Vic Mensa has reportedly reached a plea deal and will avoid going to prison following his arrest earlier this year for psychedelic drug possession.
The Chicago MC pleaded guilty to a single count of possession of a schedule III controlled substance, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to one year probation and 25 months of community service, according to TMZ. He was also fined $1,000.
As previously reported, Mensa was arrested in January at Dulles International Airport just outside of Washington, D.C., for attempting to bring LSD, mushrooms and other illegal drugs through customs. Customs and Border Protection officers “discovered about 41 grams of liquid Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), about 124 grams of Psilocybin capsules, 178 grams of Psilocybin gummies, and six grams of Psilocybin mushrooms concealed inside Mensa’s luggage,” a release from the agency says.
The “U Mad” rapper was charged with felony drug possession. He was returning from Ghana and posted photoson Instagram of him meeting government officials with Chance the Rapper.
Mensa claims he possessed the shrooms for medicinal purposes.
“Unfortunately, our laws have not kept up with the research showing that psychedelic plants and compounds can be successfully used to treat otherwise treatment-resistant mental illness,” he told TMZ.
Mensa added, “My hope is that the silver lining to this matter will be increased focus on the effectiveness of psychedelics to treat mental illness and mood disorders that millions are battling with depression and anxiety with hope that all of our laws will change accordingly.”
(MENDON, Mo.) — Nearly 290 people were aboard an Amtrak train when it derailed in Missouri Monday and among them were two Boy Scout troops heading home to Wisconsin from New Mexico, the Boy Scouts of America confirmed to “Good Morning America.”
Members of Troops 12 and 73 of Boy Scouts of America Bay-Lakes Council in the Appleton, Wisconsin, area were riding along with 251 other passengers when their train struck a dump truck in Mendon, Missouri, and derailed at approximately 12:42 p.m. local time. The two troops included 16 children between the ages of 14 and 17 and eight adult leaders, according to Scott Armstrong, the director of national media relations for the Boy Scouts of America.
“I got alerted from the Council in Wisconsin of the accident and was immediately contacted as well by Roger Hoyt who’s the general manager of Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, which is where the scouts spent the last 10 days or so hiking the high desert mountains in New Mexico on an adventure of a lifetime frankly, and they got a little more adventure than they bargained for on the way home with a train derailment yesterday,” Armstrong told “GMA.”
Armstrong said the scouts, who would’ve all earned their first aid badges and received other related skills training, such as emergency preparedness, leaped into action after the collision occurred.
“One of our scouts, a 15-year-old, he’s actually the senior patrol leader, which is the lead youth of a scout troop, went forward to the point of impact of the crash and actually discovered the driver of the dump truck that was hit, who had been ejected and landed in the field adjacent to the train so our scout located the driver, attempted first aid, summoned state police and emergency responders,” Armstrong said. “They continued to give aid and then wound up just giving comfort frankly as he passed away on the scene, unfortunately.”
Two of the scouts’ mothers also told ABC affiliate station WBAY in Green Bay, Wisconsin, that they heard the scouts were also able to help break train windows and assist in the evacuation of fellow passengers.
Following the incident, the troops and their leaders were transported by bus to Columbia, Missouri, where they stayed in hotels overnight. One of the scouts had to receive medical treatment Monday but has since been released, according to Armstrong.
“All the youth have been cleared from the medical facilities so they’re in relatively decent shape,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of adults that are pretty banged up, but nothing life-threatening but every one of them put their skills and kind of presence of mind to good use yesterday, helping others.”
“These kids are built pretty tough. They just came off an adventure that adults couldn’t handle with 10 days in the mountains, hiking somewhere around 100 miles,” Armstrong added.
The Boy Scouts of America said it is working with Amtrak to arrange transportation home for the scouts and leaders and hope to get them all back to Wisconsin by late Tuesday night or Wednesday.
