LONGVIEW — The Longview Police Department praised several officers and medics on Thursday for the brave actions they displayed when an officer was shot on duty. According to our news partner KETK, Officer R. Leininger received the Purple Heart award for taking a gunshot wound to the leg while trying to arrest a suspect in a vehicle burglary incident.
After Leininger was shot, Officer Kientz placed a tourniquet on his bleeding leg while Officer Jones secured the suspect. Jones noticed that Leininger needed a second tourniquet and assisted Kientz in applying the second tourniquet. Kientz and Jones’ immediate actions helped stabilize Leininger until medical assistance arrived and were awarded Lifesaving Awards. Continue reading Longview officer awarded Purple Heart
(LOS ANGELES) -- At least one person was killed and 32 others were injured in a fiery collision Sunday morning between a packed tour bus and a disabled SUV stalled on a freeway in Los Angeles County, authorities said.
The collision occurred just after 5 a.m. Pacific Time on State Route 60 near the unincorporated Los Angeles County community of Hacienda Heights east of downtown Los Angeles, according to a statement from Officer Zachary Salazar, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.
The tour bus was carrying 63 passengers when it collided with a Nissan Pathfinder that was disabled in the westbound lanes, the CHP said in a statement. The Nissan burst into flames as a result of the collision, the statement said.The driver of the Nissan, whose name was not immediately released, died at the scene after becoming trapped in the burning vehicle, the statement said.
The fire did not spread to the tour bus but 32 of the 63 people aboard the vehicle were taken to local hospitals for treatment of injuries, according to Salazar.
The tour bus driver, identified by the CHP as Sui Sheng Du, slammed into the rear of the disabled SUV, according to a preliminary investigation by the CHP.
"As a result of the impact, the Nissan Pathfinder became fully engulfed in flames, trapping the occupant," according to the CHP statement.
Following the collision, the bus veered to the right across multiple lanes of the freeway and crashed into a raised metal and wood guardrail along the right shoulder, the CHP said.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department said two bus passengers were in critical condition and the remaining victims suffered minor to moderate injuries.
Salazar said the tour bus was heading to Koreatown in downtown Los Angeles when the crash occurred. He said the bus was coming from Morongo Valley, about 110 miles east of Los Angeles.
Images of the bus taken by ABC Los Angeles station KABC showed substantial front-end damage to the vehicle.
It was not immediately clear what caused the SUV to become disabled, Salazar said.
The CHP said neither alcohol nor drugs appeared to be a factor in the crash.
(WASHINGTON) -- In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar -- a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement told ABC News.
The gift is expected to be announced next week, when Trump visits Qatar on the first foreign trip of his second term, according to sources familiar with the plans.
Trump toured the plane, which is so opulently configured it is known as "a flying palace," while it was parked at the West Palm Beach International Airport in February.
The highly unusual -- unprecedented -- arrangement is sure to raise questions about whether it is legal for the Trump administration, and ultimately, the Trump presidential library foundation, to accept such a valuable gift from a foreign power.
Anticipating those questions, sources told ABC News that lawyers for the White House counsel's office and the Department of Justice drafted an analysis for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth concluding that is legal for the Department of Defense to accept the aircraft as a gift and later turn it over to the Trump library, and that it does not violate laws against bribery or the Constitution's prohibition (the emoluments clause) of any U.S. government official accepting gifts "from any King, Prince or foreign State."
Sources told ABC News that Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump's top White House lawyer David Warrington concluded it would be "legally permissible" for the donation of the aircraft to be conditioned on transferring its ownership to Trump's presidential library before the end of his term, according to sources familiar with their determination.
The sources said Bondi provided a legal memorandum addressed to the White House counsel's office last week after Warrington asked her for advice on the legality of the Pentagon accepting such a donation.
The White House and DOJ didn't immediately respond to request for comment. A spokesperson for the Qatari embassy did not respond to ABC's inquiries.
The plane will initially be transferred to the United States Air Force, which will modify the 13-year-old aircraft to meet the U.S. military specifications required for any aircraft used to transport the president of the United States, multiple sources familiar with the proposed arrangement said.
The plane will then be transferred to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation no later than Jan. 1, 2029, and any costs relating to its transfer will be paid for by the U.S. Air Force, the sources told ABC News.
According to aviation industry experts, the estimated value of the aircraft Trump will inherit is about $400 million, and that's without the additional communications security equipment the Air Force will need to add to properly secure and outfit the plane in order to safely transport the commander in chief.
As the Wall Street Journal first reported, the aviation company L3Harris has already been commissioned to overhaul the plane to meet the requirements of a presidential jet.
