Category: National

(LAS VEGAS) — Matthew Livelsberger used ChatGPT to help plot the Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on New Year’s Day, authorities revealed on Tuesday.

Police have “clear evidence” that Livelsberger used the generative artificial intelligence tool to “help plan his attack,” Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told reporters during a press briefing on Tuesday.

Livelsberger, an active-duty Army soldier who authorities said died by suicide in the incident, asked questions about explosives and what would set off certain types of explosives, police said.

McMahill said he believes this is the first case on U.S. soil in which ChatGPT/AI helped a suspect build a device, calling it a “concerning moment” and a “game changer.” He added it is also “instructive” for other law enforcement agencies and is releasing information where they can in the case.

ABC News has reached out to OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, for comment.

Through ChatGPT, the suspect looked at “trying to figure out the amount of explosives needed in order to conduct the explosion he was looking to cause,” Las Vegas Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said during the press briefing.

He also used it to try to figure out where to buy fireworks, how much and how they compare to other explosive materials, Koren said. An “important component” of his inquiries involved the velocity of the bullet fired from the firearm and “determining whether that would ignite the explosives,” Koren said.

Livelsberger, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound just prior to the blast, according to the Clark County coroner. Two firearms — one handgun and one rifle — were found in the vehicle, police said.

The Cybertruck had over 60 pounds of pyrotechnics, and 20 gallons of fuel were poured over the fireworks and explosive material in the back of the truck, according to Kenny Cooper, assistant special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ San Francisco field division.

Investigators believe the muzzle flash alone could have been an ignition source for the fuel-air explosion, though several other possible sources have not been ruled out, he said.

Police said Tuesday they have also recovered a six-page document on a phone found in the Cybertruck that showed a “variance of grievances and a constant evolution of his plans or intents of what he wanted to do,” Koren said.

In the document, the suspect was critical of the Biden administration and talked about having graphic memories of his time in battle and losing his teammates, according to Koren. He also mentioned being “super high on weed and drinking,” which investigators are still working to confirm, Koren said. The document also showed his mental health struggles, which “builds upon that potential PTSD that we’re referring to,” Koren said.

“He does transition at some point, and talks about being concerned of the media labeling them as a terrorist and that he had no intent on killing anyone else besides from himself,” Koren said.

Livelsberger’s writings indicate he had considered planning to set off the explosion at the glass walkway at the Grand Canyon but changed his mind, for whatever reason, to the Trump Hotel, police said.

“He does talk about his intent to make this as public as possible,” Koren said.

Police believe parts of the document may be classified and are working with the Department of Defense to understand if it can all be released.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department last week released two additional letters found on a cellphone retrieved from the Cybertruck. In the letters, Livelsberger said the country was being led by the “weak” and those out to “enrich themselves,” while also claiming the incident was not meant as a terrorist attack but a “wake-up call.”

In one of the letters police say were found on his phone, Livelsberger expressed support for Donald Trump and the president-elect’s allies, Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He also expressed disdain for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and income inequality and expressed a concern about homelessness, according to the letters.

Livelsberger also sent an email shared by the military-themed “Shawn Ryan Show” podcast on Friday, authorities confirmed on Tuesday. That information was sent to the FBI following the attack, federal officials said.

The evidence shows Livelsberger “thoughtfully prepared” and acted alone in the incident, federal authorities said. He was not on the FBI’s radar prior to the attack, authorities said.

No one else was seriously hurt, though seven bystanders sustained minor injuries, officials said.

Livelsberger served as a Green Beret in the Army and was on approved leave from serving in Germany at the time of his death, a U.S. Army spokesperson said Thursday.

He received extensive decorations in combat, including the Bronze Star with a “V” device for valor, indicating heroism under fire. Livelsberger received four more standard Bronze Star medals, according to Army records. He also earned the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with three stars. Each star represents service in a separate campaign in Afghanistan.

Livelsberger had been receiving mental health assistance over the last year, a U.S. official confirmed Friday.

Another U.S. official confirmed that officials thought Livelsberger was stable enough to go home for Christmas and his leave was approved.

His wife, who investigators spoke to in Colorado Springs, said he had been out of the house since around Christmas after a dispute over allegations of infidelity, the official said.

His wife told officials she did not believe Livelsberger would want to hurt anyone, the official told ABC News.

