Category: National

(LOS ANGELES) — A flurry of separate lawsuits were filed Monday against Southern California Edison, a utility company in California, by homeowners and renters who lost their homes in the Eaton Fire. The four lawsuits each allege the company failed to de-energize all of its electrical equipment despite red flag warnings issued by the National Weather Service.

“The property damage and economic losses caused by the Eaton Fire is the result of the ongoing custom and practice of Defendant of consciously disregarding the safety of the public and not following statutes, regulations, standards, and rules regarding the safe operation, use and maintenance of their overhead electric facilities,” said a complaint filed by Evangeline Iglesias, who said she worked a decadeslong career with FedEx in order to buy a single-family home that was destroyed in the fire.

On Monday, the CEO of the parent company of SCE told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” that investigations are underway to determine if any of their equipment contributed to either the Eaton or Hurst fires’ ignitions.

“You can’t rule out anything ever until you can get your eyes on the equipment,” Pedro Pizarro, the president and CEO of Edison International, told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. “Typically, when there’s a spark created by equipment, we will see the electrical anomaly — we haven’t seen that.”

“That said, we have not been able to get close to the equipment,” he continued. “As soon as we can get close to it, we’ll inspect and be transparent with the public.”

Officials have repeatedly said they are still investigating the cause of the Eaton and Hurst fires, as well as the other several wildfires that cropped up in January.

The four lawsuits allege that the company failed to de-energize all of its electrical equipment on Jan. 7 despite “repeated and clear warnings” by the National Weather Service of wind gusts as high as 100 mph, and an extreme risk of fire, according to one of the lawsuits.

“Despite knowing of an extreme fire risk, Defendants deliberately prioritized profits over safety. This recklessness and conscious disregard for human safety was a substantial factor in bringing about the Eaton Fire,” said a complaint filed by a group of renters, including Michael Kreiner, who was forced to evacuate.

“In my decades of experience handling wildfire litigation, the Eaton Fire is among the most devastating and heart-wrenching cases I’ve seen,” said Patrick McNicholas, the attorney who represents Kreiner and other renters. “This goes beyond a failure of responsibility — it is gross negligence in an area highly vulnerable to wildfires, especially with well-documented weather alerts and high wind risks.”

One of the lawsuits filed on behalf of multiple families who lost their homes, alleges the Eaton Fire was caused when SCE’s energized transmission and electrical equipment created an “electrical arcing event which sent a shower of spars and molten metal down to the ground into a receptive fuel bed.”

The complaints also allege SCE failed to properly inspect and maintain their electric facilities.

“These Defendants failed to properly inspect and maintain their electric facilities in order to cut costs, with the full knowledge that any incident was likely to result in a wildfire that would burn and destroy real and personal property, displace homeowners from their homes and disrupt businesses in the fire area,” said a complaint filed by Jeremy Gursey, who lost his home in Altadena.

According to Gursey’s complaint, SCE’s electrical transmission system “was in a dangerous condition, posing a significant risk of electrical failure, fire and property damage to surrounding property and communities.”
“Had SCE acted responsibly, the Eaton Fire could have been prevented,” the complaint says.

In a statement, a spokesperson for SCE told ABC News, “Our hearts remain with our communities during the devastating fires in Southern California, and we remain committed to supporting them through this difficult time. SCE crews, contractors and mutual assistance partners are dedicated to safely restoring power to our customers. SCE understands that a lawsuit related to the Eaton fire has been filed but has not yet been served with a complaint. SCE will review the complaint when it is received. The cause of the fire continues to be under investigation.”

When asked, the spokesperson acknowledged more than one lawsuit had been filed against SCE.

Some of the complaints include public statements from residents and photos that allegedly show fire emerging from the base of power transmission towers owned and operated by SCE.

The Gursey complaint includes satellite photos from Google Earth that allegedly confirm the origin area of the fire where SCE’s overheard circuit lines traverse Eaton Canyon.

In a press release by SCE included in the complaint, the utility company confirmed that the Eaton Fire began in SCE’s service area.

The four lawsuits seek compensatory damages for the plaintiffs and punitive damages.