Both the White House and DOJ concluded that because the gift is not conditioned on any official act, it does not constitute bribery, the sources said. Bondi's legal analysis also says it does not run afoul of the Constitution's prohibition on foreign gifts because the plane is not being given to an individual, but rather to the United States Air Force and, eventually, to the presidential library foundation, the sources said.
The primary aircraft used in the current Air Force One fleet includes two aging Boeing 747-200 jumbo jets that have been operational since 1990. The Air Force contract with Boeing to replace those aircraft has been riddled with delays and cost overruns.
The original contract was signed in 2018, but as of last year, Boeing anticipated the aircraft would not be ready until 2029, after Trump leaves office.
The president has expressed deep frustration with the delays, tasking Elon Musk to work with Boeing and the Air Force to speed up the process. Those efforts have been modestly successful. Boeing's most recent estimated delivery date is now 2027, but Trump has made it clear he wants a new plane this year.
LONGVIEW — Longview ISD announced on Friday that 17-year-old Longview High School student Colleen Cleaver died earlier this month. According to our news partner KETK, Cleaver was an 11th-grade student at Longview High School who died on May 3. Longview ISD is not currently sharing details out of respect for Cleaver’s family.
“We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Colleen Cleaver, a student at Longview High School,” Longview ISD said. “On behalf of Longview ISD, I extend our heartfelt condolences to Colleen’s family, friends and the educators who supported her. During this difficult time, our thoughts are with all who knew and loved Colleen.” The district extends its deepest condolences to the family and counseling services will be available to students and staff.
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller says President Donald Trump is looking for ways to expand its legal power to deport migrants who are in the United States illegally. To achieve that, he says the administration is “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus, the constitutional right for people to legally challenge their detention by the government.
Such a move would be aimed at migrants as part of the Republican president’s broader crackdown at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The Constitution is clear, and that of course is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion,” Miller told reporters outside the White House on Friday.
“So, I would say that’s an option we’re actively looking at,” Miller said. “Look, a lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not.”
What is habeas corpus?
The Latin term means “that you have the body.” Federal courts use a writ of habeas corpus to bring a prisoner before a neutral judge to determine if imprisonment is legal.
Habeas corpus was included in the Constitution as an import from English common law. Parliament enacted the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, which was meant to ensure that the king released prisoners when the law did not justify confining them.
The Constitution’s Suspension Clause, the second clause of Section 9 of Article I, states that habeas corpus “shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.”
Has it been suspended previously?
Yes. The United States has suspended habeas corpus under four distinct circumstances during its history. Those usually involved authorization from Congress, something that would be nearly impossible today — even at Trump’s urging — given the narrow Republican majorities in the House and Senate.
President Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus multiple times amid the Civil War, beginning in 1861 to detain suspected spies and Confederate sympathizers. He ignored a ruling from Roger Taney, who was the Supreme Court chief justice but was acting in the case as a circuit judge. Congress then authorized suspending it in 1863, which allowed Lincoln to do so again.
Congress acted similarly under President Ulysses S. Grant, suspending habeas corpus in parts of South Carolina under the Civil Rights Act of 1871. Also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, it was meant to counter violence and intimidation of groups opposing Reconstruction in the South.
Habeas corpus was suspended in two provinces of the Philippines in 1905, when it was a U.S. territory and authorities were worried about the threat of an insurrection, and in Hawaii after the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, but before it became a state in 1959.
Writing before becoming a Supreme Court justice, Amy Coney Barrett co-authored a piece stating that the Suspension Clause “does not specify which branch of government has the authority to suspend the privilege of the writ, but most agree that only Congress can do it.”
Could the Trump administration do it?
It can try. Miller suggested that the U.S. is facing “an invasion” of migrants. That term was used deliberately, though any effort to suspend habeas corpus would spark legal challenges questioning whether the country was facing an invasion, let alone presenting extraordinary threats to public safety.
Federal judges have so far been skeptical of the Trump administration’s past efforts to use extraordinary powers to make deportations easier, and that could make suspending habeas corpus even tougher.
Trump argued in March that the U.S. was facing an “invasion” of Venezuelan gang members and evoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime authority he has tried to use to speed up mass deportations.
His administration acted to swiftly deport alleged members of Tren de Aragua to a notorious prison in El Salvador, leading to a series of legal fights.
Federal courts around the country, including in New York, Colorado, Texas and Pennsylvania, have since blocked the administration’s uses of the Alien Enemies Act for many reasons, including amid questions about whether the country is truly facing an invasion.
If courts are already skeptical, how could habeas corpus be suspended?
Miller, who has been fiercely critical of judges ruling against the administration, advanced the argument that the judicial branch may not get to decide.
“Congress passed a body of law known as the Immigration Nationality Act which stripped Article III courts, that’s the judicial branch, of jurisdiction over immigration cases,” he said Friday.