If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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(LOS ANGELES, Calif.) — Two fast-moving brush fires erupted Tuesday in Los Angeles as dangerous wind conditions and unseasonably dry, warm weather sweep Southern California.

A currently 200-acre fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood was first reported before 11:00 a.m. local time and quickly prompted evacuations across the region and into Malibu.

The Los Angeles Fire Department issued a mandatory evacuation order for the area between Piedra Morada Drive and Pacific Coast Highway.

A separate brush fire is threatening the West Hollywood area, with crews working to contain the blaze on Sunset Boulevard between San Vicente and Crescent Heights.

The cause of both fires is currently under investigation, according to Cal Fire.

A “life-threatening” and “destructive” windstorm is also expected from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday morning across much of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, according to the National Weather Service. Areas that are not typically windy will also be impacted, the agency said.

Much of Southern California is under red flag alerts for fire danger from Tuesday through Thursday as strong Santa Ana winds, low humidity and critically dry fuels jeopardize the region.

According to Cal Fire, residents in Greater Los Angeles County, San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys, San Diego and Riverside mountains, eastern San Diego valleys, Inland Orange County, Santa Ana Mountains, Inland Empire and San Bernardino Foothills should be prepared in case of an evacuation order.

“Stay vigilant, avoid activities that could spark fires and have an evacuation plan ready,” Cal Fire said in an update Tuesday on X.

On Monday evening, California Gov. Gavin Newsom directed state departments to position fire engines, handcrews, aircraft and additional support in areas that could be impacted.

“The state is taking early, proactive steps to coordinate with local partners to protect communities as dangerous weather enters our state. We are no strangers to winter-time wildfire threats, so I ask all Californians to pay attention to local authorities and be prepared to evacuate if told to go,” Newsom said in a statement.

In addition, drought conditions have returned to much of Southern California, according to an update from the U.S. Drought Monitor that was released last week.

Moderate drought now is currently in place from Los Angeles to San Diego, leaving very dry vegetation that can potentially fuel a spark and create a wildfire.

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

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(WASHINGTON) — Senior Justice Department officials serving under Donald Trump’s first administration may have violated federal law in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election by pushing for pandemic-related investigations that targeted states with Democratic governors, and then leaking private information about those investigations to friendly media outlets in a potential attempt to influence the election, according to a previously-undisclosed report from the Justice Department’s internal watchdog.

The inspector general’s report, obtained by ABC News, concluded that for one of the officials — a senior member of the department’s public affairs team who the report said first hatched the alleged plan to leak investigative information — “the upcoming election was the motivating factor.”

The report specifically pointed to a text message he sent in mid-October 2020, describing a proposed leak to a major New York-area tabloid about reviews of COVID-related deaths at nursing homes in New York and New Jersey as “our last play on them before [the] election” — “but it’s a big one,” he added, according to the report.

The inspector general’s report comes just weeks before Trump takes office again, after winning reelection two months ago in part by promoting questionable claims that the Biden administration had used the Justice Department to further its own political agenda.

Last week, the inspector general’s office released a brief and vague summary of its report, saying only that three former officials had violated Justice Department policies by leaking “non-public DOJ investigative information” to “select reporters, days before an election.”

The summary said the officials may have even violated the Hatch Act, a non-criminal law that prohibits federal employees from using their positions to engage in political activities.

The summary did not say when the alleged violations occurred or which election may have been implicated, but some of Trump’s supporters and at least one major conservative media outlet claimed that it involved the Biden administration trying to harm Trump’s most recent reelection bid.

The partially-redacted report, obtained by ABC News through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows otherwise.

According to the report, in the summer of 2020, leaders of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division at the time pushed for reviews of government-run nursing homes in several states, looking to find any connections between deaths there and orders from governors directing nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients.

In late August 2020, when the Justice Department then sent letters to the governors of Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York seeking relevant data — “despite having been provided data indicating that the nursing homes with the most significant quality of care issues were in other states” — the Justice Department’s public affairs office issued a press release about the move, the report said.

Though the inspector general’s office said it did not find evidence that any officials, even career officials, raised concerns at the time, the report said current and former officials more recently described the press release as “unusual and inappropriate.”

