(NEW YORK) -- A man was arrested Friday after police say he fatally stabbed his roommate and then his co-worker at a Wendy's on Long Island.
Rony Alvarenga, 22, was charged Saturday with two counts of murder after he turned himself in following the killings of the 42-year-old co-worker and 32-year-old roommate, Nassau County Police Department Det. Lt. George Darienzo told reporters.
The names of the victims, both women, have yet to be released.
Alvarenga allegedly killed his roommate around 9:30 p.m. on Thursday inside the Valley Stream house they lived in, according to Darienzo.
Hours later, police got a call from a Wendy's in Island Park about a man with a knife and when they arrived, they found the 42-year-old victim and declared her dead at the scene.
As officers collected clues, including surveillance video, they received a phone call from Alvarenga where he allegedly claimed he had killed someone that night. Officers responded to a 7-Eleven location where Alvarenga turned himself in, according to police.
Darienzo said that officers had learned that another person may have been killed that night and went to the the suspect's home. When they arrived they found the slain roommate.
Alvarenga is originally from El Salvador and has been living in the United States undocumented for the last 10 years, according to officials.
The victims' identities were pending, but Darienzo told reporters that it is believed the Wendy's worker had two children in the U.S.
The booking photo for Hassan Moutassim. (Illinois State Police)
(CHICAGO) -- A semi-truck driver has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly causing multiple crashes on a Chicago highway and then trying to strangle another driver, according to police.
The alleged road rage incident occurred Tuesday morning on Interstate 57, Illinois State Police said.
The semi-truck driver -- identified by authorities as 25-year-old Hassan Moutassim of Jersey City, New Jersey -- allegedly caused eight separate crashes while driving north on I-57, police said.
After the last crash, Moutassim stopped, exited the semi-truck and then allegedly removed a driver from one of the crashed vehicles "and began battering the driver, including an attempt to strangle the victim," Illinois State Police said in a press release on Thursday.
The victim was transported to an area hospital with unspecified injuries.
Officers took Moutassim into custody at the scene and he was charged Wednesday with attempted murder, aggravated battery on a public way and aggravated battery-strangulation, police said.
He is being held pending his first court appearance, police said. It is unclear if he has an attorney at this time.
Kentucky State Police released this image of the suspect in a bank robbery in Berea, Kentucky, on April 30, 2026. (Kentucky State Police)
(BEREA, Ky.) -- An 18-year-old is in custody after he allegedly gunned down two people during a bank robbery, according to Kentucky authorities.
Braelin Weaver, wearing a black mask and black gloves, allegedly went into the U.S. Bank in Berea just before 2 p.m. Thursday, immediately shot and killed a male victim, and then shot and killed a bank teller, court documents said.
He then allegedly checked multiple drawers before fleeing the bank, according to the documents.
Surveillance footage linked the suspect to a silver BMW, court documents said, and investigators traced the car to a Facebook account under Weaver's name.
At about 8 p.m. Thursday, Weaver posted an image to social media showing an alien holding a large amount of cash, according to the court documents.
On Thursday night, authorities zeroed in on Weaver's car on Interstate 75 in Somerset, Kentucky, and he allegedly led police on a chase, driving over 100 mph, documents said. He eventually crashed the BMW and fled on foot, according to documents. A gun was found in the car, documents noted.
Weaver has since been arrested and is facing federal charges, according to prosecutors. He will make his first court appearance in Lexington on Monday, authorities said.
"Our hearts go out to the families of the victims, our colleagues and the entire Berea community," U.S. Bank said in a statement. "We are committed to supporting the victims' families and our colleagues. And we will continue to work closely with law enforcement on this active investigation."
Berea, a city of more than 16,000 people, is roughly 40 miles south of Lexington.
In these photos released by the University of South Florida Police Department, Nahida Bristy is shown. (University of South Florida Police Department)
(TAMPA, Fla.) -- Investigators said Friday they identified remains found this week as part of the investigation into the murders of two missing University of South Florida doctoral students as Nahida Bristy.
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said that forensic investigators took several days to identify the remains of the 27-year-old student because of the advanced stages of decay her body was in.
The announcement came a week after investigators found and identified the remains of Zamil Limon, 27, a friend of Bristy who was also reported missing from the campus on April 16.
"We are now actively working to release both bodies for religious reasons back to the families who live in Bangladesh," Chronister told reporters.
Investigators allege that Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, Limon's roommate, murdered the pair and dumped their bodies.
Chronister said that Limon was stabbed repeatedly. He did not reveal how Bristy was killed and said the investigation is ongoing.
"At this point we don't know what the motive is. The why, we don't know yet," Chronister said.
Abugharbieh was arrested on April 24, following a standoff with police. His family called 911 about a domestic dispute involving Abugharbieh.
He was charged on with with two counts of first-degree murder with a weapon and ordered to be held without bond.
The sheriff revealed more details about the investigation, including that Abugharbieh allegedly used a cart that belonged to the apartment building he lived in to move the bodies to his car.
Chronister alleged that Abugharbieh searched for terms on his Internet devices related to murdering the victims including "can you bury a body in a trash bag and throw it in a dumpster" and "can a knife penetrate a skull?"
"This is someone very calculated," the sheriff said.
Prosecutors alleged that the suspect used ChatGPT for those searches and it answered "that it sounds dangerous," and then Abugharbieh allegedly asked, "How would they find out."
Chronister added that tech companies have been cooperating with the investigation by providing them with the suspect's search history.
"This might be able to provide us with the why that we are still searching for," he said.
Cessna Golden Eagle (Francois Joseph Berger / 500px/Getty)
(WIMBERLEY, Texas) -- Five people were killed in a plane crash in Texas on Thursday night, investigators said.
Hayes County Judge Ruben Becerra said first responders received a call around 11:00 p.m. local time about a plane down in the area of Wimberley, which is roughly 30 miles southwest of Austin.
Fire and EMS crews found the downed Cessna 421C, along with the bodies of the five deceased passengers. Their identities were not immediately released.
Stacey Rohr lives in a house close to the crash site and told local reporters, including one from ABC affiliate KVUE, Friday morning that the crash rattled the neighborhood.
