Kilmar Abrego Garcia (R) and his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura (L) attend a prayer vigil before he enters a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, testifying Thursday at a hearing on whether the government is being vindictive in pursuing a human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, said that no one from the White House or the Department of Justice made the decision to seek an indictment against the Salvadoran native.
The hearing comes after the federal judge overseeing the case, Waverly Crenshaw Jr., canceled the trial in the case in December and wrote in a court order that there was enough evidence to hold a hearing on the question of vindictive prosecution after the Trump administration brought Abrego Garcia back from detention in El Salvador to face charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop.
“Who decided to seek an indictment against Abrego Garcia” a government lawyer asked Acting U.S. Attorney Robert McGuire during Thursday’s hearing.
“I did,” McGuire testified.
McGuire said that after reviewing the body cam footage of the 2022 traffic stop, “there were things” that were similar to other human smuggling cases, including the number of individuals in the car, the lack of luggage in the vehicle, and the fact that Abrego Garcia — who was the driver — “seemed to speak on behalf of everyone else.” Abrego Garcia was not charged at that time.
“This really looked like a human smuggling case to me,” McGuire testified.
When asked about his communications with DOJ leadership, McGuire said it was normal for him to be in contact with top officials because of the high-profile immigration case involving Abrego Garcia.
In response to questions about an email from a top DOJ official to McGuire stating that the case was a “top priority,” McGuire said DOJ leadership “always” wanted to stay updated on high-profile cases.
Earlier in Thursday’s hearing, an investigator with the Department of Homeland Security said that she felt no pressure to bring charges.
Saoud stated that as she began her preliminary investigation and obtained the video of the traffic stop in the spring, “the case started getting stronger.”
When asked by a DOJ attorney whether she felt pressured by the government to move the case toward prosecution, Saoud said no.
“We’re not swayed by political attention or political posturing,” Saoud testified.
The government is currently blocked from deporting Abrego Garcia, who was released from immigration detention in December. In a separate case last week, a federal judge ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot re-detain him because his 90-day detention period had expired and the government lacked a viable plan for his deportation.
The Salvadoran native, who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported last March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution. The Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which he and his attorneys deny.
He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face the human smuggling charges, to which he pleaded not guilty.
After being released into the custody of his brother in Maryland pending trial, he was again detained by immigration authorities before being released in December.
World Economic Forum (WEF) President Borge Brende delivers a speech at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting held in Davos, Switzerland on January 20, 2026. (Harun Ozalp/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Borge Brende stepped down as the head of the World Economic Forum Thursday following an independent review into his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, marking the latest departure in a string of high-profile resignations by business and government leaders who were associated with the late sex offender.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Columbia University. (Sergi Reboredo/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A Columbia University student was detained by Department of Homeland Security agents Thursday morning, after they allegedly made “misrepresentations” to enter a dorm, the school said.
Claire Shipman, the school’s acting president, sent a letter to the school community informing them that the DHS agents entered an unspecified dorm on the campus around 6:30 and detained the student.
“Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a ‘missing person.’ We are working to gather more details,” she said.
DHS did not immediately return messages from ABC News for comment.
The school was “working to reach the family, and providing legal support,” the letter further said.
“It is important to reiterate that all law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including housing, classrooms, and areas requiring CUID swipe access,” the letter said.
“If law enforcement agents seek entry to non-public areas of the University, ask the agents to wait to enter any non-public areas until contacting Public Safety,” Shipman wrote. “Public Safety will contact the Office of the General Counsel to coordinate the University’s response. Do not allow them to enter or accept service of a warrant or subpoena.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul released a statement condemning the federal agents’ alleged actions.
“Let’s be clear about what happened: ICE agents didn’t have the proper warrant, so they lied to gain access to a student’s private residence,” she said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Cindy McCain during a panel session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Cindy McCain will be stepping down as head of the United Nations World Food Programme to focus on her health, the humanitarian organization announced on Thursday.
McCain, 71, suffered a mild stroke in October 2025, according to the organization. She plans to step down as the group’s executive director in three months, it said.
“With a heavy heart, I am announcing my intention to step down as the Executive Director of the World Food Programme,” McCain said in a statement released through the organization. “Serving this incredible organization has been the honor of a lifetime.”
McCain, who is the widow of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, stepped away for several months following her stroke before returning in early January to the organization’s headquarters in Rome. She said she hoped to complete her five-year term “but my health has not recovered to a level that allows me to fully serve the enormous demands of this job.”