“The conduct alleged against Defendants in this complaint was despicable and subjected Plaintiffs to cruel and unjust hardship in conscious disregard of their safety and rights, constituting oppression, for which Defendant must be punished by punitive and exemplary damages in an amount according to proof,” the Gursey complaint says.
More than 7,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed in the Eaton Fire, which has consumed more than 14,000 acres, according to Cal Fire, and killed at least 16 people, according to the LA County medical examiner.

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(LOS ANGELES, Calif.) — Nearly a full week has passed since Alex Shekarchian and Moogega Cooper hastily packed a few belongings and fled from the second natural disaster to upturn their lives in three months.

In October, the couple survived Hurricane Milton, which slammed the Florida coast. Now, they are among thousands of residents to lose their homes in the unprecedented firestorm continuing to burn across Los Angeles County.

“We’ve seen weather events get more and more extreme. That Category 5 [hurricane] was unprecedented,” Cooper told ABC News of experiencing back-to-back natural disasters on both coasts. “This firestorm was unprecedented.”

Shekarchian recalled driving home last Tuesday evening and seeing a “lightning strike of fire” in the hills near their home in Altadena. He said that when he got to his house, there was no electricity and he found Cooper sitting inside next to candles “like the candles we had from when we survived Hurricane Milton.”

Fueled by hurricane-strength winds, the Eaton Fire ravaged the communities of Altadena and Pasadena, destroying at least 7,000 structures, including homes and businesses, officials said. As of Monday, the fire was 33% contained after consuming more than 14,000 acres.

The Eaton Fire is one of several blazes to break during Tuesday and Wednesday’s Santa Ana windstorm, which struck during a severe drought, authorities said. At one point, seven wildfires were burning all at once across a 45-square-mile area of Los Angeles County.

The Palisades Fire in the oceanside community of Pacific Palisades remains the largest of the fires. The Palisades Fire has destroyed more than 5,000 homes and scorched nearly 24,000 acres. The inferno was 14% contained Monday as firefighters braced for a new Santa Ana wind event forecast to buffet the area through Wednesday.

At least 24 fire-related deaths occurred in the Eaton and Palisades fires, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Offices confirmed. Nearly two dozen people remain unaccounted for, according to the Los Angeles County sheriff. Many of those who died in the fires were elderly or disabled, officials said.

A third major fire, the Hurst Fire near Sylmar in the San Fernando Valley, was stopped by firefighters at 799 acres and was 95% contained on Monday.

Planning to rebuild

Cooper said the blaze that destroyed her home swarmed her neighborhood with incredible speed.

“I actually didn’t realize I was going to lose my home until we saw the news of the fire spreading far beyond where mentally I was prepared for them even to go,” Cooper told ABC News.

Even after evacuating, Cooper said she believed they would find their home still intact only to learn she and Shekarchian suffered a complete loss.

The couple said that unlike a lot of homeowners, they have home insurance to rebuild and have already decided to do so.

“I think of it as not necessarily losing a physical structure, but we lost a home, we temporarily lost that sense of community,” Cooper said. “And that’s why I want to rebuild.”

Shekarchian added, “It was an easy decision when we knew that we wanted to be part of that rebuild with restaurants we lost, the stores we lost.”

On top of everything, Shekarchian said he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer just days before the fires struck.

Shekarchian, an entertainment lawyer, said the movie “Wicked” is helping him get through the horror, which he said was choreographed by one of his clients, Christopher Scott.

“We’re just dancing through life kind of,” Shekarchian said of how he and Cooper are trying to maintain a positive attitude. “Dancing through cancer, dancing through homelessness.”

‘It was a nightmare’

Jeffrey and Cheryl Ku also of Altadena told ABC News they believe they were among the first people to see the Eaton Fire ignite at the base of an electrical transmission tower in the hills near their home at 6:19 p.m. on Tuesday.

“My husband had come home from work, and he ran in the house and just started screaming, ‘There’s a fire on the hill. We need to get out,'” Cheryl Ku said. “I ran out back, saw the fire at the poles and I immediately called 911.”

A Ring doorbell camera on their home captured the scary moments after the couple spotted the fire charging into their neighborhood. The Ring video recorded Jeffrey frantically hosing down the exterior of his home while constantly trying to keep an eye on flames advancing toward him.

