Today is
Wednesday June 03, 2026
DEARBORN, Mi (AP) – Ford is recalling almost 420,000 vehicles because of a seat belt issue that may result in an injury if a crash occurs.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a report Tuesday that the recall includes certain Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator vehicles with model years 2018 through 2022.
The issue involves seat belts that may lock inadvertently, not allowing them to retract or extend. The NHTSA report says a seat belt that doesn’t retract or extend may result in an injury if a crash happens. Individuals may also face injury in some instances if the seat belt retracts rapidly.
The recall replaces and expands on two previous NHTSA recalls. The report states that Ford Motor Co. is aware of two warranty claims and two field reports related to the latest recall. The company is also aware of one injury.
Vehicle owners will receive a notification in the mail about the recall. They can take their vehicle to a Ford or Lincoln dealer to have both front seat belt retractors inspected and to replace retractors involved in the recall for free.
Ford also issued a do-not-drive warning for thousands of Bronco Sport and Maverick due to problems with the vehicles’ suspension systems.
The NHTSA said that the front lower control arm ball joints may have been incorrectly installed or incorrectly repaired at an assembly plant, and the control arm could disconnect from the front wheel knuckle.
If a control arm detaches, it can cause a loss of control, increasing the chances of a crash.
The recall involves 4,600 Bronco Sport vehicles with model years 2021 through 2026 and Maverick vehicles with model years 2022 through 2026.
Dealers will inspect and repair the front lower control arm ball joints as necessary, for free.
Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332 or the NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236 for more information about the recalls.
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- A man was arrested and faces a federal charge after an explosive device was allegedly found in his carry-on bag at a California airport, federal authorities said.
Kimani Osayande Jones, 49, was detained at the Sacramento International Airport on Saturday after attempting to go through a security checkpoint, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
Jones was "wearing a scarf covering his face and latex gloves on his hands" at the time, TSA said in a press release on Wednesday.
In his carry-on bag, he had an M-type explosive device -- meaning an improvised explosive -- and a "torch lighter capable of lighting the explosive," TSA said.
His carry-on bag also contained a knife, scissors, scissor blades, an aerosol can and zip ties, according to an affidavit in support of the complaint.
He was traveling with five cellphones, one of which had a 15-minute timer ready to start and another with a message from an unidentified number on the screen stating, "we will be awaiting your call," according to the affidavit.
Bomb technicians safely removed the device, and upon further examination, its powder and fuse were found to be "viable and energetic," TSA said. If it had detonated mid-air near a window on a plane, the device had the "potential to damage the aircraft and cause a possible loss of cabin pressure," the agency said.
Jones, of Sacramento, has been federally charged with unlawful possession of explosive material at an airport. If convicted, he faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
He is being held without bail at the Sacramento County Jail on a federal hold, online jail records show. Online court records do not list any future court dates or any attorney information for him.
Jones' luggage was also screened at the airport prior to being loaded onto an American Airlines flight headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, and did not trigger anything suspicious, according to the affidavit. Upon arrival in Charlotte, a search of his bag and an inspection of all luggage from the plane using specialized canines found nothing concerning, it said.
According to the affidavit, local authorities had prior contact with Jones, who "had a history of being paranoid." A man believed to be Jones had previously reached out to the FBI tip line 13 times this year, including the day of his arrest, to report that he was being threatened and intimidated, according to the filing.
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(BAKERSFIELD, Calif.) -- All 10 hostages have been released, and a suspect is confirmed dead on Wednesday after an hours-long standoff at a bank in California, according to the Bakersfield Police Department.
The hostage situation ended at about 4:20 a.m. on Wednesday after an FBI officer-involved shooting, police said.
All hostages were found "unharmed" and received medical evaluation and treatment at the scene, according to police. They have since been reunited with their loved ones, Jeremy Blakemore, assistant chief of the Bakersfield Police Department, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The suspect, identified by the FBI as 41-year-old Anthony Scott Searles-Harris, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
The suspect does not appear to have targeted the bank or bank employees in the attack, but he had concerns related to how a previous case of his had been handled and his sentencing, officials said Wednesday.
During the standoff, the suspect demanded to see his daughter, but no communication was made between him and his daughter, Blakemore said.
The suspect barricaded himself on the second floor and attached explosives to himself and additional explosives to some of the hostages, Blakemore said. The suspect also tied up five of the 10 hostages.