The report further details how over the next few months, leadership in the Civil Rights Division pressured officials in the department’s Civil Division to send a letter to New York officials seeking data regarding COVID-19-related deaths in private nursing homes throughout the state, the report said. The Civil Division officials were reluctant to do so, but they ultimately complied because they were “led to believe” that the directive to make the investigative activity public was “coming from Attorney General [Bill] Barr,” the report said.

Then in October 2020, in the final weeks of the 2020 presidential campaign, the senior official with the Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs proposed his plan to leak information about the letter and other information about an investigation of state-run facilities in New Jersey, according to the report.

On Oct. 17, 2020, the senior public affairs official texted colleagues: “I’m trying to get [them] to do letters to [New Jersey and New York] respectively on nursing homes. Would like to package them together and let [a certain tabloid] break it. Will be our last play on them before election but it’s a big one,” according to the report.

A week before the election, on Oct. 27, 2020, the investigative information was provided to the New York-area tabloid, which published a story that night, accusing New York authorities of undercounting deaths in nursing homes, the report said. The inspector general’s report noted that official statistics released at the time did in fact undercount the actual number of deaths.

Nevertheless, “the conduct of these senior officials raised serious questions about partisan political motivation for their actions in proximity to the 2020 election,” inspector general Michael Horowitz said in his report.

“[T]he then upcoming 2020 election may have been a factor in the timing and manner of those actions and announcing them to the public,” Horowitz added, concluding that the three officials violated the Justice Department’s media contacts policy.

Horowitz said his office has referred its findings to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which is tasked with investigating potential violations of the Hatch Act.

A spokesperson for the Office of Special Counsel confirmed to ABC News that his office received the referral and is now reviewing it.

The inspector general’s report noted that Barr declined to be interviewed in connection with Horowitz’s investigation.

A representative for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

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(NEW YORK) — The FBI has uncovered “additional criminal conduct” by New York City Mayor Eric Adams, federal prosecutors said in a new court filing Tuesday.

Adams has already pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment charging him with accepting luxury travel in exchange for political favors, including persuading the fire department to approve the opening of the new Turkish consulate in Manhattan despite the lingering safety concerns of inspectors.

The disclosure of possible additional criminal conduct came in a court filing in which prosecutors opposed a defense request for additional information about the initial charges.

“Although the Indictment and discovery provide Adams with more than sufficient information as to his alleged co-conspirators and aiders and abettors, law enforcement has continued to identify additional individuals involved in Adams’s conduct, and to uncover additional criminal conduct by Adams,” the filing said.

Federal prosecutors did not elaborate but have said in prior court hearings a superseding indictment is “likely” in the mayor’s criminal case.

Alex Spiro, the mayor’s lawyer, said Tuesday: “This is amateur hour. They are just looking for a headline instead of doing the right thing. I assume we are at the point where New Yorkers are not falling for it.”

Adams, who was elected in 2021, is the first sitting New York City mayor to ever face charges.

He is expected to stand trial on federal corruption charges in April.

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(WASHINGTON) — Members of Congress, the Supreme Court and other dignitaries will gather at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday afternoon for a lying-in-state ceremony for former President Jimmy Carter.

Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver one of the eulogies for Carter, who died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100.

Carter lands in DC

A plane carrying the Carter family and the casket of former President Jimmy Carter has landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for several days of ceremonies in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Navy Memorial will be the first stop for the motorcade to honor Carter’s service as a lieutenant in the Navy.

Carter en route from Georgia to DC

The Carter family is accompanying former President Jimmy Carter’s remains on a flight from Georgia’s Dobbins Air Reserve Base to Washington, D.C. for the late president’s final journey to the nation’s capital.

“Hail to the Chief” was played and troops fired a 21-gun salute after the coffin was taken out of the hearse. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was among the officials at the base to witness the coffin’s transfer from the hearse to the plane.

Carter is survived by four children — John William (Jack), James Earl III (Chip), Donnel Jeffrey (Jeff) and Amy Lynn — and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The flight will land in the D.C. area around 2 p.m.

The late president’s first stop in snowy D.C. will be the U.S. Navy Memorial to honor his time in the service.

That will be followed by a 4:30 p.m. ET service at the U.S. Capitol, which will be

Carter leaves Carter Presidential Center for final time

Former President Jimmy Carter is leaving the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta for the final time Tuesday morning as Carter Center employees and their families look on.

