Due to security concerns, Trump likely won’t golf again until after election: Sources
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump has not played golf since the apparent assassination attempt near one of his courses last month, and is not expected to hit the golf course again until a new security plan is in place — which sources tell ABC News is not expected to be in effect until after the election.
The Secret Service had previously expressed its concern to Trump over his golfing and told him during a briefing last month that additional planning and security procedures are needed for him to be able to continue his golf outings.
Trump, who owns several golf courses, typically plays on a regular basis.
Asked about the development, a Secret Service spokesperson referred questions to the Trump campaign.
“Since the attempted assassination of former President Trump on July 13, the U.S. Secret Service has made comprehensive changes and enhancements to our communications capabilities, resourcing, and protective operations,” said Secret Service Chief of Communications Anthony Guglielmi. “Today, the former President is receiving heightened protection and we take the responsibility to ensure his safety and security very seriously.”
Ryan Routh, 58, pleaded not guilty on Sept. 30 to federal charges in connection with an alleged attempt to assassinate Trump at the former president’s golf club in Florida. On the day of the alleged attempted assassination, Trump was playing golf on the course when a Secret Service agent spotted a gun barrel poking out from the tree line near the sixth green, according to investigators.
Routh fled after the agent fired in his direction, and was subsequently apprehended. Trump was not harmed in the incident.
(NEW YORK) — Two now-retired chiefs from the New York City Fire Department were arrested early Monday morning following a yearlong corruption investigation, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Retired Chief Brian Cordasco was arrested at home on Staten Island. Retired Chief Anthony Saccavino was arrested at home in Manhattan, the sources said.
Saccavino and Cordasco “repeatedly abused their positions of trust as high-ranking officials in the New York City Fire Department” by soliciting and accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribe payments in exchange for providing preferential treatment to certain individuals and companies, according to an indictment unsealed Monday in Manhattan federal court.
The two men were chiefs with the FDNY Bureau of Fire Prevention, which regulates the installation of fire safety and suppression systems in commercial and residential buildings. For nearly two years, the indictment said, Saccavino and Cordasco misused this authority for their own financial gain.
The two allegedly accepted $190,000 in bribes in exchange for expediting inspections, according to the indictment.
“Every member of the FDNY takes a sworn oath to conduct themselves honestly and ethically. Anything less will not be tolerated,” Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker, who took over the post after the chiefs had already retired, said in a statement. “The Department will fully cooperate with any ongoing investigations. Keeping New Yorkers safe remains our top priority.”
The FBI had searched their homes and offices earlier this year. he FDNY placed the chiefs on modified duty at the time. The New York City Department of Investigation searched FDNY headquarters as well.
The alleged scheme appears to have been discovered as an offshoot of the investigation into whether Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign took illegal money from Turkey in exchange for expediting the inspection of the new Turkish consulate.
A spokesperson for Adams said there is “no indication of any direct connection to anyone at City Hall.”
“City Hall became aware of this operation when we were notified by FDNY this morning,” the spokesperson said. “The FDNY continues to cooperate with DOI, and there is no indication of any direct connection to anyone at City Hall.”
Cordasco publicly complained about a so-called “City Hall List” of building projects that should be prioritized by FDNY inspectors, according to the indictment.
(HOUSTON) — A murder charge has been filed against a 35-year-old driver police allege struck and killed an innocent bystander on a sidewalk in Houston over the weekend while attempting to mow down his domestic partner.
Sanden James George was identified Monday evening by the Houston Police Department as the suspect arrested in a deadly crash near downtown Houston early Sunday morning.
George was charged with murder in the killing of a 41-year-old nightclub manager whom he allegedly struck with a car while attempting to run over his domestic partner, police said.
“An initial investigation, evidence from the scene, and witness statements determined a male suspect got into a physical altercation with a woman, 24, before attempting to intentionally strike her with his vehicle. She was not seriously injured. The suspect’s vehicle struck another woman and he fled on foot,” Houston police said in a statement.
The woman who was killed, whose name is pending verification by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, was pronounced dead at the scene by Houston Fire Department paramedics.
In addition to murder, George was charged with assault of his partner, police said.
The incident unfolded around 3 a.m. after patrol officers in the city’s Midtown area responded to a report of a pedestrian being hit by a car, according to Houston homicide detectives.
“It’s my understanding that the victim, the decedent, was actually the manager of one of the nightclubs and was preparing to go home,” Robert Klementich, a spokesperson for the Houston Police Department, said during a news conference Sunday.