The standoff began after a reported bomb threat at a Chase bank in downtown Bakersfield at around 12 p.m. Tuesday, Blakemore said.
Two hostages were first released after hours of ongoing negotiations with a suspect, according to authorities.
As the hostage situation continued, negotiations stalled, according to Blakemore.
Crisis negotiators were in contact with the individual over the phone, according to police. Investigators were also in touch with a hostage who had their phone until the phone died, officials said.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are assisting, and other resources are coming in from throughout the state, police said.
Investigators revealed the suspect had requested the involvement of the FBI, according to officials. The FBI assumed control over the situation at 9 p.m. Tuesday, Blakemore said.
FBI personnel made entry into the building after making an assessment, taking into consideration that one of the hostages was diabetic and needed medical attention and the erratic behavior of the suspect, Sid Patel, the FBI special agent in charge at the Sacramento Field office, said at a press conference Wednesday.
The suspect was killed at around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, Patel said
Several buildings in the surrounding area were evacuated, police said. The Chase Bank is located at Chester Avenue and 17th Street.
"This is a horrific event," Patel said.
Searles-Harris served in the U.S. Army from 2006 to 2007, before being dishonorably discharged for going absent without leave, Patel said.
In 2014, Searles-Harris was charged with sex acts with a child under 14 years old and is a registered sex offender, Patel said.
The investigation remains ongoing with a significant law enforcement presence to remain in the area for the next several hours, police said Wednesday morning.
Patel applauded the work of the Bakersfield Police Department, calling them one of their "strongest allies."
"Bakersfield PD did an amazing job with this," Patel said. "They have an amazing workforce here."
Motorists are encouraged to avoid the area, with traffic closures currently in effect between Truxtun Avenue and 18th Street, and between H Street and K Street, police said. Delays are expected into the afternoon local time.
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BAKERSFIELD, CA (AP) – Police were locked in negotiations Tuesday night with a man holding hostages inside a building that houses a Chase bank branch and school district office in the Southern California city of Bakersfield, officials said.
Officers responding to a call of a bomb threat arrived at the scene around 1 p.m. at the Chase Bank building in downtown Bakersfield, and discovered a man had barricaded himself inside “with several community members,” the Bakersfield Police Department said in a statement.
Through negotiations, two of the hostages were released and the rest are in “good health,” city police Sgt. Eric Celedon said.
“We have every single resource at our disposal out here to bring this to the safest resolution possible,” he said.
Nearby buildings were evacuated, including city hall and the police headquarters, and some roads were temporarily closed, according to officials. Officers established a perimeter around the building and nearby businesses, authorities said.
Celedon warned the public to stay out of the area, explaining that this is still a very active situation.
A spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase said its branch is on the ground floor of the building and is currently empty. The company is working with authorities.
The department’s crisis negotiation team was in contact with the suspect by telephone.
About a dozen police cars were on scene along with one tactical vehicle and multiple emergency responders, and FBI agents were on the scene.
Jacob Davidson, a livestreamer known as Dad’s Gone Live, was a block from the bank at his family’s tattoo shop when he started getting calls from his subscribers alerting him to the bomb threat.
“I went into the bank’s parking garage and watched the cops enter the back of the bank. This is the biggest police presence I’ve ever seen in this town,” Davidson said. “Now I’m watching them set up the trauma tents with the green, red and yellow tags, and black tags too, along with a command center about a block away.”
By Tuesday night, his livestream captured through a window in the building a woman rocking back and forth before crouching further down below the window. Later, two hands could be seen waving.
Law enforcement agencies often protectively set up trauma tents — which are color-coded to help sort people based on the severity of injuries — just in case they become needed during an emergency situation.
Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh said she is closely monitoring the situation.
“The best way the public can help at this time is by avoiding the area and allowing law enforcement officers, negotiators, and other trained professionals the space and opportunity to safely carry out their duties,” she said in a statement.
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Associated Press reporter Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed.
The report released early Wednesday by the U.S. Trade Representative said Canada, Mexico, Taiwan and the United Kingdom and some other countries and territories would face 10% additional tariffs for allegedly failing to enforce a forced labor import ban.
A 12.5% additional tariff would be imposed on China, Japan, India, South Korea, Brazil and Switzerland and dozens of other countries.
“The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable. This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field,” USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer said in a statement.
He added that “each of our trading partners must do more to ensure that trade does not perversely encourage and entrench forced labor globally.”
The USTR said failure to prevent such imports is “unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce.”