“This is one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make,” McCain said. “Over the past three years, we have delivered life-saving and life-changing assistance for millions of the world’s most vulnerable people — and this unwavering commitment will be more important than ever in the years to come.”
McCain has been serving since April 2023 as the executive director of the World Food Programme, which has a presence in more than 120 countries and over 20,000 staff worldwide.
“During her tenure she has driven several unprecedented changes to reform and scale the organization’s abilities including overhauling its global structure, streamlining its operations and processes, scaling innovative digital technologies, and diversifying its public and private partnership efforts,” the World Food Programme said in a press release.
McCain previously served as the U.S. ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture for two years.
Dali, who previously was convicted in Brooklyn federal court of being a stowaway on a Delta Air Lines flight out of New York’s JFK Airport to Paris, allegedly snuck onto a United flight at New Jersey’s Newark airport on Wednesday night, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The United flight landed in Milan and she is now in Italian custody, sources said.
United said in a statement, “Safety and security are our highest priorities. We are investigating this incident and working with the appropriate authorities.”
In November 2024, Dali went through security at JFK Airport, walked onto a Delta plane without a boarding pass and hid in the plane bathroom for several hours, according to prosecutors. When a flight attendant noticed, Dali faked vomiting to excuse her lengthy time in the bathroom, according to prosecutors.
After Dali was brought back from France to New York to face charges, she was released from custody. Dali allegedly cut off her ankle monitor and traveled to Buffalo, New York, where she tried to cross over the Peace Bridge into Canada.
In July 2025, the Russian citizen and U.S. permanent resident was sentenced to time served for the New York-to-Paris flight.
Dali told the judge she snuck onto the flight to seek treatment because she said the U.S. military had poisoned her.
“My actions were directed toward only one purpose: to save my life,” Dali said through a Russian interpreter.
Two days before Dali stowed away on the Paris flight, she allegedly accessed a secure area of the departures terminal at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut, prosecutors said. Earlier in 2024, customs agents found Dali hiding in a bathroom in a secure area of the Miami International Airport, prosecutors said.
Jesse Jackson poses for a portrait during the 55th Anniversary of Ben’s Chili Bowl on August 22, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Kris Connor/Getty Images)
(CHICAGO) — Memorial services for Rev. Jesse Jackson began on Thursday in Chicago, where the late civil rights icon, Baptist minister and politician lay in repose at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition — the organization he founded in 1996 to fight for social justice.
Jackson’s family departed the Leaks and Sons Funeral Home on Thursday morning and their procession drove down Cottage Grove Avenue to reach Rainbow PUSH Coalition, where thousands are expected to pay their respects to the civil rights leader on Thursday and Friday.
“Jesse Jackson, Sr. changed the United States — and the world,” the Jackson family said in a statement on Wednesday. “We are deeply honored to know there are people from every walk of life who want to join us to pay their respects.”
Jackson was born in Greenville, S.C. on Oct. 8, 1941 and will lie in honor at the South Carolina State House in Columbia on Monday. Afterwards, his body will be transported to Washington, D.C. for a formal funeral service on Wednesday, before returning to Chicago for “The People’s Celebration,” a public homegoing service on Friday, and a private final homegoing service on Saturday.
Jackson’s children honored their father’s legacy, reflecting on his 1984 and 1988 presidential runs and how he dedicated his career to advancing economic justice and building political power for Black Americans.
Jesse Jackson, Jr. called for unity in the Feb. 18 press conference ahead of his father’s funeral services.
“Do not bring your politics out of respect to Rev. Jesse Jackson and the life that he lived to these home going services,” he said. “Come respectful and come to say thank you, but these homegoing services are welcome to all Democrat, Republican, liberal and conservative, right wing, left wing, because his life is broad enough to cover the full spectrum of what it means to be an American.”
He asked people to “be respectful in the context of the extraordinary life” his father lived.
“Dad would have wanted us to have a great meeting to discuss our differences, to find ways of moving forward and moving together, and if his life becomes a turning point in our national political discourse, amen,” he said.
In addition to the city of Chicago, governors of Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina and South Carolina ordered flags to be flown at half-staff to honor Jackson. In announcing plans to lower the flags, governors highlighted the impact that Jackson made on the communities in each of those states.
“Jesse Jackson, Sr. marched beside Martin Luther King, Jr. for civil rights for all people. He traveled the world fighting economic and gender inequity. Until his last days, he fought for better healthcare, education, and peace in Chicago, Illinois, the United States, and beyond,” the Jackson family said in a statement on Wednesday. “I hope everyone who joins us to honor his legacy will also continue to champion these causes. That would be the best possible tribute and celebration they could offer.”