“It was a nightmare,” Jeffrey Ku said. “And I think the worst part was every time I checked on the fire, it got worse.”

The couple said their home was left standing.

Neighbors of the couple told ABC News they also saw the Eaton Fire apparently ignite near the transmission tower and rapidly explode.

“There was no other fire, no flames anywhere around,” said neighbor Pedro Rojas, who recorded video of the flames near the transmission tower at 6:24 p.m. on Tuesday. “Because it was so dark that if there were flames in any other places we would have noticed it.”

Fire officials trying to determine the cause of the Eaton Fire and the other blazes told ABC News they were aware of the videos showing flames near the transmission tower at the onset of the firestorm.

The Southern California Edison company issued a statement to ABC News, saying that while the Eaton Fire started in its service area, a preliminary analysis shows “no interruptions or electrical or operational anomalies until more than one hour after the reported start of the fire.” The utility company also said no fire agency has suggested its equipment caused the Eaton Fire to ignite.

But Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison, told ABC News on Monday that the company cannot yet rule out the possibility that its energy infrastructure played a role in sparking the wildfires.

‘My guardian angel’

After losing their Altadena home of 25 years in the Eaton Fire, Ivan and Robyn Migel said the only thing to survive was a ceramic angel they had in their garden.

“That was my guardian angel in my garden,” Robyn Migel told ABC News.

She said that while her stove, refrigerator and furniture “vaporized” along with their house, the angel survived without even cracking.

“It was just marked by smoke from the flames. I thought that was a beautiful sign,” Robyn Migel said.

Ivan Migel said that when he saw the angel amid the rubble, he burst into tears.

“It also just gave me hope to move forward and to rebuild from this experience,” Ivan Migel said.

The Migels said their daughter was injured while evacuating their home when an ember fell from the sky and hit her in the face.

Robyn Migel said she now regrets not grabbing more family heirlooms and photos in the half-hour they were given to evacuate.

“I’ve just had to let go of that sadness of what we didn’t do in those moments because my family and my pets got out safely and that was the most important,” Robyn Migel said.

Learning his home and business were lost

Mike Geller of Pacific Palisades told ABC News that he not only lost his home, but also the jewelry store his family has owned in Palisades Village for almost three generations.

Now at age 48, Geller said he has to start over.

“Thank God I was able to retrieve my birth certificate. But every possession my children have accumulated … gone, decimated,” Geller said. “I’m in shock. I’m not even sure how I’m talking to you. I’m absolutely in shock. I’m just going through the motions. It hasn’t really set in yet.”

Geller said he has filed a personal insurance claim, but doesn’t know when it will be processed. He said he and many of his neighbors, especially older residents who bought their homes decades ago for $50,000 to $75,000, will not have the means to rebuild.

“Those people will not be able to come back. And if they do and they have insurance, will they rebuild?” Geller said. “Look, if I’m 75, 80 years old, you know, how much time do I have?”

Geller said he and his wife are considering not rebuilding.

“It’s about quality of life,” he said. “If it takes me three years to rebuild, how much time do I actually have left at that point?”

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(LOS ANGELES) — Los Angeles residents who fled devastating wildfires are facing a huge recovery and rebuilding effort, as they gather what they can from ruins that were once their homes.

As firefighters continue a massive effort to contain and subdue the historic infernos, Angelenos are grappling with unthinkable loss.

Mike Geller and his 18-year-old son spoke with ABC News among the rubble of Palisades Village, where their family’s 50-year-old jewelry business once stood.

“My family has been doing jewelry servicing of the community for almost three generations,” Geller explained as he pointed to the school next door. “My mother ran this business prior to me, when I was going to elementary school here.”

Now 48, Geller said he’s facing the reality of being forced to start over completely. His business — Jaimie Geller Jewelry — his home, car, truck, motorcycle and the personal belongings of his family of five all burned in the Palisades Fire.

“Thank God I was able to retrieve my birth certificate,” he said. “But every possession my children have accumulated… gone, decimated.”

“I’m in shock,” Geller added. “I’m not even sure how I’m talking to you. I’m absolutely in shock. I’m just going through the motions. It hasn’t really set in yet.”

Geller filed personal insurance claims, though he said he has no clue when any of them will be processed.

