In 2017 and 2018, founding Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm and the band’s other surviving original former members rejoined the group for several special reunion shows, but Gramm says it’s unlikely that he’ll play any more concerts with the veteran rockers.
In a recent Zoom interview with RockHistoryMusic.com, Gramm was asked if his association with Foreigner was over, and Lou responded, “I think so, yeah. I don’t want to be part of it.”
Lou, who’s 72, noted that two of the band’s six original members, multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald and bassist Ed Gagliardi, have passed away, while founding Foreigner guitarist and main songwriter Mick Jones “is in very poor health.”
“[W]hen the new Foreigner plays, I’ve heard that [Mick] comes on for one song and then waves and goes offstage,” Gramm said. “[Until fairly recently,] he would play the whole last half of the set. But then he was in the hospital again for weeks. He had some heart problems and his recovery time was very long and tedious. And I heard that he comes out for one song now…when he comes on.”
Lou adds, “Most of the time Foreigner has no original Foreigner members in it.”
Also during the interview, Gramm admitted that he wasn’t too enamored with the group’s current lead singer, Kelly Hansen.
“Kelly is all right,” Lou said. “He’s a good singer. But I think Mick really told Kelly, when he first got in the band, that he had to study me, because he sings those songs with the same musical innuendos and vocal licks and ad-libs as I have. He’s mimicking me.”
Gramm added, “I don’t take it as a compliment. You’re a singer with a big band like that — use your voice and your style. Don’t hang your coat on my hook.”
Following last week’s shocking rose ceremony which split the the guys into two groups — team Gabby and team Rachel — Monday’s episode of The Bachelorette found the men boarding the Virgin Voyages Valiant Lady and setting sail across Europe on their journey to find love.
The first stop was Paris, France, where Gabby and Jason shopped for berets in the district of Montmartre, and Rachel and Tino learn the art of French crêpes near Notre Dame. Both dates went well and both men received roses.
The next day, Gabby’s group date challenged her men to show their willingness to fight for her love — literally — with a series of boxing matches, cheered on by Rachel and her group of guys, who seemed more focused on the competition than they were on her. Spencer earned Gabby’s date rose, while Rachel’s men got a tongue lashing from Rachel, who expressed her disappointment in them, saying they made her feel “hurt” and “unseen.”
Later, Rachel and her group paid a visit to a castle for a lesson in the art of romance, where Tyler‘s vulnerability earned him a private dinner with Rachel and a date rose.
Rachel’s nearly perfect day was spoiled, however, when James “Meatball” — who got a second chance after originally turning down her rose at last week’s ceremony — revealed Hayden’s vulgar comments about the ladies, in response to their reaction to him calling Gabby “rough around the edges” last week. That led Rachel to take matters into her own hands, showing Hayden the door.
Meanwhile, Logan, another of Rachel’s suitors, secretly revealed to host Jesse Palmer that he had stronger feelings for Gabby. Unsure how to handle the situation, the 26-year-old videographer went on to accept Rachel’s rose at the final rose ceremony.
Rachel also sent Jordan H. home, while Gabby eliminated Kirk and Quincy.
Here are the remaining 14 men, following Monday’s rose ceremony:
Rachel:
Aven, 28, a sales executive from San Diego, California
Ethan, 27, an advertising executive from New York, New York
James, 25, a meatball enthusiast from Winnetka, Illinois
Logan, 26, a videographer from San Diego, California
Tino, 28, a general contractor from Playa Del Rey, California
Tyler, 25, a small business owner from Wildwood, New Jersey
Zach, 25, a tech executive from Anaheim Hills, California
Gabby:
Erich, 29, a real estate analyst from Bedminster, New Jersey
Jason, 30, an investment banker from Santa Monica, California
Johnny, 25, a realtor from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Mario, 31, a personal trainer from Naperville, Illinois
Michael, 32, a pharmaceutical salesman from Long Beach, California
Nate, 33, an electrical engineer from Chicago, Illinois
Spencer, 27, an army officer from Chicago, Illinois
The Bachelorette returns Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
(WASHINGTON) — Six men were shot and one was killed in a shooting in northeast Washington, D.C. on Monday, police said.