"It felt like an earthquake," she said.
Although a cause of the crash was not immediately determined, investigators said preliminary information shows that there was no midair collision.
"Preliminary information indicates the aircraft was traveling at a high rate of speed at the time of impact," Becerra said in a statement.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will take over the investigation, according to the judge.
The NTSB said in a statement that the Cessna was destroyed in a post-impact fire. An investigator is on the way to the scene, according to the agency.
Preliminary flight data obtained by ABC News found that the plane took off from Amarillo, Texas, which is about 420 miles northwest of the crash area, and was in the air for almost two hours before it crashed.
More than a dozen thieves stole more than 250 cars and a million dollars' worth of auto parts throughout the Bronx, according to the NYPD and the Bronx district attorney's office. (Bronx DA/NYPD)
(NEW YORK) -- An alleged group of car thieves who worked fast and furious at night to steal over 250 cars and auto parts in the Bronx were arrested and charged Friday, investigators said.
The Bronx District Attorney's office indicted 16 alleged members of the Trinitarios street gang in a nearly 1,000-count indictment with grand larceny, auto stripping, and other offenses. Nine of the 16 were arrested as of Friday morning, according to the DA's office.
The suspects would allegedly lift the target car and use power tools to remove all four tires and rims off within minutes, according to the NYPD and DA.
"These defendants allegedly worked as fast as a racetrack pit crew in the dead of night, stealing cars, tires and rims and catalytic converters worth more than $1 million on the black market," Bronx DA Darcel Clark said.
Many of the thefts, as many as six per night, were caught on video showing a three-person crew exiting a stolen car, fully masked, with gloves, a car jack and milk crates, investigators said.
"All across the Bronx, people heading to work or school in the morning found their cars propped on crates, or an empty parking space, leaving them stranded and financially strained, the DA said.
The suspects allegedly used public parking garages throughout the Bronx to store the stolen vehicles before and after the thefts, which occurred between midnight and 5 a.m., according to the police.
Other defendants bought the stolen catalytic converters and then sold them on the black market, the indictment said. In one defendant's home, police said they found a suitcase with $116,000 in cash.
Attorney information for the suspects was not immediately available.
TikTok logo is displayed on a mobile phone screen for illustration photo. Krakow, Poland. On April, 20th, 2026. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) -- An alleged TikTok antagonist is accused of stabbing a 17-year-old to death outside his New York City apartment building, authorities said.
Andrew Tollinche, 22, has been charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the killing outside his Bronx home on Wednesday, according to New York City police.
Detectives had been looking for Tollinche after determining the stabbing stemmed from his posts on TikTok. Tollinche allegedly antagonizes people on the social media platform, and neighborhood teens have recently been gathering outside his home, knocking on his door and calling him out, according to police.
The victim, Jonathan Melo, who has no criminal record, was part of a group that went to the suspect's apartment building, according to police. The interaction turned sour, and Tollinche went inside to grab a knife, came outside and allegedly stabbed the 17-year-old in the back, police said.
Melo was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, officials said.
Tollinche has a prior unsealed arrest for allegedly raping a minor in 2025, according to records. He has other prior interactions with police, some of them stemming from social media posts.
Tollinche is due in court on Friday. It was not immediately clear whether he had a lawyer.
In this photo illustration, a PolyMarket logo is seen displayed on a smartphone with stock market percentages on the background. (Photo Illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) -- One week after a special forces soldier was indicted on charges of using classified information to wager on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the prediction market Polymarket announced it is increasing its internal monitoring of trades.
Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, who prosecutors say helped plan and execute the raid on Maduro's Caracas compound, allegedly made more than $400,000 on Polymarket by using insider knowledge to place 13 bets on the outcome of the operation.
On Thursday, Polymarket announced that it had tapped a blockchain data company to continually monitor the platform for suspicious trades.
Polymarket and analytics firm Chainalysis said they are working together on a "first-of-its-kind" system to enforce the Polymarket's market integrity rules by monitoring transactions on-chain -- referring to the platform's public disclosure of transaction data.
"Polymarket was built on-chain because transparency matters, and our platform shows what markets can look like when trades are open, traceable, and accountable by design," Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan said in a statement.
Through the partnership, the company is looking to confront the longstanding challenge of insider trading by leaning into a decentralized solution based on the public blockchain -- essentially a distributed database -- on which it can follow the tracks of every trade based on data that's permanently stored and sealed with unique identifier.
Chainalysis says they will use their technology to quickly provide law enforcement with "blockchain-verified evidence" to proactively identify threats.
While Polymarket already had a monitoring system for insider trading, both companies say the new partnership will help them quickly identify patterns that suggest an trader with insider knowledge is placing bets.
"With this collaboration, on-chain markets have the potential to be the most trustworthy markets for understanding world events," Chainalysis CEO Jonathan Levin.
Online sleuths have been successful in flagging suspicious trades such as the bet that prosecutors say Van Dyke placed on Maduro's capture. Posts about the suspicious wager began appearing online within hours of the trade, and prosecutors then took about four months to build their case.
Van Dyke pleaded not guilty to all charges Tuesday in Manhattan federal court and was released on bond.
Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, speaks during the 76th FIFA Congress on April 30, 2026, in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Photo by Rich Lam - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) -- Iran will be participating in the 2026 World Cup and will play in the United States, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in remarks Thursday.
"Of course Iran will play in the United States of America," he said. "And the reason for that is very simple, dear friends, it's because we have to unite."
He added, "We have to bring people together. It is my responsibility, it is our responsibility. Football unites the world, FIFA unites the world, you unite the world, we unite the world."
Iran said last month it would not participate in the global sporting event amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. A ceasefire has been in place since April 7.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Debris is piled up at the entrance to Camp Mystic on July 07, 2025 in Hunt, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(KERR COUNTY, Texas) -- Camp Mystic announced that it will not be reopening for the summer amid ongoing investigations into deadly flooding that killed 25 girls and two teen counselors last year.
The camp said it informed the Texas Department of State Health Services on Thursday that it is withdrawing its application for a summer 2026 camp license.