That statute was approved by Congress in 1952 and there were important amendments in 1996 and 2005. Legal scholars note that it does contain language that could funnel certain cases to immigration courts, which are overseen by the executive branch.
Still, most appeals in those cases would largely be handled by the judicial branch, and they could run into the same issues as Trump’s attempts to use the Alien Enemies Act.
Have other administrations tried this?
Technically not since Pearl Harbor, though habeas corpus has been at the center of some major legal challenges more recently than that.
Republican President George W. Bush did not move to suspend habeas corpus after the Sept. 11 attacks, but his administration subsequently sent detainees to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, drawing lawsuits from advocates who argued the administration was violating it and other legal constitutional protections.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that Guantanamo detainees had a constitutional right to habeas corpus, allowing them to challenge their detention before a judge. That led to some detainees being released from U.S. custody.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) – Country-music star Johnny Rodriguez, a popular Mexican-American singer best known for chart-topping hits in the 1970s, including “I Just Can’t Get Her Out of My Mind,” “Ridin’ My Thumb to Mexico” and “That’s the Way Love Goes,” has died. He was 73.
Rodriguez died Friday, according to social media statements posted by his daughter, Aubry Rodriguez. She said he died peacefully and surrounded by family.
“Dad was not only a legendary musician whose artistry touched millions around the world, but also a deeply loved husband, father, uncle, and brother whose warmth, humor, and compassion shaped the lives of all who knew him,” she wrote.
Rodriguez was named the most promising male vocalist at the 1972 Academy of Country Music Awards, and his debut album, “Introducing Johnny Rodriguez,” earned a nomination for album of the year in 1973.
Rodriguez was born in Sabinal, Texas, a small town about 60 miles west of San Antonio and about 90 miles east of the U.S.-Mexico border. He was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007.
(NEW YORK) -- A carousel ride and 12 flavors of fudge await shoppers at LARK Toys, a family-owned toy shop outside Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The glee on offer belies the stress behind the counter as President Donald Trump's 145% tariffs on China, which are set to trigger price increases and product shortages within a matter of a few months, co-owner Kathy Gray told ABC News.
The store imports four out of every five of its products from China, Gray said. A flurry of orders helped amass inventory before the tariffs, Gray added, but the shop lacks the funds and storage space to build up a major stockpile.
"It's threatening," Gray said. "This administration isn't operating with the best intentions of small businesses and regular folks."
LARK Toys is hardly the only small business that said it's under strain as a result of Trump's tariff policy.
Such concern is well-founded, analysts told ABC News, since small businesses typically lack the financial buffer, supply-chain flexibility and political influence of their larger counterparts.
Small businesses make up 99.9% of all U.S. firms, and account for more than two-fifths of the nation's gross domestic product, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
"Many small businesses are quite vulnerable and exposed to changes in trade policy," Ebehi Iyoha, a professor of business administration at Harvard University, who co-authored the study of small business sentiment, told ABC News.
The Trump administration has touted its achievements in support of small business, citing a cooldown of inflation and robust job growth.
"President Trump has restored optimism and opportunity for our job creators with a pro-growth economic agenda that has already slashed inflation, driven job creation, and delivered record investment," Kelly Loeffler, Administrator of the Small Business Administration, said in a statement late last month.
Trump last month paused a far-reaching set of so-called "reciprocal tariffs" targeting about 75 countries. At the same time, however, Trump hiked tariffs on China. Additional levies have hit autos, steel and aluminum.
U.S. importers face an average effective tariff rate of 25.2%, the highest since 1909, the Yale Budget Lab found last month.
The rapid shift in trade policy poses an acute risk for small businesses in part because they usually lack a large rainy-day fund, Jane Liu, a professor of economics at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, told ABC News.
A typical small business holds enough cash reserves to last 27 days, a JPMorgan Chase Institute study found in 2020.
"The larger firms have a better cushion," Liu said.
Small businesses also often face more pressure to raise prices for consumers, which can put them at a disadvantage with large competitors, some analysts said.
Tariffs raise prices for consumers if importers fail to swallow the tax burden by eating into their profits or requesting that a supplier sell the product at a lower rate in order to offset a share of the cost.
Small firms typically retain less capacity to eat profits or make price requests of suppliers, putting them at greater risk of losing out on shoppers due to tariff-related price hikes, Iyoha said.
"If you have a lot of bargaining power with suppliers, you can essentially say, 'If you don't eat some of these tariff costs and lower prices, I won't buy from you,'" Iyoha said. "If you had to guess who has more bargaining power with suppliers, I'm sure you'd guess large businesses."
In some cases, the Trump administration has granted relief from some tariffs.
Last month, the White House announced an exemption from China tariffs for a range of electronic devices. Days later, Trump said he had "helped" Apple CEO Tim Cook. Trump issued a one-month delay of auto tariffs after pressure from the Big 3 U.S. automakers: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.
