Judge in Trump’s election interference case grants extension sought by special counsel
(WASHINGTON) — The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case on Friday granted an extension requested by special counsel Jack Smith’s office.
Smith on Thursday requested a delay in responding to a scheduling order from U.S District Judge Tanya Chutkan, citing issues related to the Supreme Court’s recent decision granting presidents immunity from prosecution for certain acts taken while in office.
Smith’s office said Thursday it continues “to assess the new precedent set forth last month” by the Supreme Court in tandem with “other Department of Justice components.”
A status report on the case that was initially due Friday is now officially moved to Aug. 30. A status conference that had been scheduled for Aug. 16 will now be Sept. 5.
Judge Chutkan resumed control of the case last Friday following the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling.
Trump last August pleaded not guilty to charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election by enlisting a slate of so-called “fake electors,” using the Justice Department to conduct “sham election crime investigations,” trying to enlist the vice president to “alter the election results,” and promoting false claims of a stolen election as the Jan. 6 riot raged — all in an effort to subvert democracy and remain in power.
(NEW YORK) — Something seemed off from the moment Beaver County SWAT sniper Gregory Nicol spotted a man skulking around the outskirts of the site where former President Donald Trump was about to take the stage on July 13.
From his second-floor post inside the AGR complex at the fairgrounds in Butler, Pennsylvania, Nicol noticed the young man in a gray T-shirt, lurking.
“He was looking up and down the building … It just seemed out of place,” Nicol, assistant leader of the Beaver County SWAT team, told ABC News in an interview that airs Monday on Good Morning America, “It just didn’t seem right.”
Nicol noticed an unattended bike and backpack. And he saw the man looking up and around, then pulling a rangefinder from his pocket. There was no apparent reason to have a distance-gauging device at a political rally featuring the man who, in a few days, would accept his party’s presidential nomination. The sharpshooter snapped pictures of the suspicious-looking man and the bike, then flagged it to fellow snipers from his team assigned to the event and called it into the command group.
Nicol would be the first officer to issue a warning about 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. Within an hour, Crooks would open fire from the roof of that very building, less than 200 yards from the rally’s stage, wounding Trump on live TV, killing one person in the crowd, and critically injuring two more.
The sniper and his fellow Beaver County SWAT officers were assigned to Trump’s Butler campaign rally, and tasked with supporting the Secret Service and other law enforcement in the mission to keep the event and Secret Service protectee, safe.
They have not spoken publicly until now.
‘Something that we’ll always carry with us’
In their first public comments since the assassination attempt, the Beaver County SWAT team and their supervisors spoke with ABC News Senior Investigative Correspondent Aaron Katersky, marking the first time any of the key law enforcement personnel who were on site July 13 have offered firsthand accounts of what occurred.
The violent episode has already led to the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle. And, in the wake of the assassination attempt, a series of law enforcement, internal, and congressional probes have been announced — with communications and coordination a key focus of investigators’ attention.
“This one is something that we’ll always carry with us,” assistant Beaver County SWAT leader Mike Priolo told ABC News.
Long before Crooks would fire his AR-style rifle that Saturday evening, Crooks’ presence wasn’t the only thing that didn’t seem quite right to the local SWAT team.
Team members said that the day of the rally, they had no contact with the agents on Trump’s Secret Service detail.
“We were supposed to get a face-to-face briefing with the Secret Service members whenever they arrived, and that never happened,” said Jason Woods, team leader for Beaver County’s Emergency Services Unit and SWAT sniper section.
“So I think that was probably a pivotal point, where I started thinking things were wrong because it never happened. We had no communication,” Woods said. “Not until after the shooting.”
By then, he said, “it was too late.”
The Secret Service, whose on-site team was supplemented as usual by local, county and state law-enforcement agencies, was ultimately responsible for security at the event, but none of the concerns apparently reached members of Trump’s detail.
Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi declined to respond directly to the comments Woods and his colleagues made to ABC News. He said the agency “is committed to better understanding what happened before, during, and after the assassination attempt of former President Trump to ensure that never happens again. That includes complete cooperation with Congress, the FBI and other relevant investigations.”