This latest barrage of tariffs is likely to unsettle key trading partners that have been hit by waves of tariffs since President Donald Trump returned to office early last year.
Just two weeks ago, the European Union approved a tariff deal with the United States to cap tariffs on most EU exports at 15% following intense debates among the EU’s 27 nations and threats by European lawmakers to block the agreement.
Trump recently returned from a visit to China, where he and its leader Xi Jinping discussed expanding market access for American businesses in China and increasing Chinese investment into U.S. industries. The two leaders agreed to set up separate boards of trade and investment — though few details were provided.
A Chinese government spokesperson denied the forced labor allegation and called for resolving economic issues through dialogue, saying a trade war doesn’t serve anyone’s interests.
“There is no such thing as forced labor in China, and we oppose using it as an excuse to engage in political manipulation,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in Beijing.
The new tariffs would not take effect immediately. They are subject to public comment and review. Public hearings on the proposed duties are due to begin on July 7.
The investigation into alleged failure to prevent imports of goods allegedly made by forced labor was conducted under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The strategy would enable Trump to skirt limits on his tariffs imposed by the Supreme Court.
It found that 60 countries investigated had failed to enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.
The report defined forced labor as “work or service exacted from a person under the menace of any penalty for its nonperformance and for which the worker does not offer himself voluntarily.”
It cited an estimate by the UN’s International Labor Organization that as of 2021, 27.6 million people were engaged in forced labor.
Rice imported from Myanmar, tobacco from Malawi, beef from Brazil, and cotton and polysilicon from China were among the many products it said are prone to involving forced labor.
The U.S. has long said imports of goods that include material from China’s far-western Xinjiang are at risk of using forced labor. Beijing denies allegations of forced labor in the Muslim majority region.
The Supreme Court ruled in February that Trump had overstepped his authority by using a different law – the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 – to impose sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners.
The Trump administration has said it would appeal a federal judge’s order making all companies that paid the duties on those earlier tariffs eligible for refunds.
Earlier this week, the administration separately proposed 25% tariffs on imports from Brazil, charging that the world’s 10th-biggest economy engages in trade practices that are “unreasonable’’ and that “burden or restrict U.S. commerce.’’
The USTR said its investigation showed Brazil had lax anti-corruption enforcement and unfair tariffs of its own, among other things.
In its nearly 100-page report on forced labor, the USTR said that even if a country enforces a ban on forced labor domestically, importing goods made with forced labor violates the rules of fair trade.
It said some key items would be exempt from the additional tariffs or subject to lower tariffs, including certain textiles, tomatoes, bananas, coffee and some metals.
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AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.
(HOUSTON) -- A man and woman were found dead in a Houston apartment after an hours-long standoff with the sheriff's department, according to officials.
A 20-year-old woman and the 23-year-old suspect were found dead in the apartment, Harris County Sheriff's Department Patrol Bureau Maj. Earl Dean said at a press conference on Monday.
Deputies received a report of man "frantic" on his phone just before 2 p.m. Monday, saying he "accidentally shot his girlfriend," Dean said.
At the scene, deputies made contact with the man, who refused to obey their commands and threatened to kill himself. The man then barricaded himself inside the apartment, Dean said.
Deputies contacted additional resources and a SWAT team took over the scene, according to Dean.
After several hours of the crisis negotiation team talking to the man, trying to get him to surrender, the man refused all commands, Dean said.
"At one point we did deploy gas into the apartment complex. The male retreated onto the balcony where he suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound," Dean said.
"This is very unfortunate," Dean said.
No deputies discharged their weapons during the incident, according to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
The circumstances surrounding both deaths remain under investigation. There is no ongoing threat to the public, Gonzalez said.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans are meeting Tuesday to discuss next steps after the Justice Department said it would comply with a court order pausing the implementation of a $1.776 billion settlement fund designed to compensate President Donald Trump’s political allies.
GOP senators who revolted against the settlement before leaving for a Memorial Day recess two weeks ago say they want more information from the administration about the future of the fund, which could potentially go to Trump supporters who beat police and attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Meanwhile, Trump is reconsidering whether to move forward with it at all, according to a person familiar with his thinking.
Caught in the middle is legislation that would fund Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies for three years. Republicans abruptly left town May 21 without passing it after Democrats said they would offer amendments to scrap or scale back the judgment fund, forcing Republicans to go on the record for or against it and endangering the money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.