Small businesses typically lack the political influence of their larger counterparts, analysts said.
"Most small businesses don't have the money or access to the best, most savvy folks able to do this," Iyoha said.
(LONDON) -- Israel's decision to halt all humanitarian aid from crossing into Gaza is entering its third month.
The Israeli government said the blockade is to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, including the remains of those who have died, and to accept a new proposal to extend phase one of the ceasefire deal, which ended on March 18.
Israel's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) wrote in a post on X in late April that humanitarian personnel have been allowed to enter and exit Gaza to support humanitarian efforts in the strip.
But multiple doctors and international aid workers told ABC News that water, food, medicine and medical supplies are running low, and in some cases running out completely.
Children are becoming malnourished, diseases are at risk of spreading and those who are injured cannot be treated properly, the workers said.
"If nothing is done, if food is not brought in, if water is not brought in, if vaccines are not brought in at scale -- we're already in a catastrophe, and we're going to have way more children dying [from] preventable causes," Jonathan Crickx, chief of communication for UNICEF Palestine, told ABC News.
A Trump administration official told ABC News there is a no-yet-finalized plan to administer the delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza, starting with fewer than half a dozen distribution sites set up throughout the enclave.
The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately return ABC News' request for comment.
Children becoming malnourished
The lack of food entering Gaza is one of the most severe problems the strip is facing, according to aid workers.
Osama As, the lead for quality, evidence and learning with the Mercy Corps Gaza Emergency Response Program, said the situation "is getting worse day after day, especially in relation to food" because most people in Gaza depend on humanitarian aid and community kitchens for food.
He said most families survive on one meal a day, and that most food available is canned food and bread.
"I never imagined that we would reach this point. Most people cannot afford the remaining items, which are either like canned foods and few quantities of vegetables which are produced locally here in Gaza," As, who is based in Gaza, said. "The prices are very high, so I think most people cannot afford these kinds of items to buy from the local market."
Dr. Ahmed Alfar, head of the pediatrics department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, said he has seen many examples of malnourished children over the past two months.
One example he gave is a baby girl named Siwar, who was born four months ago. At birth, she weighed 2.5 kilograms, or 5.5 pounds.
Four months later, she should be weighing about 5 kilograms, or 11 pounds. Instead, she is only about 6 pounds, according to Alfar.
Alfar said the mother is unable to lactate and the family does not have much money, so they have been unable to feed Siwar milk, just sweetened water.
"That means in four months she gained just 200 grams, and this is unbelievable," he told ABC News in Arabic. "She was a full-term baby. She was delivered vaginally. Her health was completely normal. ... We called it one of the most severe [cases of] malnutrition. Now Siwar is facing a severe, critical situation."
Similarly, Crickx, from UNICEF Palestine, who is currently in Al Mawasi, in southern Gaza, said he visited Nasser Hospital this week and met a 4-year-old boy named Osama.
Crickx said Osama should weigh 15 to 16 kilograms, about 33 to 35 pounds. Instead, he weighs 8 kilograms, or 17.5 pounds, Crickx said.
He said UNICEF and its partners have a small number of ready-to-use therapeutic foods to treat malnutrition, but they are running out. UNICEF has already run out of food meant to address the first signs of malnutrition.
"[Osama] has, really, the skin on the bones, and he was healthy before the beginning of this terrible war," Crickx said. "So, we are now in a situation where children are hungry, they are little by little being affected more and more by acute malnutrition, acute severe malnutrition. And if nothing is done, we fear that the worst will happen to them."
Community kitchen workers told ABC News if the border crossings remain closed, markets will close, and ingredients will run out. Some food relief organizations have already closed.
In late April, the United Nations' World Food Programme said it had delivered its last remaining food stocks to hot meal kitchens in Gaza, and it expected to fully run out of food in the coming days. Additionally, the nonprofit group World Central Kitchen (WCK) announced on Wednesday that it had run out of supplies and ingredients needed to cook meals or bake bread in Gaza.
WCK said it has trucks loaded with food and cooking fuel that have been ready to enter Gaza since early March as well as additional food and equipment ready to be shipped from Jordan and Egypt.
"In recent weeks, our teams stretched every remaining ingredient and fuel source using creativity and determination. We turned to alternative fuels like wood pallets and olive husk pellets and pivoted away from rice recipes that require more fuel in favor of stews with bread," WCK said. "But we have now reached the limits of what is possible."
Risk of spreading disease
The blockade has also had an impact on the spread of disease in Gaza, aid workers said.
Overcrowding in tent camps -- along with a lack of clean water, hygiene products and poor sanitation -- puts Gazans at risk of contracting infectious diseases, they said.
