Jon Bon Jovi may be from New Jersey, but he’s been a player in the New York City real estate market for a while. Back in 2015, he sold a six-bedroom penthouse for $34 million. Now, he’s unloaded a four-bedroom Manhattan property for $22 million.
The New York Post reports that Jon listed the West Village home last February for $22 million, so he got his asking price. The buyer is Michael Ovitz, the former president of the Walt Disney Company. The home is a 14th floor unit that Jon bought in 2017 for just under $19 million. It features a 40-foot-long living room, oak floors, floor-to-ceiling windows and a chef’s kitchen with a balcony.
The building itself features a screening room, a gym with a 75-foot pool and a golf simulator, a garden and a reflecting pool.
The Post notes that during the pandemic, Jon purchased a $43 million mansion in Palm Beach. He also owns properties in New York’s ritzy Hamptons.
Earlier this month, Jon popped up onstage with Paul McCartney, wishing the legendary former Beatle a happy 80th birthday during McCartney’s concert at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium.
The thriller, which features Mötley Crüe‘s Tommy Lee, Papa Roach frontman Jacoby Shaddix and members of Five Finger Death Punch in the cast, will hit the big screen on September 14.
TheRetaliators — which is being produced by Better Noise Films, an offshoot of the Better Noise Music record label — has been in the works since 2019. It officially premiered at London’s FrightFest last summer.
Other musicians who appear in The Retaliators include members of The Hu, Ice Nine Kills and Escape the Fate.
(NOTE LANGUAGE) In the new issue of Men’s Health, Chris Pratt addresses, for the first time, online backlash from a sweet comment he made about his wife and daughter.
As reported, Pratt was flamed for celebrating the birth of Lyla, his first daughter with Katherine Schwarzenegger and his second child after 9-year-old son Jack with ex-wife Anna Faris.
Pratt and Schwarzenegger recently had a second daughter, Eloise.
“I said something like, ‘… I’m so thankful for my wife — she gave me a beautiful, healthy daughter,'” Pratt recalls. “And then a bunch of articles came out and said, ‘That’s so cringeworthy. I can’t believe Chris Pratt would thank her for a healthy daughter when his first child was born premature. That’s such a dig at his ex-wife.'”
The Jurassic World series star said, “That is f***ed up. My son’s gonna read that one day. He’s 9. And it’s etched in digital stone. It really f***ing bothered me, dude. I cried about it …”
“[W]hy are they coming after me?” he asked rhetorically of internet trolls, many of whom also harp on Pratt’s faith.
On that, he adds, “I didn’t know that I would kind of become the face of religion when really I’m not a religious person.”
Pratt explains, “I think there’s a distinction between being religious — adhering to the customs created by man, oftentimes appropriating the awe reserved for who I believe is a very real God — and using it to control people … abuse children, to steal land, to justify hatred …”
The star of Amazon Studio’s upcoming The Terminal List, adds, “The evil that’s in the heart of every single man has glommed on to the back of religion and come along for the ride.”
Pratt also denied a frequent troll topic, tying him to the Hillsong Church, which some accused of having an anti-gay agenda. “I never went to Hillsong,” Pratt says plainly. “I don’t know anyone from that church.”
In the article, Pratt’s friend and Guardians of the Galaxy series director James Gunn adds, “It absolutely infuriates me. Chris is unspeakably kind to people; he goes out of his way to help kids. He’s an especially loving father. And there’s a lot of stuff that people have literally just made up about him — about his politics, about who he is, about what he believes of other people, you know?”
Dove Cameron isn’t bothered “Boyfriend” is a popular song title — Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande both have songs of the same name — but her label was.
Speaking to Los Angeles Times, Dove said, “There was actually a point when my label was asking me to consider naming it ‘Gentleman.'”
“I really wanted to call it ‘Boyfriend’ because I’m very aware — painfully aware — of the sort of concoction of who I am in the public eye. And that [concoction] is such a far cry from who I am,” she continued. “Arriving at the person I am now, I’m relaxing into the freedom to poke fun at who people think I am.”
Dove noted, “It’s almost like I’m roasting myself in so much of the stuff I create. ‘Boyfriend’ being such a misleading title helps me acknowledge where I was and who I am now.”
The Descendants star also spoke about how much her singing voice has changed since her Disney days.
“I was born a coloratura [a type of operatic soprano], but it’s so hard to live that way … You have to prioritize your voice above everything else,” she explained. Of meeting Kristin Chenoweth and learning how the Broadway legend preserves her voice, Dove said, “There’s no way I can do that and still do everything else I want to do.”
“And so my voice accrued damage. I spoke more, I sang more, I was working more — seven days a week, 18-hour days. And when you do that, your voice just gets raspier. Then I began to lean into that over the course of a few years in the recording studio,” she said, adding, “I do think that my voice developing in the way it did is a reflection of a lot of pain in my life.”
One of Elton John‘s most iconic stage outfits is the sequined and bedazzled Los Angeles Dodgers uniform he wore when he headlined Dodger Stadium for two nights in 1975. It’s been on display at the world’s first Hard Rock Cafe, at Old Park Lane in London, but now he has it back.
