Greene has been charged with one count of conspiracy to convey false statements and hoaxes and one count of making false statements to federal law enforcement for alleging she was the victim of a politically motivated crime. Egg Harbor Township Police Department
A former congressional staffer has been accused of fabricating a violent attack against herself at a New Jersey park, according to a criminal complaint.
Natalie Greene, 26, paid a body modification artist to scar her and then claimed she had been assaulted in a politically motivated crime in July, the complaint alleges.
The Ocean City, New Jersey, native has been charged with one count of conspiracy to convey false statements and hoaxes and one count of making false statements to federal law enforcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said in a statement.
Greene previously worked for Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a New Jersey Republican, his office told NBC.
A spokesperson for Van Drew declined to confirm her employment to ABC News.
Greene’s attorney, Louis Barbone, told ABC News she is innocent until proven guilty.
“At the age of 26, my client served her community working full time to assist the constituents of the Congressman with loyalty and fidelity. She did that while being a full-time student. Under the law, she is presumed innocent and reserves all of her defenses for presentation in a court of law,” Barbone said.
Prosecutors allege that Greene and a co-conspirator called 911 on July 23, saying that they had been attacked by three men with a gun at an Egg Harbor Township state park.
Law enforcement then found Greene in a wooded area bound with zip ties and lacerations on her head and chest, the criminal complaint alleges. A sexual slur referencing Trump and a statement calling her former employer “racist” were written on her stomach, according to photos from the crime scene reviewed by ABC News.
“The investigation revealed that Greene had not, in fact, been attacked by three men at gunpoint on July 23. Instead, Greene had paid a body modification and scarification artist to deliberately cut the lacerations on her face, neck, upper chest, and shoulder, based on a pattern that she had provided beforehand,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in the statement.
Law enforcement also found zip ties in Greene’s car allegedly consistent with the ones used to bind her on the night of the attack and discovered that Greene’s co-conspirator searched “zip ties near me,” according to prosecutors.
Greene told an FBI agent after the attack that she had been receiving threatening messages at work, and an investigation of her phone allegedly found messages with the modification/scarification artist in Pennsylvania, who gave law enforcement officers a copy of Greene’s receipt for $500 worth of scarification work, according to court documents.
Greene’s phone also allegedly revealed a Reddit profile that followed pages for “bodymods” and “scarification,” per court documents.
Greene was released on a $200,000 bond Wednesday after her arraignment, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. She faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and up to $500,000 in fines if convicted.
The FBI and Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office are looking for missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard. FBI
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) — A false imprisonment charge has been dropped against Ashlee Buzzard, the mom of missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard, according to Santa Barbara ABC affiliate KEYT.
At Thursday’s preliminary hearing, the judge dismissed the case after hearing audio of a conversation between Ashlee Buzzard and the alleged victim, Tyler Brewer, and found the audio didn’t match what Brewer told law enforcement and the media, KEYT reported.
Buzzard had been arrested on the false imprisonment charge on Nov. 7 and she pleaded not guilty last week.
Meanwhile, the search is ongoing for Buzzard’s 9-year-old daughter, Melodee, who was last seen on Oct. 9 near the Colorado-Utah border.
Buzzard has not been charged in her daughter’s disappearance, but authorities have said she’s not cooperating with the investigation.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said Buzzard and Melodee had left their home on Oct. 7 for a several-day road trip, traveling as far as Nebraska in a rented white 2024 Chevrolet Malibu. Investigators said they believe Buzzard wore wigs and swapped license plates during this trip.
When Buzzard returned to her house in California on Oct. 10, Melodee was not with her, the sheriff’s office said.
A police officer in Ohio is on leave after shooting an unarmed man multiple times, Nov. 11, 2025, with an investigation into the incident now underway, according to officials. Akron Police Department.
(AKRON, Ohio) — A police officer in Ohio is on leave after firing his gun multiple times at a man who is believed to have been unarmed, according to local officials.
An investigation into the incident, which took place in Akron, is underway, they said.
“Any time someone is seriously injured in an encounter with police — even when responding to reports of a threat — it is a serious and sobering event for our city. We owe it to the community to understand what happened and to learn from it,” Shammas Malik, Akron’s mayor, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The incident, which was captured on body camera footage that was released on Tuesday, began on Nov. 11 at approximately 9:03 p.m., when the Akron Police Department received multiple 911 calls regarding a “fight with a gun,” police said.
Witnesses told officials that there was an “intoxicated man” who was “brandishing a gun in the parking lot and pointing it at them,” according to police.