The FBI is looking for information about the death of 8-year-old Maleeka “Mollie” Boone in Coalmine, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation. (FBI)
(NEW YORK) — An 8-year-old Navajo Nation girl who mysteriously died last month may have been struck and killed by a truck, the FBI said.
Maleeka “Mollie” Boone was “likely struck by a passing vehicle” and it’s possible the driver hit the 8-year-old “without realizing it,” the FBI in Phoenix announced on Wednesday.
The 8-year-old went missing on Jan. 15 in her neighborhood in Coalmine, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation, the FBI said.
Mollie was playing late that afternoon and was walking home when authorities believe she was struck, according to the FBI. Her body was found the next morning.
The FBI said it’s looking for information about cars on Cedar Loop Road in the Coalmine Navajo Housing Authority between 5:50 p.m. and 6:20 p.m. on Jan. 15. The driver may have been in a larger car, possibly a pickup truck, the FBI said.
Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov.
People gather in Washington Square Park for a mass snowball fight on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, in Manhattan. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A man has been arrested after a viral incident between New Yorkers and NYPD officers during Monday’s blizzard has snowballed into Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first test with the police brass after he appeared to downplay the issue.
Gusmane Coulibaly, 27, has been arrested for “assaulting” police officers earlier this week in Washington Square Park, the New York City Police Department announced Thursday.
“Coulibaly was previously arrested less than three weeks ago for an attempted robbery in the transit system,” according to the NYPD.
With Mamdani capturing attention on the national stage, the progressive mayor is threading the needle carefully to avoid repeating the mistakes some of his predecessors made to ensure he doesn’t lose that critical police support, according to a political expert.
Mamdani came under fire on Tuesday after the president of the Police Benevolent Association — the union representing NYPD officers — accused the mayor of downplaying the severity of an incident. The NYPD said people playing in the snow on Monday in Manhattan were “attacking” officers with snowballs.
“I’ve seen the videos of this snowball fight. I think that it was a snowball fight,” the mayor said during a news conference when asked repeatedly ifanyone should be charged for the incident.
Mamdani echoed his sentiment on Wednesday at another news conference.
“What I saw was a snowball fight that got out of hand and it should be treated accordingly,” he said.
The incident took place Monday afternoon in Washington Square Park when police were called in about parkgoers playing aggressively, according to the NYPD.
Parkgoer Rahul Nag told WABC 7 that it started off as harmless fun but escalated when several young people began tossing snow from the roof of the park’s restrooms. The officers were confronted after they arrived to investigate.
“It wasn’t supposed to be violent. It started out as a very fun thing to do, and then, you know, it just escalated, and there weren’t any older kids or older people out here,” he told the station.
“It was just young kids having fun. And then it kind of became a back-and-forth thing between NYPD and those young kids,” Nag added.
Police say the crowd began throwing snowballs at them and continued to pelt them and their vehicles with snowballs as they left the park. The mayor and NYPD said two officers were treated for minor injuries, including lacerations.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in an X post Tuesday night that the incident was being investigated. The NYPD also released images of the people who allegedly threw the snowballs at the officers.
“The NYPD is aware of certain videos taken earlier today in Washington Square Park showing individuals attacking cops. I want to be very clear: The behavior depicted is disgraceful, and it is criminal,” Tisch said in her post.
No arrests had been made as of Wednesday afternoon.
Although Mamdani did not describe the incident as an attack, he repeatedly has condemned anyone who would antagonize the police, and praised their work during the snowstorms over the last two months.
“I want to say that officers have been on the front line of helping our city respond to this blizzard. They have been keeping New Yorkers safe, and they have also been at the heart of our efforts of digging New Yorkers’ cars out of these kinds of conditions and ensuring that our ambulances, our MTA buses can keep functioning across this city” he told reporters during the Tuesday news conference.
“They and our entire city workforce deserve to be treated with respect. The only person in our city’s workforce who deserves to be treated with a snowball is me,” Mamdani added.
The mayor’s remarks, however, did not sit well with the leaders of the Police Benevolent Association. The union’s president, Patrick Hendry, released a statement Tuesday calling the mayor’s response “a complete failure of leadership.”
“This was disgraceful. It wasn’t a joke. It wasn’t a game. It was a vicious attack,” he said.
Mamdani told reporters Wednesday that he and Tisch are in constant communication but declined to talk more about the investigation into the incident.