“The bus that was provided by Amtrak did not have a driver available to depart last night so it never arrived this morning. And so, we’re still working on alternatives to get our scouts and our adult leaders home because we got a number of parents who would like to see their boys after such a traumatic incident,” Armstrong said, adding the scouts are in “good spirits.”
The death toll in the Missouri train derailment has risen to four and at least 150 were injured. It’s the second incident impacting Amtrak this week, after another Amtrak train struck a car in Brentwood, California, Sunday. Three people died and two others were injured in the California accident.
Many have been left shaken and hurt after the Amtrak accidents and the Boy Scouts said they’re planning on providing mental health support to their members and staff in the coming days.
“We’ll be monitoring [the scouts] over the coming weeks to make sure that everybody’s OK. It’s a pretty traumatic experience. It’s not always evident immediately after an incident like this and so we have mental health professionals that we’re in consultation with to make sure that those services are available to the scouts and the leaders as necessary,” Armstrong said.
“It’s stressful enough taking kids that aren’t yours out on a high adventure like this, but when you have a catastrophic incident on top of it, we’re really proud not only just the scouts but also the volunteer adult leaders that are with them,” he added.
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the U.S. Capitol attack heard stunning stunning testimony on Tuesday from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
She told the committee and an international TV audience that then-President Donald Trump was warned about potential violence and crimes, that he wanted supporters with weapons let into his Jan. 6 rally, and that he then demanded his security detail take him to the Capitol, going so far as to grab the wheel of the presidential limousine, “The Beast.”
This was the sixth hearing this month investigating what the committee says was the conspiracy by Trump and his allies to overturn the election.
Please check back for updates. All times Eastern.
Jun 28, 3:18 pm
Cheney raises concerns about witness intimidation, Thompson encourages others to come forward
Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the committee, raised concerns of witness intimidation in her closing remarks.
The committee showed on a large screen above the members a text message that read: “[A person] let me know your deposition tomorrow. He wants me to let you know that he’s thinking about you. He knows you’re loyal, and you’re going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition.”
“I think most Americans know that attempting to influence witnesses to testify untruthfully presents very serious concerns,” Cheney said in her closing remarks, adding that the panel will be discussing the issue and considering next steps.
Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., commended Hutchinson for “doing your patriotic duty and helping the American people get a complete understanding of January 6th and its causes.”
Thompson also encouraged others to come forward.
“If you’ve heard if you’ve heard this testimony today and suddenly you remember things you couldn’t previously recall, or or there are some details you’d like to clarify, or you discovered some courage you had hidden away somewhere, our doors remain open,” he said
Jun 28, 3:18 pm
Extraordinary hearing closes
It was among the shortest but most shocking Jan. 6 public hearings so far.
Cassidy Hutchinson, for nearly two-hours Tuesday, testified that Trump and Meadows were aware the Capitol was a target and that Trump supporters at the “Save America” rally were armed with weapons when the president told urged them to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
She said Trump told aides to let individuals with weapons past security and into the crowd, which he was “furious” with due to its size, with Hutchinson recalling Trump saying, “‘I don’t care that they have weapons. They are not here to hurt me. Take the effing mags (magnetometers) away.'”
Trump wanted to go to the Capitol himself after his speech, she said, and there was even conversation about having him go into the House chamber, despite the White House counsel’s office raising serious legal concerns and the Secret Service raising safety concerns.
Still, demanding to go to the Capitol, Hutchinson recalled learning that Trump grabbed the steering wheel in “The Beast: — the president’s limousine — on the way back to the White House and said, “‘I’m the f—ing president. Take me up to the Capitol now!'” before lunging at a Secret Service agent.
Hutchinson also confirmed Trump instructed Meadows to make contact with a “war room” in the Willard Hotel on the evening of Jan. 5 and advised Meadows against going in person after hearing Rudy Giuliani’s plans for the day, which she said she overheard included “Oath Keepers” and “Proud Boys.”