"No administrative process or summer season should move forward while families continue to grieve, while investigations continue and while so many Texans still carry the pain of last July's tragedy," Camp Mystic said in a statement.
The Christian all-girls sleepaway camp said it is choosing to withdraw its application for its Cypress Lake location "rather than risk defending our rights under Texas law in a manner that may unintentionally effect further harm."
Twenty-five campers and two teen counselors died during a devastating Fourth of July flash flood last summer, after rapidly rising waters inundated cabins at the camp's location along the Guadalupe River. The director of the camp also died.
Camp Mystic said it had planned to welcome more than 800 girls to its Cypress Lake location, which did not experience any fatalities, this summer, before withdrawing its application.
"This decision is intended to remove any doubt that Camp Mystic has heard the concerns expressed by grieving families, members of the Texas House and Senate investigating committees and citizens across our state. Respect for those voices requires that we step back now," the camp said.
The camp said it will "continue to fully cooperate with all ongoing investigations, comply with every lawful requirement and continue supporting recovery and healing efforts."
Families of the flood victims and some officials, including Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, had called on the Texas Department of State Health Services to block Camp Mystic's license for the summer. Patrick said the camp shouldn't reopen until the flood was fully investigated and any necessary corrective actions were taken.
The license withdrawal comes after the Texas Department of State Health Services notified Camp Mystic last week of nearly two dozen deficiencies in the emergency plan in its license application.
The department said that all camps that had submitted an emergency plan had received a deficiency letter due to statutory changes and increased emergency plan requirements enacted in the wake of the deadly flooding at Camp Mystic.
The tragedy was the focus of an emotional two-day hearing before Texas lawmakers earlier this week. A Houston attorney hired by the state legislature to investigate the deadly flood presented a review based on interviews with approximately 150 people, including campers, counselors, the camp's owners and the victims' families.
The attorney, Casey Garrett, said there was inadequate training or drillsfor counselors and campers regarding a flood threat.
A written report of the investigation's findings is expected later this year, The Associated Press reported.
The Texas Rangers have also opened a criminal investigation of Camp Mystic, according to Patrick.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Immigrant woman and children walk across a field as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Enforcement and Removal Operations hosts a media tour at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, TX. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
(DILLEY, Texas) -- Olivia Mabiala Andre made her youngest brother, Manuel, a promise.
"We're going to go to the United States and we're going to get you a bike," the 19-year-old said she told him.
The promise of the bike for her brother and stability for her entire family of five, Andre said, kept them focused on their plan to travel from their home country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, through South America and toward the United States. But three days into their journey, Manuel drowned while crossing a river in Colombia.
"He was the happiness of my house. He was the cutest boy you can imagine, he was our sunshine," Andre said, speaking to ABC News from detention at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas.
Now more than three years after reaching the U.S., Andre and her family are facing deportation to their home country after the U.S. federal government denied their asylum request.
Andre, who was studying to be a nurse, has been detained since November 2025 and was only briefly reunited with her family. She says it is taking a toll.
According to a habeas petition, an independent expert confirmed Andrew "meets the diagnostic criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" and "has repeatedly expressed suicidal ideation." Andre also displayed depression symptoms, the court filing claimed.
Their case is receiving national attention, with lawmakers and prominent figures like children's educator and YouTube star Ms. Rachel calling for Andre's release.
"It doesn't make sense to hold this caring, wonderful person who wants to be a nurse who's been through so much trauma. It's just cruel to hold her there, especially while she's having a mental health crisis, and she's having suicidal thoughts," said Ms. Rachel, whose real name is Rachel Anne Accurso, in an interview Thursday with ABC's Diane Macedo.
Accurso says she has been keeping in touch with Andre while she remains detained.
"She's overflowing compassion and faith and strength and it was a privilege to talk with her. I was so in awe of her," Accurso said.
Attorneys representing the Andre family tell ABC News they fled their home country after Andre’s mother says she faced direct threats by high-level government officials.
"Her mother has suffered brutal abuse and torture, which led both her mother and her family to need to flee for their lives. They took a difficult journey to the United States, and along the way, Olivia witnessed her eight year old brother who she loved so much, drown on the journey, and it has caused devastating sadness for Olivia, her mother and her two siblings," their attorney Elora Mukherjee said.
According to court documents, the Andre family entered the U.S. in December 2022 and applied for asylum, settling in Portland, Maine. An immigration judge denied their asylum petition, in part, because they believed they couldn't provide enough corroborating evidence to support their claim and ordered them deported in February 2025.
The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) later affirmed the immigration judge’s decision, finding that her mother could not provide enough corroborating evidence to support her petition, the documents state.
Todd Pomerleau, who is now representing the family’s asylum case in immigration court, says a language barrier and interpretation issues contributed to the asylum claim being denied.
Days after the BIA denied the family’s appeal, Mukherjee said they attempted to cross into Canada to seek asylum there, but were prevented from doing so, because of a treaty between the two countries called the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement. The treaty prevents some immigrants from seeking asylum in Canada if they’ve been denied a U.S. claim.
"Olivia and her family were desperate in their search for safety, because they know they cannot return to the Democratic Republic of Congo, they're going to be killed there," Mukherjee said.
Transfer to Dilley Detention Center
After being transferred to the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials on Nov. 12, 2025, Andre said she was detained apart from the rest of her family, the habeas petition says.
“They just took them away and put me on a different plane,” Andre said.
According to Andre, she was sent to four different facilities over the course of the following two weeks. She said she would ask personnel at the facility where her family was, but claims she never received an answer.
Andre was then sent to the immigration facility in Dilley, but said she did not know where the rest of her family was being held.
Two weeks later, Andre said she and a friend she made at the detention center were walking to the library when she heard her name being called. Her friend encouraged her to see a counselor at the facility who later determined that the rest of the family was also being held there. They were finally reunited, but held in different sections of the facility, according to her attorneys.
Andre’s mother and two siblings were held in areas reserved for family units, while Andre was held with other single adult women, the attorneys said.
Andre said she later found out that her sister would yell her name out into the yard of the facility every day since being detained in hopes that she would end up at the same facility and hear her.
