “Brown Skin Girl” with her 11-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy. Absent were any songs from her recent Renaissance album.
For the closer, Beyoncé was raised 16 feet in the air as she sang “Drunk In Love,” with the backdrop of the resort in the background.
Assisting Beyoncé singer in the performance was a 48-person all-female orchestra, Firdaus, and America’s Got Talent winners The Mayyas, an all-female precision dance group from Lebanon, among others.
The 60-minute set marked Beyoncé’s first performance since 2020 and was attended by around 1,000 people, as well as her husband JAY-Z, her parents and family.
After almost a year, Kylie Jenner is introducing her son to the world.
The Kylie Cosmetics founder, who welcomed a son with Travis Scott last February, took to Instagram on Saturday to share some candid photos while simultaneously revealing the toddler’s name in the caption.
“AIRE,” she wrote, along with the white heart emoji.
Kylie, 25, and Travis, 31, initially named their 11-month old son Wolf Webster. However, in March, a month after his birth, the Kardashians star announced that they changed it.
“FYI our sons [sic] name isn’t Wolf anymore,” she shared in an Instagram Story at the time. “We just really didn’t feel like it was him.”
“Just wanted to share because I keep seeing Wolf everywhere,” she explained, adding the praying hands emoji.
Kylie and Travis welcomed their son on February 2, 2022. The baby boy joins 4-year-old big sister Stormi.
The Mosquito Coast won’t be back for a third season on Apple TV+, according to Deadline. The series, loosely based on Paul Theroux’s bestselling 1981 novel, followed Justin Theroux as a brilliant rebel who, along with his wife, “takes their family on the run to protect them, but end up exposing them to more danger than ever.” Melissa George, Logan Polish and Gabriel Bateman also starred. The first two seasons were essentially a prequel to the book and the 1986 movie, which starred Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren and River Phoenix…
NCIS: Los Angeles, the longest-running NCIS spinoff, will end with its season 14th season finale on May 14, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The current cast of the CBS drama includes LL Cool J, Chris O’Donnell and Linda Hunt, who have been together for the show’s entire run, along with Eric Christian Olsen, who recurred in the first season before becoming a season regular in season 2. Medalion Rahimi, Caleb Castille and Gerald McRaney also star…
South Park will return for its 26th season on February 8, Comedy Central announced on Friday. All-new episodes will be available to stream in HD on SouthPark.cc.com, CC.com and the Comedy Central App following the premiere. Last summer, Comedy Central celebrated the historic 25th anniversary of cable’s longest-running scripted series with South Park: The 25th Anniversary Concert…
Peacock has pulled the plug on the teen supernatural series Vampire Academy after one season, series star Jonetta Kaiserannounced Friday on on Instagram, adding that she hoped that the series would be picked up by another network but was “grateful to have had the life-changing opportunity to play Sonya Karp and gain the support of so many kind fans all over the world.” The fantasy horror series followed two women from different social classes, played by Daniela Nieves and Sisi Stringer, who enter vampire society as they start their education…
(WASHINGTON) — The Treasury Department is rolling out new measures aimed at improving customer service as the IRS starts to accept 2022 federal income tax returns.
Treasury Department Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo told reporters on Friday that the agency has used funds from the Inflation Reduction Act to hire more customer service staff and modernize decades-old technology.
That includes 5,000 new customer service workers to answer calls, Adeyemo said. Just 13% of 173 million calls to the IRS were fielded by live agents last year and 8% of calls were answered with automated assistance.
A Treasury Department official said the new hires mean the IRS has a “historic number” of workers ready to answer the phones this tax season, with the goal of reducing average wait times from 30 minutes to 15 minutes.
These workers will be trained and in place by Presidents Day weekend in late February, Adeyemo told reporters. The IRS also beefed up staffing at taxpayer assistance centers across the country, with 700 new hires.
Adeyemo said “meaningful progress” has been made to update technology. The IRS will now let taxpayers respond to notices for document verification and other issues electronically rather than by mail.
The IRS will continue to move towars automating the scanning of millions of individual paper returns, as it currently inputs the information from paper returns manually one number at a time.
“These customer service improvements will have a positive impact on tax filers, ensure returns are processed more quickly and taxpayers are able to access credits and benefits they’re entitled to in a timely manner,” Adeyemo said.
