(SEOUL, South Korea) — Tensions rose in the Korean Peninsula while the two Koreas test-fired missiles one after another in a series of tit-for-tat moves on Wednesday.
North Korea fired four short-range ballistic missiles at 6:51 a.m. local time from its North Pyongan Province into the West Sea. Two hours later, the North fired three short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan), one of which landed in the waters below south of the NLL, or North Limit Line.
“This is the first time since the two Koreas split that a ballistic missile fell close to our waters, south of the NLL,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a written statement.
The missile fell 104 miles northwest of South Korea’s Ulleung island, triggering an air raid alert which forced the island’s 9,000 residents to evacuate to underground shelters.
The North soon after continued to fire off an additional 10 or more short-range ballistic and surface-to-air missiles from South Hamgyung Province to the east and from South Pyongan Province and South Hwanghae Province to the west.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered the military to ensure that North Korea “pays a clear price for its provocation,” according to his office.
In a retaliatory move, South Korea quickly responded by launching its own air-to-surface missiles into a similar area above the NLL, launched by two F-15K and KF-16 jet fighters.
“This precision strike by our military shows that we have willpower to decidedly respond to any sorts of provocation and the capability and readiness to precisely strike the enemy,” the JCS said.
The warning did not stop Pyongyang from firing about 100 artillery shells into the eastern waters near the maritime border.
South Korea demanded Pyongyang cease fire with a statement that they “once again clearly warn that responsibilities of all situations hereafter lies completely on North Korea as North Korea continues to provoke despite repeated warnings from our military.”
Wednesday’s launches came hours after Pyongyang warned that it could use nuclear weapons to make the U.S. and South Korea “pay the most horrible price in history” if South Korea and the U.S. joint military drills continue.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — Tensions rose in the Korean Peninsula while the two Koreas test-fired missiles one after another in a series of tit-for-tat moves on Wednesday.
North Korea fired four short-range ballistic missiles at 6:51 a.m. local time from its North Pyongan Province into the West Sea. Two hours later, the North fired three short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan), one of which landed in the waters below south of the NLL, or North Limit Line.
“This is the first time since the two Koreas split that a ballistic missile fell close to our waters, south of the NLL,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a written statement.
The missile fell 104 miles northwest of South Korea’s Ulleung island, triggering an air raid alert which forced the island’s 9,000 residents to evacuate to underground shelters.
The North soon after continued to fire off an additional 10 or more short-range ballistic and surface-to-air missiles from South Hamgyung Province to the east and from South Pyongan Province and South Hwanghae Province to the west.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered the military to ensure that North Korea “pays a clear price for its provocation,” according to his office.
In a retaliatory move, South Korea quickly responded by launching its own air-to-surface missiles into a similar area above the NLL, launched by two F-15K and KF-16 jet fighters.
“This precision strike by our military shows that we have willpower to decidedly respond to any sorts of provocation and the capability and readiness to precisely strike the enemy,” the JCS said.
The warning did not stop Pyongyang from firing about 100 artillery shells into the eastern waters near the maritime border.
South Korea demanded Pyongyang cease fire with a statement that they “once again clearly warn that responsibilities of all situations hereafter lies completely on North Korea as North Korea continues to provoke despite repeated warnings from our military.”
Wednesday’s launches came hours after Pyongyang warned that it could use nuclear weapons to make the U.S. and South Korea “pay the most horrible price in history” if South Korea and the U.S. joint military drills continue.
(WASHINGTON) — The divisiveness in the United States is something adversaries seek to take advantage of, especially during the midterm elections, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC News in an interview on Tuesday.
“The divisiveness that now grips this country is something that our adversaries, our adverse nation-states seek to exploit,” Mayorkas told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas. “And they do that on online platforms.”
The three main adversaries, he said, are Russia, China and Iran, which purposely attempt to sow discord “in the American public.”
The secretary was asked whether or not former President Donald Trump makes his job harder because people believe his falsehoods about the 2020 election. The secretary, while not directly addressing Trump by name, said the words of leaders “matter” and that the misinformation leaders perpetuate makes their job harder.
He was also asked if DHS has a responsibility to neutralize claims of election fraud.