Witnesses, including the alleged intended target, told police the suspect and his domestic partner were involved in an altercation at a nightclub and left the establishment, Klementich said.
Upon leaving the nightclub, George allegedly got into his car and started driving around crashing into multiple vehicles, Klementich said.
George’s domestic partner alleged to investigators that the suspect intended to strike her with the vehicle when he hit the innocent bystander, Klementich said.
“She was able to get out of the way,” Klementich said of the suspect’s companion. “Unfortunately, an innocent bystander who was walking on the sidewalk was struck by the suspect’s vehicle.”
George allegedly fled the scene on foot, but police found him in the area with the help of witnesses and took him into custody, according to homicide investigators. George was taken to a hospital and treated for minor injuries before being booked at the Harris County Jail, authorities said.
(NEW YORK) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency for the Southern California city of Rancho Palos Verdes, where a landslide has threatened homes and caused the local utility provider to cut off electricity and gas to 245 residences due to broken pipes and power lines causing hazards.
On Tuesday afternoon, Newsom issued the declaration for the Los Angeles city community after local elected leaders held a news conference over the weekend and repeated their request that he act.
The governor said in a statement that the city is located on four out of five sub-slides that comprise the Greater Portuguese Landslide Complex. He said land movement in parts of the complex has “significantly accelerated following severe storms in 2023 and 2024.”
The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said it has been coordinating with the city and county for nearly a year to support the response to the landslide, including providing technical assistance, supporting the local assistance center, facilitating a federal mitigation grant for groundwater work in the area and helping officials with initial damage estimates.
The governor’s decision came just hours before residents and local leaders held a meeting to discuss the growing crisis with utility officials.
“We can not predict how much the slide will accelerate in the coming weeks and months,” Larry Chung, vice president of Southern California Edison (SCE), said during the meeting Tuesday evening.
Residents in the growing landslide zone, which has spread about 680 acres over the past year, have been advised to leave the area after SCE shut off power to 245 homes on Sunday and Monday and said many of them will be without electricity and gas indefinitely.
Chung maintained during the meeting that there is “no timeframe” for power restoration in the impacted areas due to the instability of the land.
“The safety of the community members and crews remains our highest priority,” he added.
In January, Sallie Reeves told ABC News that she began noticing little cracks in the walls and floors of her Rancho Palos Verdes home of four decades. But by Tuesday, those cracks had turned into a widening fissure running through her home, wrecking room after room as the earth has been moving under her house at what she estimates is 12 inches a week.
Like Reeves, residents in the oceanfront community have been coping with a landslide crisis that is making their homes uninhabitable.
“This just kept getting worse, and we had animals coming in,” the 81-year-old Reeves told ABC News, pointing to where her home has split in half, exposing her master bedroom to the outdoors.
“This has been a hard pill to swallow,” Reeves told ABC News, adding that her husband is disabled.
She said she and her husband have had to move out of their master bedroom after damage to their roof caused a leak so bad she said it was as if “someone just turned a hose on our bed.”
Over the last four months, she said things have worsened as parts of her ceiling have collapsed, and a space between her outdoor deck and home has widened to about 18 inches. Reeves said she and her husband began sleeping in their living room until the landslide made it uninhabitable. She said now they’ve moved to a rear bedroom.
Rancho Palos Verdes is located about 30 miles south of Los Angeles.
“There is no playbook for an emergency like this one,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who represents the area, said at a news conference Sunday. “We’re sparing no expense. This is bigger than Rancho Palos Verdes. This land movement is so gigantic and so damaging that one city should not have to bear the burden alone.”
Hahn said the county has committed $5 million to respond to the disaster.
Officials said the shifting land has caused water and gas pipes to leak, and the city has been forced to red-tag at least two homes made uninhabitable by damage.
“Yes, this landslide has been moving for decades, but the acceleration that’s happening currently is beyond what any of us could have foretold, and it demands more response from the state, more response from the federal government,” Hahn said.
Evacuation warnings have been issued for part of the city. However, residents like Reeves said they are not leaving their homes.
“When people say, ‘Why don’t you just go someplace?’ I can’t take him just someplace,” Reeves said of her disabled husband, who is also in his 80s. “I can’t go to a hotel. He can’t get in the beds. I’m his 24-hour care.”
Reeves said she is working with a contractor on plans to lift her home and build a steel foundation that will sit on cribbing, repairs she expects will be out-of-pocket expenses.
“I would be thrilled to show Gavin Newsom my house because I’m not the only one that lives like this,” Reeves said. “This is what Mother Nature is doing.”