Once the responding officer arrived at the scene at approximately 9:14 p.m., he found the subject on the sidewalk near the reported location, authorities said.
The body camera footage then shows the officer — who was not identified by officials — ordering the man to remove his hands from his pockets. The man is then told to get on the ground or he is “going to get shot.” After the man continues putting his hands near his pockets, the officer is seen firing multiple shots at the suspect seconds late.
Officers “rendered aid to the suspect prior to paramedics arriving” and he was then taken to a local hospital with “serious injuries,” police said.
The officer involved in the shooting, who has approximately four years of police service, is now on paid administrative leave “per departmental procedure,” according to officials.
After the footage of the shooting was released on Tuesday, the mayor said that the suspect was unarmed, noting that it is “our current understanding that he did not have a gun on his person at the time he encountered our officers, even though callers reported he was armed.”
“I recognize how difficult and confusing this could be for many in our community, and I feel the weight of those concerns,” Malik said.
While Malik said he respects the Akron police officers, he said there is “always room for improvement.”
“I believe we can support our officers and hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards of safety and professionalism. Those goals are not in conflict. In fact, they strengthen one another,” Malik said.
The Akron police chief also released a statement following the release of the body camera footage, saying he is “thankful for the work of our officers” and that “responding to calls for a suspect threatening community members with a gun is one of the highest risk situations we encounter.”
“We have high standards in the Akron Police Department and that includes a belief that there is always room for improvement; always lessons to be learned, including in this incident,” Akron Police Chief Brian Harding said in a statement on Tuesday. “The goal of the ongoing review of our use of force policies, practices, training and procedures is to provide us with recommendations about the best possible ways to approach dynamic and dangerous situations.”
As of Tuesday, Akron police officers are in the final weeks of their “Integrating, Communications, Assessment and Tactics (de-escalation) training” and they “remain committed to the difficult conversations around complex situations like this one,” Harding said.
The man injured in the shooting was identified by a family member as 36-year-old Corey Phillips, who remains in the hospital, according to ABC Cleveland affiliate WEWS.
Tessa King, who shares six children with Phillips, told WEWS she demands answers for the shooting, saying Phillips has a “massive recovery” ahead of him.
“Is there no training in our local police to shoot once to get someone down?” King told WEWS. “There has to be another way that these situations can be handled.”
The Bureau of Criminal Investigations responded to the scene and is now conducting an investigation in the shooting, according to authorities. Once their investigation is complete, the case will then be submitted to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for review before it is taken to the Summit County Grand Jury for evaluation, officials said.
The Akron Police Department did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
(l-r) Maseo and Posdnous of hip hop group De La Soul during an interview on Thursday, March 16, 2023 — (Photo by: Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images)
De La Soul is gearing up for the release of their first album in nine years, Cabin in the Sky, and Kelvin “Posdnuos” Mercertells Billboard he’s “feeling absolutely beautiful.”
“I’m really happy and proud of this album, proud of all we’ve accomplished. When you get to that finish line and you’ve realized things that you’ve had in your mind are now manifested,” he says.
Although it’s the first album they’ve released since the death of David “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur, Pos says their late member was very much present during the album-making process.
“I can say without question [Dave] is here, his spirit, his energy, it’s very much a part of this album,” he tells Billboard. “Anything that he had placed in certain songs that we chose to use, all of that is felt. In that regard alone, that’s a success. But I really, really feel like De La fans are going to love this album.”
One of the ways Dave is represented on the album is the title and cover art, which features two figures with their heads in the clouds, with a cabin on top of the clouds.
“It plays off our own partner who has transitioned and where he is,” Pos says. “You know, as I explained in the title track, ‘Does he have his cabin? How many acres did he get?’ If you did really well, took care of yourself, helped others, do you get more acreage with his cabin? So it’s like, your mansion or your home in the sky in heaven.”
Cabin in the Sky, an album that simultaneously touches on joy and pain, and includes “a lot of therapy,” arrives on Friday. It’s the latest to come out on Mass Appeal’s Legend Has It series.
Stevie Nicks performs onstage during the FIREAID Benefit Concert for California Fire Relief at The Kia Forum on January 30, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for FIREAID)
Back in August, Stevie Nicks was forced to postpone several of her tour dates after fracturing her shoulder, and now she’s revealing just how bad things got.
According to People, during her concert Wednesday in Brooklyn, New York, Stevie opened up to the crowd about her recovery.