To the men and woman of Beaver County SWAT, what happened is clear: There was a lack of planning and communication that caused a catastrophic failure in the protection of Donald Trump. They said they saw the problem coming, and they tried to alert the people in charge and sound the alarm.
With the presidential campaign in full gear and Trump now saying he wants to return for another rally outside Pittsburgh, it is critical to know what went wrong at the last one — so it doesn’t happen again.
“I have to imagine that they’re going to make some very serious adjustments — namely, probably, hold it inside where you have a lot more control over who’s coming in,” said Beaver County District Attorney Nate Bible, who oversees the county SWAT unit. “If we’re asked for assistance, we will provide it.”
‘An away game’
By mid-morning on July 13, the Beaver County team of snipers and spotters was in position — hours before Trump was set to take the stage that evening at the sprawling grounds that’s studded by a complex of warehouses.
Once they were positioned at the security perimeter — outside the metal detectors — Woods said he immediately wondered whether they had been put in the most effective spot.
“I think the better location would have been inside looking out, and that’s actually where the Secret Service snipers end up getting placed,” Woods said. “For us to effectively do our job, I don’t know if that was the best location.”
But it was “an away game,” Woods said, meaning his team was not in charge. So they deferred to the Secret Service agents whose job it was to determine the security plan and keep Trump safe.
“I knew the Secret Service knew where we were supposed to be, and that’s where we were placed,” Woods said.
“Our instructions, marching orders were given to us from Butler County EMS unit, their command. With, historically speaking, approval from the Secret Service,” Priolo said.
This was not the team’s first time participating in a Secret Service operation.
“We as a team would assume that that would be a robust type thing, that they would have constant communication. And it very well might have been — we’re just not aware of it,” said Beaver County Chief Detective Patrick Young, the commander of emergency services.
The event’s atmosphere, Young said, also meant a dynamic environment: Officers had to rapidly gauge whether rallygoers’ bulging back pockets held merely bottled water or booze — commonplace at a festive gathering under the blazing summer sun of Western Pennsylvania — or was a sign of something more sinister.
“Our first indication that there was going to be something different about this was the lack of patrol that we’d seen in the area,” Priolo said of the plans.
The effect of that, he said, was that the SWAT officers would have to personally handle any urgent patrol-level incident that should arise.
“The best analogy I’ve heard is — we’re a scalpel, when you’re asking us to be used as a hammer,” Priolo said. “That’s kind of what we figured out throughout the day.”
‘They must have found this guy’
When Nicol observed Crooks’ suspicious presence and called it in to local command via radio, he said he expected action to be taken — like a uniformed officer would “check it out,” according to text messages between snipers on the ground, which were obtained by ABC News.
“The first thing I did, I sent those pictures out, we had a text group between the local snipers that were on the scene. I sent those pictures out to that group and advised them of what I noticed and what I’d seen,” Nicol said. ‘There was a text back that said, ‘Call it into command.’ I then called into our to the command via radio. And they acknowledged.”
“I assumed that there would be somebody coming out to — you know, to speak with this individual or, you know, find out what’s going on,” he added.
Nicol moved through the building trying to shadow Crooks, who was outside, and keep eyes on him. But Nicole lost sight of Crooks as Nicol made his way down to the building’s first level.
By that time, Trump had taken the stage, Nicol said.
Then, as the former president began speaking, Nicole noticed rallygoers looking away from the podium, up toward the roof of the AGR building. Some were shouting that there was someone up there.
Nicol said he was almost relieved, thinking to himself, “Oh, they must have found this guy we were looking for out there, and everybody’s watching the police deal with him.”
He would soon discover that wasn’t the case.
“That’s when I heard the gunshots,” Nicol said. Crooks had opened fire on the campaign rally.
SWAT medic Michel Vasiladiotis-Nicol responded with Beaver County SWAT Det. Rich Gianvito, along with other local personnel from Butler County and the surrounding areas.
They squeezed through the fence perimeter and headed toward the building where the shots had come from.
“We then ascended that ladder to then meet up with — what — we weren’t sure again if it was a mass casualty or what we were walking into,” said Vasiladiotis-Nicol, who is sniper Gregory Nicol’s wife.
