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(WASHINGTON) — U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum are now in effect, part of an escalating series of trade maneuvers by President Donald Trump that have unsettled markets.
As of Wednesday, the U.S. is imposing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports from all trading partners with no exceptions or exemptions, according to an earlier statement by the White House.
Products that are expected to be impacted include canned goods, vehicles and washing machines.
Baseball bats, sewing needles and lamps could also go up in price.
While the tariff is being slapped on imports from all countries, the U.S. imports more steel and aluminum from Canada than any other country.
The 25% tariffs go into effect just a day after Trump threatened to double the tariff specifically on Canada amid an intensifying tit-for-tat between the two countries over Trump’s tariff policies.
Earlier this week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford threatened to impose a 25% surcharge on electricity from the province sent to U.S. customers in response to earlier U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods.
That led to a threat from Trump to up the tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports to 50%.
Trump later reversed course after an agreement was reached and Ford pulled back his threat to impose the electricity surcharge.
“After President Trump threatened to use his executive powers to retaliate with a colossal 50 percent tariff against Canada, Ontario Premier Doug Ford spoke with Secretary Lutnick to convey that he is backing down on implementing a 25 percent charge on electricity exports to the United States,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.
Ford will travel to Washington, D.C., for a meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on trade.
ABC News’ Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — One day ahead of a court hearing for Mahmoud Khalil — the activist who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the campus of Columbia University, despite possessing a green card — his wife and attorney both released statements shedding more light on Khalil’s detainment and the days leading up to it.
Khalil’s wife, who is eight months pregnant, issued a statement speaking of the outpouring of love she has received and the urgent need for him to be home in time for their baby’s birth.
In it, she said that Khalil “begged” Columbia University for legal support one day before his arrest, explaining that he was fearful that ICE might target him.
Khalil allegedly sent an email to the university urging them to intervene, his wife said.
“I haven’t been able to sleep, fearing that ICE or a dangerous individual might come to my home. I urgently need legal support and I urge you to intervene,” he reportedly said in his email.
His wife claimed that the university never responded.
ABC News reached out to Columbia for comment and has not independently reviewed the reported emails.
Khalil’s wife also said in her statement that a “doxxing” campaign began targeting her husband about six days ago and anti-Palestinian groups were also spreading “false claims” about him.
She recalled the moment she was also threatened with arrest when she refused to leave her husband with the agents, claiming that the couple was never shown a warrant.
“I was born and raised in the Midwest. My parents came here from Syria, carrying their stories of the oppressive regime there that made life unlivable. They believed living in the US would bring a sense of safety and stability. But here I am, 40 years after my parents immigrated here, and just weeks before I’m due to give birth to our first child, and I feel more unsafe and unstable than I have in my entire life,” her statement said.
The Trump administration said it detained Khalil, who was a leader of the encampment protests on Columbia’s campus, alleging he was a supporter of Hamas.
Baher Azmy, one of the lawyers representing Khalil, called his client’s alleged alignment with Hamas “false and preposterous.”
According to a joint letter filed in court and obtained by ABC News, the government and Khalil’s attorneys conferred on Monday but were unable to agree on how to proceed. Khalil’s side asked the court to first decide a pending motion to compel the government to return him to New York; the government indicated that it intends to move to dismiss or transfer the case for improper venue and is asking the court to address that first.
“For everyone reading this, I urge you to see Mahmoud through my eyes as a loving husband and the future father to our baby. I need your help to bring Mahmoud home, so he is here beside me, holding my hand in the delivery room as we welcome our first child into this world. Please release Mahmoud Now,” the statement from Khalil’s wife concluded.
Attorney Amy E. Greer said she spoke with Khalil on Tuesday and that he is “healthy and his spirits are undaunted by his predicament.”
“He also greatly appreciates, and, typically for him, is moved by the extraordinarily broad and steadfast support he has received from a variety of communities that understand what is at stake,” she said.
Greer also hinted that some of the administration’s comments about Khalil, including President Donald Trump’s social media posts, may be used by his legal team to argue for his release.
“The remarks by government officials, including the President, on social media only confirm the purpose – and illegality – of Mahmoud’s detention. He was chosen as an example to stifle entirely lawful dissent in violation of the First Amendment. While tomorrow or thereafter the government may cite the law or process, that toothpaste is out of the tube and irreversibly so. The government’s objective is as transparent as it is unlawful, and our role as Mahmoud’s lawyers is to ensure it does not prevail,” Greer said.