“It is the responsibility of government, not just the Department of Homeland Security, the responsibility of government. It is a responsibility of leaders. It is the responsibility of people in positions of trust to communicate accurate information to the American public and disabuse them of falsehoods,” he said.
Mayorkas, when asked, said he has not communicated with the former president about taking the temperature of the rhetoric down.
Last week, the department warned in a bulletin obtained by ABC News that violent extremists could pose a “heightened threat” to the midterm elections, which are on Tuesday.
“The integrity of an individual’s right to vote and to be able to vote with a complete feeling of safety and security is absolutely vital. That is the foundation of our democracy,” Mayorkas said. “Freedom of speech is a fundamental right in this country. That does not mean that one gets to scream fire in a movie theater or incite people to violent acts.”
Mayorkas, who oversees the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which is primarily in charge of securing the nation’s cyber infrastructure during the midterms and beyond, said they are doing everything they can do to protect the vote, including by combatting misinformation, and that the election infrastructure is “safe and secure.”
“I think what’s important is that we will do everything that we can to protect the American public, to protect the integrity of the vote,” he said, adding that there is no credible direct threat to the election.
“It is our responsibility as a country to make sure that the American public understands what is true and what is not, in the sense that we have to build digital literacy. We have to make sure that an individual who reads things online or otherwise learns to assess the credibility of the source and make decisions for themselves as to fact or fiction,” he said.
Mayorkas also said there are a “number of forces that are fueling violent extremism, ideologies of hate, false narratives, anti-government sentiment, personal grievances.”
The attack against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, is just one example of the moment the country is in, he said.
On Friday, a suspect assaulted Paul Pelosi with a hammer after breaking into the couple’s San Francisco home in what the district attorney called “politically motivated violence.” The suspect is facing a slew of state and federal charges.
Since Mayorkas took the job in 2021, he has been sounding the alarm on domestic violent extremism in the United States. On Tuesday, he called what happened on Jan. 6 a wake-up call, along with the assault at the Pelosi home.
“Let’s think about that assault and the fact that there is not unanimity of condemnation and abhorrence in this country over that brutal act,” the secretary said. “It should be another wake-up call with respect to the moment that we’re in.”
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday will announce new steps the Biden administration is taking to help lower energy costs for Americans this winter.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is providing $4.5 billion in assistance to help cut heating costs for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), according to the White House.
“In addition to covering home heating costs this winter and unpaid utility bills, the program will help families make cost-effective home energy repairs to lower their heating and cooling bills,” the White House said in a statement.
Over the last year, LIHEAP has helped 5.3 million households across the United States with heating, cooling and weatherization, according to the White House.
The U.S. Department of Energy will also allocate $9 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to support up to 1.6 million households nationwide in upgrading their homes to decrease energy bills. This will be separated into two rebate programs: one for whole home energy efficiency retrofits and another for highly efficient and electric home appliances, according to the White House.
“In addition to lowering costs, energy-efficient and electric building and appliance upgrades can reduce indoor and local outdoor air pollution, improving health in our communities,” the White House said. “In addition, they will cut millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year to help tackle climate change.”
Harris will discuss the initiatives while visiting a union hall and training facility in Boston on Wednesday, according to the White House.
Nearly half of U.S. households rely on natural gas for heating and their bills could jump 28% this winter, compared with last winter, while bills for heating oil are projected to be 27% higher and electricity 10% higher, according to a recent analysis from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, an independent agency within the U.S. Department of Energy.
The National Energy Assistance Directors Association, which represents the state directors of LIHEAP, said in a recent report that energy costs are expected to be the highest this winter in more than a decade. This comes amid soaring inflation rates, with U.S. consumer prices increasing to a 40-year high 6.6% in September.
There are a number of contributing factors, including a rebound in global energy consumption from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has triggered price spikes, and Russia’s war in Ukraine further increasing prices and reducing supplies.
(WASHINGTON) — Economists expect another jumbo-sized increase in borrowing costs when the Federal Reserve announces its interest rate decision on Wednesday. Mounting evidence suggests that previous rate hikes have slowed key areas of the economy but inflation remains highly elevated.
The move would mark the latest in a string of borrowing cost increases imposed by the Fed in recent months as it tries to slash price increases by cooling the economy and choking off demand. But the approach risks tipping the U.S. into a recession and putting millions out of work.