“The only way to ensure Trump’s $2 billion, taxpayer-funded giveaway to Trump’s MAGA allies never sees the light of day is to abolish it by law,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
Returning to Washington on Monday evening, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he wasn’t sure if the immigration spending bill would move this week.
“To be determined,” he told reporters.
Republicans were expected to discuss strategy and next steps at their weekly lunch meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Standoff comes after surprise announcement
The extraordinary standoff comes after Trump announced the fund with no heads up to lawmakers as part of a settlement to resolve his lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns. When word of the settlement broke, the Senate was already navigating tricky passage of the immigration legislation with an added $1 billion in White House security costs — including for Trump’s ballroom project.
Furious, Senate Republicans jettisoned the White House security money from the bill and made clear they would not pass the legislation at all unless the White House made major changes to the settlement.
“I do think the best way to handle it is if the administration decides to shut it down themselves,” Thune told reporters Monday, referring to the fund.
The Justice Department said it would comply with a ruling Friday from U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who temporarily halted the fund for two weeks. The judge scheduled a June 12 hearing for arguments on whether to extend her order.
The department said in a statement that it strongly disagrees with the ruling but would comply.
Senators say they need more ‘explicit’ commitment
Republican senators weren’t satisfied. They have said that they need more detail from the administration on what happens after that deadline before deciding next steps.
“It’s pretty clear that the president has to say very explicitly that there’s not going to be a weaponization fund,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
Oklahoma Sen. Jim Lankford said Trump administration officials “need to say what they actually mean.”
“They need to say, we’re setting this whole thing aside,” Lankford said.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said that if the settlement is “completely pulled, then I’m satisfied. But I haven’t heard anybody say that.”
Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said the administration already has to abide by the court decision, “that’s in the Constitution. I have to know more about their position.”
“Right now, the reconciliation bill looks like a broken arm with the bones sticking out,” Kennedy said. “It won’t move this week, in my opinion, unless we have some resolution on the weaponization account.”
Republicans issue rare ultimatum to DOJ
The outrage over the fund came to a head last month at a closed-door meeting between senators and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas described on a recent episode of his podcast as “one of the roughest meetings I’ve seen in my entire time in the Senate.”
GOP senators had been discussing several ways that they could curb the fund, including limiting who can receive payouts, changing the makeup of the commission in charge of settlement decisions, adding some sort of judicial review for applicants or scrapping the fund altogether.
Amid the backlash, a person familiar with the matter, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the president’s thinking, said Monday that Trump was reconsidering whether to move forward with the fund. But the president has not said publicly what he intends to do.
Also complicating matters is Trump’s campaign-year push to defeat GOP lawmakers whom he sees as disloyal, including some of Thune’s most reliable Republican votes in the narrow 53-47 Senate. Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas both lost reelection bids in May after Trump endorsed their primary opponents, and it’s unclear how supportive they’ll be of the president’s agenda going forward.
“I think it’s hard to divorce anything that happens here from what’s happening in the political atmosphere around us,” Thune said before the Senate left town.
(SANDY, Ore) -- Multiple people were killed and an officer was shot and wounded in a domestic violence situation in Oregon, officials said.
When officers responded to a shooting and domestic disturbance shortly before 4 p.m. Sunday, the officers came under gunfire and returned fire, Sandy Police Chief Patrick Huskey said at a news conference.
One officer was shot multiple times, Huskey said. The officer has been hospitalized in stable condition and expected to survive, he said.
Multiple victims are dead, the chief said, but he did not say how many victims or their identities.
While the suspect was barricaded in the home, police urged residents to lock their doors and stay inside.
The suspect surrendered around 8 p.m., police said, and the shelter in place order has been lifted.
The chief called the shooting a "traumatic event for our community."
Sandy Mayor Kathleen Walker said in a statement, "Our Sandy community grieves the unimaginable loss of lives from a domestic violence incident. ... Please keep our officer, the victims and their loved ones, and everyone in our community in your thoughts."
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(FLORIDA) -- The 16-year-old boy accused of killing his stepsister on a cruise is allowed to stay out of jail with certain restrictions, a federal judge in Florida ruled.
In February, after the teen was charged as a juvenile, the 16-year-old was permitted to live with his uncle instead of being held in custody. But in April, when the case was moved to adult court, prosecutors said the teen should be detained.
"We do not know what triggered him," prosecutors argued in court Wednesday. "Who will be the next object he will become fixated on?"
