(OMAHA, Neb.) — Answering questions at the FBI Omaha, Nebraska field office, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday he couldn’t talk about FBI agents searching Mar-a-Lago, the home of former President Donald Trump, but did say that he is “always concerned” about the threats to law enforcement.
“Well, as I’m sure you can appreciate that’s not something I can talk about,” Wray said, becoming the first senior Justice Department official to decline to comment on the record and on camera about the search of the former president’s estate.
Multiple sources confirmed to ABC News that former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was raided by FBI agents on Monday.
The sources told ABC News that the search began at around 10 a.m.
The former president put out a statement Monday evening saying federal investigators were there and that they had even gotten into his safe.
It is standard Justice Department practice to not comment on ongoing investigations.
There is an uptick in violent threats against rank and file FBI agents in the wake of the raid, senior law enforcement officials told ABC News.
While not directly addressing those threats, Wray said any threat against law enforcement is cause for concern.
“Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter what anyone is upset about,” Wray said. “In the last few years we’ve had an alarming rise in violence against law enforcement.”
The Director said it takes a “special person” to sacrifice his or her life for a stranger, and that is what law enforcement officers, including FBI agents, do every day.
(NEW YORK) — In a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers found that climate change is expected to aggravate 58% of the world’s infectious diseases.
“The societal disruption caused by pathogenic diseases, as clearly revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the authors wrote in the study published Monday, “provides worrisome glimpses into the potential consequences of looming health crises driven by climate change.”
Dr. Aaron Bernstein, director of the Climate MD program at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard University’s Chan School of Public Health, sat down with ABC News’ “Start Here” podcast to discuss the study’s findings, as well as its far-reaching implications.
START HERE: Dr. Bernstein can you just explain to me what this study found? How does climate change relate to something like COVID or monkeypox?
BERNSTEIN: Great question, Brad, and thanks so much for having me. Climate change matters to pretty much every infection you can imagine that we already know about. But it’s also true that it matters to things that we have never yet seen, like COVID-19 prior to 2019. And that’s because we know that diseases that are surprises like COVID, or HIV when it first appeared, because usually a virus moves from an animal into a person.
Well, how does that happen? Well, people obviously have to bump into animals, but also animals bumping into other animals. And what climate change does is it makes everything that can head for the hills or the poles get out of the heat. It’s like a big game of bumper cars. So there’s animals that have never touched each other, running into each other, trying to get out of the heat.
So there’s really two issues here. One is how the more intense heat events, the changes in how rain happens with climate change, affect diseases we know. And then there’s how this bumper car problem might affect new things appearing in ways that we don’t really want to see and have been seeing an unfair share of lately.
START HERE: I’m trying to get a sense of what pathogens this would affect. The study says it will aggravate, I think they said, 58 percent [of the world’s infectious diseases]. Are you saying that more than half of the viruses on Earth are basically going to get worse because of this in the coming years?
BERNSTEIN: They looked at all pathogens, it wasn’t just viruses. I mentioned viruses because they’re the ones that tend to be the ugly surprises, like COVID-19 or HIV. But they looked at bacteria, they looked at fungi. And again, what they wanted to answer was does climate change look like it’s going to be overall worse for the infections we know about or overall better?
There are certainly some diseases, and malaria is a good [example]. Malaria has been in west Africa forever. It’s been there so long that the human genome has evolved to cope with the parasites, in the form of sickle cell disease. Many people will know about sickle cell disease, it’s a disease where your red blood cells, [in] a reaction, look like a sickle.
Well, if you have two copies of that gene that are defective, you get sickle cell disease. But if you have one copy, you’re actually protected from malaria. That’s how much malaria has been in the population of West Africa, it’s been there that long. That’s actually selected for, that gene to protect people from malaria. But it’s going to get so warm in west Africa in this century, we expect that malaria is actually going to decrease in incidence because it’s too hot for the mosquitoes.
So there are some diseases like that where we think that climate change is probably going to make them, at least in local situations, less likely. But on balance, what they found is that the majority of things we know are likely to get worse because it’s going to get wetter. Heavy downpours of rain are a major risk for outbreaks of waterborne diseases, particularly for people who get water from wells, which is almost all of the rural U.S.