“For a long time it was really over,” Nicks told her fans. “And I just want you to know that because of you, because of you, I said to myself from the very first day that I got back to L.A. one day later, ‘Well, I’m not gonna deal with this well, so I’m gonna have to just get well.'”
“Because I can’t do this. I can’t be away from my people,” she added.
And while recovery wasn’t easy, Stevie noted, “It doesn’t matter because the more it hurts, the more you know it’s getting better. And so, I am bringing the best shoulder I can to you tonight.”
Stevie has five more shows left on her 2025 tour. Her next stop is Boston on Nov. 24. A complete list of dates can be found at StevieNicksOfficial.com.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Thursday called several Democratic veterans and national security specialists “traitors” who should face the death penalty for releasing a joint video where they said that U.S. service members could refuse illegal orders — a move that has prompted some lawmakers to call the president’s rhetoric “dangerous” and “a threat.”
“This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???,” Trump wrote on social media Thursday morning.
Trump also reshared a social media post responding to the Washington Examiner’s article about the Democrats, calling for them to be hanged.
In another post, the president said “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
In the video directed at military members, Democrats — including Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly — said that military service members can refuse illegal orders.
“This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens,” the congressional Democrats said in the video posted Tuesday.
“The threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from aboard, but from right here right at home. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders,” the group continued. “No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.”
None of the Democrats mentioned any specific illegal orders given to service members. It’s not clear whether service members have been asked to break the law.
ABC News has asked these lawmakers to clarify the orders in question.
The language in the video is similar to what is said in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which states that service members are required to follow lawful orders, but can be prosecuted for following unlawful orders.
The Democrats who appeared in the video released a joint statement Thursday following Trump’s comments.
“What’s most telling is that the President considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law. Our servicemembers should know that we have their backs as they fulfill their oath to the Constitution and obligation to follow only lawful orders. It is not only the right thing to do, but also our duty,” the Democrats said in the statement.
“But this isn’t about any one of us. This isn’t about politics. This is about who we are as Americans. Every American must unite and condemn the President’s calls for our murder and political violence. This is a time for moral clarity.”
Asked if Trump wants to execute members of Congress, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president did not — adding that the Democrats in the video are “encouraging [service members] to defy the president’s lawful orders.”
“Let’s be clear about what the president is responding to, because many in this room want to talk about the president’s response but not what brought the president to responding in this way. You have sitting members of the United States Congress who conspired together to orchestrate a video message to members of the United States military to active-duty service members, to members of the national security apparatus, encouraging them to defy the president’s lawful orders,” Leavitt said during Thursday’s press briefing.
While the president has suggested this behavior by Democrats may be punishable by death, Leavitt said it may be “punishable by law.” She said the Democrats “knew exactly what they were doing” with their message.
“To signal to people serving under this commander in chief, Donald Trump, that you can defy him and you can betray your oath of office, that is a very, very dangerous message. And it perhaps is punishable by law. I’m not a lawyer. I’ll leave that to the Department of Justice and the Department of War to decide.”
Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Trump’s rhetoric in his social media posts “makes political violence more likely” and called for Trump to be condemned for his posts.
“Let’s be crystal clear, the president of the United States is calling for the execution of elected officials. This is a threat, and it’s deadly serious,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday. “We have already seen what happens when Donald Trump tells his followers that his political opponents are enemies of the state. Every time Donald Trump posts things like this, he makes political violence more likely.”
Schumer said Trump’s rhetoric could be dangerous in a political contentious environment.
“He is lighting a match in a country soaked with political gasoline, every senator, every representative, every American, regardless of party, should condemn this immediately, without qualification, because if we don’t draw a line here, there is no line left to draw,” Schumer said.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul also said rhetoric like this could be dangerous.
“I don’t think it’s a really — a good idea to talk about jailing your political opponents or hanging them or whatever else. I think we have political disagreements and we need to work them out in a political way,” Paul said.
Paul warned the rhetoric in Trump’s posts could inspire violence.
“That kind of rhetoric isn’t good and it stirs up people among us who may not be stable who may think well ‘traitors,’ what do we do with traitors? It’s the death penalty. Maybe I’ll just take matters into my own hands, which is not something we should be encouraging,” Paul said.
House Democratic leaders on Thursday issued a joint statement condemning Trump’s posts on social media, calling on him to delete them “before he gets someone killed.”
“We unequivocally condemn Donald Trump’s disgusting and dangerous death threats against Members of Congress and call on House Republicans to forcefully do the same,” said the statement signed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar.