The teen's lawyers have countered that he's a child who has been cooperative with the investigation and has shown no indication of hurting anyone in the months since his stepsister's killing.
The suspect arrived at court Wednesday with his father and his uncle and was seen wearing an ankle monitor. The judge ruled he's only allowed to leave his house with his uncle and will be electronically monitored by authorities.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres said Wednesday that U.S. Marshals should examine options for potential detainment in the Tampa area.
Prosecutors allege the teenager "sexually assaulted and intentionally killed" his 18-year-old stepsister, Anna Kepner, during the family's November vacation on a Carnival cruise. Anna Kepner died from mechanical asphyxiation, officials said.
The stepbrother has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse. He is set to go on trial in September.
Prosecutors are alleging more details about the night Kepner died from Wednesday's hearing as well as a newly unsealed transcript from a February detention hearing.
Closed-circuit television on the cruise captured many of the movements of Kepner and her stepbrother, as well as the movements of their 13-year-old sibling who was sharing their room, prosecutors said in the Feb. 6 transcript.
The night Kepner died, the suspect was seen entering their shared cabin around 7:35 p.m., the transcript said. At about 7:38 p.m., Kepner was seen entering the cabin -- the last time cameras would capture her alive, prosecutors said.
At approximately 7:51 p.m., the 13-year-old sibling entered the cabin and quickly exited, prosecutors said.
The suspect was not seen leaving the cabin again until 10:13 p.m., when he is "looking left and right down the hallway, appearing to check if there is anyone in the hallway," prosecutors said. He's seen between 10:23 p.m. and 10:49 p.m. "entering and exiting the cabin approximately two more times," prosecutors said, and he put a privacy sign on the door at 10:53 p.m.
The video showed the 13-year-old and the suspect coming and going a few more times, prosecutors said. At 12:09 a.m., when the 13-year-old tried to get into the room, the suspect prevented him, and made the 13-year-old wait outside for a few minutes, prosecutors said.
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(NEW YORK) -- A Google employee fraudulently made more than $1 million by using inside information to place Polymarket bets on what users were searching for on Google, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday in New York.
For Michele Spagnuolo, these were sure bets because, as a Google software engineer, he had access to company data that tracked user searches, according to the complaint, which said Spagnuolo "misappropriated confidential and valuable nonpublic information from his employer and used that information to place a series of Google-related bets on Polymarket, a prediction market platform."
Spagnuolo, 36, is charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
"Unlike the counterparties to his trades, Spagnuolo knew the outcome of these wagers before the trading public did because he had accessed Google's confidential, commercially valuable internal data," the complaint said.
He correctly bet -- using an account under the name AlphaRaccoon -- that Google's most-searched person in 2025 would be the singer known as D4vd, according to the complaint. At the time he placed that bet, the prediction market Polymarket "assigned a near-zero probability to d4vd being 'the #1 searched person on Google this year,'" the complaint said.
After Google publicly announced its Year in Search 2025 results on Dec. 4, 2025, Spagnuolo's AlphaRaccoon account profited $1.2 million on his Google Year in Search 2025-related bets, federal prosecutors said.
"Once he won, Spagnuolo then took deliberate steps to conceal his unlawful use of nonpublic information by attempting to obscure the source and ownership of his unlawful proceeds," the complaint said.
Spagnuolo, an Italian citizen, was arrested Wednesday morning in New York, where he appeared briefly before a federal magistrate judge.
He did not enter a plea and was released on a $2.25 million bond, secured by $1 million cash, $50,000 of which needs to be posted Wednesday.
A Google spokesperson, responding to the charges against Spagnuolo, said in a statement, "We're working with law enforcement on their investigation. The employee accessed our marketing material using a tool available to all employees, but using such confidential information to place bets is a serious breach of our policies. We've placed the employee on leave and will take the appropriate action."
This is the second case involving Polymarket that the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York has brought this year.
A U.S. special forces soldier, Gannon Van Dyke, pleaded not guilty last month to making fraudulent bets on Polymarket about the raid that ousted Nicholas Maduro from Venezuela. Van Dyke was positioned to know about the raid because he helped to plan it and took part in it, prosecutors said.
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(NEW YORK) -- A legal advocacy group has asked the New York bar to investigate Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for potential violations stemming from his role in the prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
The letter, from the Campaign for Accountability, was sent days after the federal judge overseeing the human smuggling case against Abrego Garcia dismissed the indictment, citing a "tainted investigation" by Blanche.