“We appear to have a large group of people who were in the area when the shots rang out,” Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee told reporters, adding, “We have no idea why the shots were fired at this point.”
Police said it’s still unclear if the victims knew each other, or if this shooting is related to any other incidents in the city. However, Contee did say the “common denominator” is “illegal firearms in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them and when disputes get resolved as a result of a gun being used.”
The ATF Washington Field Division was on the scene assisting police in the ongoing investigation.
According to the D.C. Police Union, this is the sixth mass shooting in the city in 2022.
When asked about the community’s frustration with violent crime, Contee told reporters he’s also frustrated.
“I’m angered and I’m sad. I’m angered at the fact that residents had to experience this in their community tonight. The residents didn’t deserve this,” he said. “They did not deserve to have people shot in the communities where they live. I’m saddened because I know of all of the investments that the city has made in violence interruption efforts.”
“We have people who are in our communities who just have lost their sense of humanity. And that really saddens me,” Contee added.
Within the last three weeks, D.C police, council members and other local officials met specifically about the apartment building where Monday’s shooting occurred.
(LAS VEGAS, N.M.) — As his city stands on the brink of running out of water, Las Vegas, New Mexico, Mayor Louie Trujillo said the fires that initiated the problem could have been avoided.
“The government is 100% responsible for this disaster and we intend to hold them accountable, to pay for every expense and discomfort that the citizens are suffering right now, even if it includes legal recourse,” Trujillo said.
The city is in a state of emergency after intense flooding at the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire “burn scar” area led to contamination in water reservoirs from ash, soot, burned trees, pine needles, rocks and boulders.
The two fires were set by the U.S. Forest Service but became uncontrollable, New Mexico officials said.
Now, the Gallinas Reservoir, where the people of Las Vegas get the majority of their drinking water, is expected to be out of usable water within 50 days.
The first fire was set in late 2021 and wasn’t properly extinguished, allowing it to reignite in April, Trujillo said. That fire then joined together with another that was set by the service in April.
The second fire was originally ignited to try to thin dense pine needles, but it was set during windy conditions.
The combined Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon Fire is now the largest New Mexico blaze in history, officials said.
“The destruction that continues to befall New Mexico communities affected by the U.S. Forest Service planned burns from earlier this year is unfathomable,” Grisham said in a statement.
Trujillo said he has met with Washington officials about the issue, including President Joe Biden, who made a visit to the area in June.
“We are going to insist that they continue to assist our residents with what we need,” Trujillo said.
The U.S. Forest Service has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency on Friday, leading to an executive order of $2.25 million to address the water crisis.
“New Mexicans in San Miguel County have been through enough — we will continue to do everything we can to support them and prevent additional damage as a result of the wildfires,” Grisham said in a statement.
The funds will be used to help the local government with emergency measures, repairs and prevention plans.
Along with Gallinas, Las Vegas allocates some parts of Storrie Lake for its water.
The governor’s order will permit a temporary pre-treatment system that will allow officials to pump and treat water from the lake to augment the remaining usable water from the river.
Hundreds of people are working on this initiative, Trujillo said, as the city is also preparing for its college student population to return in the fall. New Mexico Highlands University, with an enrollment of over 3,700 students, is located in the city.
The systems are important for long-term solutions, as this will impact the water source into next year, the mayor said.
Because the area has had one of the most fruitful monsoon seasons so far in years, the damage to the water is even more frustrating, Trujillo said. Las Vegas’ current filtration system does not allow officials to filter the turbulent water that is flowing from the flood into the river, Trujillo explained.
“We’ve had rain almost every single day in the area of the burn scar. We haven’t had a fruitful monsoon season in years and this is the year that we’re getting it and we can’t use any of that water for our purposes,” Trujillo told ABC News.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Monday sentenced the first Capitol rioter convicted at trial to 87 months, or just over seven years in prison — the longest term of incarceration thus far for a defendant in the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of the Jan. 6 assault on Congress.