Elton stopped by the Hard Rock Cafe on Tuesday to do a surprise performance, a few days after performing at the BST Festival in Hyde Park. While he was there, he presented the cafe with one of the Gucci suits he’s been wearing on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour. In exchange, he got back the Dodger uniform — and the Hard Rock Cafe made a $100,000 donation to the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
“It’s an honour to have my Gucci suit join the Hard Rock collection and a joy to have my Dodger’s outfit once more,” Elton wrote on Instagram.
In a full-circle moment, Elton John’s three final shows in the U.S. will take place this November in Dodger Stadium. The last show, on November 20, will mark his 2,000th U.S. concert. By then, he will have performed in all 50 states.
No word on whether or not Elton plans to wear the uniform at those shows, but it’s unlikely given that, well, he’s not exactly the same size he was back in 1975. But who knows — he may use the old uniform as a guide to have a fabulous new uniform designed just for the occasion.
Whitesnake pulled out of their performance at the Rock Imperium Festival in Cartagena, Spain this past Saturday because drummer Tommy Aldridge was “under the weather.” Now, the band has canceled three more shows on the European leg of its Farewell Tour as frontman David Coverdale has taken ill.
The affected concerts were scheduled for Tuesday, June 28 in Milan, Italy; June 30 in Vienna, Austria; and July 2 in Zagreb, Croatia.
In a message posted Monday on Whitesnake’s official website, Coverdale explains, “I started feeling a bit under the weather two days ago, and was just diagnosed with an infection of the sinus & trachea. The doctor recommends 5 days of no singing and bed rest. Sadly, that means that we are not going to be able to do the upcoming shows in Milan, Vienna and Zagreb.”
The 70-year-old singer continues, “I’m very sorry to all the fans who had planned to come see our Farewell Tour in each of those cities — it’s my intention to get better as soon as possible and be able to pick up with the remaining shows of the European Farewell Tour. You are all in our hearts!!”
Coverdale also points out in the note that the Cartagena concert was the first show that Aldridge had ever missed in his career, adding, “The GOOD news is that he is feeling better and is anxious to get back out there to perform for all of you.”
Whitesnake’s next scheduled concert is now a June 4 show in Budapest, Hungary. The European trek winds down July 19 with a gig in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The band will launch a North American leg of its Farewell Tour on August 17 in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire.
Selena Gomez is hard at work on her fourth studio album now that she’s completed the second season of Only Murders in the Building.
The “Wolves” singer caught up with Entertainment Tonight at the red carpet premiere of the Hulu dramedy and confirmed that new music is on the way.
“I am actually working on it right now,” Selena said of her forthcoming album. “It’s just been a little hectic with this, but I am in the studio. I’m excited.”
This new effort will follow the release of her 2021 Spanish language EP, Revelación. The Grammy nominee didn’t tease a title or release date for her forthcoming album.
Although Selena is preoccupied with her music, she also voiced her concern over the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that guaranteed a woman’s federal right to have an abortion.
In a separate red carpet interview with Variety, the singer called upon her fanbase to mobilize at the polls.
“It’s about voting,” she explained. “It’s about getting men — men needing to stand up and also speak against this issue. It’s also the amount of women that are hurting.”
Continued Selena, “I’m just not happy and I hope that we can do everything in our power to do something to change that.”
She also directed fans to her social media accounts for resources on how to help.
Real life husband and wife Jerry O’Connell and Rebecca Romijn will help couples look for love of their own on a new CBS dating reality show inspired by the classic ’70s series The Love Boat.
The Real Love Boat will take place aboard a Princess Cruise ship, like the show that inspired it. The new series will “bring singles together to sail the Mediterranean on a luxury cruise ship while looking for love,” CBS teases.
“Destination dates, challenges and surprise singles will test the couples’ compatibility and chemistry,” the network continues. “Like the beloved original scripted series, the indispensable crew members, including captain and cruise director, will play pivotal roles in the matchmaking and navigation of the romantic (and sometimes turbulent) waters ahead.”
CBS notes that after nearly one month at sea, one winning couple will dock in the final port and take home a cash prize plus a once-in-a-lifetime trip, courtesy of Princess Cruises.
For their part, O’Connell and Romijn noted, “After years of consuming, arguing about and dissecting unscripted television, hosting a reality series where a group of singles look for love while aboard a Princess Cruise ship, seemed like a dream come true.”
The celebrity couple added, “When we heard it was aboard THE REAL LOVE BOAT, that dream got an iconic theme song – ‘we promise something for everyone.'”
For the pair, the show is a continued relationship with CBS: O’Connell is a co-host of The Talk, and Romijn is a crew member on a ship of another kind, the USS Enterprise, in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
The Real Love Boat show sets sail Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 9 p.m.
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack is holding a surprise hearing Tuesday after saying it wouldn’t be holding more until the middle of July.
The committee said the focus would be on “recently obtained evidence.”
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, is testifying, sources said.
This is the sixth hearing this month on the attack on the U.S. Capitol and what the committee says was the plot by then-President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the election.
Please check back for updates. All times Eastern.
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.
