Explosives thrown outside NYC mayor’s residence probed as ‘act of ISIS-inspired terrorism’: Officials
A man is arrested after throwing a hand-made smoke grenade at a protest near Gracie Mansion, on March 7, 2026, in New York. (Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Two improvised explosive devices brought to a counterprotest outside Gracie Mansion in New York City are being investigated as “an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism,” and the two suspects arrested in connection with the incident are facing federal terrorism charges, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday.
The devices contained the volatile substance TATP and were made to “injure, maim or worse,” Tisch said of Saturday’s incident.
“These were not hoax devices or smoke bombs. They were improvised explosive devices,” Tisch said during a news conference outside Gracie Mansion with New York City Mayor Zohran Mandami, the city’s first Muslim mayor.
Tisch said a third suspected IED was found in the car of the two suspects parked on the East Side of Manhattan, prompting an immediate evacuation of homes in the area. She said the device did not test positive for explosives.
All of the devices are being sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for additional testing, Tisch said.
Two Pennsylvania men who are in custody in connection with the devices will be charged with federal crimes, Tisch said. The complaint has not yet been unsealed.
The suspects were identified as Emir Balat of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and Ibrahim Kayumi of Newton, Pennsylvania, Tisch said.
“They’re suspected of coming here to commit an act of terrorism,” Mamdani said. “Anyone who comes to NYC to bring violence to our streets will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
The explosives were deployed at an anti-Muslim protest outside Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s residence, that was organized by far-right, anti-immigrant provocateur Jack Lang, officials said. The event was called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City.”
The measles virus. (BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
(SOUTH CAROLINA) — The record-breaking measles outbreak in South Carolina continues to grow with 89 new cases reported since the last update on Friday.
This brings the total number of cases in the outbreak to 789.
At least 557 people are currently in quarantine across the state, including students from various schools.
This is South Carolina’s largest measles outbreak in over 30 years, a spokesperson for the state’s health department told ABC News.
There have been at least 416 confirmed measles cases across the United States so far this year, the latest CDC data shows.
CDC data shows that the majority of cases occur among people under 19. About 2% of all measles cases in the U.S. have been hospitalized.
Dr. Kristin Moffitt, an infectious diseases physician at Boston Children’s Hospital, previously told ABC News she is “very alarmed” by the increase in measles cases in the U.S. over the last year or two.
“I’m very worried about our current year already,” she told ABC News. “Exceeding 2,000 cases in the last year is indeed alarming [and] … I am worried that even our current year is off to a very concerning start.”
Moffitt said that declining vaccination rates across the U.S. are behind the recent increase in measles cases.
“This is entirely due to declining vaccination rates,” she said. “It’s very clear based on where these outbreaks are occurring.”
The CDC currently recommends that people receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective against measles, the CDC says.
However, federal data shows vaccination rates have been lagging in recent years. During the 2024-2025 school year, 92.5% of kindergartners received the MMR vaccine, according to data. This is lower than the 92.7% seen in the previous school year and the 95.2% seen in the 2019-2020 school year, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The national trends mirror those see in counties across the U.S. A recent map from ABC News — a collaboration with researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard School of Medicine and Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai that allows people to type in their ZIP code and see the measles risk in their area — found a wide range of risks in areas across the U.S.
Some counties and ZIP codes fell into the “lowest risk,” with 85% or more of children under 5 years old receiving one or more measles vaccine dose to “very high risk,” with fewer than 60% of children under age 5 receiving one or more measles vaccine doses.
ABC News’ Mary Kekatos and Dr. Richard Zhang contributed to this report.
In this handout, the mug shot of Jeffrey Epstein, 2019. (Kypros/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Friday released another batch of photographs obtained from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, including some never-before-seen images of Epstein with famous men whose connections to the deceased sex offender have previously been reported.
The disclosure by the committee Democrats includes images of Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Woody Allen, Bill Gates, Steve Bannon, former Prince Andrew and billionaire Richard Branson, among others.