Geller said he and many of the older people in the Palisades don’t have the means to wait months — if not years — and rebuild.

“There are people on the Alphabet Streets who bought their homes for $75,000, $50,000,” Geller said. “Those people will not be able to come back. And if they do and they have insurance, will they rebuild? Look, if I’m 75, 80 years old… how much time do I have?”

“It’s about quality of life,” he continued. “If it takes me three years to rebuild, how much more time do I actually have left at that point?”

The Palisades Fire that consumed Geller’s home and business is still burning. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the blaze was at 23,713 acres with only 14% containment as of Monday morning.

The Eaton Fire north of Pasadena — at 14,117 acres and 33% containment — is also still raging, as is the Hurst Fire near San Fernando, which is now 799 acres in size though 89% contained.

More than 12,000 structures are believed to have been damaged or destroyed, with at least 24 people killed. About 105,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders and another 87,000 are under evacuation warnings as of Monday morning.

A preliminary damage estimate by AccuWeather put the economic losses so far between $135 billion and $150 billion, which would put the fires among the costliest natural disasters in American history. High winds forecast through Wednesday threaten to spread the fires further.

Geller’s family and many others are now trying to piece together a plan, even as the smoke from the wildfires hangs heavy over their ravaged neighborhood.

“My wife and I are even considering whether or not we rebuild, really, but at this point with the insurance companies, it’s a smoother transaction,” Geller said. “It’s a smoother road if you rebuild.”

In the meantime, he’s staying in a hotel. Fire victims here are in desperate need of affordable housing, according to Geller. He’s found shelter but said it’s not sustainable.

“It’s insanity,” he said. “Hotels are packed to the gills. Shelters are packed to the gills.”

“Hopefully a lot of these elderly have children,” Geller said. “I pray that they have some means of finding a place to stay, you know — get in and be a home base and just somewhere where they can just recuperate their mindset.”

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(ALTADENA, Calif) — While entire neighborhoods were ablaze in Altadena, California, on Wednesday, a scared dog named Max barked at the out-of-control flames engulfing his home.

A firefighter saw him curled up in his front yard, alone and scared. As the fireman sprayed the flames, the dog got closer and closer.

The fireman put his hand out. And the dog came.

“Visibility was pretty poor initially, so we found a place that we could stake out, especially with the winds and the conditions that we were in,” firefighter Slater Lee told ABC News’ Matt Rivers.

“I heard a dog barking, and I was like, ‘I need to find that dog,'” he said.

“The whole garage was involved in pretty heavy flames, and I looked to my side, and the dog was seated with its tail between its legs, just curled in the corner of the front yard, still barking, just in a really sad position,” Lee added.

Lee put his hand down every so often to coax the 60-pound dog into feeling comfortable with him.

“I had the nozzle in one hand cooling the garage, so [the fire] wouldn’t extend over to the house, and then trying to pet the dog and make some light of the situation,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Eaton Fire has continued to grow. It has now scorched more than 14,000 acres with 37% containment, according to Cal Fire. At least 16 people have died in the Eaton Fire, according to the LA County medical examiner.

“I don’t like to take individual credit for anything, you know, and by no means was it any sort of an individual effort,” Lee said of comforting Max. “There’s my whole crew behind me.”

Lee has only been a firefighter for about six months, still on probationary status with the San Marcos Fire Department. His chief told ABC News that some new recruits come and go but “Slater is one of the good ones. He’s going to be sticking around.”

Lee kept the dog calm until another couple of concerned citizens were able to take him. They got him to safety, out of the fire zone, while Lee stayed behind, continuing his work.

Max made it back to his family, alive and well, if a bit traumatized.

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(LOUISIANA) — NFL hopeful Kyren Lacy, one of the top wide receiver prospects in this year’s draft, has been arrested for negligent homicide in connection with a deadly crash in Louisiana last month.

Lacy was booked into the Lafourche Parish Correctional Complex on Sunday evening, authorities said — two days after Louisiana State Police announced they had issued an arrest warrant for the athlete for allegedly leaving the scene of a fatal crash on Dec. 17.

In addition to negligent homicide, he faces felony hit and run and reckless operation of a vehicle charges, police said.

Lacy posted $151,000 bond and was released from jail later Sunday evening, a Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesperson confirmed.