“We’re prepared for anything at that point,” Gianvito said, including a possible firefight because the team had no idea if the rooftop shooter was dead or alive, or if there could be an accomplice still unaccounted for.
On the roof, they found Crooks motionless and face down — images captured on Gianvito’s helmet camera. Crooks’ wrists had been quickly bound with white plastic ties, in case he was still alive. A long trail of blood flowed down the sloped roof.
Vasiladiotis-Nicol put her gloved fingers to the shooter’s neck. “He had absolutely no pulse,” she recalled.
In the seconds after the shooting, Trump was rushed to a local hospital, where doctors treated a wound to his ear. Later that night he flew back to his golf club in New Jersey. The first photos of him after the shooting — blood down his face, fist raised over the heads of the Secret Service agents rushing him away — have already become iconic images.
What remains are looming questions and an impatient Congress. How could this happen? Could the shooting have been prevented? Was it a failure of planning, coordination, communications — or all of the above?
“I think with some better planning perhaps, it could have been stopped,” said Bible, the Beaver County DA. “You’re protecting one of probably the more high-profile political candidates in history. So, how was a 20-year-old able to fire off several shots at him?”
(NEW YORK) — On the night he was elected the 110th mayor of New York City, former police Capt. Eric Adams vowed to fight for those “this city has betrayed.”
“This city betrayed New Yorkers every day, especially the ones who rely on it the most. My fellow New Yorkers, that betrayal stops on January 1,” Adams said that night in November 2021.
For the past year, federal authorities have been investigating the possibility of corruption at City Hall, issuing subpoenas for Adams and members of his inner circle.
On Thursday, New York Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned a week after sources told ABC News the FBI seized his cell phone as part of the federal investigation.
Caban released a statement saying he was stepping down because the “noise around recent developments” had made his primary focus on the NYPD “impossible and has hindered the important work our city requires.” He said he will “continue to fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation.”
Caban’s family has connections to nightlife. Richard Caban, the brother of Edward Caban and a former NYPD lieutenant, owned a now-shuttered Bronx restaurant, Con Sofrito. Edward Caban’s twin brother, James Caban, a former NYPD sergeant, owned a Bronx apartment building that once had a bar on the first floor named Twins.
Meanwhile, Adams has denied any wrongdoing. The mayor has not been charged with any crimes stemming from the investigations.
Federal authorities have not commented on what they are specifically investigating. Sources have told ABC News that one of the probes concerns city contracts and a second involves the enforcement of regulations governing bars and clubs.
“I say over and over again, as a former member of law enforcement, I’m very clear. We follow the rules. We make sure that we cooperate and turn over any information that is needed and it just really would be inappropriate to get in the way of the review while it’s taking place,” Adams said in an interview with CBS New York on Sept. 5.
None of the mayor’s aides who have been subpoenaed, had their homes searched, or their electronic devices seized by investigators have been charged with any crimes.
Here is a timeline of the subpoenas, searches and seizures dogging Adams and his inner circle:
Nov. 2, 2023 – FBI agents search the Crown Heights, Brooklyn, home of Brianna Suggs, a campaign consultant and top fundraiser for Adams. Federal agents also search the New Jersey home of Rana Abbasova, the mayor’s international affairs aid. That same day, Adams unexpectedly returned to New York from Washington, D.C., to “address the matter,” despite planned meetings with White House officials and other big city mayors on immigration. The investigation involves a construction company, KSK Construction Group, based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, sources told ABC News. KSK donated about $14,000 to Adams’ 2021 campaign. Suggs has not been charged with any crimes connected to the probe.
Nov. 6, 2023 – The FBI seizes Mayor Adams’ electronic devices, including an iPad and a cell phone, as part of a federal probe. Sources told ABC News that the investigation was seeking to determine whether the mayor’s campaign received illegal foreign donations from Turkey with a Brooklyn construction company as a conduit.
Nov. 15, 2023 – Adams launches a legal defense fund intended to defray expenses in connection with inquiries by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York into his mayoral 2021 campaign committee.
Jan. 15, 2024 – Vito Pitta, Adam’s longtime campaign compliance lawyer, releases a statement saying the mayor’s legal defense fund had raised $650,000 in just two months.