The court has scheduled a hearing on the habeas petition on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.
Khalil’s team will be asking the court to order the government to return him to New York to while the legal battle plays out. Khalil is currently being held in Louisiana — a move that Greer claimed is a “blatantly improper but familiar tactic designed to frustrate the New York federal court’s jurisdiction.”
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Wednesday will consider the fate of more than 20,000 probationary government employees fired by the Trump administration.
During a hearing in U.S. District Court in Maryland, Judge James Bredar will consider issuing a temporary restraining order that would block future firings and reinstate the probationary employees who have already been terminated.
The court hearing Wednesday comes after 20 Democratic attorneys general sued to block the firings last week.
“These large-scale, indiscriminate firings are not only subjecting the Plaintiff States and communities across the country to chaos. They are also against the law,” the Democratic officials argued in their complaint, which named 41 agencies and agency heads as defendants.
The attorneys general have argued that the Trump administration violated federal law with the firings by failing to give a required 60-day notice for a reduction in force, opting to pursue the terminations “suddenly and without any advance notice.”
Lawyers with the Department of Justice have argued that the states lack standing because they “cannot interject themselves into the employment relationship between the United States and government workers,” and that to grant the temporary restraining order would “circumvent” the administrative process for challenging the firings.
In separate lawsuits, two other federal judges have declined to immediately block firings of federal employees or to reinstate them to their positions.
“The third time is not the charm. Like the unions and the organizational plaintiffs, the States are strangers to the employment relationships at issue and cannot disrupt the exclusive remedial scheme that Congress put in place to adjudicate these disputes,” lawyers with the DOJ argued.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Education initiated mass layoffs on Tuesday night, reducing its workforce by nearly 50%, sources told ABC News.
The “reduction in force” notices began to go out at about 6 p.m.
Some 1,315 employees were affected by the RIFs, leaving 2,183 employed by the department, according to senior officials at the DOE.
Impacted staff will be placed on administrative leave starting March 21, a statement from the Education Department said. They will receive full pay and benefits through June 9, senior officials added.
The statement also said that the DOE will “continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency’s purview, including formula funding, student loans, Pell Grants, funding for special needs students, and competitive grantmaking.”
“Today’s reduction in force reflects the Department of Education’s commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon shortly after the notifications went out on Tuesday.
“I appreciate the work of the dedicated public servants and their contributions to the Department,” she said. “This is a significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system.”
The downsizing impacts “every” sector of the department in some way, according to senior department of education officials.
“This is primarily a streamlining effort for internal facing roles and not external facing roles,” senior officials said.
Following the flurry of layoff notifications, those who remained employed by the DOE received their own email. ABC News obtained a copy, which said, in part: “As we move forward, our mission and responsibilities will remain, but there will need to be significant changes to the way that we work. What we choose to prioritize, and in turn, not prioritize, will be critical in this transition.”
“Please know that these decisions were not made lightly, and in no way reflect on the dedication and hard work of those who are leaving,” it said, before referring to this moment as the DOE’s “final mission” and suggesting: “Let’s continue to move forward as a team.”
In next steps, six communications offices are going to be consolidated, officials explained, and leases will end in major cities including San Francisco, New York, Cleveland, Boston, Chicago and Dallas.
The three DOE buildings in Washington, D.C., will also eventually be consolidated, according to the senior officials.
The announcement came shortly after DOE employees were told that their offices — including those in the National Capital Region, along with regional locations — would be closed for the day on Wednesday.
Citing “security reasons,” an email went out saying that the buildings would be inaccessible starting at 6 p.m., a source within the department told ABC News.
“You must vacate the building by that time,” a department email to employees reads in part, adding “All ED offices in the NCR and the regions will be closed to employees and contractor employees on Wednesday, March 12th.”
Senior officials later elaborated that the safety precautions were meant to protect the remaining employees who retained their positions with the DOE.
The email also instructed employees to take their laptops home with them after work on Tuesday.
“Please take your laptop with you when you depart on Tuesday. Employees will not be permitted in any ED facility on Wednesday March 12th for any reason. All offices will reopen on Thursday, March 13th, at which time in-person presence will resume,” the email said.