House Speaker Mike Johnson downplayed Trump’s social media comments, telling reporters Thursday that the president did not make a call to incite violence.
“He’s defining a crime,” Johnson said. “He, I’m sure, acknowledges that the attorneys have to figure all that out.”
A reporter pressed the speaker that Trump’s statement contended it was punishable by death.
“What I read was he was defining the crime of sedition,” Johnson said. “That is a factual statement. But obviously attorneys have to parse the language and determine all that.”
Johnson criticized the Democrats involved in the video, calling it a “wildly inappropriate thing for so-called leaders in Congress to do to encourage young troops to disobey orders.”
Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Marine combat veteran, slammed Trump’s comments, telling ABC News that the president “doesn’t understand the military.”
“He thinks the military is one of his personal little play toys,” said Gallego, who was not in the Democrats’ video. “He, for some reason, thinks that men and women upholding their oath is a contradiction to him as commander in chief — which, again, tells you he doesn’t really understand his role.”
ABC News’ Mary Bruce, Michelle Stoddart, Justin Gomez, Anne Flaherty, Devin Dwyer, Isabella Murray and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
Colleen Hoover attends the ‘It Ends With Us’ New York Premiere at AMC Lincoln Square Theater on August 06, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Gotham/WireImage)
It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover is opening up about how she feels about the ongoing legal battle between the movie adaptation’s stars, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
In a new interview withElle, Hoover says, “It feels like a circus. When there are real people involved, with real feelings and emotions. This actually truly has impacted some of the actors’ careers in huge ways. And I just find it all around sad.”
She says that even though she has her own story to tell, she’d rather “stay removed from the negativity.”
But she does admit that the controversy that followed the film has tainted the way she views her novel.
“I can’t even recommend it anymore,” she tells Elle. “I feel like [the lawsuit] has overshadowed it. I’m almost embarrassed to say I wrote it. When people ask what I do, I’m just like, ‘I’m a writer. Please don’t ask me what I wrote.'”
Hoover’s most recent film adaptation, Regretting You, is in theaters now. That will be followed by adaptations for Reminders of Him and Verity in 2026.
On Nov. 3 a federal judge formally ended Baldoni’s $400 million counterclaim against Lively. Baldoni and Lively have been locked in a bitter legal dispute since December 2024, when Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department, accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of the film, which he also directed.
Lively’s case against Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios is still expected to go to trial in March 2026.
Vincent Mason made his morning TV debut on Tuesday’s Today show. You can check out his performance of his breakthrough hit, “Wish You Well,” online.
The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions inducted Dolly Parton into its Hall of Fame Monday at its annual expo in Orlando.
Dwight Yoakam will launch the Dos Amigo Tour with ZZ Top March 26, 2026, in Brookings, South Dakota. They’ll play 15 shows before wrapping May 23, 2026, in Huntington, West Virginia. Tickets go on sale Friday.
: Gordon Lightfoot performing at Symphony Hall, Boston, MA on October 6, 1974 (Ron Pownall/Getty Images)
Gordon Lightfoot’s 1976 tune “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” is back on the Billboard charts.
The renewed interest in the track coincides with the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the freighter of the same name on Nov. 10, 1975, in which 29 crew members were lost.
According to Billboard, duringtheweek of the anniversary the song saw a 140% increase in streams to 3.7 million streams and a 328% increase in sales, which amounted to 5,000 downloads. The bump resulted in the song jumping to #1 on the Rock Digital Songs Sales chart, making it the late Lightfoot’s third #1 on that chart.
The tune also lands at #22 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart and #4 on the Digital Songs Sales chart.
And Lightfoot’s other tunes benefited from the Edmond Fitzgerald anniversary as well, with 1974’s “Sundown” landing at #6 and 1970’s “If You Could Read My Mind” at #10 on the Rock Digital Songs Sales chart.
“The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald” appeared on Lightfoot’s 1976 album, Summertime Dream, and peaked at #2 on the Hot 100 when it was initially released.
The film, from British filmmaker Alan G. Parker, is set to premiere in New York on Dec. 8, the 45th anniversary of The Beatles legend’s death. The screening will include a Q&A with Parker moderated by Beatles historian and author Ken Womack.
Also on Dec. 8, the film will be released on DVD, Blu-ray and on digital platforms like Fandango and Prime Video, with additional platforms streaming it starting Jan. 13.
Borrowed Time explores Lennon’s post-Beatles career using archival footage and never-before-seen interviews with musicians, journalists and close friends. There are also archival interviews from Lennon, Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney.