The context, time frame and location of the photographs are unclear.
“These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif, the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee. “We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW.”
The 19 photos made public are from a cache of more than 95,000 photos turned over to the committee by the Epstein estate in response to a subpoena, the committee Democrats said in a press release.
Other images under review by the committee include thousands of photos of women and Epstein properties, according to the release.
The images come from the hard drive of one of Epstein’s personal computers and one of his email accounts, according to the committee Democrats.
The disclosure includes a rare image of Bill Clinton with both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. In the photo a smiling Clinton stands in the middle of a group of five people, with Maxwell and Epstein on the right and another unidentified woman and man on the left. The photo includes what appears to be Clinton’s signature.
Vanity Fair magazine previously published an image of Epstein with Clinton that was said to be taken aboard Epstein’s jet in 2002. That photo was credited by the magazine to one of Epstein’s assistants. Epstein and Maxwell were previously seen greeting then-President Clinton in a 1993 photo at a White House event for donors to the nonprofit White House Historical Association. That picture was found in the archives at the Clinton Presidential Library.
Three of the photos show Donald Trump, though Epstein himself appears in only one. That picture appears to be from a 1997 Victoria’s Secret event in New York, and shows Epstein next to Trump as he talks with one of the models at the event. Other photos from that party have been public for years.
Another photo shows Trump seated on an airplane next to a woman -apparently and adult — whose face is covered with a black box. In the third photo, a black and white image shows Trump in the center of a photo with six women, who all appear to be adults and whose faces are also redacted. That image appears to be from a public event, though the location and timeframe are not known.
A spokesperson for the Republican majority on the House Oversight Committee criticized the Democrats’ for “cherry-picking” photos to malign President Trump.
“Once again, Ranking Member Robert Garcia and Oversight Committee Democrats are cherry-picking photos and making targeted redactions to create a false narrative about President Trump,” the spokesperson said. “We received over 95,000 photos and Democrats released just a handful. Democrats’ hoax against President Trump has been completely debunked. Nothing in the documents we’ve received shows any wrongdoing. It is shameful Rep. Garcia and Democrats continue to put politics above justice for the survivors.”
Among the famous men pictured with Epstein in the newly disclosed photos are titans of Hollywood, business, academia and politics.
Appearance of these men in the photos is not evidence of wrongdoing.
In one image, a casually-dressed Epstein is seen chatting with director Woody Allen on what looks like a film set. Allen sits in a director’s chair peering intently at Epstein who appears to be looking at a video monitor.
Allen appears in three other photos: aboard an airplane with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and his wife, seated at a table with Epstein and a woman whose face is covered with a black box, and chatting with political strategist Steve Bannon, who worked for President Trump during his first administration.
There’s a selfie photo of Bannon with Epstein, apparently taken by Epstein on a mobile phone as the pair stand in front of a mirror, and another of Bannon sitting across from Epstein at a desk.
Billionaire Richard Branson appears in one image, seated outdoors with another man with Epstein standing behind. The smiling men appear to be sharing a chuckle as Branson holds up a page from a notebook. A large black box covers whatever it is that is on the notebook page.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates is shown in two photos, though Epstein is not present in either. One photo shows Gates with the former Prince Andrew, both in suit and tie, gazing at each other in a dark paneled room with other people in the background. Another shows Gates standing next to Larry Visoski, Epstein’s longtime private pilot, beside what appears to be Epstein’s black Gulfstream jet. Gates, in a gray pullover sweater, has books under his arm and a leather briefcase in his hand.
The disclosure by the House Democrats also includes three photos depicting apparent sexual paraphernalia; no people are in those images and the context of the images is unclear.
Another image shows what appears to be a joke or a novelty gift item, a likeness of Trump on what appears to be a condom wrapper that says, “I’m HUUUUGE!”