In a statement to ABC News, Roger Stone said it was “FALSE” that he spoke to Meadows on the phone on Jan. 5 “or any other date.”
Jun 28, 2:48 pm
Witness: Trump didn’t want to respond as attack on Capitol unfolded
In videotaped testimony, Hutchinson recalled seeing Meadows in his office at the White House, flipping through his phone as Trump supporters marched to the Capitol, and then violently breaching it.
“I said, ‘The rioters are getting really close. Have you talked to the president?'” she recalled. “Meadows said, ‘No. He wants to be alone right now.'”
“I felt like I was watching,” she continued in taped testimony, “a bad car accident that was about to happen. You can’t stop it but you want to do something. I remember thinking in that moment that Mark needs to snap out of this.”
She recalled White House counsel Pat Cipollone “barreling” towards Meadows’s office, and saying something to the effect of, “”Mark, something needs to be done, or people are going to die and blood is going to be on your effing hands.'”
She later overheard Cipollone and Meadows talking about the “Hang Mike Pence” chants at the Capitol.
“You heard it Pat — he thinks Mike deserves it. He thinks they aren’t doing anything wrong,” Meadows said to Cipollone when the White House lawyer said they needed to respond, according to Hutchinson.
-ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel
Jun 28, 2:45 pm
Witness ‘disgusted’ by Trump’s attack on Pence
Cassidy Hutchinson said she was “disgusted” by President Trump’s Twitter post during the Capitol attack disparaging then-Vice President Mike Pence for not single-handedly rejecting Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!” Trump tweeted.
Hutchinson recalled “feeling frustrated, disappointed, and really — it felt personal. I was really saddened. As an American, I was disgusted. It was unpatriotic. It was un-American.”
Matthew Pottinger, who was then serving as the deputy national security adviser, told the committee in previous testimony, it said, that he decided to quit because of what Trump said in that social media post.
“I read that tweet, and made a decision at that moment to resign,” Pottinger said. “That’s where I knew that I was leaving that day, once I read that tweet.”
Jun 28, 2:07 pm
Witness: Trump ‘irate’ in Beast, physically assaulted security detail, demanded to be taken to Capitol
Cassidy Hutchinson recalled a shocking story of Trump’s anger on Jan. 6 after being told he could not go to the Capitol to meet supporters following his “Save America” rally on the Ellipse — leading to Trump physically assaulting his security detail on the way back to the White House.
Hutchinson recalled the conversation she had back at the White House just after the rally with Bobby Engel, part of Trump’s security detail, who was “sitting in the chair, looking somewhat discombobulated,” and Tony Ornato.
“As the president had gotten into the vehicle with Bobby, he thought they were going out of the Capitol and when Bobby had relayed to him were not, ‘You don’t have the access to do it, is not secure, we’re going back to the West Wing.’ The president had a very strong, very angry response to that,” she recalled.
“Tony described him as being irate. The president said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now’ — to which Bobby responded, ‘Sir, we have to go back to the West Wing.’ The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm, said, ‘Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel. We’re going back to the West Wing. We’re not going to the Capitol.'”
“Mr. Trump used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel and when Mr. Ornado recounted the story to me, he motions towards his clavicle,” she said.
Jun 28, 1:57 pm
Cippollone warned about criminal charges if Trump marched to Capitol
Hutchinson testified about the concerns some White House staff had about President Trump wanting to go to the Capitol with his supporters on Jan. 6. At one point that morning, Hutchinson said, then-White House counsel Pat Cippollone told her to make sure that it didn’t happen.
“We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we go up to the Capitol,” Hutchinson said Cippollone told her.
Crimes they were concerned about, she said, included defrauding the electoral count and obstructing justice.
The White House legal team was also concerned about aspects of Trump’s remarks at the Ellipse, Hutchinson testified, and urged speechwriters not to include language about marching to the Capitol.