Lacy, who played for Louisiana State University in the fall before declaring for the draft, is alleged to have been behind the wheel of a 2023 Dodge Charger when he “recklessly passed multiple vehicles at a high rate of speed by crossing the centerline and entering the northbound lane while in a designated No-Passing Zone” on Louisiana Highway 20, state police said in a press release.

The driver of a 2017 Kia Cadenza traveling north swerved to avoid hitting the Dodge, only to cross the centerline and collide head-on with a 2017 Kia Sorento. A passenger in the Kia Sorento, identified by police as 78-year-old Herman Hall of Thibodaux, died from his injuries after being transported to a hospital, authorities said.

Lacy allegedly drove around the crash scene and fled south, “without stopping to render aid, call emergency services, or report his involvement in the crash,” state police said.

Louisiana State Police said Friday that troopers were in communication with Lacy and his legal representation for the athlete to turn himself in.

Lacy’s agent said the athlete was “fully cooperating with the authorities.”

“We strongly believe that the facts will ultimately demonstrate the truth, but we respect the need for a full and thorough investigation,” the agent, Rocky Arceneaux of Alliance Sports, said in a statement.

Arceneaux added that the case is “being taken very seriously, and we are committed to resolving it responsibly.”

Lacy, 24, of Thibodaux, was a wide receiver for the LSU Tigers. Two days after the crash, on Dec. 19, he announced that he will be declaring for the 2025 NFL draft.

The star prospect had 58 catches for 866 yards and nine touchdowns this season. Lacy had 26 touchdown catches in his five seasons at LSU. He opted out of the Texas Bowl against Baylor to focus on preparation for the draft.

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(WASHINGTON) — U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who dismissed Donald Trump’s classified documents case, has ruled that the Justice Department can release Volume One of special counsel report Jack Smith’s report, covering his election interference case against Trump — but is reserving ruling on whether the DOJ can make Volume Two, on the classified documents case, available to congressional leadership for review.

Cannon has scheduled a hearing for Jan. 17 on that matter.

Cannon last week issued the injunction temporarily blocking the release of the entire report — both the first volume on the Jan. 6 case and the second volume on the classified documents case — as the Justice Department appeared poised to publicly release the report. Attorney General Merrick Garland had vowed to release the classified documents volume to top members of Congress and to publicly release the classified documents volume — which the DOJ attested in a filing this weekend has no bearing on the evidence or charges related Nauta and De Oliveira — but Trump’s former co-defendants continue to push for neither volume to see the light of day.

In a separate case, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, who in April indicted 11 individuals, including Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows, on charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 election results in her state, told Garland in a letter Sunday that gaining access to the case file will “help ensure that those who should be held accountable are.”

“Today, my office has one of the only remaining cases that includes charges against national actors,” the letter said. “I have held steadfast to prosecuting the grand jury’s indictment because those who tried to subvert democracy in 2020 must be held accountable.”

The letter also asked the DOJ for any “exculpatory material” unearthed in the probe.

It also referenced a recent order from a state judge that granted a request from Meadows for discovery in the case to help aid in his defense. The letter, though, acknowledges that the state judge “cannot compel disclosure from a federal agency.”

“For the reasons discussed above, the Maricopa County Superior Court’s order should be fulfilled. In the alternative, consider this a request under the Freedom of Information Act,” the letter states. “Disclosure will ensure justice is done consistent with the rule of law.”

Trump pleaded not guilty in 2023 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 retrieve them from his Mar-a-Lago estate. The former president, along with Nauta and De Oliveira, pleaded not guilty in a superseding indictment to allegedly attempting to delete surveillance footage at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump also pleaded not guilty in 2023 to separate charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election in an effort to subvert democracy and remain in power.

Both cases were dismissed following Trump’s reelection in November due to a longstanding Justice Department policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president.

Smith resigned as special prosecutor on Friday after wrapping up the cases and submitting his report to Garland.

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(LOS ANGELES) — The wildfires burning across the Los Angeles area have ravaged thousands of structures, with the Eaton Fire destroying generations of homes in Altadena. One woman’s house was the only one on her block to survive.

Debbie Slavin told ABC News on Monday about how her house avoided catching fire when the first six houses on her block were burned to the ground.