In a lot of the rest of the world, heat in particular isn’t just an issue for animals bumping into each other and viruses going over, it affects where things like mosquitoes and ticks that transmit disease live. So here in New England, we have the most prevalent insect-transmitted disease in the country, which is Lyme disease. We’ve definitely seen that disease able to live in places it couldn’t [before] because it’s warm enough for the tick to survive.
START HERE: And there’s a shorter winter to kill the thing.
The presale for Adele’s rescheduled Vegas residency is now live — so if you want to be a part of Weekends With Adele, better get your tickets on Ticketmaster now before they sell out!
Joe Jonas jumped on the “Teenage Dirtbag” trend that’s all over TikTok, but used it to take a swipe at his older brother, Kevin Jonas. After sharing awkward throwback photos of himself, the final photo is a shot of Kevin.
Want to feel old? Jamie Lynn Spears’ 14-year-old daughter, Maddie, has officially entered high school. “Swipe to see how time literally flies by…..don’t take a second of it for granted,” the Zoey 101 star wrote on Instagram.
Justin Timberlake is amazed by The Players Choir, which performed “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” on America’s Got Talent. The singer reposted the clip to his Instagram Story and captioned it with a hands up emojis.
Pink knows how to keep her two kids, Willow and Jameson, busy — with “simultaneous thumb wars.” She said on Instagram that she doesn’t “suggest” other parents do it, adding, “It shouldn’t be a thing.”
John Mayer has been tapped to play an acoustic set at Seth Rogen‘s Hilarity for Charity 10th anniversary. The extravaganza pops off October 1. You can get tickets now on the event’s official website.
Ellie Goulding got in on the TikTok phone flip craze and revealed “Sixteen” is the “worst song I’ve released.” She also revealed her celebrity crush, but she moved the phone so fast, no one got a clear look at the image — guesses range from Patrick Dempsey to Jake Gyllenhaal.
Speaking of TikTok, Jason Derulo released the official music video for his “Jiggle Jiggle” remix, which stars Louis Theroux and Amelia Dimz — the comedians who started the craze.
The presale for Adele’s rescheduled Vegas residency is now live — so if you want to be a part of Weekends With Adele, better get your tickets on Ticketmaster now before they sell out!
Joe Jonas jumped on the “Teenage Dirtbag” trend that’s all over TikTok, but used it to take a swipe at his older brother, Kevin Jonas. After sharing awkward throwback photos of himself, the final photo is a shot of Kevin.
Want to feel old? Jamie Lynn Spears’ 14-year-old daughter, Maddie, has officially entered high school. “Swipe to see how time literally flies by…..don’t take a second of it for granted,” the Zoey 101 star wrote on Instagram.
Justin Timberlake is amazed by The Players Choir, which performed “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” on America’s Got Talent. The singer reposted the clip to his Instagram Story and captioned it with a hands up emojis.
Pink knows how to keep her two kids, Willow and Jameson, busy — with “simultaneous thumb wars.” She said on Instagram that she doesn’t “suggest” other parents do it, adding, “It shouldn’t be a thing.”
John Mayer has been tapped to play an acoustic set at Seth Rogen‘s Hilarity for Charity 10th anniversary. The extravaganza pops off October 1. You can get tickets now on the event’s official website.
(WASHINGTON) — Inflation in July held steady even as the costs of housing and food rose, according to findings by the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Wednesday.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which serves as an illustration of how inflation changes each month. Despite gasoline prices falling by 7.7%, this deflation was offset by inflation in food and shelter, resulting in no change in the overall CPI of urban consumers through July.
This comes as a welcome sign to consumers who have experienced an inflation gain every month since October 2020. But the report made clear that the main place consumers will feel a big difference is at the gas pump. Rent of primary residences rose by 0.7% since June and food increased by over a percent and is now up 10.9% since this time last year.
The cost of eggs have risen by 38% year over year – the most among all goods in the food category. Margarine, flour, and butter have all followed close behind. These increases have been felt throughout grocery stores and in small businesses like Aya Pastry in Chicago, Illinois.
“Every single ingredient that you could literally think of has changed in price,” Chef and small business owner Aya Fukai told ABC News.
Fukai provided ABC News with the product costs for her pastry business, Aya Pastry, from the past year. Fukai’s butter distributor increased costs by 79% in the past year. Non-food items have also increased substantially. Gloves used to maintain a sanitary kitchen have increased by 128%. Aya Pastry also uses gas for all their deliveries and have felt the skyrocketing energy prices impacting their costs.