Jun 28, 1:56 pm
WH lawyer warned speechwriters of rhetoric ahead of Ellipse speech
Hutchinson said there were “many discussions” the morning of Jan. 6 about the rhetoric Trump would use at the speech that ultimately preceded the riot.
Hutchinson testified that Eric Herschmann, a lawyer for Trump, said it would be “foolish to include language that had been included at the president’s request, which had lines along, to the effect of ‘fight for Trump, we’re going to march to the Capitol, I’ll be there with you, fight for me, fight for what we’re doing, fight for the movement,’ things about the vice president at the time too.”
“Both Mr. Herschmann and White House counsel’s office were urging the speechwriters to not include that language for legal concerns and also for the optics of what it could portray the president wanting to do that day,” Hutchinson said.
Trump at his speech ultimately said, “So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue” to give “weak” Republicans the “pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”
Jun 28, 1:51 pm
Trump ‘furious’ people with weapons couldn’t get into Jan.6 Ellipse rally: ‘They are not here to hurt me’
Cassidy Hutchinson recalled how Trump was “furious” with the crowd size of his “Save America” rally on the Ellipse on Jan. 6 and with aides who didn’t want to let in individuals in who had weapons, which officials said ranged from AR-15-style rifles to bear spray.
“I was in the vicinity of a conversation where I heard the president say, “‘I don’t care that they have weapons. They are not here to hurt me. Take the effing mags away. Let my people in,'” she recalled. “‘They can march to the Capitol after the rally is over.'”
Vice chair Liz Cheney asked Americans to “reflect on that for a moment” and remember what Trump called on the crowd to do, knowing they were equipped with weapons and body armor.
Jun 28, 1:45 pm
Hutchinson says Meadows didn’t act on concerns of violence
Hutchinson described Meadows’ underwhelming reaction to learning about the list of weapons that people had in the rally crowd that morning — including knives, bear spray, guns and flagpoles with spears attached to them.
“I remember distinctly Mark not looking up from his phone,” Hutchinson said, noting it took Meadows a few moments to respond. When he did respond, he asked [security officials], “Alright, anything else?”
In previously taped deposition, Hutchinson told the committee it was accurate to say Meadows “did not act” on concerns of violence.
Jun 28, 1:36 pm
White House was warned ‘Congress itself is the target on the 6th’
The bombshell information the committee is unfolding through Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony is that the Trump administration and Trump himself knew about the potential for violence before Jan. 6.
“I recall hearing the word ‘Oath Keeper’ and hearing the word ‘Proud Boys’ closer to the planning of the January 6 rally when Mr. Giuliani would be around,” Hutchinson said in a taped deposition played by Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney.
Cheney then displayed a Capitol Police bulletin on Jan. 3 warning, “targets of the pro-Trump supporters are not necessarily the counter-protesters as they were previously, but rather Congress itself is the target on the 6th.”
Hutchinson also recalled receiving a call from then-national security adviser Robert O’Brien, after the Capitol Police bulletin, asking if he could speak with Meadows about the potential violence. She wasn’t sure if that call ever happened.
Jun 28, 1:29 pm
Meadows told Hutchinson ‘things might get real, real bad’ on Jan. 6
Hutchinson described Tuesday conversations she had with Rudy Giuliani and then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 2, 2021 — four days before the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Hutchinson said Giuliani said to her something “to the effect of ‘We’re going to the Capitol. It’s going to be great. The president’s going to be there. He’s going to look powerful.'”
When Hutchinson went to Meadows’ office to relay her discussion with Giuliani, Meadows told her: “There is a lot going on, Cass, I don’t know, things might get real, real bad on Jan. 6.”
“That evening was the first moment that I remember feeling scared and nervous for what could happen on Jan. 6,” Hutchinson testified. “I had a deeper concern with what was happening with the planning aspects.”