The former president had been lying in repose at the center since Saturday, allowing the public to come pay their respects.

At a Saturday service at the Carter Presidential Center, Carter’s son Chip Carter thanked his parents for their service and sacrifice.

“The two of them together changed the world,” he said, overcome with emotion.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter founded the Carter Center after his presidency to improve health around the world and enhance freedom and democracy.

Carter to head to DC for services at Capitol, Washington National Cathedral

Former President Jimmy Carter’s remains will be escorted from the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for the 39th president’s final trip to the nation’s capital.

His remains will leave the Carter Center at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The first stop in D.C. will be the U.S. Navy Memorial in honor of the former president’s service.

At 4:30 p.m. ET, members of Congress, the Supreme Court, the Cabinet, the Joint Chiefs and other officials will congregate at the U.S. Capitol for a lying in state ceremony. Vice President Kamala Harris, Senator Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson are expected to deliver eulogies and lay wreaths.

Carter’s remains will lie in state at the Capitol from Tuesday evening to Thursday morning, allowing the public to pay respects.

On Thursday morning, former presidents and other dignitaries will attend a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral. President Joe Biden will deliver a eulogy.

On Thursday afternoon, Carter’s body will return to his hometown of Plains, Georgia, for a private service and private interment. Carter will be buried next to his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, who died on Nov. 19, 2023, at the age of 96.

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(NEW YORK) — A New York appeals judge has denied President-elect Donald Trump’s request to delay the Jan. 10 sentencing in his criminal hush money case.

Trump’s sentencing will proceed as planned on Friday, pending potential additional legal maneuvers by the president-elect’s lawyers.

Judge Ellen Gesmer rejected Trump’s claim that the case should be delayed because of presidential immunity, after his attorney argued before the court that Trump is covered by presidential immunity that extends to him while he waits to be sworn in.

The appellate court heard arguments Tuesday in Trump’s lawsuit against the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, as part of Trump’s effort to halt his sentencing following his criminal conviction in May.

“We should get a stay so that no further action happens,” defense attorney Todd Blanche said during oral arguments at the Appellate Division’s First Judicial Department. “The imposition is extraordinary.”

Judge Ellen Gesmer questioned whether immunity granted to sitting presidents extends to presidents-elect.

“I’m curious about that,” she said. “Do you have any support for a notion that presidential immunity extends to Presidents-elect?”

Blanche replied that he did not. “There has never been a case like this before, so no,” Blanche said.

Prosecutors said there is no evidence “whatsoever” to back the claim that presidential immunity applies to Trump prior to his inauguration on Jan. 20.

“The claim is so baseless that there is no support for an automatic stay here,” said Steven Wu of the Manhattan district attorney’s office. “There is a compelling public interest in seeing this process come to an end.”

The prosecutor noted that Trump’s sentencing was originally scheduled for July 11 and every delay since has been done at Trump’s request.

“If sentencing is to happen at all, now is the best time for it to happen,” Wu said.

Trump was found guilty in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.

Merchan initially scheduled Trump’s sentencing for July 11 before pushing it back in order to weigh if Trump’s conviction was impacted by the Supreme Court’s July ruling prohibiting the prosecution of a president for official acts undertaken while in office. Merchan subsequently ruled that Trump’s conviction related “entirely to unofficial conduct” and “poses no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the Executive Branch.”

Trump’s lawyers asked the appeals court to stop the proceedings — including his Jan. 10 sentencing — and to dismiss his conviction outright based on presidential immunity grounds.

“Justice Merchan’s erroneous decisions threaten the institution of the Presidency and run squarely against established precedent disallowing any criminal process against a President-Elect, as well as prohibiting the use of evidence of a President’s official acts against him in a criminal proceeding,” they argued in their suit.

Blanche and fellow defense lawyer Emil Bove, both of whom Trump has picked for top Justice Department posts in his incoming administration, claimed in the suit that Trump’s “undisputed absolute immunity” extends to his time as president-elect — an argument that Judge Merchan roundly denied last week.

The lawyers also claimed that the jury’s verdict was “erroneous” because they saw evidence related to official acts.

“President Trump brings this Article 78 proceeding to redress the serious and continuing infringement on his Presidential immunity from criminal process that he holds as the 45th and soon-to-be 47th President of the United States of America,” the filing said.

