(NEW YORK) — The judge who oversaw Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial in Manhattan agreed to partially lift a gag order on the former president Tuesday, granting Trump the ability to speak freely about witnesses in the case and the jury that found him guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
“Circumstances have now changed,” Judge Juan Merchan wrote Tuesday. “The trial portion of these proceedings ended when the verdict was rendered, and the jury discharged.”
Trump last month was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
During the trial, Trump and his attorneys repeatedly bemoaned a stipulation in the judge’s limited gag order that prevented him from publicly responding to commentary about the case from witnesses in the proceedings, most notably Daniels and Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen.
Merchan restricted what Trump could say publicly about them and others involved in the case out of concern for the integrity of the trial.
The judge’s ruling Tuesday left in place the portion of the gag order protecting members of the court staff, District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s staff, and their families.
“Until sentence is imposed, all individuals covered by Paragraph (b)” — referring to members of the court staff, the district attorney’s staff and their families — “must continue to perform their lawful duties free from threats, intimidation, harassment, and harm,” Merchan wrote in the ruling.
And although he struck the portion of the gag order pertaining to jurors, Merchan wrote that it would be his “strong preference” to extend those protections because there remains “ample evidence to justify continued concern for the jurors.”
An earlier prohibition on releasing personal information about jurors will remain in effect.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in the case on July 11.
(NEW YORK) — A major ice cream producer has recalled products sold by multiple brands due to potential listeria contamination, the Food and Drug Administration said.
The manufacturer — Totally Cool, Inc. of Owings Mills, Maryland — has recalled products from more than a dozen brands, including Friendly’s, Hershey’s Ice Cream, Jeni’s and the Frozen Farmer, due to the “possible health risk,” the FDA said.
No illnesses have been reported to date, the FDA said in its alert on Monday.
“Totally Cool, Inc. has ceased the production and distribution of the affected products due to FDA sampling which discovered the presence of Listeria monocytogenes,” the FDA said. “The company continues its investigation and is taking preventive actions. No other products produced by Totally Cool, Inc. are impacted by this recall.”
ABC News has reached out to Totally Cool for comment.
The full list of recalled products can be found here. They were distributed nationwide, available in retail locations and for direct delivery.
Consumers who have purchased any of the products are asked to return them for a full refund or throw them away.
Taharka Brothers Ice Cream, one of the impacted brands, said it outsourced production of two of its more popular ice cream flavors — honey graham and key lime pie — to Totally Cool.
“While no listeria has been detected in our ice cream, or any of the ice cream produced at Totally Cool, the FDA is requiring a full recall out of an abundance of caution,” Taharka said in a statement.
The company said it will begin making pints of the two flavors at its own factory “immediately.”
Chipwich was also among the brands included in the recall. Crave Better Foods said in a statement Monday that it operates a separate production line at the same Totally Cool facility and has issued a voluntary recall of its vanilla chocolate chip Chipwich ice cream cookie sandwiches “out of an abundance of caution and care for the product and its loyal fans.”
Crave Better Foods said it received a report from the Totally Cool facility about a “possible health issue” on a production line used to make frozen ice cream cakes.
Listeria monocytogenes can cause “serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems,” the FDA said.
Symptoms of listeria infection include high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, the FDA said. Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revealed the list of the hundreds of artists it has invited to join its ranks.
Among the 497 invited to join the academy on Tuesday are 29 actors, including Jessica Alba, Catherine O’Hara, Stephanie Beatriz, Kate Mara, Jason Clarke and Erika Alexander.
Additionally, recent Oscar nominees Lily Gladstone, Danielle Brooks and Sandra Hüller also received invites. Past Lives stars Greta Lee and Teo Yoo and Best Supporting Actress winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph were also invited to join the academy’s ranks.
Other notable invitees include directors Justine Triet and Celine Song, who helmed Anatomy of a Fall and Past Lives, respectively.
But I’m a Cheerleader director Jamie Babbit also received an invitation, along with Sorry to Bother You director Boots Riley and High School Musical helmer Kenny Ortega, who was invited to join under the Production and Technology sector of the academy.
According to the academy, 44 percent of its newly invited members are women and 41 percent of those who were invited belong to underrepresented communities. If everyone accepts their invites, the academy’s membership will grow to 10,910 non-voting members, with 9,934 eligible to vote on the Oscars.
(WASHINGTON) — The third and final day of hearings in Donald Trump’s classified documents case reached a heated conclusion after prosecutor for special counsel Jack Smith accused the former president’s lawyers of “hijacking” the hearings with far-fetched allegations about the case.