Jun 28, 1:20 pm
Committee establishes Hutchinson’s proximity to Trump
Introducing Hutchinson to the American people, Chairman Bennie Thompson asked Hutchinson to recall a typical day at the White House.
“When I moved over to the White House chief of staff’s office with Mr. Meadows, when he became the fourth chief of staff, it’s difficult to describe a typical day,” she said.
Thompson established through a series of questions how Hutchinson’s office was a five to 10-second walk from the Oval Office and that she regularly engaged with members of Congress and senior members of the Trump administration.
Jun 28, 1:17 pm
Cheney: Hutchinson will relay firsthand observations of Trump’s conduct
Vice chair Liz Cheney said Cassidy Hutchinson was in a “position to know a great deal about the happenings in the Trump White House.”
“Today, you will hear Ms. Hutchinson relate certain first-hand observations about President Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6,” Cheney said in her opening statement. “You will also hear new information regarding the actions and statements of Mr. Trump’s senior advisers that day, including his chief of staff Mark Meadows, and his White House counsel.”
Cheney said information will also be released on what Trump and members of the White House knew about the potential for violence on Jan. 6.
Jun 28, 1:13 pm
Chair applauds Hutchinson’s ‘courage’ to open hearing
Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., convened the unexpected hearing shortly after 1 p.m. with Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, taking her seat as members took the dais.
In brief opening remarks, he explained information that she had needed to be shared with the American people “immediately” and hailed her courage.
“In recent days, the select committee has obtained new information, dealing with what was going on in the White House on Jan. 6, and in the days prior. Specific, detailed information about what the former president and his top aides were doing and saying in those critical hours. Firsthand details of what transpired in the Office of the White House chief of staff,” Thompson said.
“It hasn’t always been easy to get that information, because the same people who drove the former president’s pressure campaign to overturn the election are now trying to cover up the truth about January 6. But thanks to the courage of certain individuals, the truth won’t be buried. The American people won’t be left in the dark,” he added. “Our witness today is Cassidy Hutchinson, she has embodied that courage.”
Jun 28, 1:08 pm
Cameras flash at high drama hearing
With the nature of the hearing coming up with little notice, signaling urgency for the committee, reporters and cameras swarmed the witness table inside the Cannon Office Building ahead of Cassidy Hutchinson taking her seat.
Hutchinson entered the hearing room at 1 p.m. with members of the Jan. 6 committee.
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jon Karl said sources have told him the hearing will be “Big —and disturbing.”
Jun 28, 1:00 pm
Former WH deputy press secretary shows support for Hutchinson
Former White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews showed support for Cassidy Hutchinson ahead of her scheduled testimony.
“Just want to say how much admiration I have for the tremendous bravery Cassidy Hutchinson is displaying,” Matthews wrote on Twitter. “Even in the face of harassment and threats, she is choosing to put her country first and tell the truth.”
“This is what real courage, integrity, and patriotism looks like,” Matthews added.
Matthews resigned from her position in the Trump administration on Jan. 6 , stating she was “deeply disturbed” by what took place that day.
Jun 28, 12:59 pm
Witness switched attorneys as public hearings began
Cassidy Hutchinson hired a new attorney, Jody Hunt, earlier this month to represent her as the public Jan. 6 hearings began. Her agreement to testify publicly comes after months of negotiations between the committee and her counsel, sources told ABC News.
At the start of the Trump administration, Hunt served as chief of staff to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He later became the head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.
Jun 28, 12:23 pm
Who is Cassidy Hutchinson?
The committee’s expected witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, is a former top adviser to Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
A 2019 political science graduate of Virginia’s Christopher Newport University, Hutchinson was as an intern to House GOP Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in college before serving as a White House intern in 2018. After graduating, she joined the Trump White House Office of Legislative Affairs, before joining Meadows as an executive assistant, and later a special assistant to the president.
“I have set a personal goal to pursue a path of civic significance,” she told her alma mater in a 2018 interview after her White House internship.