The email also said that employees with approved telework agreements may work from home; however, such telework agreements are largely no longer in place, an employee told ABC News. The DOE called for its total workforce to return to its offices late last month.
The closure notification comes as President Donald Trump weighs an executive order to shutter the agency and transfer education oversight to the states. The decision to sign that order was delayed due to concerns over questions the administration might get about vital programs that could potentially be gutted by it.
Inside the department, employees are bracing for uncertain futures.
“People are petrified to do their jobs,” an Education Department employee told ABC News recently. “People are worried about like, if I push back on something that somebody wants to do, right, and I say, that’s not really what the law says or is legal, am I going to get a bad performance and now they use a bad performance to kick me out?”
“Everyone here is holding their breath,” the DOE employee added.
National Education Association President Becky Pringle released a statement in response to the layoffs on Tuesday, saying: “Firing — without cause — nearly half of the Department of Education staff means they are getting rid of the dedicated public servants who help ensure our nation’s students have access to the programs and resources to keep class sizes down and expand learning opportunities for students so they can grow into their full brilliance. The Trump administration has abandoned students, parents, and educators across the nation.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration could be sanctioned by a federal judge later this week after lawyers with the Department of Justice advised a federal judge Tuesday evening that they will not make a top administration official available for sworn testimony.
U.S. District Judge Charles Alsup had sought to have the acting head of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Charles Ezell, testify on Thursday about the mass firing of probationary employees.
But the DOJ said Tuesday that they would not make Ezell available for testimony.
By making Ezell unavailable, DOJ attorneys also withdrew his sworn affidavit, a move that Judge Charles Alsup suggested would heavily increase the odds that the Trump administration loses the case, which involves the legality of firing thousands of probationary employees.
“Live testimony of Mr. Ezell is also not necessary, as a factual matter, because existing documentary evidence and briefing demonstrates that OPM is not directing agencies to terminate probationary employees,” DOJ lawyers argued.
A group of federal unions has alleged that Ezell lied in a sworn declaration that his office did not order the firing of probationary employees based on “performance or misconduct,” prompting Judge Alsup to order Ezell to testify in person and under oath in San Francisco on Thursday.
The Trump administration attempted to push back on the order — arguing in a filing Monday that the testimony raises “fundamental constitutional concerns.”
Judge Alsup late Monday denied their request to cancel the hearing.
“The problem here is that Acting Director Ezell submitted a sworn declaration in support of the defendant’s position but now refuses to appear to be cross examined or to be deposed,” Judge Alsup wrote in an order Monday night.
The plaintiffs allege that on Feb. 13, Ezell convened a phone call with the heads of federal agencies to direct them to terminate thousands of federal employees and “falsely state that the terminations are for performance reasons.”
In a sworn declaration last month, Ezell denied directing the terminations based on performance reasons, instead arguing that OPM only issued guidance to individual agencies about the need for probationary workers to “demonstrate why it is in the public interest” for the government to continue to employ them.
“OPM did not direct agencies to terminate any particular probationary employees based on performance or misconduct, and did not create a ‘mass termination program,’ as the plaintiffs in this matter described it,” Ezell wrote.
The groups challenging the firings in court say that was a lie, and Judge Alsup appeared inclined to agree during a court hearing last month.
“How could so much of the work force be amputated suddenly overnight? It’s so irregular and so widespread and so aberrant from the history of our country,” Judge Alsup said. “How could that all happen with each agency deciding on its own to do something so aberrational?”
“I don’t believe it,” said the judge. “I believe they were directed or ordered to do so by OPM in that telephone call. That’s the way the evidence points.”
The allegations about the mass firings comes as the Trump administration faces increased scrutiny about the role of the Department of Government Efficiency in reducing the size of the federal government. During a cabinet meeting last week, Trump told the heads of the federal agencies that they are in charge of making cuts to their own departments, rather than Elon Musk and DOGE.
Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — In dramatic fashion, House Republicans passed a bill to fund the government through the end of September 2025 — a major victory for Speaker Mike Johnson, who has previously relied on Democrats for bipartisan support to avert a shutdown.
The House voted 217-213 to pass the spending bill, known as a continuing resolution, days before some funding runs out.