(SAN ANTONIO) — The death toll rose to 50 on Tuesday in a suspected case of human smuggling, after dozens were found inside a tractor-trailer in San Antonio, Texas, according to U.S. authorities.
Homeland Security Investigations said initially they found more than 40 people dead upon arrival on the scene Monday evening.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, citing information provided by U.S. authorities, said the death toll was at least 50, including 22 Mexican citizens, seven Guatemalan citizens and two Honduran citizens. The other victims have yet to be identified and Mexico is working with the U.S. on an investigation, according to Ebrard.
“We are in mourning,” Ebrard said in a statement Tuesday via Twitter. “Huge tragedy.”
The incident unfolded in the south-central Texas city on Monday evening at around 5:50 p.m. local time, when a nearby worker heard a cry for help and found the tractor-trailer with the doors partially opened and the bodies of 46 people inside, according to San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus and San Antonio Fire Department Chief Charles Hood.
An additional 16 people — 12 adults and four children — were transported to area hospitals in what officials called a “mass casualty event.”
Chris Magnus, the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), told reporters he was “horrified” by the incident.
“Horrified at this tragic loss of life near San Antonio,” Magnus said Monday. “This speaks to the desperation of migrants who would put their lives in the hands of callous human smugglers who show no regard for human life.”
The trailer was refrigerated but did not have a visibly working air-conditioning unit and there were no signs of water inside, according to Hood.
The victims taken to hospitals were hot to the touch and all suffering from heat stroke and heat exhaustion, Hood said. There were no child fatalities that authorities know of so far, he added.
Three people are in custody in connection with the incident, according to McManus, who added that the case is now a federal investigation.
President Joe Biden issued a statement Tuesday calling the deaths “horrifying and heartbreaking,” blaming the criminal smuggling industry for preying on migrants. Biden also highlighted the anti-smuggling campaign the U.S. has launched with its partners, saying they have made over 2,400 arrests.
“Exploiting vulnerable individuals for profit is shameful, as is political grandstanding around tragedy, and my Administration will continue to do everything possible to stop human smugglers and traffickers from taking advantage of people who are seeking to enter the United States between ports of entry,” Biden said.
A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told ABC News that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) responded to a call on Monday regarding an alleged human smuggling event and, upon arriving at the scene, confirmed the deaths of more than 40 people.
“HSI continues its enforcement efforts to ensure the safety and well-being of our communities. We will continue to address the serious public safety threat posed by human smuggling organizations and their reckless disregard for the health and safety of those smuggled,” the ICE spokesperson said in a statement. “To report suspicious activity, we encourage people to call the HSI Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. All calls are kept confidential.”
HSI is the arm of ICE responsible for taking down smuggling networks
“Details will be released as they are available, the criminal investigation remains ongoing,” the ICE spokesperson added. “HSI continues its enforcement efforts to ensure the safety and well-being of our communities.”
The San Antonio Fire Department confirmed to ABC News that HSI and CBP are taking over the investigation from local authorities.
CBP is the umbrella agency of the U.S. Border Patrol, which responded to assist at the scene and is supporting ICE in the federal investigation, according to Magnus, the CBP commissioner.
“We will be working with our federal, state and local partners to assist in every way possible with this investigation,” Magnus told reporters Monday night.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration will “continue to take action to disrupt human smuggling networks which have no regard for lives.”
“Our prayers are with those who tragically lost their lives, their loved ones, as well as those still fighting for their lives. We are also grateful for the swift work of federal, state and local first responders,” Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday.
When asked about the criticism from Republicans, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who say Biden’s border policies have led to dangerous journeys for immigrants, Jean-Pierre said the White House is focused on the victims and their families.
“But the fact of the matter is, the border is closed, which is in part why you see people trying to make this dangerous journey using smuggling networks,” Jean-Pierre said.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas took to Twitter to say that he was “heartbroken by the tragic loss of life today and am praying for those still fighting for their lives.”
“Far too many lives have been lost as individuals — including families, women, and children — take this dangerous journey,” he tweeted Monday night. “Human smugglers are callous individuals who have no regard for the vulnerable people they exploit and endanger in order to make a profit. We will work alongside our partners to hold those responsible for this tragedy accountable and continue to take action to disrupt smuggling networks.”
Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security released more details on the Biden administration’s efforts to combat human smuggling and unauthorized migration in conjunction with the Summit of the Americas held in Los Angeles.
The series of operations launched across the Western Hemisphere is part of the largest human smuggling crackdown ever seen in the region, with more than 1,300 deployed personnel and nearly 2,000 smugglers arrested in just two months.
Agencies from across the administration, including the intelligence community and the U.S. Treasury Department, have engaged to disrupt smuggling operations in real-time and strip down the financial backing of the transnational criminal organizations that coordinate these crimes.
“The Biden administration is focused on putting these organizations out of business,” DHS said in a recent statement prior to Monday’s incident. “But human smuggling is, by definition, a transnational problem and we are committed to working with our regional partners in the Americas to commit our collective expertise and resources to put an end to human smuggling.”
ABC News’ Luke Barr, Marilyn Heck, Anne Laurent and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