“There is no hijacking going on — it’s about to end,” U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon responded, cutting off prosecutor David Harbach.
“It’s not fair,” Harbach responded, arguing that Trump’s lawyers effectively “hijacked” the hearing by raising issues that have “nothing to do” with the matters before the court.
Cannon had convened the hearings to hear arguments over the defense’s requests to have the case dismissed, as well as their efforts to limit prosecutors’ use of selected evidence.
Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back.
Trump has denied all charges and denounced the probe as a political witch hunt.
Judge Cannon concluded Tuesday’s hearing without issuing any ruling from the bench. The judge generally appeared skeptical of the defense argument that the evidence seized from the FBI’s August 2022 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate should be tossed because of a lack of specificity in the search warrant.
During the hearing, Cannon grew frustrated with arguments from both sides.
“Can we just stay focused on this motion, please?” Cannon told defense attorney Emil Bove.
Earlier in the hearing, she implored Harbach to “please try not to put words in my mouth.”
“I didn’t mean to try to put words in your mouth, your honor,” Harbach responded.
US Environmental Protection Agency / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(EAST PALESTINE, Ohio) — Federal investigators confirmed Tuesday that a hot railcar wheel bearing sparked a fire and caused the massive derailment of a Norfolk Southern train carrying tank cars with hazardous materials in East Palestine, Ohio, in 2023. Investigators said a series of missteps, faulty track sensors and delayed communications about the train’s toxic cargo from the railroad company contributed to the disaster.
In its final report on the Feb. 3, 2023, crash, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the crash which caused the evacuation of more than 2,000 residents and endangered the lives of first responders could have been avoided.
“Today we present our findings mindful of the challenges faced by those affected. We are here to ensure that the lessons learned from this derailment will lead to meaningful change so no other community has to relive the challenges faced by the people of East Palestine,” Mike Graham, an NTSB board member, said Tuesday during a public hearing in East Palestine.
Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB, opened the hearing by apologizing on behalf of her agency to the residents of East Palestine, saying some outside the NTSB sought to minimize the toxic threat caused by the crash because no one was killed or injured.
“The absence of a fatality or injury does not mean the presence of safety,” Homendy said.
Researchers estimate that 110 million residents in 16 states, or one-third of the nation’s population, were impacted by pollution, according to a study published in the Environmental Research Letters.
The findings released Tuesday confirmed and expanded on findings in the preliminary investigative report the NTSB released about three weeks after the crash.
Officials said the train comprised three locomotives and 149 freight rail cars, including 17 tank cars loaded with hazardous materials. The crash caused 38 rail cars to derail, officials said.
Eleven of the derailed cars were tank cars carrying flammable and combustible material, including vinyl chloride chloroethene.
“Post-accident inspections revealed that about 25% of the cars had federal defective conditions,” NTSB investigator Ruben Payan said while giving a summary of the agency’s investigative findings.
The investigation focused on the wheel bearing of rail car 23 that caught fire and caused the axle to fall off and derail the train in East Palestine around 8:54 p.m. local time, resulting in an explosion and fire, Payan said.
The crash occurred as the train was en route from Madison, Illinois, to the Conway Yard in Pennsylvania.
Before the crash, the train’s rail cars were inspected in Toledo, Ohio, and again in Decatur, Illinois, and no obvious defects were detected, Payan said.
He said investigators reviewed video taken from security cameras of private homes and businesses along the route from Decatur to East Palestine and saw the wheel bearing of car 23 initially glowing from being overheated to being in flames as the train approached East Palestine.
NTSB investigators said the train tracks are equipped with sensors to detect dangerously overheated bearings and trigger critical alarms to the crew.
As the train passed through Salem, Ohio, about 17 miles from East Palestine, an alarm was triggered and alerted a Norfolk back office analyst, who deemed it non-critical because the trackside sensor only showed car 23’s wheel bearing at 103 degrees, the NTSB investigation found. Investigators said the sensor did not properly detect the true temperature of the overheated bearing and that Norfolk Southern’s policies don’t call for a train to be stopped and inspected until the hot bearing reaches at least 115 degrees.
As the train approached East Palestine, critical alarms sounded on the train indicating that the overheated bearing had reached 253 degrees, prompting the train operator to apply the brakes in an attempt to stop the train, which was traveling at 42 mph, NTSB investigators said. By then, investigators said it was too late to avoid the derailment.
The NTSB also found that when East Palestine police and firefighters arrived on the scene at around 9 p.m. the incident commander called the Norfolk Southern center in Atlanta to ask what hazardous materials were in the derailed tank cars. The person who picked up the phone said they would check but did not get back to the incident commander, NTSB officials said.