Arriving less than a week before the midterm elections, the rate hike would indicate that the central bank considers inflation a continued threat to the U.S. economy.
Data on consumer prices released last month showed that costs rose 0.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis in September, defying efforts to bring prices down. Consumer prices overall rose 8.2% over the 12 months ending in September, exceeding economists’ predictions.
The Federal Reserve is expected to raise the benchmark interest rate by 0.75%, repeating the same hike it imposed at each of the last three meetings, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. Prior to this year, the Fed last matched a hike of this magnitude in 1994. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on several occasions has reiterated the central bank’s commitment to bring inflation down to a target rate of 2%, saying in September the Fed expects to put forward “ongoing increases” to its benchmark interest rate.
The personal consumption expenditures price index — the inflation measure preferred by the Fed — stands at a year-over-year growth rate of 5.1%, government data showed last week.
“Powell has been very clear that inflation is unacceptably high and we have to stay the course to get it down,” Anne Villamil, an economist at Iowa University, told ABC News. “Markets have been a little hopeful that we could have a pause — I don’t see that happening.”
Despite persistent inflation, growing evidence suggests that the Fed’s moves have put the brakes on some economic activity.
Mortgage rates reached a 20-year high last week, as the U.S. faces an ongoing slowdown in home sales and housing construction.
Job growth has persisted at a strong rate but has shown signs of moderating.
U.S. employers added 263,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate fell slightly to 3.5% from 3.7%, exceeding expectations and demonstrating the continued strength of the labor market.
But the total came in well below the typical jobs added over a given month in 2022. Monthly job growth has averaged 420,000 so far this year versus 562,000 per month in 2021, according to the Department of Labor.
Meanwhile, hires and quits fell slightly in September, suggesting that the demand for labor from employers has begun to ebb, government data released on Tuesday showed. The number of job openings, however, increased in September, a sign that the need for workers remains robust.
While some data points to an economic slowdown, a government report released last month showed significant economic growth over three months ending in September. U.S. gross domestic product grew 2.6% over that period; by contrast, economic activity shrank a combined 2.2% over the first six months of the year.
“We’re getting these very conflicting signals,” Villamil said. “That’s why the Fed has a tough job.”
(WASHINGTON) — Prosecutors accused former President Donald Trump ally Tom Barrack of “leveraging his access” while the defense accused the prosecution of “misdirection” as closing arguments concluded Tuesday in Barrack’s trial on charges of illegal foreign lobbying.
The government has accused Barrack, a billionaire California real estate investor who ran Trump’s 2016 inaugural committee, of illegally lobbying the Trump campaign and administration on behalf of the United Arab Emirates. The nearly two-month trial included mentions of Trump himself and some of his closest associates.
Prosecutors urged the jury to convict Barrack on charges that he acted as a foreign agent for the UAE from 2016 to 2018 without registering with the Department of Justice. He also faces charges of obstruction and multiple counts of lying to the FBI during a 2019 FBI interview.
“There are two Tom Barracks,” prosecutor Ryan Harris told the jury. “The man who talks about weaving a web of tolerance, and the man he really is when the cameras are off, when no one is watching, when the facade is stripped away — a man ultimately just leveraging his access and influence within the Trump administration to make money and acquire power.”
In exchange for acting under the “direction and control” of the UAE, prosecutors said, UAE officials in turn “unlocked its purse strings” and invested nearly $375 million in Barrack’s business from sovereign wealth funds.
“Mr. Barrack sold the UAE on his political connections,” Harris said.
Barrack has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. On Tuesday, his attorney said in his summation that there was a “total lack of evidence in this case.”
“Instead of proof of direction and control, I submit to you that throughout this entire case what they have given you is misdirection and control,” Barrack’s attorney, Randall Jackson, told the jury.
During the trial, Barrack testified in his own defense to deny the charges against him, and spent nearly three days on the stand answering questions about his contacts with UAE officials, which he said were part of his long-standing business ties to the Middle East.
Barrack, who at times denounced Trump on the stand, denied prosecutor’s allegations — including that he agreed to act on behalf of the UAE during a spring 2016 meeting with the head of the UAE’s security council.
“Did he ask you if you wanted to be a UAE foreign agent?” his defense attorney, Michael Schachter, asked him during his testimony.