Limited supplies of soap and hygienic products "will continue to lead to escalation in skin manifestations of diseases like scabies," Dr. Aqsa Durrani, a pediatrician who was recently on assignment in Gaza with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, told ABC News.
It's unclear how many infections have been diagnosed over the past two months but a study from April 2024 estimated 55,400 cases of scabies and lice outbreaks among children under age five who were displaced.
Limited clean drinking water and overcrowded camps has also led to a rise in diarrheal diseases. A report from the Institute for Palestine Studies estimates at least half of cases recorded as of Jan. 2024 have been among children under 5 years old.
Crickx said a majority of children are affected by chronic watery diarrhea, which can lead to serious complications for babies and toddlers.
There has also been a rise in vaccine-preventable diseases in Gaza including hepatitis A, chickenpox, measles and polio.
Aid workers say the blockade imposed by Israel has halted the delivery of vaccines, such as the oral polio vaccine to Gaza, leaving residents vulnerable to diseases.
"Even in these terrible conditions, we have pregnant women and babies still being born in this community and population of 2 million people," Durrani said. "And so, we need more vaccinations as well vaccines."
Hospitals running out of supplies to treat injured
Since Hamas launched its surprise terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel responded by declaring war, thousands have reportedly been killed or injured. Israel has said its goal is to destroy Hamas and that it attempts to minimize civilian casualties as often as possible.
More than 15 months into the conflict, Hamas and Israel reached a ceasefire deal. The ceasefire saw the withdrawal of some Israeli forces to allow more aid to get in and the release of some of the hostages.
However, resumption of hostilities in mid-March led to an increase in injuries, Crickx said. UNICEF estimates that more than 500 children have been killed since March 18 and more than 1.250 children have been injured.
Durrani -- who worked as medical activity manager for MSF at a field hospital in Deir al Balah in central Gaza from the end of February until the end of April -- said she saw injuries caused by air strikes, fires after air strikes and from large cooking fires.
"Because there's no cooking gas, people are burning household items and trying to cook over large open flames,' she said. "So, we also saw children with burns due to those flames, as well as scald burns from children who had been waiting in food distribution lines, and the jostling of the food items would then lead to them being injured from hot food."
What's more, burn victims or those who are injured can take longer to heal due to malnourishment. They can also be at risk of infections or skin graft failure.
Durrani explained that poor wound healing can be associated with poor nutrition, which resulted in some pediatric burn patients developing infections.
"Not only was our staff hungry, but we also had no food for our patients, including our pediatric patients," Durrani said. "Other than just being harrowing from a human perspective, it's also, from a medical perspective, really impacts the way that people can heal from these injuries, and these types of burns."
"Not even being clear that we will have enough antibiotics to treat the infection if the patients develop infections," she continued. "In the face of also not having enough surgical materials or concern that we may run critically low on anesthesia supplies if they need to go back to the [operating room]."
In conversations with doctors this week, Crickx said hospitals are experiencing shortages of anesthetics and anticoagulants. There is also a lack of medical supplies to fix bones when they suffer fractures, he said.
Durrani said her team was forced to ration medications, including painkillers, antibiotics and critical surgery supplies. They often had to perform painful procedures and wound dressing changes without any pain control.
She said she didn't want to cause pain by removing dressings without proper pain control, but if the dressings aren't removed, then it could lead to infections for patients.
"We're being forced to make impossible decisions like that, which is unconscionable, given that just miles away there are trucks and trucks full of food and supplies and medications and nutritional sources," she said. "For me personally, this is the first time that I had to look patients in the eye and say I didn't have something that I know is just miles away."
ABC News' Shannon Kingston and Diaa Ostaz contributed to this report.
(LONDON) -- Ukraine and its allies "are ready for a full unconditional ceasefire" with Russia "for at least 30 days" beginning on Monday, the Ukrainian foreign minister said Saturday.
"Ukraine and all allies are ready for a full unconditional ceasefire on land, air, and at sea for at least 30 days starting already on Monday. If Russia agrees and effective monitoring is ensured, a durable ceasefire and confidence-building measures can pave the way to peace negotiations," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X.
The European Union supports "the proposal for a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire" between Russia and Ukraine, the head of the EU's main executive body said Saturday, adding that the "ball is now in Russia's court."
"It must be implemented without preconditions to pave the way for meaningful peace negotiations," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X. "We stand ready to maintain strong pressure on Russia and impose further biting sanctions in the event of a breach of a ceasefire."
The United Kingdom, France and Germany are saying they -- with U.S-backing -- are demanding Russia's Vladimir Putin accept a 30-day ceasefire or they will all together increase sanctions on Moscow and increase military support to Ukraine.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said "all of us here, together with US, are calling Putin out." If he is "serious" about peace then "he has a chance to show it now by extending the VE Day pause into a full, unconditional 30-day ceasefire," Starmer said.