The president-elected faces up to four years in prison, but Merchan last week indicated that he would sentence Trump to an unconditional discharge — effectively a blemish on Trump’s record, without prison, fines or probation — saying that would strike a balance between the duties of president and the sanctity of the jury’s verdict.

Merchan on Monday denied a separate request by Trump to halt the sentencing in the case.

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(BEVERLY, Mass.) — A Massachusetts man has been arrested after police said he made violent antisemitic posts online.

Matthew Scouras, 34, allegedly “posted threats to rape Jewish women and encouraged other users of the site to shoot people outside of synagogues,” according to the Beverly Police Department.

Police said the FBI notified them Thursday of the threats posted to an online message board.

A search of Scouras’ home turned up a Nazi flag, a ghost gun, six boxes of ammunition, other firearm parts and over $70,000 in cash, police said.

Scouras was taken into custody Saturday and held for a mental health evaluation, police said.

He was arraigned Monday and is being held without bail pending a court hearing on Jan. 13.

Scouras has been charged with making threats to destroy a place of worship.

He also faces numerous gun charges, including 12 counts for possession of a firearm without a license and making a firearm without a serial number.

It was not immediately clear if he has retained an attorney.

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(NEW YORK) — A man accused of killing a woman by setting her on fire as she slept on a New York City subway train last month pleaded not guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder and other charges.

The suspect, Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, who police said is an undocumented migrant from Guatemala, appeared in Brooklyn Criminal Court and pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder and first-degree arson stemming from the horrific killing of Debrina Kawam, who police said was homeless and sleeping on a subway car when she was attacked.

Kawam, 57, was originally from Toms River, New Jersey, the New York Police Department said.

Kawam was asleep on a stationary F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn at about 7:25 a.m. on Dec. 22 when she was set ablaze allegedly by the 33-year-old Zapeta-Calil, who stuck around to watch her burn, even fanning the flames, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.

“It is difficult to fathom what could lead someone to commit the atrocious and horrific murder with which this defendant is charged,” Gonzalez said in a statement following Zapeta-Calil’s arrangement. “My office swiftly obtained an indictment, and we are determined to exact the most severe punishment for this heinous and inhumane act. Ms. Kawam and her loved ones deserve a measure of justice and New Yorkers deserve to feel safe in the subways.”

If convicted of the charges, Kawam faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Video surveillance captured Zapeta-Calil, who rode in the same subway car as the victim from Queens, using what appeared to be a lighter to set fire to fabric that covered the sleeping woman.

The evidence collected by investigators showed Zapeta-Calil at first allegedly watched the woman burn from inside the subway car as the fire grew, Gonzalez said. The suspect then allegedly appeared to use a shirt to fan the flames, which completely engulfed the victim, the district attorney said.

Gonzalez alleged Zapeta-Calil then walked out of the subway car, sat on a bench on the station platform and watched as the woman burned.

Kawam was declared dead at the scene and the medical examiner determined the cause of death to be a combination of heat burns and smoke inhalation, Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said Kawam was burned beyond recognition and it took the medical examiner nine days to identify her.

Using the video footage, police officers quickly identified the suspect and distributed his image to local media outlets, prompting a tip that he was aboard an F train near the Herald Square-34th Steet Station in Manhattan, Gonzalez said. Officers rushed to the station and took Zapeta-Calil into custody around 4 p.m. on the same day as the subway attack.

The victim’s brother appeared in court Tuesday and met with local clergy to discuss plans for an upcoming memorial service.

Kawam, known to her classmates as “Debbie,” grew up in Little Falls, New Jersey. She went to Montclair State University to study business and marketing and worked for a time at Merck. She filed for bankruptcy in 2008.

Family and friends are expected to gather to remember Kawam on Jan. 12 for a memorial service at First Baptist Church in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, according to clergy members who attended Zspres-Calil’s arraignment.

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(WASHINGTON) — The judge in President-elect Donald Trump’s classified documents case has temporarily blocked Attorney General Merrick Garland, special counsel Jack Smith, or any Department of Justice personnel from releasing the special counsel’s final report on the case.

U.S. District Cannon deferred the matter to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, but temporarily blocked the release of the report “to prevent irreparable harm arising from the circumstances as described in the current record in this emergency posture, and to permit an orderly and deliberative sequence of events.”