“No,” replied Barrack.
Barrack, whose family is from Lebanon, testified that his interactions with UAE officials were well-known, and that he did not think there would have been any restrictions on his ability to discuss the Trump campaign’s positions with UAE officials.
“I thought that was actually a great thing,” Barrack said. “The idea of having somebody that had knowledge in both confused arenas that could create some web of understanding and tolerance is what I know we all needed.”
He laughed when asked by his attorney about the government’s allegation that he was working to “manipulate the public” and “spread UAE propaganda.”
“Not at all,” Barrack said.
Barrack also testified that he briefed then-candidate Trump on his interactions with United Arab Emirates officials as he tried to help Trump better understand Middle East issues.
“I talked to President Trump about it, and he said, ‘You do the right thing,'” Barrack testified about one of his meetings with a UAE official.
The high-profile case at times offered a glimpse into the workings of Trump’s inner circle during the 2016 campaign and the early days of his administration, including their contacts with foreign officials. Trump associates including Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner, and Rick Gates were all mentioned over the course of the trial.
The majority of the government’s case rested on hundreds of Barrack’s emails and text messages, which prosecutors and witnesses read aloud to the jury over several days. The correspondences showed Barrack arranging meetings with senior UAE government officials to discuss policy initiatives over the course of several months.
Matthew Grimes, Barrack’s aide at his real estate firm, is also charged in the case and has also pleaded not guilty. Grimes’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, told the jury that prosecutors had “failed miserably” in their case.
The jury is expected to receive the case Wednesday for deliberations, the judge said in court.
(NEWARK, N.J.) — A suspect is at large after two police officers were shot while serving a search warrant in Newark, New Jersey, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The officers are in the hospital in stable condition, the sources said.
Police are still searching for the gunman, who appears to have fired from an elevated location, likely a window, the sources said.
Newark police have named a suspect, Kendall Howard. The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office has authorized charges against Howard of two counts of attempted murder, as well as unauthorized possession of a weapon and unauthorized possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy tweeted, “I am aware of and closely monitoring an unfolding situation in Newark. I am in touch with local authorities and the State is providing resources as requested. We will continue to support local law enforcement and ensure that all residents are safe.”
(NEW YORK) — Brazil’s voters on Sunday chose a new president: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known by the name Lula.
Lula narrowly beat out Jair Bolsonaro, the incumbent far-right president who has become infamous during four years in office for accelerating the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, as well as for his administration’s handling of the pandemic. Brazil suffered the world’s second-highest death toll from COVID-19, behind the U.S.
Although Bolsnaro did not officially concede the election during public remarks Tuesday, and has in the past spread myths questioning the integrity of elections in the country, Lula is expected to be sworn in on Jan. 1.
So who is Brazil’s new president?
Lula is a former labor organizer and founding member of the country’s Workers’ Party. He served two terms as the president of Brazil from 2003 to 2010 and left office with an approval rating of 80%.
During his presidency, he expanded social welfare programs including a vast family assistance program, raised the minimum wage, grew the economy and expanded trade. His programs are estimated to have lifted millions of Brazilians out of poverty and grown the country’s middle class.
He was known as a pragmatic negotiator, helping to expand foreign markets for Brazilian goods such as meat and soybeans. Former President Barack Obama once called him “one of the most popular politicians on Earth.”
The country’s constitution prohibited Lula from running for a third term, and he helped elect his former energy minister and close ally Dilma Rousseff as president. She would become the country’s first female president.
Despite his popularity, his presidency was marred by a number of public scandals including revelations the Workers’ Party was paying a monthly bribe, or “mensalão” to political officials, and “Operation Car Wash,” a multi-year criminal investigation into dealings of the state-owned oil company Petrobras along with dozens of individuals in public and private sectors.
He was convicted on charges of corruption and money laundering, and eventually arrested in 2018. Lula maintained that he was innocent. He spent a year and a half in prison before his charges were annulled in 2021 by a Supreme Federal Court decision that found the judge in the case had been biased against him.
Lula tried to run for president in 2018 but a court denied his candidacy due to his imprisonment. Bolsonaro, a former military officer and conservative Congressman who ran on a far-right platform, won the presidential election.