Guy Wesley Reffitt, 49, of Wylie, Texas, was convicted by a federal jury in March of five felony counts, including obstruction of justice as well as entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a firearm.
Federal prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice had asked that Reffitt be sentenced to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors had also — for the first time — asked a federal district court judge to apply a terrorism enhancement, which would effectively define under law that a rioter’s actions amounted to domestic terrorism.
“We do believe that what he was doing that day was domestic terrorism and we do believe that he’s a domestic terrorist,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler said Monday.
But the judge overseeing Reffitt’s case, Dabney Friedrich, turned down the request, saying that there have been multiple other defendants from the Jan. 6 attack where DOJ chose not to pursue the terrorism enhancement, despite their conduct appearing to be much more serious and threatening than what Reffitt was convicted of at trial.
Reffitt’s attorney, Clinton Broden, argued the DOJ was unfairly seeking to make an example of Reffitt simply because he took his case to trial.
“This is the only case where the government has asked for the terrorism enhancement, and this is the only case where the defendant has gone to trial,” Broden said. “I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to figure that out.”
Reffitt is among the more than 850 people who have been charged in connection with the deadly breach of the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, which disrupted a joint session of Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election. Over 200 defendants have already pleaded guilty to a variety of misdemeanors and felony charges, with some being sentenced to years in federal prison.
Reffitt’s attorney, Clinton Broden, asked that his client be sentenced to no more than two years. He said he was shocked by the prosecution’s recommendation, since his client wasn’t accused of entering the Capitol or assaulting any police officers that day.
“It’s absolutely absurd,” Broden told The Associated Press during a telephone interview last month. “I certainly don’t condone what Mr. Reffitt did. And I think everybody realizes the seriousness of the offenses. But at the same point, there has to be some proportionality here.”
Federal sentencing guidelines in Reffitt’s case called for a prison sentence ranging from nine years to 11 years and three months.
During the trial, prosecutors sought to cast Reffitt, a member of the Texas Three Percenters militia group, as a ringleader of one of the first waves of the mob that breached the Capitol from the building’s west side.
Videos played in court showed Reffitt climbing a stone banister near where scaffolding had been put up in advance of President Joe Biden’s inauguration, and Reffitt confronting U.S. Capitol Police officers who warned him to back down before they fired less-than-lethal ammunition and pepper spray to stop his advance. Other videos presented in court showed Reffitt gesturing to the crowd behind him in what appeared to be an attempt to get them to move up the stairs toward multiple entryways that lead into the building.
At one point in the trial, prosecutors played first-person footage that Reffitt had recorded with a 360-degree camera mounted on his helmet while in the crowd at the “Save America” rally prior to the attack.
“We’re taking the Capitol before the day is out,” Reffitt says in the video. “Everybody is in the same harmony on that … dragging ’em out kicking and f***ing screaming.”
“I didn’t come here to play games … I just want to see Pelosi’s head hit every f***ing stair on the way out,” he says later. “I think we have the numbers to make it happen … without firing a single shot.”
The Justice Department’s case also relied on two key witnesses: Rocky Hardie, a former member of the Texas Three Percenters, who testified against Reffitt in exchange for immunity to cooperate, and Reffitt’s 19-year-old son, Jackson, who submitted an online tip to the FBI first alerting them to his father’s plans weeks before the riot, ultimately leading to Reffitt’s arrest on Jan. 16, 2021.
During an interview with ABC News from jail last December, Reffitt said he “never expected anything like this to happen.”
“This has been disastrous for me and my family, especially for my girls, my son — actually, all of my family,” Reffitt told ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — Senators are hopeful that within days they’ll again approve a bill that would offer millions of veterans expanded health care and disability payments for illnesses induced by exposure to burn pits during their service.