Businesses dealing with inflation must choose between a lesser of several evils: reduce margins, increase prices, or cut costs. Many businesses in tech have made headlines by choosing the last option through layoffs. Aya Pastry opted to slim their margins and pass some of the costs on to the consumer with a 22% increase in their biscuits and other goods.
“At first, there were definitely [customers] wondering why everything was so much more expensive,” Fukai said. “It’s only because everything to us is more expensive.”
Despite the continued increases in food and shelter, many experts like senior economist and deputy director of research at W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research Brad Hershbein are “cautiously optimistic.”
“This report was in line—if not slightly better—than expectations,” Hershbein wrote in an email to ABC News.
Assistant vice president and economist at the St. Louis Federal Reserve Fernando Martin reinforced the hope that the reduction in energy costs will be in other areas like food prices in coming CPI reports.
“I think you should expect a delay in seeing the full impact,” Martin told ABC News in reference to the decrease in energy costs. Martin remains concerned about the cost of rent and other services in the coming months.
As The Federal Reserve continues to fight inflation by raising interest rates, the markets, businesses, and consumers can take some comfort from the latest figures.
“There’s a lot that could still go wrong,” Hershbein said. “But it hasn’t gone wrong yet, and that’s better than a lot of people had feared.”
Johnny Depp‘s return to the cameras after his legal victory in his defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard is already underway.
The French film company Why Not Productions has released an image of the actor in full historical dress and make-up as King Louis XV in French director Maïwenn’s based-on-real-life love story Jeanne du Barry.
The actor, who is fluent in French, is pictured in profile in a king’s finery: wearing a powdered wig tied into a ponytail and topped with a white, feathered hat. Masking his eyes is a provocative black blindfold.
According to Variety, the film follows the titular character whom the director is playing herself: Jeanne was a courtesan who managed to charm the monarch while keeping her class and profession a secret to him.
The film got underway weeks ago, the production company revealed, and is shooting on location in and around France.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump indicated that he pleaded the Fifth Amendment on Wednesday as he was deposed in a New York state civil investigation into his business dealings — which marks a reversal for a real estate baron who had cast aspersions on others who protected themselves from the possibility of self-incrimination.
Trump sat for a deposition in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ probe into whether he misstated the value of his assets to his own benefit, an investigation he has labeled a partisan “witch hunt.” (James is a Democrat.)
Trump’s appearance in New York marked the third straight day that he has faced legal challenges. His Mar-a-Lago residence was searched by the FBI in Florida on Monday in relation, sources told ABC News, to documents that he took with him when he departed Washington, including some records the National Archives has said were marked classified.
Separately, a federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that his tax returns could be obtained by a House panel that has sought them for years.
In a rare move, Trump acknowledged in a statement Wednesday that he had changed his mind about invoking the Fifth.
But he argued that he was forced to after facing what he continued to describe as partisan probes, particularly the Mar-a-Lago search.
“I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?’ Now I know the answer to that question. When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice,” he said in his statement.
“If there was any question in my mind, the raid of my home, Mar-a-Lago, on Monday by the FBI, just two days prior to this deposition, wiped out any uncertainty,” he added, going on to say that in the New York deposition, “under the advice of my counsel and for all of the above reasons, I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.”
As Trump suggested in his statement, he previously painted those who cited the Fifth as guilty of some crime.
When Trump ran for president in 2016, he questioned why aides to Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton were taking the Fifth in connection with an investigation into the deadly raid on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
“So, there are five people taking the Fifth Amendment. Like you see on the mob, right? You see the mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” he asked at the time.
Decades ago, during his divorce from Ivana Trump, he also invoked the Fifth, according to one biography.
The amendment, among other provisions, protects people from being made to testify against themselves.
In civil cases, but not in criminal cases, a person who invokes the Fifth may have negative conclusions drawn about that choice — just as Trump had previously said.
(NEW YORK) — Donald Trump on Wednesday invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against testifying against himself during an hours-long deposition as part of the New York attorney general’s civil investigation into his family real estate business.
The former president was seen arriving at the attorney general’s office in New York City around 9 a.m. local time and left about six hours later.
A source with knowledge of the matter confirmed to ABC News that Trump declined to answer questions from investigators in the deposition and, the source said, it is unlikely he will return for any additional questions.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Letitia James declined to comment.