Lula was born to a poor family in northeast Brazil, moving to the metropolis of São Paulo with his family at a young age. He only achieved a middle school education and began working at a very young age, first as a shoe-shiner and then in factories. While working in the metal industry he first became involved in union organizing.
He would go on to serve as the leader of a steel-workers union, helping to organize strikes during the military rule in the late 1970s. The military dictatorship in Brazil lasted from 1964 to 1985.
In 1980, he helped found the national political party, the Workers’ Party, alongside other union leaders, politicians, organizers and intellectuals. The Workers’ Party helped to organize a campaign and social movement called “Diretas Já!” in 1984, which advocated for the country’s presidents to be elected by popular vote.
Lula held his first political office in 1986, when he was elected to Congress. His party helped to draft the country’s new Constitution, which was ratified in 1988.
He ran for president unsuccessfully three times, beginning in the 1989 election, before being elected in 2002.
In 2011, Lula was diagnosed with throat cancer, for which he underwent successful chemotherapy. He has been married three times, marrying his third wife, Rosangela Silva, in May of this year.
He campaigned on reducing the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, tackling climate change and expanding social welfare services, including increasing taxes on the rich.
“I consider myself a citizen who has had a process of resurrection in Brazilian politics,” Lula said in his victory speech Sunday night. “They tried to bury me alive.”
“I am here to govern in a very difficult situation,” he added. “But I have faith in God that, with our people’s help, we will find a way out for this country.”
(NEW YORK) — U.S. citizen and Florida resident Saad Ibrahim Almadi was arrested for a series of tweets he published that were critical of Saudi Arabia while visiting family in the Kingdom last November.
His son, Ibrahim Almadi, spoke with ABC News’ Linsey Davis Monday about his fight for his father’s release and what he knows about the case. Almadi said his father has been tortured and sentenced to 16 years in prison, and that the U.S. is not doing enough to help his father.
The U.S. State Department said in a statement to ABC News, “we’ve consistently and intensively raised our concerns regarding his case at senior levels of the Saudi government several times in both Washington and Riyadh and will continue to do so. The Saudi government understands the priority we attach to resolving this matter.”
PRIME:Thank you so much for joining us. Talk to me about that day that you last saw your dad. How did you hear about what happened?
ALMADI:Last time I saw my dad, I thought everything was okay. I didn’t know about his situation until December 20. That’s when I reached out to the State Department and our embassy in Riyadh.
PRIME: And what did you hear?
ALMADI: They told me, “we’ll try to locate your father. We have no idea where he is right now.”
PRIME:And did you ever learn then about some charges? How did that information come to you?
ALMADI: Nothing until March 29th, when they saw my father at Al-Ha’ir prison. It’s a political prison where they throw all the Saudis there for practicing freedom of speech, which they don’t have in their constitution there but as American citizens, we have it here.
PRIME: And so what are they accusing him of?
ALMADI:Terrorism, trying to destabilize the kingdom and they torture him until convicted himself that he made these tweets to do that.
PRIME:And you say that he’s been tortured. What evidence do you have of that?
ALMADI:That’s his own words, his own reply to the judge. The judge wanted to sentence him for 42 years. But after reading my father’s reply to the way the investigation went, they discounted him to 16 years from 42.
PRIME:You’ve not been able to talk to your father.
ALMADI:Until now. And the Department of State has no news about my father since August 10th.
PRIME:So you don’t really know his status at all? Is there any way to get any kind of update or what is the United States— ?
ALMADI:I mean, the White House needs to recognize my father. He’s a senior American citizen. I don’t want my father to die in prison like Dr. Abdullah Mohammed.
PRIME: Of course, you’re aware of the publicity and the push to get the United States to free Paul Wheelan and Brittney Griner from Russia. Do you feel that there are any similar efforts underway to get your dad out?
ALMADI:That’s that’s what I’m that’s what I’m hoping for, but nothing yet.
PRIME:You’ve said that the State Department has mishandled your father’s case. And I do want to give you a quote that they have told ABC, they say “we’ve consistently and intensively raised our concerns regarding his case at senior levels of the Saudi government several times in both Washington and Riyadh and will continue to do so. The Saudi government understands the priority we attach to resolving this matter” and that they have no further updates. How do you respond to that?