Having already sat four separate times for closed-door depositions with the committee, Hutchinson has been featured in clips publicly displayed by the committee, including some in which she discussed members of Congress asking the White House for pardons.
Jun 28, 9:57 am
Surprise hearing signals committee’s urgency
The House select committee will convene Tuesday afternoon for a surprise public hearing, signaling apparent urgency among members to reveal further findings from their year-long inquiry.
The hearing, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET, will see the committee “present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony,” the group said in a news release Monday.
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who was a top adviser to Donald Trump’s last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, is expected to testify, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. Punchbowl News first reported her appearance.
Hutchinson is expected to put a voice to many of the internal White House interactions involving the events of Jan. 6 and offer significant insight into Meadows’ actions and interactions with Trump.
Shawn Mendes kicked off his first proper tour since the pandemic began in Portland, Oregon, on Monday night. Wonder: The World Tour comes in support of his most recent album, Wonder, which arrived in 2020.
According to setlist.fm, Shawn’s show is split into three different parts: act I is called Wonder, act II is called Black Cherry and act III is called Vanilla Sky. The encore portion is called Cool Runnings.
Shawn’s set list included plenty of songs from Wonder, including the title track, “Call My Friends,” “305, “Look Up to the Stars,” “Teach Me How to Love” and “Song for No One,” as well as his collaboration with Justin Bieber, “Monster.”
He also performed the hits, of course, from “Stitches” and “If I Can’t Have You” to “Treat You Better,” “Lost In Japan” and even “Señorita,” his duet with ex-girlfriend Camila Cabello. “Message in a Bottle,” a 1979 song by The Police, was a surprise cover. Shawn also performed recent stand-alone singles “It’ll Be Okay” and “When You’re Gone.”
Even Britney Spears has to hit the pause button on social media. The “Toxic” singer opened up to fans about how it affects her self-esteem and mental health.
“Do you know how many times I literally wanted to crawl in a hole and feel like an idiot while looking at social media ???” she shared while posting a video of her, Robert Pattinson and Cade Hudson dancing to Katy Perry‘s “Firework.”
The Grammy winner noted she’s only human and isn’t perfect, even though she will come across posts of women with “hot bodies” that make her feel like she has to be. “I lose my phone 3x a day, can’t find my shades when they are on top of my head … I’m human and I do my best !!! i know I completely suck most of the time but I still try my best.”
Britney also spoke of watching people edit her photos and videos during her conservatorship, so she is “well aware” of what’s happening behind the scenes when she looks at social media posts. She also said she is “leaving the whole system behind.”
Joking that her dancing video is her attempt to “be like Batman,” whom Pattinson plays, Britney noted, “It’s a hard world but we’re all fireworks as @katyperry says … I mean ask Batman if he knows !!!”
(NEW YORK) — Ghislaine Maxwell, the associate of Jeffrey Epstein who lured underage girls into the disgraced financier’s lurid world, was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in federal prison and a $750,000 fine following her December conviction on five criminal counts, including sex trafficking.
Maxwell addressed the court for five minutes and said she empathized with the victims, but she didn’t take responsibility for causing their suffering.
As Maxwell spoke, victims and accusers smirked and raised their eyebrows. At least two broke into tears.
One accuser said seeing Maxwell in ankle chains brought her comfort and felt appropriate.
Maxwell said the statements from victims and accusers were “terribly difficult to hear,” and that it was “difficult to absorb the scale and extent” of their experiences.
To the victims, Maxwell said, “I am sorry for the pain that you experienced,” adding, “I hope my conviction and harsh incarceration” brings some closure.
“It is my sincerest wish to all those in this courtroom … that this day brings this terrible chapter to an end,” she said.
Maxwell also said, “It is the greatest regret of my life that I ever met Jeffrey Epstein.”
She called Epstein a “manipulative man” who was “cunning,” “controlling” and “fooled all of those in his orbit.”