Sources said the only question Trump answered was when Kevin Wallace, a lawyer in James’ office who has been leading the investigation, asked his name. Otherwise he invoked the Fifth each time.
In an emailed statement to reporters while he was in the deposition, Trump said, in part, “Under the advice of my counsel … I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.”
His statement also included lengthy attacks on the James’ investigation.
The attorney general’s office where Trump appeared is across the street from one of the Trump-branded buildings included in the civil investigation.
The attorney general herself began Trump’s deposition, sources familiar said — kicking off the six-hour exchange, including breaks.
Trump also read into the record a statement that echoed the one released by his office as the deposition began. He sat directly across from James as he accused her of political motivation. She did not react, the sources said.
As he left Wednesday afternoon, his motorcade drove by a number of onlookers and Trump was seen waving from the window.
The deposition in the civil case follows an escalation in a separate federal investigation into Trump’s handling of classified material. On Monday, the FBI searched Trump’s residence in Palm Beach, Florida.
Wednesday’s deposition, which had been delayed from July due to the death of Trump’s ex-wife Ivana, came after a months-long court fight during which Trump was held in contempt as he fought the attorney general’s subpoena.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and called the investigation politically motivated.
“My great company, and myself, are being attacked from all sides. Banana Republic!” he said in a statement on his social media outlet, Truth Social, shortly before Wednesday’s deposition.
Two of his grown children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, have already been deposed as part of the civil probe, sources said.
Trump argued unsuccessfully that he should not have to sit for a deposition while the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office was conducting a parallel criminal investigation. While the Manhattan DA’s case remains active, two senior prosecutors who had been leading it resigned earlier this year over the lack of an indictment.
James has said her office uncovered evidence of potentially fraudulent conduct in the way the Trump Organization valued its real estate holdings when seeking loans and when asking for tax breaks.
Lawyers in her office have said in court that the office is nearing a decision on an enforcement action.
ABC News’ Will Steakin contributed to this report.
The singers of London’s West End Gospel choir got the surprise of their life when Michael Bublé walked through the door to watch them perform his song “Bring It On Home to Me.”
A video of the surprise visit, released Wednesday, was taken as the Grammy winner was touring London in March to promote his new album, Higher. Michael revealed he was “asked to surprise” the singers, who were led to believe they “were only being filmed as a stunt for Michael’s socials.”
“The choir had no idea that Michael is coming to surprise them,” the narration continued, adding the “Sway” singer also had “no idea that they are performing his song.”
The choirmaster, named Nathaniel, was in on the whole thing.
The wholesome video starts with Michael gushing about how much he loves gospel music and psyching himself up to meet the singers. Of course, the moment he walks in, the choir jumps to their feet while erupting in laughter and cheers.
His reaction is priceless once he realizes what song they’re singing and soon joins them.
Michael then hugs each and every member of the choir and tells them, “I’ve been freaking out! For me, when I recorded this song, it was the greatest thing I’ve ever recorded in my life.” Michael became emotional as he explained that he always believed in the song when others didn’t — and said their performance will “let people see how beautiful this is.”
“This is the moment. You guys gave me the moment,” he gushed.
“That was truly one of the greatest moments of my life,” Michael continued, saying he’d love to invite the singers to join him the next time he performs in London.
The “I’ll Never Not Love You” singer is currently on the North American leg on his Higher tour.
Missy Elliott‘s name will be cemented on a street in her hometown of Portsmouth, Virginia. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Portsmouth City Council unanimously voted in support of renaming McLean Street to Missy Elliott Boulevard.
“I am so Humbly Grateful #757 VA 2 up 2 down,” she wrote of the forthcoming honor. “i been through many ups & downs & times I wanted to give up but Gods plan was different! & all I can do is say Thank you & Thank you to everyone on the City Counsel I am so GRATEFUL for EVERYTHING”
The council is hoping the name change, pitched by Portsmouth resident Erin Carter, will honor Missy while helping to enhance the city’s entertainment sector.
Missy, birth name Melissa Arnette Elliot, was born at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center. She attended Woodrow Wilson High School and graduated in 1990 before officially launching her music career.
The star has since been praised for her production, foresight, music and creativity, earning a slew of honors, including VMAs, Grammys, BET Awards and, most recently, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