“Trump Condom, $4.50, FINALLY,” reads a handwritten sign.
New York Attorney General Letitia James stands silently during a press conference on October 21, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The nationwide fight over the Trump Administration’s top prosecutors moves to an Albany courtroom this morning, when a federal judge hears arguments about whether Acting U.S. Attorney John Sarcone has the authority to act as Northern New York’s chief law enforcement officer.
New York Attorney General Letitia James began the legal fight against Sarcone after the Federal Bureau of Investigation served two grand jury subpoenas to her office for documents related to the civil cases against the Trump Organization and National Rifle Association.
The oral arguments over the legitimacy of the subpoenas and criminal investigation comes one week after a judge in Virginia dismissed a criminal mortgage fraud case against James over issues with the appointment of Trump’s handpicked prosecutor.
Lawyers for the attorney general’s office argue that the subpoenas and ongoing criminal investigations are a “flagrant abuse of the criminal justice system” to punish James’ office for bringing cases against the president, his business and his allies.
“The Executive Branch seeks to transform a personal grievance, which failed as civil claims, into a federal criminal prosecution—a plain and calculated campaign to harass a law enforcement agency that held Mr. Trump and his organization to account,” attorneys wrote in a motion to quash the subpoenas.
Last year, James won a half-billion-dollar penalty against Trump for inflating his net worth to secure better business deals, but a state appeals court vacated the financial penalty when it upheld the ruling earlier this year. According to court filings, a grand jury in Albany issued two subpoenas in August to the office to turn over any documents or records related to both cases to the Justice Department.
James’s office moved to quash both the subpoenas in August by arguing the subpoenas were issued in bad faith, lacked a legitimate legal basis, violated state sovereignty, infringed on First Amendment protections and were issued by an unlawfully appointed federal prosecutor.
“The U.S. Department of Justice asks this Court to treat this as an ordinary case. It portrays the subpoenas as routine. And it recites the usual standards governing grand jury investigations — while trying to ignore and trying to convince this Court to ignore the extraordinary reality before it, that these subpoenas are a flagrant abuse of the criminal justice system, even by this President’s standards,” lawyers for the office wrote.
Prosecutors with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York have defended the subpoenas by arguing that the grand jury has vast power to investigate James because she allegedly “repeatedly promised to investigate, prosecute and sue the NRA and President Trump.”
“The challenged subpoenas … were issued by a validly empaneled grand jury in the Northern District of New York, which is entitled to investigate whether Attorney General Letitia James — alone or in concert with others — violated federal law by selectively pursuing the NYOAG Lawsuits against the NRA and President Trump when other similarly situated entities and individuals went unpursued,” prosecutors wrote.
The legal fight took on an added significance in recent months as the Trump administration’s policy of circumventing the Senate confirmation process for many of its U.S. attorneys has been scrutinized and rejected by federal judges.
A federal judge recently dismissed criminal cases against James and former FBI Director James Comey because the president’s handpicked prosecutor lacked the authority to bring the cases, and a federal appeals court unanimously upheld a decision on Monday disqualifying Alina Habba as the U.S. attorney in New Jersey.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield — a judge in the Southern District of New York overseeing the case after Northern District judges recused themselves — narrowed the purpose of today’s hearing to the sole question of whether Sarcone’s allegedly unlawful appointment invalidates the subpoenas.
Sarcone has functioned as the Acting U.S. attorney in Northern New York, but a panel of judges in July refused to permanently appoint him to lead the office following his controversial interim tenure. In response, Attorney General Pam Bondi named him as a “special attorney to the attorney general” who can indefinitely serve as northern New York’s top federal prosecutor.
Similar legal standoffs have sprouted across the country over the last few months, as federal courts have disqualified the U.S. attorneys in Nevada, California, and New Jersey. In each case, the Trump administration’s original picks to lead the office have remained in charge, bucking the long-standing practice of having the Senate confirm the president’s picks for the positions.