“When the fire burned the fence, it also burst the pressurized water pipe,” Slavin said. “I honestly believe that’s what put the fire out on that fence.”

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Eaton, Palisades and Hurst fires have burned over 38,000 acres. More than 12,000 structures, including homes and places of worship, have been destroyed, and officials expect further damage in the coming days.

The Eaton Fire has burned over 14,000 acres.

When Slavin returned to her neighborhood in Altadena to see Eaton’s damage, she got emotional.

“I got a call from my neighbor down the street whose also, house has survived, and he basically shared with me that there was still smoldering on my front lawn and that he was going to go ahead and, and spray it,” Slavin said. “And when I got there, it also was still smoldering, so I went ahead and also put more water on it.”

Altadena is a community in which many families have made their homes for decades. According to Slavin, the community members were close and organized gatherings.

Slavin, who still can’t get back to her home, mentioned that one of her neighbors had even gone to check on her house while she was away to ensure it was still locked. She cherishes the trust and care that neighbors have for one another, and feels emotional seeing her friends’ homes getting destroyed while hers remains safe.

“I don’t know what it’s going to look like in the future,” Slavin said about her community. “And that’s also what’s so heartbreaking. I’ve had some great friends lose their homes. And you have to ask yourself why my home and why not the ones across the street.”

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(WASHINGTON) — With the court injunction prohibiting U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland from releasing special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on his investigations into Donald Trump set to expire today, attorneys for Trump’s former co-defendants continue to implore the judge who oversaw their classified documents case to block the report.

In a filing overnight that appeared to be the legal equivalent of re-upping their last email, lawyers for Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira again asked U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to extend her order blocking the release of Smith’s entire final report — covering his classified documents investigation and his election interference probe — and to hold a hearing about permanently prohibiting the report’s release.

“The Government, driven by political priorities that have no place in a criminal trial setting, seeks to strong-arm its way through this orderly process and has repeatedly failed to abide by established rules and procedure,” the lawyers wrote.

Judge Cannon last week issued the injunction temporarily blocking the release of the entire report — both the first volume on the Jan. 6 case and the second volume on the classified documents case — as the Justice Department appeared poised to publicly release the report. Garland has since vowed to release the classified documents volume to top members of Congress and to publicly release the classified documents volume — which the DOJ attested in a filing this weekend has no bearing on the evidence or charges related Nauta and De Oliveira — but Trump’s former co-defendants continue to push for neither volume to see the light of day.

Relying on the argument that Smith was unconstitutionally appointed, the defense lawyers in their overnight filing claimed that the report was “prepared unlawfully” and that both cases are “inextricably intertwined.” They also attempted to cast doubt on the representation made by the DOJ over the weekend and accused the government of “political gamesmanship.”

“The Government appears to be doing everything it can to skip steps in the required process, in the name of a feigned emergency,” the filing said.

The filing came a day after the Arizona attorney general asked the Justice Department for the case file related to Smith’s 2020 election probe in order to assist her prosecution of several so-called “fake electors.”

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, who in April indicted 11 individuals, including Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows, on charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 election results in her state, told Garland in a letter Sunday that gaining access to the case file will “help ensure that those who should be held accountable are.”

“Today, my office has one of the only remaining cases that includes charges against national actors,” the letter said. “I have held steadfast to prosecuting the grand jury’s indictment because those who tried to subvert democracy in 2020 must be held accountable.”

The letter also asked the DOJ for any “exculpatory material” unearthed in the probe.

It also referenced a recent order from a state judge that granted a request from Meadows for discovery in the case to help aid in his defense. The letter, though, acknowledges that the state judge “cannot compel disclosure from a federal agency.”

“For the reasons discussed above, the Maricopa County Superior Court’s order should be fulfilled. In the alternative, consider this a request under the Freedom of Information Act,” the letter states. “Disclosure will ensure justice is done consistent with the rule of law.”

Trump pleaded not guilty in 2023 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 retrieve them from his Mar-a-Lago estate. The former president, along with Nauta and De Oliveira, pleaded not guilty in a superseding indictment to allegedly attempting to delete surveillance footage at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump also pleaded not guilty in 2023 to separate charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election in an effort to subvert democracy and remain in power.