Christina Greer, an associate professor of political science at Fordham University, told ABC News it was inevitable that Mamdani and the police brass would butt heads, given the mayor’s past criticism of the NYPD and the pushback by Republicans across the country against him and his progressive policies.
“Mamdani is cognizant of that and trying to balance what some people felt was pretty innocuous and the NYPD saw it as a different way,” she said. “He’s also cognizant that there are groups that, frankly, do not want him to succeed.”
Greer noted that Mamdani is taking hard lessons from previous Democratic mayors, especially Bill de Blasio and David Dinkins, who had extremely strained relationships with the NYPD.
Greer said that De Blasio’s relationship with the police seemed to crystalize in 2014 when officers turned their back to him during the funeral for two slain officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu. That came weeks after protests broke out over the death of Eric Garner, a Staten Island man who died after he was put in a chokehold during an arrest.
“You never want to be in a position where the NYPD turns their back to you and you never regain their trust,” she said.
Greer noted that even though he is extremely early in his tenure, Mamdani has taken smart first steps to show not just the NYPD but also his critics that he cares about his officers. Those moves include apologizing for his previous criticisms and retaining Tisch as his commissioner after his predecessor Eric Adams’ term ended.
Even in his response to the snowball incident, where the mayor repeatedly said that snowballs should be thrown at him, indicated a sense of humility, according to Greer. She said Mamdani is willing to take on New Yorkers’ frustrations, especially over the weather.
“It’s putting the onus on him,” she said. “I think it’s brilliant because it says I’m the one in charge. The NYPD is not in charge, it’s me. It’s hard for people to wrap their heads around, but that’s the truth and a brilliant way to articulate a very real fact.”
Greer said the snowball incident is unlikely to hamper Mamdani’s status or alter his overall “report card” on the local or national level, given fast-paced nature of the city’s politics.
However, she said that the mayor will need to continue to thread the needle with the NYPD for his entire tenure in City Hall, as he is seen as the star figure in the Democratic progressive movement.
“The question behind all of this, really, is can he keep the city safe? That’s not fair to make this situation a real assessment when we’re talking about snowballs and not bullets,” Greer said.
Officials visit Nancy Guthrie’s residence, February 25, 2026 in Tucson, Arizona. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(TUCSON, Ariz) — Three-and-a-half weeks after Nancy Guthrie’s abduction, the FBI is reducing its number of personnel in Tucson and relocating its command post to Phoenix, where it has its largest office in Arizona, sources briefed on the investigation told ABC News.
The FBI will keep agents in Tucson and continue to partner with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, but many agents are returning to Phoenix to work the case from there.
On Wednesday, FBI agents were seen walking Guthrie’s property. For the moment, the sources said there is no additional investigative work the FBI needs to do at the house.
Instead, much of the case is now analytical: perusing Walmart sales receipts and security footage, untangling the mixed sample of DNA found inside the house, and parsing the roughly 1,500 tips that have come in since Nancy Guthrie’s daughter, “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, offered up a $1 million reward on Tuesday.
After the initial surge following the Tuesday Instagram post upping the reward, the number of calls to the sheriff’s department has tapered off, sources said.
Anyone with information is urged to call 911, the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.
ABC News’ Alex Stone and Trevor Ault contributed to this report.
Parked cars and trees are covered in snow during a blizzard on February 23, 2026 in the Flatbush neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Showers and thunderstorms are expected to move through the Southeast on Thursday while a wintry mix is possible around Washington, D.C. and Baltimore in the evening.
However, given temperatures are hovering around freezing, there could be snow mixing in with the rain but likely with no accumulation.
On Friday, the snow will move into Montana from Canada and, on Saturday, more snow will be in a band from Montana to South Dakota to Iowa and into northern Illinois where 1 to 4 inches of snow will be possible.
Chicago could get snow on Saturday in the afternoon until the late evening with an inch of two possible in the region as snow becomes widespread across northern Indiana, much of central and northern Ohio and southern Michigan.
On Sunday morning, more snow will push through the Northeast but is expected to end midday or in the afternoon as accumulation totals could be up to 2 inches in some areas along the coast.
Meanwhile next week, snow could form over the Midwest from Iowa and Missouri through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, before reaching the mid-Atlantic midday or in the afternoon on Monday.
There is also a chance for snow across the mid-Atlantic Monday with Washington D.C. and Baltimore possibly seeing a few inches of accumulating snow.
Another system on Tuesday night and Wednesday could bring rain and snow to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, depending on temperatures.