Following the House vote — which saw just a single Republican defection — Johnson thanked President Donald Trump, who helped convince GOP holdouts to support the bill.
“We are united in our mission to deliver the America first agenda,” Johnson said in a post on X.
The spending bill now heads to the Senate — where it requires 60 votes to pass, and its fate is uncertain.
The House’s approval has left Senate Democrats divided on the “stark” decision ahead.
What will Senate Democrats do?
“There are really only two options: One is vote for a pretty bad CR. Or the other is to vote for a potentially even worse shutdown,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, following the House vote. “So it’s a very tough choice,”
Democrats met for two hours Tuesday with no consensus on how they planned to handle the vote on the bill — and the fissure is palpable.
Some Democrats are clearly leaning toward casting a painful vote to oppose the House package and effectively shut down the government.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., branded the House-passed CR a “shutdown bill” that Republicans will bear responsibility for in a floor speech Tuesday night.
“A budget is a reflection of our values,” Warren said on the floor. “This proposal makes crystal clear where Republicans’ values lie. After months of bipartisan talks, they’re walking away from the negotiating table and offering a non-starter House bill that forces us to the brink of a full government shutdown. The Republican shutdown playbook is dangerous, and it will hurt working families.”
Though she did not expressly state how she plans to vote on the package, she said House Democrats were right to oppose the measure, and said the Senate should follow suit.
“Democrats in the House have showed us they are united,” Warren said, when asked if Senate Democrats should be united in their opposition to the House package. “Why should it be different in the Senate?”
Separately, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries suggested Tuesday that Senate Democrats should oppose the measure.
“The strong House Democratic vote in opposition to this reckless Republican spending bill speaks for itself,” Jeffries said.
Senate Dem: Vote ‘like a bad dream’
Pointing to the “stark” choice Senate Democrats face, King said he has concerns that the “uncharted” territory of a shutdown under the new Trump administration that has already laid off federal employees.
“A shutdown is uncharted territory when you’ve got an administration that at least in some ways probably would welcome a shutdown because that would give the president almost unlimited power: deciding who is essential who is not unessential, folding up agencies,” King said. “So that is the dilemma that is being discussed.”
The House has left town for the week after passing their bill. If Democrats in the Senate want to avoid a shut down on Friday night, they’ll have to furnish at least eight votes to do it, with Republican Sen. Rand Paul already stating he’ll oppose the package.
It’s unclear what route they’ll ultimately choose but some members are clearly plagued by the choice.
“They made a bunch of changes, I want to see what they’re changing,” Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo. said.
“I’m not happy … It’s one of those things once we go through it, it’s going to feel like a bad dream. I’ve got to go through it.”
House vote: 1 Republican ‘No,’ 1 Democratic ‘Yes’
In the House vote, Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie voted no — despite pressure from the president in the form of a primary threat. In a Truth Social post Monday, Trump suggested that the defection warranted mounting a primary campaign against Massie.
To pass the measure Tuesday afternoon, Johnson relied on some GOP support from Republicans who had never voted in favor of a continuing resolution.
Rep. Jared Golden was the only Democrat who voted with Republicans. All other Democrats voted against the measure — potentially previewing the posture of Senate Democrats.
“This CR is not perfect, but a shutdown would be worse. Even a brief shutdown would introduce even more chaos and uncertainty at a time when our country can ill-afford it,” Golden posted on X.
He also slammed Democrats for using what he called “messaging gimmicks” about the bill.
The bill funds the government at current levels through Sept. 30, 2025.
What’s in the bill?
The 99-page bill decreases spending overall from last year’s funding levels, but increases spending for the military by about $6 billion.
While there is an additional $6 billion for veterans’ health care, non-defense spending is about $13 billion lower than fiscal year 2024 levels.
The legislation leaves out emergency funding for disasters, but provides a boost in funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation operations.
It also increases funding for W.I.C. by about $500 million, a program that provides free groceries to low-income women and children.
Now that the House has dispatched its bill to the Senate, it’s not yet clear how it will fare as it will require significant bipartisan support to pass the upper chamber.
Vote was major test of Johnson’s leadership
The spending bill was a major test for Johnson. In the absence of Democratic support, Johnson could only afford to lose one Republican vote before a second defection killed the bill.
In a statement following the vote, Johnson said Republicans “stood for the American people” and blasted Democrats who he said “decided to double down on partisan politics.”