The move came a day after Trump’s former co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, asked Cannon — who dismissed the classified documents case in July after deeming Smith’s appointment unconstitutional — to issue an order barring Attorney General Merrick Garland from publicly releasing the report.

Attorneys for Trump, in a court filing Tuesday, asked Canon classified documents case to allow Trump to formally join his former co-defendants’ effort to block the report’s release.

“As a former and soon-to-be President, uniquely familiar with the pernicious consequences of lawfare perpetrated by Smith, his Office, and others at DOJ, President Trump should be permitted to participate in these proceedings,” Trump’s attorneys argued in Tuesday’s filing.

The filing came after the special counsel’s office, responding early Tuesday to Nauta and De Oliveira’s request for Cannon to block the report’s release, confirmed the office is “working to finalize” a report and that Attorney General Garland — who has the final say over what material from the report is made public — has still not determined what to release from the volume that relates to Smith’s classified documents investigation.

“This morning’s Notice is the most recent example of Smith’s glaring lack of respect for this Court and fundamental norms of the criminal justice system,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in their filing, referring to Smith’s stated intention that his office plans to transmit the report to Attorney General Merrick Garland no later than 1 p.m. EST today.

The special counsel’s office assured Judge Cannon in their filing that Smith would not release that specific volume of the report anytime before 10 a.m. Friday and that they would submit a fuller response to Nauta and DeOliveira’s emergency motion no later than 7 p.m. Tuesday evening.

Trump’s attorneys also sent a letter to Garland demanding he remove Smith from his post and defer the decision about the report’s release to Trump’s incoming attorney general, Pam Bondi.

“No report should be prepared or released, and Smith should be removed, including for even suggesting that course of action given his obvious political motivations and desire to lawlessly undermine the transition,” wrote Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, Trump’s defense attorneys who Trump has picked for top Justice Department posts in the incoming administration.

Smith has been winding down his cases against the president-elect due to a longstanding Department of Justice policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president — moving to dismiss Trump’s federal election interference case and dropping his appeal of the classified documents case — and is expected to submit a final report about his investigations to Garland before stepping down.

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(CANYON VILLAGE, Wyo.) — In a new court filing, federal prosecutors allege the suspect who took a hostage and got into a shootout with Yellowstone National Park rangers in July ranted that he “refuse[s] to fraternize with race-traitors that support non-whites or Jews.”

The Wyoming U.S. Attorney made the filing on Monday in an attempt to gain ownership over the suspect’s guns and vehicles, which are in the possession of the federal government but not owned by them. In the filing, federal prosecutors call the suspect’s actions an act of terrorism.

Samson Fussner, the suspect who died in the shootout, allegedly made inflammatory comments about immigrants, African Americans and Jews while holding a woman hostage in her dorm room and in texts ahead of the shootout, according to federal prosecutors.

The filing claims Fussner had engaged in the “planning of and preparation to carry out a terrorist attack against the United States, its citizens and their property,” ultimately culminating in the events of the shootout and hostage kidnapping.

Fussner complained in texts to his brother about the local diversity, saying he lived in a “hellscape” and would “go postal” if he stayed in Yellowstone longer.

He allegedly also texted his brother that he was obsessed with the woman he later kidnapped for a couple of hours, calling her “German stock.” During the kidnapping, he told the woman he did not like “how America was bringing in non-Americans” and wanted to “make a statement because politics in America are messed up,” the complaint read.

Fussner had also been spewing white supremacist and antisemitic views for months before the shootout, according to the filing.

Just after midnight on July 4, Yellowstone’s 911 dispatch center received a report that a woman had been held against her will by a man with a gun in her dorm residence. She reported that Fussner threatened to kill her and others, including plans to allegedly carry out a mass shooting.

Fussner, of Milton, Florida, was confronted by Yellowstone law enforcement rangers early the next morning July 4 while allegedly shooting a semi-automatic rifle toward a dining facility at Canyon Village, according to NPS. Approximately 200 people were in the facility at the time, NPS said.

During an exchange of gunfire, Fussner was shot by law enforcement rangers and died at the scene, NPS said. A ranger was also shot in a lower extremity, the service noted.

Fussner was an employee of Xanterra Parks and Resorts, a private business authorized to operate in Yellowstone.

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