The proposal, known as the Honoring Our PACT Act, has been at the center of heated debate on Capitol Hill after Republicans, in a reversal, last week blocked the legislation following its bipartisan passage in June before a technical change in the House-passed version forced another Senate vote.
Twenty-six Republicans, led by Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey changed their votes the second time around after the bill initially passed 84-14. It won only 55 votes last week, falling short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.
In total, the legislation would institute some $280 billion in new spending, over a decade, for veterans’ health.
The dispute — which drew the ire of veterans and activists like comedian Jon Stewart, who derided Republicans’ change of heart as cowardly — is over what Toomey called a Democratic “budget gimmick”: how $400 billion in existing funds already being used for veterans is being accounted.
“My concern about this bill has nothing to do with the purpose of the bill,” Toomey said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote last week.
“What I’m trying to do is change a government accounting methodology that is designed to allow our Democratic colleagues to go on an unrelated $400 billion spending spree that has nothing to do with veterans and won’t be in the veterans space,” Toomey added Sunday on CNN.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said he will offer Toomey a vote on an amendment to the bill to address his concerns.
“We offered Toomey — he’s standing in the way — the ability to do an amendment at 60 votes, just like the bill is a 60-vote bill. He insisted, at least in conversations with some others, saying, ‘No, no, no. If you don’t put it in the bill’ — which will kill the bill — ‘I’m not going to be for it,'” Schumer said at a news conference last week.
“I stand by the offer,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday he supported Toomey’s position, arguing in a statement that the PACT Act “could … allow Democrats to effectively spend the same money twice and enable hundreds of billions in new, unrelated spending.”
He told NBC News on Monday that the legislation would “pass this week.”
The congressional back-and-forth has received heightened media coverage after Stewart, a major veterans advocate, held a press conference and gave media interviews that swiftly went viral.
“America’s heroes who fought in our wars outside sweating their assess off with oxygen, battling all kinds of ailments while these motherf—— sit in the air conditioning walled off from any of it,” Stewart said on Thursday, lambasting the GOP blockade. “They don’t have to hear it, they don’t have to see it. They don’t have to understand that these are human beings.”
Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Stewart said the winding course of the bill, despite the bipartisan support, was baffling.
“This is so bananas. Nothing changed. So I don’t understand any of this,” he said.
On Monday afternoon, Stewart joined a small group of protesters, many of them veterans, in front of the Senate ahead of planned votes.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., spoke with Stewart about the legislation along with Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott. Blumenthal said he believed but wasn’t certain that the Senate could act on the proposal in about 48 hours.
Burn pits have been used in U.S. military installations outside the country to dispose of waste, and the smoke from those sites has been linked to various respiratory illnesses and even cancer in troops who were exposed.
(NEW YORK) — Medical examiners are investigating whether the deaths of 10 people who died during a brutal heat wave in the Pacific Northwest last week were heat related, according to officials.
Temperatures in the triple digits were recorded across much of the Pacific Northwest that started Tuesday and lasted through the weekend — a region that is rarely used to seeing temperatures exceed the 90-degree mark.
As of Sunday, potential heat-related deaths were reported in Multnomah County, which includes Portland, as well as Umatilla County, Marion County and Clackamas County, according to a statement from the Oregon state medical examiner’s office. The deaths occurred from Thursday through Saturday, officials said.
Excessive heat warnings were in effect for much of the region last week. On Tuesday, Portland hit 102 degrees, while temperatures reached 102 degrees in Redding, California, and 107 degrees in Yakima, Washington.
Heat is the No. 1 weather-related killer. On average, more people in the U.S. die from extreme heat than any other severe weather event, including tornadoes, hurricanes and flooding combined, according to the National Weather Service.
Portland saw temperatures exceeding 95 degrees for seven days straight, beating a previous record of six days.
Vulnerable populations, including impoverished and marginalized communities and those with pre-existing health conditions such as asthma and heart disease, are most at risk when temperatures begin to skyrocket, Ladd Keith, an assistant professor in the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning at the University of Arizona, told ABC News in June.