Both cases were dismissed following Trump’s reelection in November due to a longstanding Justice Department policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president.

Smith resigned as special prosecutor on Friday after wrapping up the cases and submitting his report to Garland.

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(INDIANAPOLIS) — A Texas man has been charged with stalking for allegedly sending WNBA star Caitlin Clark threats over social media, officials said Monday.

Michael Lewis, 55, was arrested on Sunday in Indianapolis and has been charged with stalking for allegedly sending “numerous threats and sexually explicit messages to Clark via his social media accounts,” the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office said in a press release.

“No matter how prominent a figure you are, this case shows that online harassment can quickly escalate to actual threats of physical violence,” Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a statement.

Clark, a phenom at the University of Iowa, won rookie of the year honors in 2024 in her first season with the WNBA’s Indiana Fever.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office became aware of a “possible pattern of stalking” by Lewis toward Clark this month, according to the affidavit for probable cause. Between Dec. 16, 2024, and Jan. 2, the suspect allegedly sent Clark numerous sexually explicit messages over X, according to the affidavit.

Investigators traced the X account to Lewis and determined that recent messages were sent from an IP address at a hotel in Indianapolis, which was “especially concerning given that he is a Texas resident,” the affidavit stated.

Clark told investigators she does not know Lewis and has not responded to his social media messages or posts, and that his presence in Indianapolis made her “very concerned for her safety,” according to the affidavit.

“Clark stated that she has been very fearful since learning of the messages and that she has altered her public appearances and patterns of movement due to fear for her safety,” the affidavit stated.

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

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(LOS ANGELES) — At least 24 people have died and more than a dozen others remain unaccounted for as multiple wildfires, fueled by severe drought conditions and strong winds, rage across the Los Angeles area.

Thousands of firefighters are battling wildfires across 45 square miles of densely populated Los Angeles County. About 92,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders and another 89,000 are under evacuation warnings.

Status of Palisades, Eaton fires

The Palisades Fire, which began in the Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7, has destroyed about 5,000 structures. It’s covered more than 23,000 acres and is at 14% containment.

The Eaton Fire north of Pasadena also began on Jan. 7 and has destroyed or damaged around 7,000 structures. It’s burned over 14,000 acres and is at 33% containment.

Areas for worst wind conditions this week

The National Weather Service has highlighted these three areas where officials believe there’s the highest chance for explosive fire growth this week. The Hurst Fire is in the highlighted area and the Palisades Fire is near the highlighted area.

The extreme fire risk will last from 4 a.m. Tuesday to noon Wednesday.

Winds could climb as high as 45 to 70 mph and humidity could be as low as 8 to 15%.

-ABC News’ Max Golembo

Crews finding remains in Altadena: Sheriff

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said he knows displaced residents want to return to their neighborhoods, but he warned, “we are in the third day of grid searching” in Altadena.

“It is a very grim task,” he said, noting that every day crews are finding people’s remains.

Twenty-three people have been reported missing: 17 from the Eaton Fire and six in the Malibu area, the sheriff said. 

Severe fire conditions to continue through Wednesday

Severe fire weather conditions — high winds with low humidity — will continue through Wednesday, keeping the fire threat in all of Los Angeles County critical, LA Fire Chief Anthony Marrone warned at a news conference.

Amid the “unprecedented disaster,” Marrone shared positive news that the Eaton Fire in Altadena didn’t grow at all on Sunday.

The Eaton Fire has damaged or destroyed over 7,000 structures, Marrone said. He said damage inspections for dwellings are 26% completed.

The super scooper firefighting plane damaged by a drone last week has been repaired, Marrone said. Crews are waiting for the Federal Aviation Administration to give the OK to send the plane back in the air.

Ukraine offers aid

Ukraine may send rescuers to help fight the devastating fires in California, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

“The situation there is extremely difficult, and Ukrainians can help Americans save lives,” Zelenskyy tweeted. “This is currently being coordinated, and we have offered our assistance to the American side through the relevant channels. 150 of our firefighters are already prepared.”

Firefighters from Mexico and Canada have also been deployed to California.

Edison International can’t rule out equipment role in wildfires, CEO says

Pedro Pizarro, the president and CEO of Edison International, told “Good Morning America” on Monday that the company cannot yet rule the possibility that its energy infrastructure played a role in sparking wildfires now raging around Los Angeles.