Andre and her family are now challenging their asylum claim denial. In February, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals barred the Trump administration from deporting the family until they rule on the case, which could take several months.
Mukherjee filed a request to temporarily release the family while the court case continues. In March, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released Andre’s mother and siblings, but she remains in detention.
Spotlight on the family's case
Andre’s supporters highlight her accomplishments in the more than three years since coming to the U.S.
According to court documents, Andre graduated from high school in one and a half years. She completed a rigorous training program to become a certified nursing assistant and was in college studying to become a nurse at the time she was detained. She knows multiple languages, which she says can help her treat people from all over the world.
The loss of her brother inspired her to get into the medical field, Andre said.
"When I lost my brother, I was, like, I have to work and do something to help people," she said.
To date, her attorneys say they have not received a formal reason for why she remains detained despite the government being prohibited from deporting her while her case unfolds in court.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told ABC News the Andre family has "received full due process" and the government will continue trying to deport the family.
"The facts are Olivia Mabiala Andre is an adult illegal alien with a final order of removal and no right to remain in the U.S. If we encounter illegal aliens who should have been detained but were instead released into the country by the Biden administration, we will detain them. The Trump administration is not going to ignore the rule of law," the spokesperson said.
At times, Andre worries that she’ll be deported back to the Congo and what that would do to her mother.
"She already lost one child, she cannot lose another one," she said.
A man named Cole Allen, who appears to be the same person as the suspect in the shooting incident at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington, D.C., April 25, 2026, is interviewed by KABC in Los Angeles in March 2017. (KABC)
Allen, dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, appeared calm and did not speak during the hearing.
Allen, 31, faces three felony counts of attempted assassination of the President of the United States, transportation of a firearm and ammunition over state lines with the intent to commit a felony and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence. He has not entered a plea and is set to return to court on May 11.
The California native -- who was carrying a shotgun, a pistol and knives -- was tackled by law enforcement after Saturday night's gunfire inside the Washington, D.C., Hilton hotel, where thousands of journalists as well as President Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet were gathered for the annual dinner. Allen did not reach the ballroom, where the dinner was underway. A Secret Service member was shot during the incident, but the bullet hit the agent's protective vest, officials said.
In an overnight court filing, Allen's attorneys questioned what evidence the government has to determine Allen fired his weapon.
According to U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro, "We know [Allen] fired off that 12-gauge shotgun one time."
"The cartridge was still in the weapon. He fired that gun in the direction of the Secret Service officer," Pirro told Fox News on Thursday. "The Secret Service officer fired his weapon five times and we know that based on the number of bullets that were left in the weapon."
The Secret Service agent did not shoot himself, she said.
"We're waiting for the official ballistics test, but at the same time we filed papers in court this morning for the detention hearing today indicating that this defendant was calculated, he was premeditated and he had every intention of killing the president and anyone who got in his way," she said.
Pirro said Allen will face additional charges. She also said investigators are searching for anyone he might've threatened by name.
Allen's court appearance came a day after federal prosecutors filed a detention memo, supporting their request for a judge to hold the defendant in custody pending trial.
"The defendant attempted to kill the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. The crimes with which the defendant is charged are among the most serious in the United States Code, and the evidence of his guilt is overwhelming," prosecutors wrote.
Under what prosecutors titled in court records as "The Defendant's Assassination Plan," prosecutors cited his writings in which he allegedly laid out his plan to target top members of the Trump administration, according to the memo.
The suspect also sent a prescheduled email to his employer minutes before launching the attack, in which he allegedly apologized for his "unprofessionality [sic]," according to a pretrial detention memo prosecutors filed in federal court on Wednesday.
"Consider me to be submitting my resignation effective immediately (if it matters.)," Cole allegedly wrote in the email, according to the memo.
The tutoring company C2 Education, where Allen purportedly worked, said they are cooperating “fully” with law enforcement and denounced the “horrifying incident” at the correspondents’ Dinner, but omitted details of Allen’s work history.
“We were shocked to hear the news of the horrifying incident that transpired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner," the tutoring company said in a statement on Sunday. "We are cooperating fully with law enforcement to assist them in their investigation. Violence of any kind is never the answer.”
ABC News' Luke Barr and Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.
The booking photo for Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson. (Jefferson Parish Jail)
(NEW ORLEANS) -- A Louisiana sheriff has been indicted on over two dozen felony counts following a brazen jailbreak last year that saw 10 inmates escape from a New Orleans detention center, officials announced Wednesday.
A special grand jury indicted Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson on 30 felony counts, according to the Louisiana Attorney General's office.
Bianka Brown, the chief financial officer for the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, was also indicted on 20 felony counts, the office said.
"While Sheriff Hutson did not personally open the doors of the jail for the escapees, her refusal to comply with basic legal requirements and to take even minimal precautions in the discharge of her duties directly contributed to and enabled the escape," Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement.
Hutson was indicted on 14 counts of malfeasance in office and four counts of conspiracy to commit malfeasance in office. Additional counts included filing or maintaining false public records and obstruction of justice. A judge set her bond at $300,000.
Brown was indicted on similar charges and her bond was set at $200,000.
Both were booked into the Jefferson Parish Jail last night for security reasons and have since bonded out.
During a status hearing Thursday morning, they surrendered their passports and were told not to leave Louisiana.
Their attorneys declined to comment to ABC News New Orleans affiliate WGNO.
Murrill requested that Orleans Parish convene the special grand jury following the May 16, 2025, jailbreak, her office said.
Authorities said the 10 inmates escaped from the Orleans Justice Center in the early morning hours after climbing through a hole behind a toilet. Their disappearance was not noticed for several hours and touched off a massive manhunt.
Three of the 10 inmates who escaped were apprehended in New Orleans within the first 24 hours of the jailbreak. Others were captured in the following days, including in Baton Rouge and Texas.
The ninth inmate, Antoine Massey, was located in New Orleans in late June 2025 after the sheriff's office said it received a tip. Louisiana authorities were investigating a video circulating online earlier that month that appeared to show Massey pleading to rappers and President Donald Trump to help him while he was still on the run.