The extreme heat prompted Oregon Gov. Kate Brown to declare a state of emergency that lasted through Sunday. The majority of households in the Pacific Northwest are not equipped with central air conditioning.
Last week’s heat wave drew parallels to the two historic heat waves that hit the region in the summer of 2021. Scientists later found that these heat waves would have been “virtually impossible” had it not been for climate change and rising global temperatures.
The heat is expected to move out of the Pacific Northwest on Monday and toward eastern Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, where triple-digit high temperatures are possible.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden announced Monday that the U.S. had killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, over the weekend. He hailed the operation as a significant win in the fight against terror groups overseas — including in countries where the U.S. no longer maintains a military presence.
“Justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more. People around the world no longer need to fear the vicious and determined killer,” Biden said, speaking from the White House where he is isolating with COVID-19.
“The United States continues to demonstrate our resolve and our capacity to defend the American people against those who seek to do us harm,” he said. “We make it clear again tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.”
The president said al-Zawahiri had returned to the Afghan capital to be with family and was killed on Sunday morning local time. Al-Zawahiri was named the leader of al-Qaeda after Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in 2011 and officials believe he was a key part of the group’s international activities for decades.
“He was deeply involved in the planning of 9/11, one of the most responsible for the attacks that killed 2,977 people on American soil. For decades, he was the mastermind behind attacks against Americans,” Biden said. “He carved a trail of murder and violence against American citizens, American service members, American diplomats and American interests.”
Biden said he hoped al-Zawahiri’s killing could offer a moment of relief for those who had family members killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“We continue to mourn every innocent life that was stolen on 9/11 and honor their memories,” he said. “To the families who lost fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, friends and coworkers on that searing September day, it is my hope that this decisive action will bring one more measure of closure.”
The U.S. drone strike comes after collaboration from various parts of the counterterrorism community, a senior administration official told reporters earlier Monday. A separate source told ABC News the operation was carried out by the CIA.
Biden was first briefed on al-Zawahiri’s whereabouts in April and was ultimately briefed on a proposed operation on July 1, the administration official told reporters. Key Cabinet members and advisers were convened on July 25 to receive a final updated briefing on the intelligence assessment, which the official said continued to strengthen on a daily basis.
“The president received an updated operational report and pressed at a granular level. He asked again about any other options that would reduce collateral or civilian casualties. He wanted to understand more about the layout of rooms [of al-Zawahiri’s safe house in Kabul] behind the door and windows on the third floor of the building,” the official said.
“At the conclusion of the meeting, the president authorized a precise tailored airstrike on the condition that a strike minimize to the greatest extent possible the risk of civilian casualties. This authorization meant that the U.S. government could conduct an airstrike once an opportunity was available,” the official said.
The U.S. is confident through intelligence sources and “multiple streams of intelligence that he was killed “and no other individual,” the official said.
The successful remote strike against al-Zawahiri comes nearly a year after Biden presided over the turbulent U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan following two decades of war. He and his administration insisted then that the cost of involvement wasn’t worth the chaos and that the U.S. would still have the capability to track and eliminate terror threats without forces on the ground.
“We showed that without American forces on the ground in Afghanistan and in harm’s way we remain able to identify and locate even the world’s most wanted terrorists and then take action to remove him from the battlefield,” the senior administration official said Monday.
The exit from Afghanistan, which had been negotiated during the Trump administration, took place against the backdrop of an unexpectedly rapid takeover of the country by the Taliban, the armed group the U.S. had fought after invading in 2001. Biden faced sharp criticism from Republicans and others over his handling of the withdrawal.
Evacuation efforts were also marred by an Islamic State attack at an airport checkpoint in Kabul as the U.S. military and others worked to ferry out civilians. Thirteen U.S. troops and dozens of Afghans were killed.