Fire agencies are investigating whether Southern California Edison — a subsidiary of Edison International — infrastructure sites caused fires in areas devastated by the Eaton and Hurst wildfires.

“You can’t rule out anything ever until you can get your eyes on the equipment,” Pizarro said.

“Typically, when there’s a spark created by equipment, we will see the electrical anomaly — we haven’t seen that,” Pizarro said of a possible incident involving Edison infrastructure and the Hurst Fire burning outside of San Fernando.

“That said, we have not been able to get close to the equipment,” he continued. “As soon as we can get close to it, we’ll inspect and be transparent with the public.”

“We may find something different,” Pizarro added.

Pizarro said Edison also recorded damage to equipment at the site of the Eaton Fire in the mountains north of Pasadena. “We don’t know whether the damage happened before or after the start of the fire,” he said.

Pizarro said that Edison International will be shutting off power to some California residents as a precaution amid red flag warnings.

“We have about 450,000 customers who we’ve warned they may need to have their power shut off,” Pizarro said.

High winds threaten explosive fire growth

Weather officials have issued a “Particularly Dangerous Situation” red flag warning for western Los Angeles County and most of Ventura County beginning on Tuesday at 4 a.m. into Wednesday at noon.

Winds are forecast to be strong enough to potentially cause explosive fire growth.

A new Santa Ana wind event is forecast Monday through Wednesday with the strongest winds Tuesday into Wednesday.

On Monday morning and the rest of the day, winds will begin to pick up in the mountains and higher elevations, gusting 20 to 30 mph, locally as high as 50 mph.

By Tuesday morning at 4 a.m., when the “PDS” conditions begin, gusts in the mountains are expected to near 70 mph possibly and humidity could be as low as 8% for some of the area.

-ABC News’ Max Golembo

68 arrested, many for burglary, in fire evacuation zones, police say

At least 68 people have been arrested in fire evacuation zones, according to law enforcement officials, as police work to secure devastated parts of Los Angeles and firefighters continue to battle wildfires.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it recorded 29 arrests — 25 in the Eaton Fire area north of Pasadena and four in the Palisades Fire area in western Los Angeles.

The Santa Monica Police Department reported 39 arrests in evacuated areas in its jurisdiction on Saturday night, including 10 for burglary and six for possession of burglary tools. None of those arrested lived in the area, the department said.

-ABC News’ Marilyn Heck

Forecast calls for ‘Particularly Dangerous Situation’ for fires, Newsom warns

Gov. Gavin Newsom warned late Sunday that the week was beginning with a forecast for a “Particularly Dangerous Situation” for new wildfires, even as the firefight against the several fires still burning continued.

“Emergency responders are ready tonight. Pre-positioned firefighters and engines are spread around Southern California,” he said on social media. “Stay safe. Be ready to evacuate if you get the order.”

The warning, which comes from the National Weather Service, says that the fire risk is high in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties amid strong winds, a lack of recent rainfall and relatively low humidities. The warning begins Monday night and runs through Wednesday morning, the service said.

It’s is the fourth of its kind in three months, Newsom said. The first came ahead of the Mountain Fire in Ventura, which destroyed 243 structures. The second preceded the Franklin Fire in Malibu, which destroyed 20 structures.

And the third preceded the Palisades and Eaton Fires, which have now destroyed thousands of homes and structures, he said.

Death toll in Los Angeles fires rises to 24

There have been at least 24 fire-related deaths in the Palisades and Eaton Fires, according to the latest tally from the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner.

The number of fatalities is expected to rise as officials continue to battle the dual fires.

According to the medical examiner, there have been 16 confirmed deaths linked to the Eaton Fire and eight fatalities due to the Palisades Fire.

Los Angeles Unified School District reopening some schools Monday

Los Angeles Unified School District announced some schools are reopening Monday, depending on the location of the institution and the weather conditions.

LAUSD said school principals will contact communities directly.

ABC News confirmed that some community members received calls on Sunday about schools reopening.

The district has over 1,500 schools serving roughly 600,000 students in grades K–12. Schools across the district have been closed due to fires since Thursday.

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