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James Van Der Beek opens up about Stage 3 colorectal cancer diagnosis

Vivien Killilea/Getty Images

James Van Der Beek is opening up about his cancer diagnosis, days after revealing he was diagnosed with Stage 3 colorectal cancer.

The Dawson’s Creek star sat down for a new interview with People and discussed the journey he and his family have been on in the last year.

“What do you do when you’re staring down a Stage 3 diagnosis? This has been a crash course in [the] mastery of mind, body [and] spirit,” he said.

The 47-year-old recalled going in for a colonoscopy in August 2023 after experiencing some symptoms.

“The gastroenterologist said, in his most pleasant bedside manner, ‘It is cancer.’ And I think I went into shock,” Van Der Beek said.

Van Der Beek said he went in for additional scans, which confirmed he had Stage 3 cancer but also offered a bit of a silver lining.

“Found out it was still localized. It had not spread, but it was Stage 3, which is not what you want to hear,” he said.

Van Der Beek said his cancer diagnosis ushered in a new and unfamiliar chapter.

“And thus began, the full-time job of having cancer, signing up for all the various medical portals and getting on the phone with insurance and creating appointments … I was not prepared for just how much of a full-time job that it really is,” he continued.

Although the cancer news came as a shock, Van Der Beek said it was also a catalyst and motivating in a sense.

“I really didn’t feel like this was going to end me. I really felt like this is going to be the biggest life redirect,” he said. “I’m going to make changes that I never would have made otherwise, that I’m going to look back on in a year, five years, 30 years from now and say, ‘Thank God that happened.'”

Colorectal cancer begins in the colon or rectum, often referred to as colon or rectal cancer based on its location, according to the American Cancer Society, which added that most cases start as polyps — growths on the inner lining of these organs — that become more common with age. For that reason, regular screenings with colonoscopies can not only help detect colorectal cancer, but can help prevent it, too, since a polyp can take as many as 10 to 15 years to develop into cancer.

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National

At special counsel’s request, judge pauses upcoming deadlines in Trump’s election interference case

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(WASHINGTON) — The judge in former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case has paused all upcoming deadlines in the case, after special counsel Jack Smith filed a motion Friday requesting the pause.

As ABC News previously reported, Smith and the Justice Department are in talks about the best way to wind down the election case and his classified documents case, following Trump’s election victory on Tuesday.

The decision is based on longstanding Department of Justice policy that a sitting president cannot face criminal prosecution while in office, sources said.

“As a result of the election held on November 5, 2024, the defendant is expected to be certified as President-elect on January 6, 2025, and inaugurated on January 20, 2025,” Friday’s filing said. “The Government respectfully requests that the Court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy.”

“By December 2, 2024, the Government will file a status report or otherwise inform the Court of the result of its deliberations. The Government has consulted with defense counsel, who do not object to this request,” said the filing.

Trump last year pleaded not guilty to federal charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election in order to remain in power.

Smith subsequently charged Trump in a superseding indictment that was adjusted to respect the Supreme Court’s July ruling that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken as president.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has been in the process of considering how the case should proceed in light of the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling,

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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Politics

3 charged in Iran-linked plot to assassinate Donald Trump as revenge for killing Qassem Soleimani: DOJ

ABC/Michael Le Brecht II

(WASHINGTON) — Three people have been charged in an alleged Iran-linked plot to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump, an Iranian-American activist and two Jewish Americans living in New York, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday in New York.

Farhad Shakeri, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt are charged with murder-for-hire, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Rivera and Loadholt have been arrested, while Shakeri, who the FBI described as an “asset” of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is believed to be in Tehran.

The IRGC tasked Shakeri with surveilling and killing Trump to avenge the death of Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force, in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020, according to the complaint.

“There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran. The Justice Department has charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald J. Trump,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the charges.

Shakeri emigrated to the United States but was deported in 2008 after serving prison time for robbery, according to the Justice Department. While in prison, he met Rivera and Loadholt and hired them to target an Iranian American activist living in Brooklyn, according to the complaint.

The IRGC also tasked Shakeri with carrying out other assassinations against U.S. and Israeli citizens located in the United States, including Trump, the complaint alleges.

Shakeri informed law enforcement officials that he was tasked a month before the election with providing a plan to kill Trump, according to prosecutors. During the interview, Shakeri allegedly claimed he did not intend to propose a plan to kill Trump within the timeframe set by the IRGC.

He also stated he was tasked with surveilling two Jewish-American citizens residing in New York City and was offered $500,000 by an IRGC official for the murder of either victim, according to the complaint. He was also tasked with targeting Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka, the complaint said.

“Actors directed by the Government of Iran continue to target our citizens, including President-elect Trump, on U.S. soil and abroad. This has to stop,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “Today’s charges are another message to those who continue in their efforts — we will remain unrelenting in our pursuit of bad actors, no matter where they reside, and will stop at nothing to bring to justice those who harm our safety and security.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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Politics

Elon Musk joined Trump’s call with Zelenskyy: Sources

Justin Merriman/Bloomberg via Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) — Billionaire Elon Musk joined President-elect Donald Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the call told ABC News.