Johnson had crucial allies in Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who lobbied House Republicans to shore up support ahead of the vote.
In the final hours before the Tuesday vote, Trump worked the phones, reaching out to the House Republicans who remained undecided.
On Tuesday morning, Vance attended a closed-door House conference meeting where he urged House Republicans to get on board with the vote and emphasized the importance of not shutting the government down, members said to ABC News.
Government funding is set to lapse at the end of the day on Friday, March 14.
(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., the first transgender person elected to Congress, continues to face attacks from her Republican colleagues, who have repeatedly misgendered her on the House floor and in committee hearings.
On Tuesday, it happened again during a House foreign affairs subcommittee meeting.
Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, introduced McBride, saying: “I now recognize the representative from Delaware: Mr. McBride.”
McBride then responded, “Thank you, Madame Chair,” hitting back at Self.
However, as McBride started her line of questioning, Rep. Bill Keating, D-Mass., the ranking member of the subcommittee, interjected.
“Mr. Chairman, could you repeat your introduction again, please?” he asked.
Self argued, without elaborating, that he was following “the standard on the floor of the House.”
Keating grew irate with Self, asking him to repeat his introduction of McBride. However, Self doubled down.
“I will. The representative from Delaware: Mr. McBride,” Self said.
McBride sat there as a back-and-forth ensued between the chairman and the ranking member.
“Mr. Chairman, you are out of order. Mr. Chairman, have you no decency?” Keating said.
“We will continue this hearing,” Self responded, attempting to move the committee hearing along.
“You will not continue it with me unless you introduce a duly elected representative the right way,” Keating said.
However, Self still did not change his rhetoric. Rather, he called for the hearing to be adjourned.
In a statement to ABC News Tuesday, McBride said she was “disappointed” by the decision to end the hearing early.
“I was prepared to move forward with my questions for the Subcommittee on nuclear nonproliferation and US support for Democratic allies in Europe,” she said.
This is not the first time McBride has been misgendered or has been the center of policy changes as it relates to transgender people.
Before McBride was sworn into office, Republican members worked to place a ban on transgender women from using women’s restrooms at the U.S. Capitol.
In late November, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced as policy that transgender women cannot use women’s restrooms at the Capitol and in House office buildings, as well as in changing rooms and locker rooms.
“It is important to note that each Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol,” Johnson said in a statement announcing the policy. “Women deserve women’s only spaces.”
Then, before giving her first floor speech on Feb. 8, McBride was misgendered by Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill.
“The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Delaware, Mr. McBride,” Miller said.
(NEW YORK) — The major U.S. airlines thought they were going to have a strong first quarter, but things are not going as well as expected.
Each of the major U.S. airlines has put out guidance pointing to significant economic uncertainty that is directly affecting their domestic bookings this spring.
For its part, Delta was sure this would be a strong first quarter, but this morning the airline’s CEO admitted they were wrong.
Speaking out Tuesday during the J.P. Morgan industrials conference in New York, Southwest, United and American all echoed the same message.
The reasons: Two major plane incidents — including the deadly midair collision between an American Airlines regional jet and U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over Washington, D.C. — the uncertain economic future, plummeting government travel and reductions to corporate travel.
Overall, bookings fell after the deadly Jan. 29 D.C. crash, rebounded a bit, and then fell again after the Feb. 17 crash in Toronto, in which a regional jet crashed upon landing, overturned and caught fire.
“It caused a lot of shock amongst consumers. There’s a whole generation of consumers that didn’t realize these things can happen,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said during the J.P. Morgan conference on Tuesday.
Consumer confidence is unsettled and companies are waiting to see how things shake out. While companies wait, they are booking fewer seats.
Delta expects revenue to be down $500 million — or 4% less than it anticipated this quarter.
Airlines say they will cut capacity — reducing the number of seats they are flying — in order to stabilize the market.
American Airlines has taken a significant hit at the D.C.’s Ronald Reagan National Airport from both the January crash and reductions in government travel.
The airline is reducing capacity there to limit the losses.
United says government travel is down 50%.
One bright spot: Airlines say despite the domestic bookings being weak, international travel remains strong — and airlines believe this summer will still be strong.