The tenth and final inmate, Derrick Groves, was apprehended following a "brief stand-off" in Atlanta in October 2025, police said.
Over a dozen people were arrested on suspicion of helping the escapees, including another inmate in the jail and a jail maintenance worker who is accused of shutting off water to the toilet, allowing escapees to remove it.
"Nearly a year ago, I made a commitment to the people of New Orleans and the people of our state that those responsible for the Orleans Parish Prison break would be held accountable," Murrill said in a statement. "Since that day, through the hard work of my office, along with the Louisiana State Police and our many federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, every escapee is behind bars, and others who facilitated and enabled the escape are currently being prosecuted."
Hutson ran for reelection last year but drew just 17% of the vote. In a final speech to her staff on Tuesday, she said that over the past four years, the sheriff's office has become a "stronger, more accountable and definitely more modern organization."
She acknowledged the jailbreak while talking with reporters, saying, "It's completely overshadowed the hard work."
"It's not going to define me," she added. "That whole story hasn't been told yet, but I hope it is told."
Orleans Parish Sheriff-elect Michelle Woodfork will be sworn in on Monday. Murrill said she will continue to work with Woodfork "on how to improve operations, secure the facility, and build in basic financial oversight that complies with state law."
Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been identified as the man fatally shot at a home in Brookline on Dec. 15, 2025. (MIT)
(WASHINGTON) -- The shootings in December that targeted Brown University and an MIT professor were "symbolic in nature," according to a report released by the FBI.
Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a Portuguese national and a legal permanent resident who had been living in Miami, Florida, committed a mass shooting at a building on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, before driving north to Brookline, Massachusetts, to kill an MIT professor, authorities said.
Two students died and nine others were injured in the shooting at Brown University on Dec. 13, 2025, and Nuno F.G. Loureiro, an MIT professor, was shot and killed at his home in Brookline by Neves Valente, two days later.
The shooting at the Ivy League school, where the 48-year-old Neves Valente had previously been a physics graduate student, rocked the tight-knit community in Providence.
The suspect was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a storage unit in New Hampshire following a dayslong manhunt, authorities said.
"Based on analysis of the information and evidence gathered throughout the investigation, the FBI assesses Neves Valente's victims were symbolic in nature," the FBI said in a release. "Brown University as a whole and Dr. Loureiro represented to the shooter his personal failures and injustices he perceived were inflicted by others over time. By attacking them, Neves Valente was likely able to overcome his shame and envy by using violence to punish those communities that he perceived contributed to his downfall."
Portugal's Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) previously confirmed to ABC News that Neves Valente and Loureiro had studied in the school's physics engineering program between 1995 and 2000.
The FBI determined Neves Valente had no criminal record and the shooting had no nexus to terrorism.
”The FBI has determined that Neves Valente was committed to conducting the attack and had completed his planning," the report said. "He considered, planned, and prepared for the mass shooting at Brown University in increments over a period of several years in isolation, spanning multiple geographic locations. Neves Valente’s transient lifestyle, long-term planning, and social isolation provided little to no opportunity for bystanders to observe and contextualize the significance of his behaviors."
The bureau's report added, "The shooter lacked traditional support, such as family, peers, and authority figures, who would have been able to observe any potential warning signs and contact law enforcement."
More than 1,327 audio files recovered after the shooting made by Neves Valente outline his thoughts for carrying out the shooting, according to the FBI.
“The FBI believes the shooter experienced a failure to thrive, long-standing suicidality, and his current situation was incongruent to where he felt he should be at this stage in his life. As his failures outweighed successes, his paranoia increased, compounding his continued inability to thrive, leading to him being mentally unwell and committed to dying. However, mental health stressors alone cannot fully explain the attacks that occurred.”
The FBI said they recovered guns at a storage facility used by Neves Valente in New Hampshire that matched the guns used to carry out the attack.
Construction crews continue to remove the East Wing of the White House and prepare for the new ballroom construction as seen from the newly reopened Washington Monument on November 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) -- Americans oppose President Donald Trump tearing down the East Wing of the White House to build a ballroom by a 2-to-1 margin, oppose a 250-foot arch by an even wider margin and oppose the addition of Trump’s signature to paper currency by more than 5-to-1, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel.
Trump’s ballroom
The Trump administration announced the construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom in July 2025, with Trump promising “it won’t interfere with the current building.” By October, demolition started on the East Wing of the White House, which was built in 1902 and renovated in 1942.
The ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll finds that more than half of Americans, 56%, oppose tearing down the East Wing to make way for a 90,000-square-foot ballroom, with 28% in support and 15% unsure. The results are nearly identical to an October ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll.
Currently, strong opposition (47%) outweighs strong support (16%) by about 3-to-1.
In December, the National Trust for Historic Preservation – a privately-funded nonprofit designated by Congress to protect historic sites – filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the ballroom construction until the administration completed the federal review process standard for federal building projects. Earlier this month, an appeals court panel allowed construction of the ballroom to continue, granting an administrative stay of an earlier injunction.
Trump has reiterated his desire for the ballroom in the aftermath of the attempted shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday night, arguing that the hotel ballroom did not provide the appropriate security measures for an event the president is attending.
The poll was in the field before and after the Saturday dinner. Overall, there was no significant difference in attitudes before and after the White House correspondents’ dinner, but Republican support for the ballroom increased from 62% before the dinner to 72% after.
Despite Republican calls for building the ballroom in light of the attempted attack Saturday night, the planned ballroom, according to a National Capital Planning Commission staff report, would have a seating capacity of about 1,000 guests. About 2,600 guests were seated for this year’s White House correspondents’ dinner. A White House event would be under the purview of the administration, whereas many events the president attends – including the correspondents’ dinner – are run by outside, independent, entities.
Republicans proposed a bill that would provide $400 million in funding for the facility. It comes after Trump said in October that the ballroom would be "paid for 100% by me and some friends of mine," referencing donors. "The government is paying absolutely nothing." Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation to regulate the project and impose restrictions on donations -- aimed at prohibiting bribery.