The IRS began to accept federal returns on Monday, and individuals have until April 18 to file. Taxpayers who request an extension will have until Oct. 16.
The agency’s new resources come as congressional Republicans try to reclaim the money approved for the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act — which was opposed by every GOP lawmaker in the House and Senate. The law allocates roughly $80 billion for the IRS over the next decade.
Earlier this month, House Republicans voted to strip the funding in the first piece of legislation the new majority brought to the floor. Many GOP lawmakers misleadingly claim the money will result in the hiring of 87,000 new agents to target middle- and lower-class families, though IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said it will not increase audits of households making less than $400,000 per year.
The legislation has little chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate, and the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement that President Joe Biden would veto it if it came to his desk.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said a priority of the agency is to use the Inflation Reduction Act funding to clear the IRS backlog, as well as improve technology and hire more workers.
“Our work to improve services will continue throughout policies and the resources provided by the [Inflation Reduction Act] will continue to support a years-long transformation with the agency long after this filing season concludes,” Adeyemo said Friday.
(ATLANTA) — After months of testimony, a special grand jury seated in Atlanta last year as part of a probe into efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election has submitted its final report detailing its findings, marking a significant milestone in one of several criminal investigations targeting the former president.
Though the special grand jury does not have the ability to return an indictment, it can make recommendations concerning criminal prosecution — which could then be brought by an additional grand jury.
On Tuesday, the judge overseeing the case is scheduled to hear arguments over whether or not to make the report public, with the central question remaining: Did the grand jury recommend criminal charges for Donald Trump and his allies?
Ambassador Norman Eisen (ret.), a senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institute who served as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee from 2019 to 2020, told ABC News that “the mountain of evidence” that has been made public regarding the efforts to overturn the election in Georgia “points strongly toward a forecast that the report recommends Donald Trump and his conspirators for prosecution.”
“Like the weather forecast or rain, there’s no guarantee,” Eisen said, “but when you look outside your window and the rain clouds are dark … that’s where we are with all of these facts.”
Possible charges could include solicitations of election fraud, other forms of fraud, conspiracy, and possibly racketeering, Eisen said.
“The allegations are very serious. If indicted and convicted, people are facing prison sentences,” Willis said of the investigation in an interview with The Washington Post last year.
A spokesperson for the DA’s office declined to comment on the status of the investigation ahead of the hearing next week, including whether the DA would oppose or support the release of the report.
The office also has not yet filed a motion in court indicating its position.
‘Find 11,780 votes’
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis officially launched the probe in February 2021, sparked in part by the now-infamous Jan. 2, 2021, phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump pleaded with Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes,” the exact number Trump needed to win Georgia.
Trump has repeatedly defended his call to Raffensperger, calling it “perfect.”
The special grand jury was seated in May 2022, after Willis wrote that the panel was needed because “a significant number of witnesses and prospective witnesses have refused to cooperate with the investigation absent a subpoena requiring their testimony.”
Since then, those who have been subpoenaed for testimony include some of Trump’s closest allies and supporters, including attorneys Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, who unsuccessfully fought his subpoena up to the United State Supreme Court.
Graham argued, among other things, that he was acting “within [his] official legislative responsibilities” as a senator and chairman of the Judiciary Committee when he allegedly made calls to Georgia officials following the 2020 election.
During calls to Raffensperger and others, Graham allegedly asked about “reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump,” the judge wrote in a filing in the case.
Willis also sought testimony from a number of Georgia’s highest elected officials, including Raffensperger, Gov. Brian Kemp and Rep. Jody Hice.
Targets of the probe
A number of individuals have also been informed that they are considered “targets” of the probe, including Giuliani. In the wake of the election, Giuliani appeared at a series of legislative hearings around the country — including Georgia — where he urged state legislators to reject the results of the election.
Responding to the notification of his status as a target of the probe, Giuliani said, “I appeared in Georgia as attorney for Donald J. Trump. So I’m going to be prosecuted for what I did as an attorney?”
Sixteen people identified as so-called “fake electors” in the state were also notified that they were considered targets in the ongoing criminal investigation, prosecutors revealed in court documents over the summer.
The 16, who allegedly participated in a scheme to overturn the state’s election results, received letters “alerting that person both that [their] testimony was required by the special purpose grand jury and that [they were a] target of the investigation” the filing said.