(WASHINGTON) -- Earlier this week, President Donald Trump announced he will be nominating Dr. Casey Means for U.S. surgeon general, replacing his former pick, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, after questions emerged about her credentials.
Means has been prominent in the "Make America Healthy Again" movement championed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In a post on social media, Trump said Means would work closely with Kennedy "to ensure a successful implementation of our Agenda in order to reverse the Chronic Disease Epidemic, and ensure Great Health, in the future, for ALL Americans."
Means describes herself online as a "former surgeon turned metabolic health evangelist" who is "striving to create a happier and healthier world and planet."
Here is what we know about Means' background and what her views are on various health topics.
Medical background
Means graduated from Stanford University in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in human biology and a doctor of medicine degree from Stanford School of Medicine in 2014, according to her LinkedIn profile.
She was a resident physician at Oregon Health and Science University with the goal of becoming an otolaryngology surgeon, also known as a head and neck surgeon, but she dropped out in her fifth year.
"During my training as a surgeon, I saw how broken and exploitative the healthcare system is and left to focus on how to keep people out of the operating room," she wrote on her website.
Means went on to study functional medicine, which looks to prevent disease and illness. She is not board-certified in a medical specialty.
Following her exit from the residency, she was a guest lecturer at Stanford for less than a year and an associate editor at the International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention for two and a half years, according to LinkedIn.
Over the course of her career, she co-founded Levels, an app that allows people to track their food. along with biometric data like sleep and glucose monitoring, to see how their diet is impacting their health.
Rise to prominence
Means wrote a book with her brother, Calley Means, titled "Good Energy," which was published in May 2024 and allegedly takes a look at why Americans are sick and how to fix it.
The Means siblings appeared on podcasts, including The Tucker Carlson Show in August 2024 and The Joe Rogan Experience in October 2024.
On Tucker Carlson's show, Casey Means said birth control is being "prescribed like candy" and that Ozempic has a "stranglehold on the U.S. population."
The siblings rose to prominence within the Trump campaign and among Trump allies, including Kennedy. They appeared at a September 2024 roundtable discussion on health with Kennedy hosted by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc.
"The message I'm here to share and reiterate is that American health is getting destroyed," Casey Means said during her opening remarks. "It's being destroyed because of chronic illness."
Meanwhile, Calley Means currently serves as White House senior adviser and special government employee. He has worked closely with Kennedy and has touted many of his health proposals.
Controversial views
Casey Means' views mirror those of Kennedy's with a focus on tackling the chronic disease epidemic, creating a healthier food supply and expressing vaccine skepticism.
She has called for the removal of ultra-processed foods in school lunches and has advocated for organic, regenerative foods in school meals.
In 2021, she wrote in a post on X that glucose "as a molecule has caused more destruction of the human mind and body than any other substance in human history."
Glucose is a naturally occurring molecule that our body depends on for energy.
Casey Means has expressed skepticism about the safety of childhood vaccines and has called for more research on the "safety of the cumulative effects" of vaccines when following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine schedule, she wrote in her Good Energy newsletter.
"There is growing evidence that the total burden of the current extreme and growing vaccine schedule is causing health declines in vulnerable children. This needs to be investigated," she continued.
She has also criticized the administration of hepatitis B vaccine among infants, which is recommended by the CDC.
There is currently no evidence to suggest that childhood vaccines or the current CDC vaccine schedule are unsafe.
ABC News' Katherine Faulders and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
Former President Joe Biden appears on ABC News' The View, May 8, 2025. Via ABC News.
(WASHINGTON) -- Former President Joe Biden has reemerged into the public eye with two back-to-back sit-down interviews, sharing his diagnosis of the Democrats' stinging election losses, defending his mental acuity, which was fiercely questioned at the end of his term, and all the while defining his version of his more than three-decades-long political legacy.
And while some Democrats say there is "a place for Joe Biden at the table," others say it's better for him to be out of the spotlight and that relitigating his campaign is stagnating the party.
Speaking to ABC's "The View" on Thursday, Biden took responsibility for President Donald Trump's historic return to the White House and pushed back on claims of cognitive decline in his final year in office. He also addressed his next steps, saying he was "getting squared away trying to figure out what the most significant and consequential role I can play, consistent with what I've done in the past."
Part of that reflection will come in the form of a book that he said he is beginning to write now. But some Democrats are torn as to whether the book and a few media appearances are where they'd like his contributions to end.
Long-time allies of the former president told ABC News that they welcome Biden's return and advocate for him to staunchly defend and define his reputation and accomplishments publicly.