Nearly 9 in 10 Democrats oppose the ballroom project, along with about 6 in 10 independents. Among Republicans, 65% support tearing down the East Wing of the White House to make room for a ballroom. Support grows to 77% among MAGA-Republicans (which include Republican-leaning independents who support the MAGA movement), but it drops to just 31% among non-MAGA Republicans.
An arch
In addition to Trump’s major changes to the White House structure, the president has also proposed a 250-foot-tall arch to be built at Memorial Circle, right before the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, at the other end of the Arlington Memorial Bridge.The arch would be more than twice as tall as the Lincoln Memorial at the other side of the bridge.
“I’d like it to be the biggest [arch] of all,” even bigger than the 164-foot-tall Arc De Triomphe in Paris, Trump said.
By an over 2-to-1 margin, Americans oppose (52%) rather than support (21%) the Trump administration’s plan to build the arch. Another 26% are unsure.
Strong opposition (41%) outweighs strong support (9%) by more than 4-to-1.
A group of Vietnam War veterans have sued to stop construction of the arch, arguing that the project needs to be authorized by Congress before construction can begin, adding that the arch would block the line of sight between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. The veterans have reached a compromise with the administration, stalling the lawsuit for now, with a promise that the administration will follow the legal process to build the arch.
Taxpayer funds would cover at least part of the project: $2 million in special initiative funds and $13 million in matching grants.
Majorities of Democrats (78%) and independents (57%) oppose the arch. A slim 51% of Republicans support building an arch, including 59% of MAGA Republicans and just 23% of non-MAGA Republicans.
Trump’s signature on money
In March, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that Trump’s signature will be added to future U.S. paper currency. This would be a first for a sitting president, as no previous U.S. president’s name has ever appeared on currency. Earlier in March, the federal Commission of Fine Arts approved Trump’s image on commemorative gold coins and in October, the administration proposed a Trump-themed $1 coin.
Americans oppose printing Trump’s signature on paper money instead of the treasury secretary’s by a wider margin than either the ballroom or the arch: 68% oppose it while just 12% support it. Another 19% say they aren’t sure. Over half, 55%, strongly oppose printing Trump’s signature on paper money; just 5% strongly support it.
An 1866 amendment prohibits living persons from appearing on government securities and a U.S. statute states that “only the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on U.S. currency and securities.” A living president has appeared on currency once before: In 1926, President Calvin Coolidge was featured on a coin celebrating the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence along with a portrait of President George Washington.
Majorities of Americans across most demographic groups oppose printing Trump’s signature on paper money, including 9 in 10 Democrats and over 7 in 10 independents. Just under 3 in 10 Republicans support it, including just over a third of MAGA Republicans (35%) – the largest share across demographic groups.
The poll did not address the addition of Trump's photo to national park passes or the renaming of the Kennedy Center. The poll was conducted before the announcement that Trump's image would appear on limited-edition passports.
Methodology – This ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll was conducted among 2,560 U.S. adults overall, but these questions were conducted among a half sample of 1,292 U.S. adults and have an error margin of +/- 2.8 percentage points. Error margins are larger among subgroups.
President Donald Trump listens during a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky following their meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on December 28, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) -- The White House's new policy for preserving presidential records risks allowing the Trump administration to "unlawfully destroy important records," a group of Senate Democrats warned in a letter to the White House Counsel on Wednesday.
Thirteen Senate Democrats are seeking assurances from the White House that it would continue to preserve presidential records, saying they had grown "deeply concerned" with recent steps the Trump administration had taken to loosen rules dictating document retention.
The Democrats' missive comes after the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) wrote an opinion this month that deemed the Presidential Records Act -- a Watergate-era law that changed the legal ownership of presidential records from private to public -- to be unconstitutional and "untethered from any valid and identifiable legislative purpose."
One day after the opinion was issued, White House Counsel David Warrington issued new guidance for White House staffers to adopt new document retention policies based on the DOJ's new determination about the legality of the Presidential Records Act.
"The 1978 law is a significant departure from historical practice. For 200 years the presidency existed without the legislative branch invading the rights of the executive branch," Warrington said in a memo that was later included in a court filing.
Led by Sen. Adam Schiff of California, the Democrats wrote to White House Counsel David Warrington that they feared "the President and his staff" will use the OLC option to "unlawfully destroy important records covered by the [Presidential Records Act]."
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement that the Democrats' letter reflects "a fundamental misunderstanding of the Administration’s policy."
"The new White House records retention policy makes it clear that important records will be preserved," Jackson added.
The senators, in their letter, alluded to what they characterized as President Donald Trump's "unlawful personal retention and mismanagement of classified documents" in requesting a briefing from White House officials on their "records management procedures" at some point before the end of his term. Trump was indicted after his first term for allegedly storing classified records at his Mar-a-Lago estate and obstructing investigators, though the case was dismissed over U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's concerns about the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith.
Drafted in the wake of the Watergate scandal, the Presidential Records Act was passed in 1978 to ensure the preservation of presidential records. Every president since Ronald Reagan has been subject to the law, which places the National Archives and Records Administration in control of the official records -- such as emails, phone records, and other documentary material created by the president and his staff in the course of their duties -- once the president leaves office.
Under the PRA, which is overseen by Congress, former presidents have up to 12 years after leaving office to turn over all their presidential records.
During President Trump's current term, his administration has moved to unwind record retention protocols. Earlier this month, Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser wrote an opinion that would upend the established process for ensuring the public ownership of presidential records, arguing that "the PRA exceeds the oversight power [of Congress] because it serves no identifiable and valid legislative purpose."
With three years left in Trump's second term, his Department of Justice now says the president "need not further comply" with the law governing the handover of his presidential records once he leaves office.
The day after the publication of the Justice Department's opinion, Warrington issued new guidance for the Executive Office of the President regarding the preserve of records going forward. While the memo said that staff could use policies developed under the PRA, Warrington said the new policy would cover the retention of both classified and unclassified material going forward.
In their letter to Warrington on Wednesday, the senators asserted that administration "does not have the authority to override Supreme Court rulings or unilaterally overturn laws passed by Congress."