Feb. 29, 2024 – The FBI, investigating Adam’s fundraising, searches the Bronx home of Winnie Greco, the director of Asian affairs for Adam’s administration. The probe also involves a construction company, KSK Construction Group, sources tell ABC News.
April 5, 2024 – ABC News reports that the FBI is investigating whether Adams received free upgrades on Turkish Airlines, Turkey’s national carrier.
July 2024 – Federal prosecutors in New York serve Adams grand jury subpoenas as part of what sources tell ABC News is an ongoing corruption investigation involving whether his campaign sought illegal donations from Turkey in exchange for pressuring the fire department to rush an inspection of the new Turkish consulate in New York City. The subpoenas seek communications and documents from the mayor, according to sources. In an interview with ABC New York station WABC, Adams says, “Like previous administrations that have gone through subpoenas, you participate and cooperate. You see a subpoena, and you respond. At the end of the day, it will show there is no criminality here.”
Sept. 4, 2024 – The FBI conducts searches at the homes of two of Adams’ closest aids. Federal agents search the upper Manhattan home of First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, who is engaged to Schools Chancellor David Banks. Agents also search the Hollis, Queens, home of Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks. The FBI seized evidence, including electronics, as part of the searches, sources told ABC News. David and Phil Banks are brothers and both have known Adams for years.
Sept. 5, 2024 – ABC News reports that federal investigators subpoenaed the cell phones of four high-ranking New York Police Department officials, including NYPD Commissioner Caban. The subpoenas are part of the same investigation that sent the FBI to search the homes of Deputy Mayors Wright and Banks, sources told ABC News. Tim Pearson, a close adviser to Adams, also receives a subpoena for his cell phone, sources said. The subpoenas, according to sources, are connected to an undisclosed investigation separate from one into whether Adams allegedly accepted illegal donations from Turkey in exchange for official favors.
Sept. 10, 2024 – Adams declines to say at a news conference if he remains confident in Police Commissioner Caban amid news reports claiming Caban is under pressure to resign. When asked if he was confident in Caban’s leadership, Adams says, “I have the utmost confidence in the New York City Police Department.”
Sept. 12, 2024 — Commissioner Caban resigns. His attorneys, Russell Capone and Rebekah Donaleski, release a statement saying they have been informed that Caban is “not a target of any investigation being conducted by the Southern District of New York” and that he “expects to cooperate fully with the government.” Caban says in a statement, “My complete focus must be on the NYPD — the Department I profoundly honor and have dedicated my career to serving. However, the noise around recent developments has made that impossible and has hindered the important work our city requires. I have therefore decided it is in the best interest of the Department that I resign as Commissioner.”
Adams confirms he accepts Caban’s resignation and announces he has appointed former FBI agent and former New York Homeland Security Director Tom Donlon as interim commissioner. “I respect his decision and I wish him well,” the mayor says of Caban. “Commissioner Caban dedicated his life to making our city safe, and we saw a drop in crime for the 13 of the 14 months that he served as commissioner.”
(MILWAUKEE) — Four hotel workers were charged with felony murder in connection with the death of D’Vontaye Mitchell, a Black man who was seen on video being pinned down outside of a Milwaukee hotel during what his family said was a mental health episode.
The Milwaukee District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday it has filed a felony murder charge against four individuals related to Mitchell’s death on June 30 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Milwaukee.
“These charges are based on an extensive review of the evidence collected by the Milwaukee Police Department, the autopsy conducted and the report produced by the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, and information received from members of the community,” the Milwaukee District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Arrest warrants have been issued for the four individuals charged in the case, the district attorney’s office said. They were identified in the criminal complaint as Todd Alan Erickson, a security guard; Devin W. Johnson-Carson, a front desk agent; Brandon Ladaniel Turner a security guard who was off-duty at the time; and Herbert T. Williamson, a bellman. ABC News has reached out to them for comment.
The Milwaukee County medical examiner ruled Mitchell’s death was a homicide, the result of restraint asphyxia and toxic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine. People gathered outside the Milwaukee District Attorney’s Office on Monday to demand charges be filed in his death.