On Monday, the senior administration official told reporters that al-Zawahiri had been staying in one of Kabul’s most affluent and prominent neighborhoods, near various diplomatic centers and international companies. The official confirmed that the ruling Taliban were aware of his presence in the area, knowledge that could further strain already tenuous relations with Washington.
The official said that the Taliban sought to cover up al-Zawahiri’s presence at his safe house after the strike.
“This is a very important point for us to make clear to the Taliban: that we expect them to abide by the terms of the Doha agreement, and the presence of al-Zawahiri in downtown Kabul is a clear violation of that,” the senior official said, referring to the agreement the Taliban negotiated with President Donald Trump in Doha, Qatar.
“My administration will continue to vigilantly monitor and address threats from al-Qaeda, no matter where they emanate from,” Biden said in his speech from the White House. “The United States did not seek this war against terror, it came to us, and we answered with the same principles and resolve that have shaped us for generation upon generation: to protect [the] innocent, defend liberty, and we keep the light of freedom burning — a beacon for the rest of the entire world.”
ABC News’ Justin Gomez and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The White House said Monday that China was seemingly laying the groundwork to carry out “military provocations” in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s potential visit to Taiwan.
“China appears to be positioning itself to potentially take further steps in the coming days and perhaps over longer time horizons,” White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
He cast the escalating tensions as fueled by China, which the U.S. was “not threatening,” and he insisted that a potential visit from Pelosi would have precedent and would not “change the status quo” regarding China and Taiwan.
Under the “One China” policy, the U.S. recognizes Beijing as China’s government and does not support an independent Taiwan, considering the matter “unsettled,” though the U.S. is militarily supportive of the self-governing island and maintains informal ties.
“We, and countries around the world, believe escalation serves no one,” Kirby said. “Beijing’s actions could have unintended consequences that only serve to increase tensions.”
“The world should reject any [Chinese] effort to use it to do so,” Kirby said, referring to a possible Pelosi appearance in Taiwan. “We will not take the bait or engage in saber rattling. At the same time, we will not be intimated. We will keep operating in the seas and skies of the western pacific, as we have for decades.”
Pelosi landed in Singapore early Monday local time for a tour of Asia that her office said will also bring her to Malaysia, South Korea and Japan. Neither her office nor the White House has confirmed her reported plans to visit Taiwan.
Kirby said that the “potential steps” China may take in response to Pelosi’s possible visit to the island — which China claims as part of its territory — “could include military provocations, such as firing missiles in the Taiwan Strait or around Taiwan, operations that break historical norms such as a large-scale air entry into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone” or “air or naval activities that crossed the median line; military exercises that could be highly publicized.”
He noted that the last time Beijing fired missiles into the Taiwan Strait was in 1995 and 1996.
“Some of these actions would continue concerning trend lines that we’ve seen in recent years,” Kirby said, adding that “some could be of a different scope and scale.”
There could also be measures taken “in the diplomatic and economic space, … like Beijing’s public assertions last month that the Taiwan Strait is not an international waterway.”
Asked what planning was “being done in advance to ensure there won’t be any dangerous fallout if she does indeed go to Taiwan,” Kirby said he could “assure” that Pelosi would be able to “travel safely and securely.”
“We take our security commitments in the region very, very seriously,” Kirby later said on Fox News. “And we have ample capabilities in the region should we need them.”
At Monday’s briefing, Kirby said President Joe Biden had not spoken directly with Pelosi about her trip to Asia. He also took issue with a reporter who asked why Pelosi was “being urged not to go.”
“I don’t know that she was urged not to go,” Kirby said. “Who urged her not to go?”
“The president did not speak directly with the speaker about this trip,” he said.
The reporter clarified she had been asking about Biden saying previously that the military did not think it was a good idea for Pelosi to go to Taiwan.
“The speaker makes her own decisions,” Kirby said. “And what we did was provide her context, analysis, facts [and] information so that she could make the best decision possible for every stop, for every overseas travel.”
“We have been clear from the very beginning that she will make her own decisions and that Congress is an independent branch of government,” he said.