Within a week of the OLC opinion and new White House guidance, the country's largest group of a historians and a watchdog organization brought a lawsuit seeking to force the Trump administration to comply with the PRA.
"The Executive Branch has nullified the determinations of the other two branches of government so that the President may claim these official government records to be his own," the lawsuit said.
Lawyers with the Department of Justice have defended the policy in court filings, arguing the PRA is an "unconstitutional and ahistorical imposition on presidential autonomy."
As part of the lawsuit, the Trump administration released the new White House guidance on document retention. The Director of Archival Operations at the National Archives, meanwhile, said that the agency continues to "preserve all Presidential records in its custody" and plans to continue processing requests to access those records.
Alejandro Jacomino Gonzalez is seen circa October 2024 in a photo released by the FBI. (FBI)
(FLORIDA) -- A truck driver who went missing in a possible hijacking while transporting vehicles from Georgia to Florida has been found dead, the FBI said Wednesday.
Alejandro Jacomino Gonzalez, 41, was last seen alive in the early morning hours on April 17 at a rest stop on I-95 south in Brevard County, Florida, according to the FBI's Tampa field office.
The truck was located in Port Wentworth, Georgia, that day, though Gonzalez was not there, according to the FBI, which called his disappearance "suspicious." Several vehicles were also missing from the hauler.
On Wednesday, the FBI field offices in Tampa and Atlanta said a body found in coastal Georgia is confirmed to be Gonzalez. They did not say where or when the body was located.
The FBI Tampa and Atlanta divisions are leading the investigation into Gonzalez's death.
Gonzalez, a CDL driver for an unidentified trucking company, had picked up multiple vehicles from the Port of Brunswick in Georgia on April 16 and was supposed to drop them off in Miami, the FBI said.
He arrived at the truck stop in Grant-Valkaria at approximately 1:21 a.m. on April 17 and rested for several hours, the FBI said. At 7:49 a.m., the truck drove south one exit and then turned north, according to the FBI.
"Soon after, Gonzalez became unreachable and the truck was reported missing," the FBI stated in a missing person bulletin.
Three vehicles that went missing from the hauler have since been located in Florida, the FBI said.
Anyone with information on the investigation is asked to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit tips online.
Demonstrators chant and hold signs outside U.S. Supreme Court on April 29, 2026, in Washington. (Tom Brenner/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday grappled with whether the Trump administration has the authority to end humanitarian protections for thousands of immigrants without facing judicial review.
While an unrelated ruling about the Voting Rights Act overshadowed the arguments, the court’s conservative majority appeared skeptical of the legal challenge to reverse the cancellation of temporary protected status for thousands of Haitians and Syrians.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that Congress gave the Secretary of Homeland Security unreviewable discretion to manage and end TPS designations, arguing that a legal challenge would result in “judicial micromanagement” of foreign policy.
“Congress balanced the risk there might be some decision that's erroneous or baseless… that would evade judicial review, against the risk of what we're living through here, which is judicial micromanagement of the sorts of foreign policy laden in determinations and decisions that are naturally conferred upon the political branches,” Sauer said.
But attorneys representing the Haitians and Syrian Temporary Protected Status holders argued that the Homeland Secretary must follow the “procedural guardrails” set by Congress, which include reviewing country conditions, consulting other government agencies, and providing TPS holders 60 days of notice.
“The bottom line is the secretary can terminate TPS, but he must turn square corners and follow the rules Congress set,” said attorney Ahilan T. Arulantham. “In contrast, as we've heard today, the government reads the statute like a blank check today. They want to use it to expel non-citizens, but the power that they seek is a double-edged sword.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett questioned the significance of the legal challenge, which was described as a “box-checking exercise,” if the Trump administration still canceled the designation as long as they followed the procedural steps.
“If it's just kind of a box-checking exercise, I mean, why would Congress permit review of the procedural aspect, when really what everybody cares about much more is the substance?” Barrett asked.
“I think it's because Congress and us too, and the millions of people who live with TPS holders, have some faith in government, and they believe that if there is consultation, the decisions will be better,” Arulanantham said.
Sauer pushed back on those arguments, claiming that the Trump administration fulfilled the procedural requirements by “seeking input” from the State Department, though he claimed that even those basic steps were not necessary.
“If the secretary posted a notice on X saying, ‘I hereby terminate Syria's TPS program effective tomorrow,’ you would say that there's no judicial review of that decision,” said Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
“Correct,” Sauer said.
The three liberal justices also pressed Sauer about President Donald Trump’s public and social media comments about Haitian immigrants, suggesting the statements show a “discriminatory purpose” behind the TPS cancellation.
“The President has disparaged Haitian TPS holders specifically as undesirables from a ‘s------- country,’ and days after falsely accusing them of ‘eating the dogs and eating the cats of Americans,’ he vowed that he would terminate Haiti's TPS, and that is exactly what happened,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pushed back on the government’s claim that Trump’s rhetoric was focused on policy issues like crime or poverty and pointed to remarks made about “welcoming people” from Norway or Denmark.
"If the position of the United States is that we have to have an actual racial epithet... [and] we aren't allowed to look at all the context," Jackson said, then the court would be ignoring a "prime example" of discriminatory intent.
Justice Jackson noted that U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes -- who attended Wednesday’s hearing and blocked the termination of TPS for Haitians in February -- found that there is evidence of "discriminatory intent.”
“So aren’t we bound in some regard with respect to what the lower court has already determined about these facts?” she asked.
Sauer said the court should apply the logic of a different judge who said the President’s statements “are less relevant.”
At one point during the hearing, Justice Brett Kavanaugh questioned the protections in place for Syrians by mentioning that Bashar al-Assad’s regime is no longer in place.
“The whole thing was the Assad regime,” Kavanaugh said. “After 53 years of complete oppression and brutal treatment, it’s done.”
Arulantham, who argued on behalf of the Syrians, pushed back and said that while the regime may have changed, the country remains a war zone and pointed to current State Department reports of violence in the country.
“It is of no relevance because even if the secretary is right and the State Department is wrong, it doesn't change the fact that they didn't talk to each other, and the national interest is not a criteria,” Arulantham said.