Musk was at Mar-a-Lago with Trump on election night as well as the day after, as previously reported by ABC News. Musk’s involvement in the call further highlights his influence in the upcoming administration.

Musk, the world’s richest person, had a profound impact on Trump’s campaign including a multi-billion dollar door-knocking operation, a social media megaphone and a $1 million sweepstakes for battleground voters.

Zelenskyy wrote on social media that he had an “excellent” call with Trump, but made no mention of Musk.

“I had an excellent call with President Trump and congratulated him on his historic landslide victory — his tremendous campaign made this result possible,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.

The call happened as Zelenskyy seeks to shore up long-term American military and financial support in its war with Russia.

On the campaign trail, Trump has often boasted that he would be able to stop the war in Ukraine, though he has yet to provide specifics as to how, often showing a willingness to work with both sides.

As of now, Musk is expected to return to Mar-a-Lago next week, but plans remain in flux, per sources familiar with the plans.

 

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Entertainment

Weekend Watchlist: What’s new on streaming

Ready, set, binge! Here’s a look at some of the new movies and TV shows streaming this weekend:

Netflix
Meet Me Next Christmas: A woman in pursuit of a fairytale romance races through New York City in the new holiday movie.

Outer Banks: It’s them against the world. Stream the end of season 4 now.

Arcane: Time to watch it all burn. The highly anticipated second season of the animated show is now streaming.

Prime Video
Citadel: Honey Bunny: The world of Citadel keeps expanding. Watch the new action series now.

Peacock
Eat Slay Love: Celebrity pals take a girls trip to Vietnam in the new series.

Paramount Network
Yellowstone: Remember who runs the valley in the last episodes of season 5.

That’s all for this week’s Weekend Watchlist – happy streaming!

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

National

Fake guns found at home of 13-year-old who allegedly planned to scare students at elementary school: Police

Teen believed to be armed stopped from entering Wisconsin elementary school. Via Kenosha Police Department

(KENOSHA, Wis.) — Several replica guns have been recovered from the home of a 13-year-old who allegedly planned to scare students at a Wisconsin elementary school, but was stopped from entering the building, according to police.

The 13-year-old tried to enter his former school, Roosevelt Elementary School, around 9 a.m. Thursday, carrying a backpack and duffel bag, Kenosha police said.

The teen attempted to enter through other doors, but was not able to get in, Kenosha Unified School District Superintendent Jeffrey Weiss told reporters. He then approached the front entrance and was buzzed into a vestibule area. Two school employees confronted the student, who got nervous and then fled, Weiss said.

The suspect, who was taken into custody at his home on Thursday, has been charged with one count of terroristic threats, Kenosha police said.

In a search at the suspect’s home, police said they discovered several air soft replica handguns and a replica rifle.

No real guns were found, police said, and the suspect’s mother told authorities the teen doesn’t have access to guns.

The suspect told police he went to the school that day to sell candy, police said. The teen “later told a social worker that he went to the school with the intent to scare students,” police said in a statement.

The teen is expected to make his first court appearance on Friday, police said.

Police said the suspect looked up school shootings online and made comments to fellow students for weeks leading up to the incident.

“We narrowly missed a tragedy,” Kenosha Police Chief Patrick Patton told reporters at a news conference on Thursday, before police determined the guns were not real.

“I can’t stress … really how heroic our office staff was,” Weiss said, adding, “They helped avert a disaster.”

Kenosha is located about 40 miles south of Milwaukee.

ABC News’ Doug Lantz contributed to this report.

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Politics

Harris campaign leadership urges staffers not to speak with reporters: Sources

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — During an all-staff call earlier this week, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign leadership urged staffers not to speak with reporters and addressed concerns about the future after her loss to Donald Trump in the election, two people on the call told ABC News.

Campaign Chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon and Deputy Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks implored staffers not to speak with reporters, with Fulks saying they still needed staffers “staying in this fight.”

One source noted that the call gave the same “gaslighty” feeling they received after President Joe Biden left the race in July. In an all-staff call following Biden’s departure from the race, staffers were caught off guard and were only given a one-minute heads up that he was exiting the race before he made it public.

ABC News has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment on the matter.

The call, which was shared more widely on Thursday, was a recording from an initial call that the campaign held on Wednesday following Harris’ concession speech at Howard University.

During the call, O’Malley Dillon told staffers that they ran a “very close” race. She said that state teams knocked on more than 50 million doors in the final days before Election Day and their field operation helped the Senate races in those states. O’Malley Dillon teared up toward the end of the call, a source confirmed.

Harris spoke on that call, noting that this moment “sucks,” a source told ABC News.

“We all just speak truth, why don’t we, right? There’s also so much good that has come of this campaign,” Harris said, according to the source.