Maxwell, 60, and Epstein, who died by suicide in jail, “were partners in crime who sexually exploited young girls together,” said New York City federal prosecutors, who had asked the judge for a sentence of at least 30 years in prison.
Prosecutors said Maxwell and Epstein selected their victims carefully and asserted that it was no accident the four accusers who testified — “Jane,” “Kate,” Carolyn and Annie — came from single-mother households. The victims were isolated and plied with gifts, flattery, and promises of career help in what federal prosecutor Alison Moe described as a pattern of grooming and abuse.
“Ghislaine Maxwell played an instrumental role in the horrific sexual abuse of multiple young teenage girls,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “As part of a disturbing agreement with Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell identified, groomed, and abused multiple victims, while she enjoyed a life of extraordinary luxury and privilege.”
Judge Alison Nathan on Tuesday called Maxwell’s conduct “heinous and predatory” and said, “the damage done to these young girls in incalculable.”
“A very serious and very significant sentence is necessary,” Nathan said.
Nathan took note of Maxwell’s acknowledgment of the courage of the victims and the impact the crimes had on them, saying, “I think that’s important for the victims to hear/”
But Nathan also noted what wasn’t expressed by Maxwell: “An acceptance of responsibility.”
In a statement Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said the sentence holds her “accountable for perpetrating heinous crimes against children.”
“This sentence sends a strong message that no one is above the law and it is never too late for justice,” Williams said. “We again express our gratitude to Epstein and Maxwell’s victims for their courage in coming forward, in testifying at trial, and in sharing their stories as part of today’s sentencing.”
Maxwell’s lawyer said Sunday that she had been placed on suicide watch while awaiting sentencing at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn — even though her attorneys had told the court she was not suicidal and that outside psychologists agreed with that assessment.
Maxwell, who maintains her innocence, accused the government of treating her “as if she were a proxy” for Epstein and asked the judge to impose a sentence well below the maximum 55 years.
“The witnesses at trial testified about Ms. Maxwell’s facilitation of Epstein’s abuse, but Epstein was always the central figure: Epstein was the mastermind, Epstein was the principal abuser, and Epstein orchestrated the crimes for his personal gratification,” defense attorneys said in their sentencing memorandum. “Indeed, had Ghislaine Maxwell never had the profound misfortune of meeting Jeffrey Epstein over 30 years ago, she would not be here.”
The defense also suggested Maxwell was susceptible to Epstein’s influence in part because of her relationship with her father, the late British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell, who the defense said verbally and physically abused her.
“Ghislaine vividly recalls a time when, at age 13, she tacked a poster of a pony on the newly painted wall of her bedroom. Rather than mar the paint with tape, she carefully hammered a thin tack to mount the poster,” the defense memo said. “This outraged her father, who took the hammer and banged on Ghislaine’s dominant hand, leaving it severely bruised and painful for weeks to come.”
Prosecutors called Maxwell’s efforts to deflect blame “absurd.”
“If anything stands out from the defendant’s sentencing submission, it is her complete failure to address her offensive conduct and her utter lack of remorse,” federal prosecutors said in their memo to the judge. “Instead of showing even a hint of acceptance of responsibility, the defendant makes a desperate attempt to cast blame wherever else she can.”
Maxwell’s defense insisted at trial that the government’s case relied on the “erroneous memories” of four accusers who defense attorney Laura Menninger said “inserted” Maxwell into accounts that initially included only Epstein.
“The accusers’ memories … started to shift,” Menninger said. “The truth was manipulated and changed over time.”
The defense also argued that money brought the accusers forward “with their personal injury lawyers right there next to them.” Menninger said each accuser took home millions, “and now they are stuck with the stories they told.”
Prosecutors, whose case included two dozen witnesses, said Maxwell “made the choice to sexually exploit numerous underage girls” as part of a scheme that ran from at least 1994 to 2004. Two women who testified said they were 14 when Epstein began to abuse them, sometimes with Maxwell present or directly involved.