While the Court on Wednesday appeared closely divided on whether to invalidate Trump's cancellation of TPS for Haitians and Syrians over procedural missteps, the bottom line is that the administrationretains almost unquestionable discretion as to if and when TPS status for certain countries should be discontinued.
And that means, if the legal teams representing the migrants prevail in this instance, it may be short-lived. The administration can move againto cancel their status, following the appropriate procedural steps, and more than 350,000+ immigrants who have lived here legally for quite some time under TPS could be forced to leave the country.
The court is expected to issue its decision in the case this summer.
The Fulton County Jail is seen on August 23, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(ATLANTA) -- Former Fulton County Jail detainee Rashaad Muhammad detailed what he said was a harrowing experience being held at the Atlanta, Georgia, facility from August 2025 to February of this year.
After being arrested on Aug. 11, the 33-year-old -- who used a cane to walk and took medication regularly for a blood condition -- alleged at a press conference last Friday that he was repeatedly denied medical care as his physical condition rapidly deteriorated for more than two weeks.
As he allegedly experienced symptoms like vomiting bile and losing the ability to stand up, Muhammad said his requests for medical attention were ignored for several days and he ultimately experienced septic shock. After being transported to Grady Memorial Hospital, he fell into a coma and both of his hands and legs were amputated.
In a statement to ABC News, the Fulton County Sheriff's Office said Muhammad spent 177 of the 188 days he was in custody "at Grady under hospital care."
"For days, I'm in the corner by myself suffering. Nobody's checking on me. Nobody's coming up to you," an emotional Muhammad told the press. "I'm back there. I was tired, so I'm trying to tell the officer, 'Hey officer, I need to, you know, it's getting bad.' Nothing."
He alleged that officials in the jail ignored his condition, even as he asked for medical help each day.
"I'm begging the sheriff to let me see the provider ... I can't get up. Every time they do head count, you have to stand by your door," he said. "It got so bad to the point where I couldn't even get up. I wasn't trying to be disrespectful to the officers but I just couldn't get up. So they just started, they'd see me, they didn't, I didn't have to do headcount. But that's when I knew it was bad."
Muhammad had been charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault and firearm possession. According to court records, the warrant alleges that he drove up to the victim, got out of his car and fired multiple shots at the victim, then drove off.
At the press conference, Muhammad and his attorneys described this as a case of self-defense. All charges were dropped earlier this month. It's unclear exactly why the charges were dropped.
"For them to drop the charges is another slap in the face, because I was there for no reason. I didn't have to be there," Muhammad said.
An attorney from the Georgia Public Defender Council represented Muhammad at the time.
"This case raises serious questions about humane treatment in custody and emphasizes the importance of testing allegations through a fair adversarial process that ultimately resulted in Mr. Muhammad's charges being dismissed," a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement to ABC News.
The prosecutors in the case did not immediately respond to ABC News' requests for comment.
The Fulton County jail system has been the subject of scrutiny for years, drawing national attention in 2022 over the death of LaShawn Thompson in a bed bug-infested cell. In response to a series of reports of inmate abuse and neglect, including Thompson's death, the Department of Justice launched a civil investigation into the Fulton County jail system in July 2023.
"We need to know why Fulton County did what they did in choosing their health care provider," Muhammad's attorney, Eric Hertz, told the press. "We need to know why a bottle of pills which he had on him when he was originally arrested, why they didn't let him take that with him, why they didn't carefully give him the antibiotics as he needed them."
In a statement to ABC News, the Fulton County Sheriff's Office said it cannot comment on or release information about Muhammad's medical condition or treatment due to privacy laws.
"It is important to note that of the 188 days Mr. Muhammad was in custody, 177 of those days were spent at Grady under hospital care," it said. "During his time at the Fulton County Jail, he was under the medical care of NaphCare."
NaphCare is a private, for-profit correctional health care company based in Alabama. A 2024 report released by the Justice Department after LaShawn Thompson's death noted "ongoing issues" with the company's staffing at the jail, but its contract with Georgia state was ultimately renewed until 2027.
At the press conference on Friday, attorney Ben Crump noted that the same medical provider was involved in both Thompson and Muhammad's situations.
"We need answers, and we need Fulton County to act. This is deplorable, this is horrific, this is egregious," he said. "And worst of all, this is inhumane. We don't treat human beings like this."
In a statement to ABC News, NaphCare said "Fulton County jails represent one of the most difficult environments" where the company provides care in the U.S.
"Despite the challenges, we have been extraordinarily successful in improving care and saving lives, maintaining accreditation by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, and working with federal court monitors to implement reforms under a federal court consent decree," the company said.
NaphCare noted that it has "cared for tens of thousands of patients, and have had thousands of positive patient outcomes" in the time it has been contracted to work at the jail.
It also addressed Muhammad's case specifically.
"We are also deeply saddened by and sorry for the suffering and losses that Mr. Muhammad experienced," the company said its statement. "We understand that he has a right to file a lawsuit against us, and we will respond to the allegations in court filings and will not comment to the news media outside of the ongoing court proceedings."
Muhammad's legal team called for accountability and a full investigation into the conditions and medical care within the jail.
ABC News' Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
E. Jean Carroll arrives for her civil defamation trial against President Donald Trump at Manhattan Federal Court on January 25, 2024 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) -- A federal appeals court in New York on Wednesday rejected President Donald Trump's request to rehear his challenges to the writer E. Jean Carroll's successful defamation and sex assault claims.
Carroll successfully argued during a nine-day trial in 2023 that Trump sexually abused her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s and defamed her in 2022 with comments he made after he left office.
The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.
Trump, who has denied all wrongdoing, tried unsuccessfully to substitute the United States as a defendant and to raise a claim of presidential immunity. In its decision Wednesday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said both arguments were raised too late.
"The fact of the matter is that no other defendant would be permitted to move to substitute the United States in his place, fifteen months after trial and the entry of judgment against him," Judge Denny Chin wrote. "The Court appropriately declined to convene en banc to revisit this issue."
A separate jury in a subsequent trial awarded Carroll $83 million in damages.