"He has a responsibility and certainly the right to defend his record. Biden would be beyond crazy just to quietly let his record get misrepresented as it has been done all last week," Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn told ABC News. Clyburn said he was unable to watch Biden on "The View," but was "glad" to see Biden out there.
Former Democratic National Committee Chair Jamie Harrison also said he was heartened by Biden's recent appearances -- another of which was with the BBC earlier this week.
"Seeing Joe Biden reminds me that our president can be a good, decent and honest leader. Reminds me that we have had presidents with slight majorities that have legislated to protect the environment, stabilized and grown the economy, created new jobs, reduced the cost of health care, invested in our infrastructure and respected our nation's history. I will always be grateful to President Biden for his commitment to saving America in one of our darkest times," said Harrison.
Veteran Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, former interim DNC chair, said she welcomed Biden back into the public square and pointed to Trump's frequent invocation of the former president as a principal reason why Biden ought to respond.
Brazile, a current ABC News contributor, added that Biden stayed relatively quiet during Trump's first 100 days in office this term, honoring an unwritten presidential tradition, and stressed that Biden deserves a platform.
"There's a place for Joe Biden at the table, and we should acknowledge that," Brazile said. "Just because you're a former president doesn't mean that you have to somehow or another disappear. Former presidents have every right to speak up."
Brazile did have one concern: that the party would look to only one voice to take cues from in this period of rebuilding -- a habit she said she finds unwise. Instead, Brazile said she hopes this becomes a time when a "new group of leaders" emerge.
Ken Martin, the current chair of the DNC, expressed gratitude for Biden in a statement to ABC: "No Democratic president has invested more in the Party's infrastructure than Joe Biden, and I'm deeply grateful for the President's service not only to our nation but his ongoing service to the Party."
Jamie Selzler, a DNC member from North Dakota and former executive director of the state's Democratic party, disagreed with some points Biden raised in his interview on "The View," particularly that he could have prevailed over Trump.
Still Selzer along with other Democrats say that despite their breaks from Biden's view of campaigns past, feel that he should be some part of the party's future.
"We need more voices in this fight, not fewer, and President Biden's voice is a welcome one," Selzer said.
Other blocs of the party are far more critical, with some Democrats telling ABC News that they find the former president's foray defensive and a misguided distraction.
One Democratic strategist said they believe Biden is mishandling his role and stagnating the party.
As long as the conversations revolve around Biden, the strategist, who has experience in Congress and presidential campaigns, said, "we cannot move forward as a country or a party."
"He's not really telling his own story. He's just fighting with everyone else about their telling of his story," the strategist said.
This strategist said they believe that Biden should follow in the less vocal post-White House footsteps of former presidents such as Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. This person said Biden should focus his attention on his eventual presidential library and foundation.
"These first 100 days, these first six months, like this first calendar year, it's all going to be political questions. You don't have to answer those anymore. You actually shouldn't be answering those anymore," the strategist said of Biden. "Democrats talk a lot about how Donald Trump has ruined norms. Joe Biden is kind of ruining a lot of norms with how to be an ex-president right now."
Senior Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett told ABC News that while Biden is entitled to defend his legacy, relitigating campaign losses, or in his estimation, "rewriting political history," is wholly unhelpful and stressed the party is in desperate need to move forward.
"The Democratic Party is working to claw itself out of the political wilderness we were left in under the stewardship of Joe Biden. It's utterly delusional and extremely unhelpful for Biden to wax poetic about how he could have beaten Trump, given the dire straits he left our coalition in," said Hackett.
To Hackett, Biden will best serve fellow Democrats from the wings.
"The most consequential role Biden can play is one off stage, far from the spotlight of domestic politics," he said.
Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors (C) reacts to his technical foul against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second quarter of Game Two of the Western Conference Second Round NBA Playoffs at Target Center on May 08, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
(NEWYORK) -- The Minnesota Timberwolves announced in a press release on Friday that the team has launched an investigation after some of their fans violated the NBA's Fan Code of Conduct by allegedly making "racially charged" comments towards Warriors power forward Draymond Green during the team's second game against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night at the Western Conference NBA semifinals.
In a statement posted to the Timberwolves PR account on X, the team said that one Minnesota fan was ejected during the fourth quarter of Thursday night's game at the Target Center in Minneapolis, while another left voluntarily before security could identify him, but an investigation is ongoing to determine his identity.
"A fan was ejected by Target Center security for violating the NBA Fan Code of Conduct in an incident involving Draymond Green. A second individual who was identified by surrounding patrons as making racially charged comments towards Green left on his own before the arena security could confirm his identity. The team is continuing to investigate an additional action may be taken," the statement said.
"The Timberwolves and Target Center are firmly committed to fostering an inclusive, respectful and safe environment. for all racist hateful or threatening behavior has no place at our games or in our community, and will not be tolerated under any circumstances," the statement continued.