Fire crews attempting to extinguish the fire with water didn’t learn of the specific hazardous materials on the train until 10 p.m.
About 2,000 residents in the vicinity of the crash were initially ordered to shelter in place, NTSB officials said. But around 11 p.m., fire officials, who learned some of the derailed tankers contained vinyl chloride chloroethene, ordered the residents to evacuate. Around midnight, volunteer firefighters stopped batting the blaze, retreated to a safe distance and moved the command center back, according to the NTSB.
NTSB also found it was unnecessary for Norfolk Southern to recommend firefighters perform what was described as a “vent and burn” procedure on the tank cars containing vinyl chloride, sending a toxic plume of smoke into the air and causing further potential health hazards.
The NTSB made several recommendations to prevent similar incidents, including ways to advance the speed of communication between Norfolk Southern and first responders and establishing standards for how railroads should respond to bearing failure alarms. The agency, whose recommendations are not binding, also suggested that the Federal Railroad Administration establish rules governing railroad responses to the alarms.
In addition, the agency recommended establishing a database to report hot wheel-bearing incidents.
The agency also recommended that volunteer firefighters receive training on how to handle emergencies involving hazardous materials.
“We will continue to pursue and advocate for these safety recommendations until each one is implemented,” Graham said.
In April, Norfolk Southern agreed to a $600 million settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit stemming from the train derailment. The settlement was approved by a judge in May.
“The agreement is designed to provide finality and flexibility for settlement class members,” the company said in a statement at the time. “Individuals and businesses will be able to use compensation from the settlement in any manner they see fit to address potential adverse impacts from the derailment. This could include healthcare needs and medical monitoring, property restoration and diminution, and compensation for any net business loss.”
On Tuesday, the company issued a new statement saying it has implemented measures to address the Federal Railroad Administration’s recommendation from its 2023 Safety Culture Assessment.
Some of the recommendations Norfolk Southern addressed are similar to those of the NTSB, including approving communications, training, trust and “going above and beyond” regulatory minimums.
“We appreciate the strong partnership with FRA on advancing safety and are grateful for its thorough assessment of our culture and their thoughtful recommendations, all of which serve as building blocks to our goal of becoming the gold standard for safety in the industry,” said Alan H. Shaw, president and CEO of Norfolk Southern.
Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans are teaming up in a new action-packed adventure.
On Tuesday the trailer for Red One was released, which features the two actors on a quest to save Santa Claus.
According to a synopsis for the film, Johnson portrays the North Pole’s head of security. When Santa is kidnapped, Johnson’s character “must team up with the world’s most infamous bounty hunter,” played by Evans, “in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.”
The trailer shows the two stars battling vicious snowmen on a beach and watching Krampus playing “Krampusschlap.”
Also starring in the Jake Kasdan-directed film are J.K. Simmons as Santa Claus, Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll, Wesley Kimmel and Lucy Liu.
In one clip in the trailer, Liu tells Johnson, “We need to prepare for the possibility of no Christmas.”
Johnson and Evans shared the trailer of the film in a joint Instagram post on Tuesday and wrote in the caption, “We both LOVE Christmas, and took Christmas lore and Christmas legend, shook it up and flipped it on its head.”
“Just like we wanted to do to each other,” they added. “Ladies and gents, enjoy our new trailer for RED ONE and experience Christmas like never before.”
Red One arrives in theaters just in time for the holidays on Nov. 15.
Scarlett Johansson can’t wait to headline the next Jurassic World film.
In an interview with ComicBook.com released on Monday, Johansson confirmed she is starring in Jurassic World 4.
“I am an enormous Jurassic Park fan,” Johansson said. “It is one of the first movies I remember seeing in theaters. I remember it so vividly. It was life-changing and mind blowing. I cannot express how excited I am.”
This new Jurassic World movie will be directed by Gareth Edwards from a script by David Koepp, who wrote Steven Spielberg‘s original Jurassic Park film, as well as The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
Johansson says this new script, which will follow an entirely different story from the Jurassic World trilogy starring Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, “is so incredible.”
“David Koepp wrote it and returned after 30 years to write it and he’s so passionate about it,” Johannson said. “I’ve been trying to get into this franchise in any possible way for over 10 years. I’m like, ‘I’ll die in the first five minutes! I can get eaten by whatever! I’ll do the craft service!’ I’ll do anything for it. The fact that it’s happened in this way at this time just is actually unbelievable.”
(NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev.) — A gunman allegedly killed five people and critically injured a teenager in shootings at two apartments in Nevada, authorities said.
Police launched a manhunt for the suspect, 57-year-old Erick Adams, before North Las Vegas police announced later on Tuesday that Adams died by suicide.
The shootings unfolded in North Las Vegas on Monday night. Officers responded to the first apartment just after 10 p.m. and found two women — one in her 40s and one in her 50s — both fatally shot, police said.
A third shooting victim, a 13-year-old girl, was also found at the apartment and was hospitalized in critical condition, police said.
At a nearby apartment, officer found three more shooting victims: two women and one man, all in their 20s, police said. All three were declared dead at the scene, police said.
Police released Adams’ name and photo on Tuesday, urging anyone with information to come forward.
Police said they learned of Adams’ location just after 10 a.m. When officers responded, Adams — armed with a gun — fled into a backyard of a home, police said.
“Officers began giving Adams verbal commands to drop the firearm, however Adams ignored those commands and died by suicide,” police said in a statement.
(WASHINGTON) — The House Judiciary Committee plans to take the first step toward holding President Joe Biden’s ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, in contempt of Congress, two sources familiar with the committee’s plans tell ABC News.
The committee plans to hold a “markup” on the contempt resolution on Thursday, which would be followed by a committee vote, the sources said. The move would pave the way for a floor vote in the House to hold Zwonitzer in contempt.
The news of the committee’s plans was first reported by ABC News.
In March, Republican House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan subpoenaed Zwonitzer after he failed to turn over documents, including transcripts, audio and video recordings of his interviews with Biden for the president’s two memoirs, “Promises to Keep” and “Promise Me, Dad.”
In a copy of the resolution obtained by ABC News, Republicans point repeatedly to special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.
Hur’s report stated that Biden relied “extensively on the notebooks’ notes he took during his vice presidency” in the writing of “Promise Me, Dad” and referred to the notebooks during interviews with Zwonitzer.
“Mr. Biden told Zwonitzer that some of the information in the notebook may be classified. Some of these entries remain classified up to the Top Secret level,” Hur stated in his report.
The report suggested that Biden was not consistent in how he handled classified information, stating he appeared to have sometimes “stopped at or skipped over the potentially classified material” while also stating that at other times, Biden “read his notes from classified meetings to Zwonitzer nearly word for word.”
According to Hur’s report, Zwonitzer deleted recordings of interviews he conducted with Biden after he learned of the special counsel’s investigation but voluntarily turned over his notes and devices. Hur decided not to pursue charges against Biden or Zwonitzer.
House Republicans insist Zwonitzer’s failure to fully comply with the House Judiciary Committee has “hindered” their own investigation.
“Zwonitzer continues to withhold all documents and materials in his possession that are responsive to the subpoena from the Committee,” the resolution states. “The materials requested from Zwonitzer are crucial for the Committee’s understanding of the manner and extent of President Biden’s mishandling and unlawful disclosure of classified materials, as well as Zwonitzer’s use, storage and deletion of classified materials on his computer.”
ABC News has reached out to Zwonitzer’s attorney for comment.
The move comes after the House of Representatives voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt for refusing to turn over the audio of Biden’s interview with Hur to the House Oversight and Judiciary committees. The DOJ later said it has declined to prosecute Garland for contempt, according to a letter obtained by ABC News.
House Speaker Mike Johnson called the vote to hold Garland in contempt “a significant step in maintaining the integrity of our oversight processes and responsibilities.”
A year and a half after surviving a snowplow accident that caused multiple injuries and had him on life support, Renner poses shirtless on the most recent cover of Men’s Health.
On the magazine’s cover, Renner’s scars from the accident are visible on his back, shoulders and stomach. In other photos from the cover shoot, a scar on his leg is also visible.
“I never really had scars before, they were probably more emotional, spiritual scars, you know?” Renner said in a video accompanying the photoshoot. “And now there are some physical ones. But the physical ones aren’t even from the accident, they’re just because of the accident. All those are just reminders of the beautiful, beautiful day that could have been a really bad day.”
Renner has also taken time to reflect on the accident, during which he says he momentarily died, and how he kept moving forward after the fact.
“I’m glad I’m here, and I’m going to keep feeding what you take with you: those shared experiences with those you love. It’s eternal, and you take it with you,” Renner said. “It’s connected. There’s no time, place, or space. It’s magnificent. It’s the mind’s eye. Not your vision. You don’t need vision — you’re dead. Vision is part of the stupid body thing. But the mind’s eye you take with you. You see in your mind — that’s being dead. That’s what it’s like being dead.”