Harris had a hopeful tone in her message to supporters at Howard on Wednesday, too, saying “sometimes the fight takes a while. … The important thing is don’t ever give up.”

During the call, leadership spoke about the next general steps for staffers and connecting with people for their next jobs.

Both sources noted how shocked they still felt about the loss, particularly with how wide the margins were in the battleground states.

Both sources said the moment on “The View” when the vice president wasn’t able to differentiate herself from Biden as a moment the entire campaign felt was a big mistake.

Last month on the show, when asked what she would have done differently than Biden over the last four years, Harris said, “there is not a thing that comes to mind,” before citing, much later in the interview, her pledge to put a Republican in her Cabinet.

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Entertainment

Rashida Jones honors dad Quincy Jones with heartfelt tribute: ‘He was love’

Arnold Turner/Getty Images, FILE

Rashida Jones is remembering her late father, famed music producer Quincy Jones, in the wake of his death.

The Parks and Recreation alum, 48, shared a photo of her and her father from when she was a baby to Instagram on Nov. 7 and recalled a sweet memory from her childhood.

“My dad was nocturnal his whole adult life. He kept ‘jazz hours’ starting in high school and never looked back,” she began. “When I was little, I would wake up in the middle of the night to search for him. Undoubtedly, he would be somewhere in the house, composing (old school, with a pen and sheet music). He would never send me back to bed.”

“He would smile and bring me into his arms while he continued to work…there was no safer place in the world for me,” she continued.

Rashida Jones, who co-directed and co-wrote the 2018 documentary Quincy about her father, called him “a giant,” “an icon,” “a culture shifter” and “a genius,” adding that music and all he created were “a channel for his love.”

“He WAS love. He made everyone he ever met feel loved and seen. That’s his legacy,” she wrote. “I was fortunate enough to experience this love in close proximity. I’ll miss his hugs and kisses and unconditional devotion and advice.”

She added, “Daddy, it is an honor to be your daughter. Your love lives forever.”

Quincy Jones was dad to seven children during his lifetime, sharing Rashida Jones with ex-wife Peggy Lipton. He died Nov. 3 at the age of 91.

Lipton, an actress and singer, died in 2019 at the age of 72.

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National

Wildfires erupt in New Jersey, fueled by dry, windy conditions

Getty Images

(NEW JERSEY) — Multiple wildfires have erupted across New Jersey amid windy and dry conditions

A large brush fire broke out on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Bergen County in northern New Jersey, near New York City. The fire covers 19 acres and is 30% contained, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said. No structures are threatened.

On Friday, “conditions will be extremely dangerous for more brush fires and rapid fire spread,” the Englewood Fire Department warned.

New York City Emergency Management said New Yorkers may smell smoke on Friday.

Another wildfire is threatening over 100 structures in Burlington and Camden counties in southern New Jersey, outside of Philadelphia. The blaze spans 360 acres and is 75% contained, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said.

In Jackson Township, in central New Jersey, the Shotgun Wildfire has burned through 350 acres and is 80% contained, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said. No structures are threatened.

A fourth fire, the Pheasant Run Wildfire, covered 133 acres in the Glassboro Wildlife Management Area, a wildlife park in southern New Jersey. It’s 50% contained and isn’t threatening any structures.

Fire danger has increased in the Northeast due to the combination of a historically dry fall, gusty winds near 30 mph and relative humidity down to 25%. A red flag warning has been issued from Boston to New York City and Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, on the West Coast, the Mountain Fire in Southern California has exploded in size, blazing through 20,000 acres, destroying homes and prompting mass evacuations.

ABC News’ Max Golembo contributed to this report.

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Entertainment

First look at new ‘Mufasa’ trailer debuts on ‘Good Morning America’

Photo Courtesy of Disney

A first look at the new trailer for Mufasa: The Lion King debuted exclusively on Good Morning America on Friday.

The highly anticipated Barry Jenkins-directed film, arriving in theaters Dec. 20, is a prequel to 2019’s The Lion King.

The exclusive first-look opens with Rafiki telling a story about two brothers: Mufasa and Taka, and how they embarked on a journey to find a new home and start a new kingdom.

The clip shares a glimpse of the adventure the brothers go on and the characters they meet, including Zazu and Sarabi, Mufasa’s future mate and Simba’s mother in the 2019 film.

According to a synopsis for the film, Rafiki tells the legend of Mufasa to young lion cub Kiara, the daughter of Simba and Nala.

“Told in flashbacks, the story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka — the heir to a royal bloodline,” the synopsis reads.

“The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny — their bonds will be tested as they work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe.”

The new look at the film comes after Walt Disney Studios released the official trailer for the film in August.

The star-studded cast for Mufasa includes Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Blue Ivy Carter, Donald Glover, Mads Mikkelsen, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner and Anika Noni Rose.

Mufasa: The Lion King is set to release in theaters on Dec 20.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News and Good Morning America.
 

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