ABC News has reached out to the Timberwolves and the Warriors for additional comment.
The fan ejection took place after Green got his fifth technical foul during this year's playoffs during an incident during the second quarter with Timberwolves center Naz Reid. After Green was fouled by Reid, Green appeared to wave his arms and smack Reid in the face with his elbow. During the playoffs, a player is automatically suspended for one game after a 7th technical foul.
According to ESPN, Green claimed during comments to reporters after the game on Thursday that there's an "agenda" against him.
"Looked like the angry Black man," Green said. "I'm not an angry Black man. I am a very successful, educated Black man with a great family, and I am great at basketball and great at what I do."
"The agenda to try to keep making me look like an angry Black man is crazy. I'm sick of it. It's ridiculous," he added.
The incident took place during Minnesota's Game 2 win in the second round of the NBA playoffs, where they defeated the Gold State Warriors 117-93 and leveled the Western Conference semifinal series at 1-1.
The win came during the absence of Warriors star Steph Curry, who suffered a strained left hamstring and is set to be reevaluated in a few days.
The Timberwolves and the Warriors will face off again on Saturday at 8:30 pm ET for Game 3 at the Chase Center in San Francisco, home of the Warriors.
(Photo by Francesco Sforza Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) -- Robert Francis Prevost, the Chicago-born man who became Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, has Black family roots in New Orleans, Louisiana, records show.
ABC News has obtained several records, including U.S. Census records from the early 1900s, demonstrating that the first American pope's family tree reflects the complex racial history of this country.
Both of Leo XIV's maternal grandparents, Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié, are described as Black or mulatto in several census documents.
On their 1887 marriage license, Martinez listed his birthplace as Haiti, and birth records show that he was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Chris Smothers, professional genealogist for 15 years and historian studying at Simmons University, told ABC News that these were the same territories at the time. Baquié's birth records show she was born in New Orleans.
Despite Martinez being born abroad, his father -- the pope's great-grandfather -- was found to be from Louisiana, Smothers said, emphasizing the pope's ancestry in the American South.
"It's clear that the Pope has centuries-long ties to free people of color in Louisiana," Smothers told ABC News.
On the 1900 census, while his family lived in New Orleans, both Leo XIV's maternal grandparents and his aunts -- Irma and Margaret -- were identified as Black. However, in 1920, after the family migrated to Chicago and had the pope's mother Mildred, that decade's census reflected their race as white.
Like so many families fleeing the South at that time, they could have shifted their racial identity. Smothers called this a common "survival strategy" at the time.
"In that intervening period, they not only migrated from New Orleans to Chicago in the period between 1910 and 1912 but they also changed their racial identifiers, which is very common," Jari Honora, a genealogist and family historian at the Historic New Orleans Collection, told ABC News. "Many families did this as a question of their livelihoods as an economic decision, they passed for white."
ABC News also obtained photos of those grandparents from the local genealogists working on uncovering this lineage. The pope's brother, John Prevost, recognized the photos and confirmed to ABC News that they depict their grandparents.
While John Prevost knew about his grandparents' connection to Haiti and the family's time in New Orleans, he told ABC News that their family never discussed racial matters.
Creoles in New Orleans have been a part of Louisiana history for almost as long as it has been a state and have contributed enormously to the culture of Louisiana. The word Creole commonly describes mixed-race people of color.
"To be, you know, Creole in Louisiana, to be a free person of color in New Orleans in that time really indicates that there was at some point an enslaved person that had to fight for their freedom," Smothers said, though genealogists have yet to find direct evidence linking the pope's ancestry to any enslaved individual.
In a statement released Thursday night, New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell said "the City of New Orleans is a melting pot of different religions and beliefs. We are thrilled to welcome Pope Leo XIV, who embodies morality, unity, and inclusivity."
Genealogists continue to dig into the pope's records to find out more information about his ancestry. For now, it seems that Pope Leo is not only the first American pope, but he also represents the melting pot of backgrounds in the U.S.
"They were a Creole of color family -- Creole indicating their cultural background that they are rooted in this place in Louisiana, which, of course, has its origins of the French and Spanish colony with a significant West African population. And of color indicating that they were a racial mix. They were a combination of all of those ethnic backgrounds," Honora said.
Honora also pointed to the symbolic nature of the pope's ancestry.
"The story, the trajectory does not surprise me. But the fact that a descendant of that family … is the pope, you know, really adds the element of surprise," he said.
LONGVIEW — The Longview Police Department praised several officers and medics on Thursday for the brave actions they displayed when an officer was shot on duty. According to our news partner KETK, Officer R. Leininger received the Purple Heart award for taking a gunshot wound to the leg while trying to arrest a suspect in a vehicle burglary incident.