Specifically, they are being investigated for “creation of a document that identified [themselves] as being among the ‘duly elected and qualified Electors for president and Vice President of the United States of America from the State of Georgia,’ and the submission of that document to the National Archives.”
The House committee probing the Jan. 6 attack on U.S. Capitol described the “fake electors” plan, which appeared to have multiple iterations, as being set up by the Trump campaign in multiple swing states in which they sought to assemble “groups of individuals in key battleground states and got them to call themselves electors, created phony certificates associated with these fake electors and then transmitted these certificates to Washington, and to the Congress, to be counted during the joint session of Congress on January 6th,” according to the filing.
The Department of Justice is also examining the issue of fake electors as part of its own separate investigation, sources have told ABC News.
Attorneys for the electors have denied any wrongdoing in their actions.
“They cannot have and did not commit any crime as a matter of fact and law,” wrote attorney Holly Pierson, who represents 11 of the alleged fake electors.
Setbacks for Willis
Willis suffered a setback last year when she unsuccessfully fought to have Pierson and her law partner disqualified from representing those 11, alleging that it was a “conflict of interest.”
Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney largely denied the request, only removing one of the electors as Pierson’s client, but keeping the rest.
Earlier, McBurney disqualified Willis from investigating one of the 16 alleged fake electors, Georgia state Sen. Burt Jones, after Willis held a fundraiser for Jones’ political opponent in the race for lieutenant governor. The judge called it “harmful” to the investigation and said the “optics are horrid.”
“An investigation of this significance, garnering the public attention it necessarily does and touching so many political nerves in our society, cannot be bordered by legitimate doubts about the District Attorney’s motives,” McBurney wrote.
On Tuesday, McBurney will consider whether the report should be made public or remain sealed — though Eisen, the Brookings expert, said its release could be harmful to the case.
“If you have the report out there before the DA has taken it to the regular grand jury, it complicates her life, because the report gets ahead of the normal lifecycle of the case, where the indictments are the first,” Eisen told ABC News.
“She may not want the report to be issued until her indictments are out,” he said.
(SALT LAKE CITY) — A plastic surgeon and three others in Utah were charged with allegedly selling people seeking fraudulent COVID-19 immunization records an estimated $97,000 worth of fake CDC cards without administering vaccines, the Department of Justice said in a Friday release.
Dr. Michael Kirk Moore Jr., 58, of the Midvale practice Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah, was charged along with his neighbor Kristin Jackson Andersen, 59; surgical coordinator Kari Dee Burgoyne, 52; and receptionist Sandra Flores, 31.
Salt Lake County, Utah, resident Moore and his co-defendants allegedly ran a scheme to defraud the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States, court documents said. Moore and Andersen were members of a group trying to “liberate the medical profession from government and industry conflicts of interest,” the documents said.
The group allegedly destroyed about $28,000 or more in government-provided COVID-19 doses, usually by squirting syringes containing doses down sink drains, court documents said. They exchanged at least 1,900 doses’ worth of falsified record cards for either $50 cash payments or “donations to a specified charitable organization,” the Justice Department said. The recipient organization was linked to the group Moore and Andersen were involved with, court documents show.
Card recipients did not get COVID-19 vaccines, though some parents requested that their children receive saline shots instead so they would believe they did, court documents said.
Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General Special Agent in Charge Curt L. Muller vowed law enforcement would hold people who try to illegally profit from the pandemic accountable in a statement included in the DOJ release.
“By allegedly falsifying vaccine cards and administering saline shots to children instead of COVID-19 vaccines, not only did this provider endanger the health and well-being of a vulnerable population, but also undermined public trust and the integrity of federal health care programs,” Muller said.
Moore’s biography on the Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah website said he is a graduate of the School of Medicine at the University of Miami and completed a plastic surgery residency at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. His Utah physician and surgeon license was still listed as active on the state’s division of occupational and professional licensing website early Monday.
The complete list of charges the defendants are facing includes conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to convert, sell, convey, and dispose of government property; and conversion, sale, conveyance, and disposal of government property and aiding and abetting, with a first court appearance scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — The Cincinnati Bengals defeated the Buffalo Bills on Sunday during a highly anticipated rematch, which was Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s first time at the stadium after he collapsed from cardiac arrest during the teams’ regular season meeting.
“Welcome home,” the Bills tweeted along with video of Hamlin and his family at the stadium.