ALMADI:I mean, if His Highness Crown Prince, is quite sensitive from Twitter, I suggest he buy the rest of the stake, he can shut down Twitter. He can’t send a senior American citizen to prison for practicing his First Amendment.
PRIME: And so what does the U.S. State Department tell you? Do you get any updates from them at all?
ALMADI:Nothing. Last time I talked to them was two weeks ago, and that is nothing.
PRIME:And what did they say?
ALMADI:We’re still working on it. We submitted a ticket to see your father, but the Saudis didn’t respond to the ticket.
PRIME:If you could talk to your dad, what would you say to him?
ALMADI: I love you so much. I will do everything to bring you back home.
PRIME: Is there anything else that you can do? Do you feel, are your hands tied because you’re just waiting for the State Department to act?
ALMADI: Absolutely. They need to act and they must act. My father is facing the most aggressive sentence for an American citizen overseas. The Saudi court under MBS they broke a new record. They need to act.
PRIME:Did your dad express any concern when he was going over there to Saudi Arabia, that because he had been critical of the government that something might happen?
ALMADI: That’s a lovely question. My father had his American passport printed, a photo of it, in his bedroom. And he told me ‘son, if I’m gone, immediately reach out to our embassy.’
PRIME: And you did that?
ALMADI:Absolutely.
PRIME:And you feel that the response has not been adequate?
ALMADI:Not yet.
PRIME:Well, we thank you so much for sharing your story, your father’s story with us, and hope that it will do some good for you.
(DETROIT) — The family of Porter Burks, a 20-year-old schizophrenic man killed by Detroit police, is suing four unnamed officers for $50 million, according to the family’s attorney, Geoffrey Fieger, who announced the lawsuit at a press conference Tuesday.
Fieger lists the officers as “unknown” because he claims Detroit Police Chief James White has “failed to provide the names of the officers who were involved in the execution-style killing of Porter Burks.”
“The chief, despite my request to him directly to provide everything, the videos and everything involved in this case…to date for the last two weeks, I’ve received nothing,” Fieger said. “They have not been forthcoming with any information.”
Detroit police responded to a call from Burks’ brother Damondo Anderson on Oct. 2, after he called asking them to help Burks while he was having a mental health crisis and armed with an 8-inch blade knife. Police approached Burks when they found him and negotiated with him to drop his weapon.
“You’re not in any trouble, just drop the knife and we’ll get you some help,” one officer said in the body cam video White showed at a press conference he held days after Burks’ death.
Burks can be seen running toward officers in the video before he was fatally shot. Officers fired 38 shots in three seconds, killing Burks.
Fieger said he would obtain the names of the officers being sued from the Detroit Police Department at a later time and “will fill them in later.” The lawsuit was filed in the Wayne County Circuit Court and alleges gross negligence, assault, battery and violation of the Disabilities Act under Michigan state law, according to Fieger.
Police were aware of Burks’ mental health condition, according to Detroit Police executive team director Christopher Graveline. They responded multiple times on separate occasions, including two incidents dating back to 2020 where Burks stabbed his siblings according to police.
In the autopsy report for Burks, it was revealed that no shots were fired by police in close proximity and that Burks was hit at least 19 times with shots to the head, face, chest, arms and legs, according to Fieger.
“It’s just nonsense that this could occur in a civilized society when so many alternatives were available to the Detroit police officers to prevent this type of tragedy,” Fieger said.
“They saw him out, they provoked the confrontation and they executed him without excuse,” he added.
Fieger also claimed White showed the public “edited videos” of the incident during the press conference.
“He has never provided those videos to the family and we don’t want an edited video…we want the full video,” Fieger said.
Despite his claims, Fieger says he and his team plan to obtain all video footage by issuing subpoenas to the Detroit Police Department and will release the videos to the public once obtained.
“The people of the state of Michigan don’t get the full effect of the brutality and the un-necessity of having shot him,” Fieger said.
ABC News reached out to the Detroit Police Department to confirm Fieger’s claims. They did not immediately respond for comment on the claims or lawsuit.
Burks’ family did not speak at the presser, but according to Fieger, the family wants to see the police involved in their loved one’s death behind bars.
“There’s no justification for this,” Fieger said. “This is the definition of excessive force.”