The criminal complaint references security footage from the hotel that it stated “captured much of the incident leading up to” Mitchell’s death.
Mitchell, 43, “appears to be [in] a frantic manner” while running across the hotel lobby and is then seen running out of a gift shop toward the women’s bathroom, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges that after dragging Mitchell through the hotel lobby doors to the driveway, Turner struck Mitchell repeatedly with his fist. Johnson-Carson is also accused of striking Mitchell with a fist and Erickson of kicking him in the torso.
“Complainant notes that throughout the video, [Mitchell’s] behavior is erratic and confusing, and he engages in continuous physical resistance against the men described above. But [Mitchell] does not instigate any violence or display any obviously aggressive or threatening behavior while on the hotel premises,” the complaint stated.
The complaint then alleges that the four men restrained Mitchell while he was lying face down for approximately eight to nine minutes until police and emergency responders arrived. At one point Erickson “appears to strike” Mitchell with a collapsible baton, the complaint stated.
“Towards the end of that time period, [Mitchell] has stopped showing movement or resistance or other signs of life,” the complaint stated.
The complaint also referenced a Facebook video of the incident that it stated “shows loud breathing and gasps while [Mitchell] is saying he is sorry.”
Erickson, who was the on-duty security manager that day, told police that Mitchell “was very strong and kept resisting them” and at one point attempted to bite him, according to the complaint.
“Erickson stated that he did not do anything to intentionally harm or kill” Mitchell, the complaint stated.
Williamson, who had been employed as a bellman for a month and a half at the time of the incident, told police that he saw Mitchell “being very forceful with the security guards” and was “very aggressive,” according to the complaint.
He told police that Mitchell “kept struggling and asking what did he do wrong” while being pinned down, according to the complaint.
“Williamson stated that he got off [Mitchell], and Williamson stated that he thought [Mitchell] was still responsive. However, ‘the next thing you know, I realized he was unconscious,'” the complaint stated.
Turner told police that he saw Mitchell “begging and harassing a guest” and admitted to punching Mitchell “several times,” according to the complaint.
Johnson-Carson, who had been working at the front desk for about two months at the time of the incident, told police that he “remembers [Mitchell ] stating something about breathing” and saw Erickson check Mitchell’s pulse a few times, according to the complaint.
Johnson-Carson told police that he “never saw anyone strangle [Mitchell] and that neither he nor the other four staff members ever state that they believed that [Mitchell] was not breathing during the time he was face first on the ground,” the complaint stated.
The four workers were terminated based on their actions, according to Aimbridge Hospitality, the hotel management firm that employed them.
“We are continuing to do everything we can to support law enforcement with their ongoing investigation of this tragedy, and will continue our own investigation,” Aimbridge Hospitality said in the statement to ABC News.
After news of the charges broke, a spokesperson for Aimbridge Hospitality said they will continue to cooperate.
“Our hearts are with Mr. Mitchell’s family and loved ones as this case moves forward. We have cooperated fully with law enforcement in their investigation into this tragic incident and will continue to cooperate with the district attorney,” the statement read.
Ben Crump, an attorney for the family, called the charges a “significant step towards justice.”
“The evidence, including security footage and witness statements, paints a disturbing picture of a man in distress who was met with excessive and lethal force,” Crump said in a statement. “The fact that D’Vontaye was held face down on the pavement for eight to nine minutes — just like George Floyd — is a sobering reminder of the urgent need for accountability and justice.”
Mitchell’s widow, Deasia Harmon, told reporters Tuesday that she is “grateful” for the charges, though she expressed frustration at the length of the investigation.
“I just want everyone to be held accountable,” she said. “I’m trying to get his story out there, to let his voice be heard through me, for my family, and for his family. We all want justice for him. It’s something they should have done from the beginning.”
Local family attorney William Sulton said in a statement to ABC News, the incident shouldn’t have happened.
“While we agree that the employees should be charged with murder, we are mindful of the fact that this would not have happened without Mr. Mitchell’s family’s hiring lawyers to investigate the murder,” Sulton said in the statement.
“The family should not have had to wait 37 days for charges when the murder was captured on video. We ask that the public continue to support the family through this difficult time,” his statement concluded.