"The objective evidence here shows that, absent Abrego's successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the Government would not have brought this prosecution," U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw wrote in his ruling on Friday.
Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March of last year to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison -- despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution -- after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which he denies.
He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, after which U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis released him from ICE detention while he was awaiting trial.
Judge Crenshaw, in his decision Friday, wrote that the timing of a DHS agent's decision to reopen a closed investigation of a November 2022 traffic stop, as well as "now unrebutted public statements tying the reopened investigation" to Abrego Garcia's successful lawsuit "taints the investigation with a vindictive motive."
The criminal charges in Tennessee stem from a 2022 traffic stop that was disclosed in an April 2025 press release issued by the Department of Homeland Security, which said it had a "bombshell investigative report" regarding the stop, alleging that Abrego Garcia was a suspected human trafficker. The release included a screengrab of body camera video from the traffic stop.
"Instead of investigating the November 2022 traffic stop to identify who was responsible for the human smuggling, Blanche started the investigation to implicate Abrego," Crenshaw wrote. "He did so to justify the Executive Branch's decision to remove him to El Salvador."
In its letter filed on Wednesday, the Campaign for Accountability said that Blanche may have violated several rules within the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, including "prohibiting dishonesty, conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, and the use of criminal charges to gain an advantage in a civil matter."
"A federal judge found that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche personally launched a criminal prosecution not to enforce the law, but to provide cover for the administration after Mr. Abrego Garcia fought against his illegal deportation to El Salvador where he was imprisoned in CECOT," Campaign for Accountability Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith said in a statement. "It is imperative that the New York Bar hold Mr. Blanche accountable for his reprehensible conduct."
A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Abrego Garcia was not charged or arrested during the traffic stop. Body camera footage showed Tennessee troopers -- after questioning Abrego Garcia -- discussing among themselves their suspicions of human trafficking because nine people were traveling in the vehicle without luggage.
A Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement following Crenshaw's order, "Another activist judge has placed politics above public safety. The judge's order is wrong and dangerous, and we will appeal."
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(WASHINGTON) -- The White House confirmed Wednesday that the U.S. is setting up a health facility in Kenya to receive Americans who are exposed to the Ebola virus while in regions affected by the ongoing outbreak.
According to an administration official, the U.S. will establish what they called a “state-of-the-art facility” in Kenya “through a coordinated effort with the Departments of State, Health and Human Services, and War."
The news was first reported by The New York Times.
The official said that the purpose and design of the facility would be to “provide access to high-quality care for Americans who would need to quickly get out” of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to quarantine, and argued that it would cut down on the “risks of a lengthy transport back to the U.S.”
“Time is of the essence for Ebola patients, and this facility will enable Americans in the region who contract Ebola to receive lifesaving care as quickly as possible without 12-plus hours of medevac flight time,” the official said.
The official added that the treatment capabilities at the Kenya facility are “expected to be able to care for the full-spectrum of Ebola Virus Disease, including critical care needs,” but added that patients would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for possible “forward transport” for more advanced care as needed.
The White House did not immediately respond to an ABC News request for additional specifics regarding patients who would be quarantined and treated at the facility.
The president previously invoked his authority under Title 42, barring travel to the U.S. for non-citizens, with specific exceptions, who have visited the DRC, Uganda, or South Sudan within the last 21 days. The order was expanded last week to include U.S. green card holders.
American citizens who have visited those countries are being directed to specific U.S. airports for additional health screening, including Dulles International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.
The news comes as New York-based International Rescue Committee (IRC) aid organization warned on Tuesday that the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the DRC and neighboring Uganda is now spreading faster than responders can contain it and risks becoming "the deadliest on record" without urgent international action.
"The outbreak is spreading faster than the response, with over 900 suspected cases and at least 223 deaths already reported across DRC and Uganda, including in major transport hubs like Goma and Kampala," the IRC wrote.
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(LONGVIEW, Wash.) -- A beloved husband, dad and grandfather was killed in the chemical tank rupture at a pulp and paper mill in Washington state, according to his daughter.
Geovana Bernal told ABC News that her father, Gilbert Bernal, died in Tuesday morning's incident at his workplace, Nippon Dynawave Packaging in Longview, Washington.
At least one person was killed, multiple people suffered critical injuries and nine employees remain missing, officials said. The ongoing recovery efforts are "extremely complex" due to the unstable tank, which contains white liquor, a chemical mixture used in the paper-making process, according to authorities.