The booking photos for Isaiah Smith, left, and Kyle Thurman (Baton Rouge Police Department)
(BATON ROUGE, LA) — Two more suspects have been arrested in connection with the death of a Southern University and A&M College student during an alleged hazing incident, police said Tuesday.
Caleb Wilson, a 20-year-old junior at the college in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, died following an off-campus incident last month, school officials said.
Wilson collapsed after being punched in the chest multiple times while pledging to a fraternity, according to Baton Rouge Police Chief TJ Morse.
A group of males dropped him off unresponsive at a local hospital and reported he collapsed after being struck in the chest while playing basketball at a city park, according to court filings. But upon investigation, officers learned that the incident actually occurred at a warehouse in Baton Rouge while he was pledging to the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, according to Morse.
One suspect, 23-year-old Caleb McCray, turned himself in to the East Baton Rouge Parish prison last week with his attorney and has been charged with criminal hazing and manslaughter, Morse said.
Two additional suspects were arrested this week for criminal hazing, a felony, the Baton Rouge Police Department said Tuesday.
Kyle Thurman, 25, was arrested in Port Allen, Louisiana, on Monday by the U.S Marshals Fugitive Task Force and Baton Rouge Police Department’s Violent Crimes Apprehension Team, police said. He was extradited to Baton Rouge and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, police said. It is unclear if he has an attorney.
Isaiah Smith, 28, turned himself in early Tuesday and was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, police said.
“A fair bond was set and his family are going through the process of bonding him,” his attorney, Franz Borghardt, said in a statement Tuesday evening to ABC News. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Wilson family in this time of mourning.”
The three suspects allegedly punched some of the pledges with boxing gloves while the students stood in a line during a meeting at a flooring company warehouse on Feb. 26, according to their arrest warrants. McCray is the only suspect specifically accused in the documents of punching Wilson.
Smith held the title of dean of pledges and was in charge of the nine pledges at the time of the alleged hazing, according to the affidavit in his arrest warrant. He is accused of punching “at least one pledge” during the alleged hazing, according to the affidavit.
Thurman allegedly punched pledges in one group, while McCray is accused of punching pledges in another group that included Wilson, according to the affidavits in their arrest warrants. Both suspects are current members of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, the affidavits said.
McCray allegedly punched Wilson four times in the chest, at which point Wilson fell to the floor, becoming unresponsive and appearing to have a seizure, according to the affidavits.
Wilson was brought to a local hospital in a vehicle registered to Smith, according to the affidavits. Officers also identified Smith as the person seen on surveillance video removing an unresponsive Wilson from the car, according to the affidavits.
Following McCray’s arrest, his attorney said they are reviewing the facts of the case and are committed to ensuring that “due process is followed.”
“At this time, I have not been presented with any evidence to support such serious accusations,” his attorney, Phillip Robinson, said in a statement Friday. “I maintain my client’s innocence and urge the public to withhold rushing to judgment until all the evidence is heard.”
Wilson was pronounced dead shortly after midnight on Feb. 27, according to the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office.
The cause of Wilson’s death has not yet been determined while awaiting the results of the additional forensic testing that was ordered by the pathologist, the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office confirmed to ABC News on Friday.Additional suspects and arrests are possible, Morse said.
Southern University, a historically Black college and university, said it is cooperating with the criminal investigation. The school is also conducting an internal investigation into what led to Wilson’s death following reports of “unsanctioned off-campus activities” and will “take appropriate action” once completed.
“Hazing is a violation of the University’s rules and regulations as well as Louisiana law, and it will not be tolerated in any form at Southern University,” the school said.
Last week, the university said it had begun its student judiciary process for any alleged breaches of school policy amid its hazing investigation. It has also indefinitely banned membership intake for all student organizations in the wake of Wilson’s death.
Ricky Lewis, the highest-ranking national official in the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, previously said in a statement that they are “actively working to gather accurate information” amid the investigation by local authorities and “we fully support their efforts to seek the truth.”
A public memorial is scheduled to be held for Wilson at Southern University on Friday to “mourn this tremendous loss,” school officials said.
“He was a bright light in Jaguar Nation, a dedicated scholar, and a proud member of the world-renowned Human Jukebox,” Southern University Chancellor John Pierre said in a statement. “Caleb Wilson’s kindness, passion, and unwavering spirit left a lasting impact on all who had the privilege of knowing him.”