Hamlin collapsed suddenly after tackling Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins on Jan. 2. He was quickly surrounded by medical personnel, who performed CPR and restarted his heart on the field before being loaded into an ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital.
While he remained on a ventilator initially, he had the breathing tube removed days after being admitted to the hospital and doctors said his neurological function remained intact.
The game was suspended and later canceled.
Hamlin was released from UC Health in Cincinnati to Buffalo General for further treatment on Jan. 9.
Hamlin was discharged from the hospital nine days after the incident and has since been recovering at home.
While Hamlin has made great strides in his recovery from a cardiac arrest event earlier this month, he still has a long way to go in his recovery, his family spokesman told ESPN on Thursday.
“Despite being out of the hospital, Damar still has a lengthy recovery. Damar still requires oxygen and is having his heart monitored regularly. He has visited with the team a few times but he still gets winded very easily. He’s upbeat and positive and ready to continue to overcome this,” Hamlin’s spokesman, Jordon Rooney said.
Earlier this week, Buffalo Bills Coach Sean McDermott said that Hamlin has begun spending more time at the team’s facility and is there “almost daily,” ESPN reported.
The Bengals won the rematch and defeated the Bills 27-10.
(MONTEREY PARK, Calif.) — At least 10 people were killed and 10 others were injured on Saturday night when a gunman opened fire at a crowded dance studio in Monterey Park, California, authorities said.
The suspect — identified as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran — fled the scene and traveled to nearby Alhambra, where he allegedly entered a second dance hall before being disarmed that same night. Tran was found dead on Sunday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a van in Torrance, about 30 miles southwest of Monterey Park, according to police.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 23, 9:51 AM EST
Governor visits Monterey Park
California Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted photos of his Sunday visit to Monterey Park.
He said he met with “leaders and those impacted by this terrible tragedy” and called their strength “incredible.”
“No other country in the world is terrorized by this constant stream of gun violence,” the Democratic governor tweeted. “We need real gun reform at a national level.”
Jan 23, 8:42 AM EST
Suspect had no documented criminal history
Authorities have found no criminal history for the suspect in the Monterey Park mass shooting, ABC News has learned.
Investigators are still looking into a possible motive, including domestic violence.
-ABC News’ Josh Margolin and Alex Stone
Jan 23, 7:36 AM EST
‘Something came over me,’ says man who disarmed shooter
The man who disarmed the Monterey Park mass shooter recalled how “something came over me” during an interview Monday on ABC News’ “Good Morning America.”
“I realized I needed to get the weapon away from him,” Brandon Tsay said. “I needed to take this weapon, disarm him or else everybody would have died.”
Jan 23, 7:01 AM EST
Dance studio releases statement
The dance studio in Monterey Park where Saturday’s mass shooting took place has released a statement.
“What should have been a festive night to welcome the first day of the Lunar New Year turned into a tragedy. Our heart goes out to all the victims, survivors, and their families,” Star Dance Studio said in a Facebook post late Sunday. “In this time of healing, we hope that all those who were affected have the space to grieve and process what transpired within the last 24 hours. In the meantime, all classes will be canceled and studio will be closed until further notice.”
Jan 23, 5:31 AM EST
Survivor says longtime dance partner was among those killed
Shally was dancing the jive with her longtime dance partner on Saturday night when a gunman entered the studio and opened fire.
“We go to hide under the table,” Shally, who only provided her first name, recalled during an interview with Los Angeles ABC station KABC. “I think [my partner] had got shot already but not realized yet.”
Shally said she saw the gunman leave to get more bullets. When he returned, he reloaded the gun and opened fire again, she said.
“I said, ‘Lie down.’ We all lied down,” Sally told KABC.
Shally said the shooter then fled the scene and she turned to her partner, who she realized was unconscious. She tried to wake him but then saw her hands were covered in blood, she said.
“I thought I got shot too,” she told KABC.
Shally said she then realized that her partner had been shot in the back and the blood on her hands was his, from when they were holding each other in fear while hiding under the table.
“‘Wake up, wake up,'” she recalled telling her partner. “He was dead.”
Shally, who did not want to share the name of her dance partner, said he was a good friend and that they had danced together every week for about 10 years. She described him as a 62-year-old Asian man who didn’t have any family and said he was also friends with her husband, whom she married a couple years ago.
“He’s a nice guy,” she told KABC of her dance partner. “We love to dance.”