Geovana Bernal said in a statement, "There are not enough words to express on how devastated we are right now."
"My father was the most selfless man I knew. He worked hard to provide for his family and he loved us so much," she said. "He was going to celebrate his 32nd wedding anniversary with mom in just a couple weeks and he loved my son, his first grandson, so much."
She said Gilbert Bernal often helped out at his church, "volunteering his time to help repairs or help anyone in need."
"He was a great man, husband, father, grandfather, son, brother and friend," Geovana Bernal said. "We are so heartbroken."
The coroner's office has not released the identity of the confirmed fatality, but Geovana Bernal said her brother viewed images of her father and confirmed his death after speaking with the coroner's office.
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(NEW YORK) -- A federal judge on Tuesday granted former FBI Director James Comey's request to delay his criminal trial for allegedly threatening to kill President Donald Trump by posting a photo of seashells.
U.S. District Judge Louise Wood Flanagan scheduled the trial to begin on Oct. 21.
The former FBI director's arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 30.
Prosecutors did not object to the request to delay the proceedings.
Comey was charged with threatening to kill Trump by posting a photo on Instagram of seashells on a beach arranged in the numbers "86 47." Citing the slang meaning of "86" as to "nix" or "get rid" of something, allies of the president allege that the post was a veiled threat against Trump, who is the 47th president.
Following backlash over the post, Comey removed the photo from Instagram and said he was unaware that the post could be associated with violence.
Critics of Trump say the indictment is another effort by the administration to punish the president's perceived enemies after a judge last year threw out an indictment against Comey on unrelated charges.
"Well, they're back. This time about a picture of seashells on a North Carolina Beach a year ago," Comey said in a video posted online after the seashell indictment was unsealed. "And this won't be the end of it, but nothing has changed with me. I'm still innocent, I'm still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let's go."
At a press conference announcing the charges last month, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche argued that Comey's post crossed the line between First Amendment-protected speech and speech that warrants prosecution.
"It's not a very difficult line to look at, and it's not, in my mind, a difficult line for one to cross over, one way or the other," Blanche said. "We cannot, you are not allowed to threaten the President of the United States of America. That's not my decision. That's Congress's decision, and a statute that they passed that we charge multiple times a year."
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(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump is expected to visit Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Tuesday for his "annual dental and medical evaluations," as announced by the White House earlier this month. A White House official confirmed Tuesday's visit to ABC News.
The White House said the appointment will consist of "routine annual dental and medical assessments." The visit will be Trump's third scheduled medical appointment at Walter Reed in 13 months.
Trump will soon celebrate his 80th birthday.
The president underwent a physical examination at Walter Reed in April 2025. In a memo detailing the findings of the physical, Trump's physician – U.S. Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella – concluded that Trump was in "excellent health" and "fully fit" to serve as president.
The president also visited the dentist in Florida in January and in May.
"President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible president in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises, and he remains in excellent health," a White House spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News.
Trump has frequently been photographed with bruises on his hand, which he attributed to frequent aspirin intake during an interview with The Wall Street Journal published in January. In December 2025, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the bruising on Trump's hand was caused by frequent handshakes.
A rash also appeared on the right side of Trump's neck earlier this year, which the White House said was due to a "preventative skin cream treatment" that he was using for "one week," causing redness that was "expected to last for a few weeks."
Trump told the WSJ that he received a CT scan last October, though he initially referred to the test seemingly incorrectly as as an MRI exam. Barbabella said the CT scan was done "to definitively rule out any cardiovascular issues" and showed no abnormalities.
Last summer, Trump was diagnosed with a chronic venous insufficiency after appearing with swollen ankles and legs. This is a "benign and common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70," Leavitt said at the time.
Over the past year, Trump appears to have fallen asleep during events, though he has denied experiencing any difficulty staying awake. During a Cabinet meeting in January, Trump said the press simply caught him "in a blink" and that he closed his eyes because the event was boring.
Trump has made a point to repeatedly proclaim "perfect" health and mental sharpness. On Friday, Trump again said he took multiple cognitive tests that he "aced." The president has also frequently demanded that his opponents take cognitive tests.
Earlier this month, Trump said he feels the same as he did 50 years ago, though he noted that "someday, there'll be a day when that won't happen."
ABC News' Meg Mistry, Karen Travers and Mariam Khan contributed to this report.
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