“She personally engaged in sexual abuse when she fondled the breasts of Jane, Annie, and Carolyn. And she used her role as a supposedly respectable, glamorous, older woman to lure these victims into a false sense of security,” prosecutors said.
Defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim said Maxwell intends to appeal her conviction.
ABC Audio has confirmed that the anticipated sequel to the hit reboot Ghostbusters: Afterlife is due in theaters December 20, 2023.
As hinted in the end credits of that film, the live action sequel will return to the original two Ghostbusters films’ original haunting grounds, New York City.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife arrived in theaters in November 2021 after multiple pandemic delays. It was directed and co-written by Jason Reitman, the son of the series’ original director, Ivan Reitman, who died earlier this year.
The Columbia Pictures film, which starred Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace and original Ghostbusters cast members Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts, made around $200 million globally.
Jake Owen is a chart-topping country star, but he almost had an entirely different career.
Growing up in Florida, Jake’s dad, Steve Owen, was a semifinalist in the U.S. Amateur, a golf tournament for amateur players. He passed that passion on to his son, who initially had plans to play professional golf.
“He was a great player and I always felt like as a kid I wanted to fulfill these dreams that my dad never got to fulfill,” he explains to John Rich.
But those dreams were dashed when Jake was injured in a wakeboarding accident that led to surgery on his shoulder and left him unable to play golf while attending Florida State University. After the accident, Jake learned guitar and eventually moved to Nashville, where he became a successful country singer with #1 hits like “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” and “Homemade.”
Jake admits that as a kid, he quit activities a lot and believes his dad may have viewed him as a “quitter.” But he sees it from a new perspective now, telling people not to get discouraged if their interests change.
“I think it’s important for people out there to know that it’s OK to try things and if you don’t enjoy it, move onto something else,” he advises.
Tisha Campbell joined Martin Lawrence and other cast members from his self-titled sitcom for a 30-year anniversary reunion on June 16 on BET+, inspiring many fans to call for a reboot of the ’90s series. However, Campbell doubts the show will have a second life.
The NAACP Image Award winner loved reminiscing with the famed comedian and co-stars Tichina Arnold and Carl Anthony Payne II, however, one key actor was missing, the late Thomas Mikal Ford, who passed away in 2016 at the age of 52.
“Tommy is not with us,” Tisha told Entertainment Tonight. “We would miss him so much. Well never say never, like Martin says, but it’s just too hard to see ourselves without him.”
Campbell, whose extensive acting credits include House Party, Boomerang and School Daze, is now looking forward to next month’s premiere of her new TV series, Uncoupled, co-starring Neil Patrick Harris.
“It’s really a very different show,” she says. “It’s [produced by] Darren Starr, who created Sex and the City, and it’s like a Sex and the City but got a little bit of LGBTQ happening. So it’s a really a beautiful piece. I am very proud of it, and I got to work with some amazing actors — Tony Award winners and Oscar winners — so I am really excited about this show.”
Billie Eilish and her brother, FINNEAS, are among the 397 individuals who’ve been invited this year to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — the folks who vote on and award the Oscars. If they accept, they’ll get to vote on who wins Oscars in the future.
The invitees have “distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures,” the Academy notes and are divided into different groups, such as actors, cinematographers, directors, makeup artists, hairstylists and, in Billie and FINNEAS’ case, music.
This year’s class of invitees is 44% women, with 37% belonging to underrepresented ethnic or racial communities; 50% are from countries and territories outside the U.S. Among the invitees are 15 Oscar winners, including Billie and FINNEAS, who won the Best Original Song trophy earlier this year for “No Time to Die,” from the James Bond film of the same name.
Variety reports that if everyone who’s invited accepts, the Academy will have 10,665 members, with 9,665 eligible to vote for the 95th Annual Academy Awards, scheduled for March 21, 2023.
