"The Talk of the Town"
(NEW YORK) — The Atlantic on Wednesday published a new article detailing purported information about recent American strikes in Yemen it says was accidentally shared with a journalist via Signal by senior members of President Donald Trump’s National Security Council.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.
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(NEW YORK) — A man has been arrested in a woman’s 1979 cold case murder after investigators used genetic genealogy to zero in on his identity, police in Maryland announced.
On March 3, 1979, the body of 31-year-old secretary Kathryn Donohue was discovered in a parking lot in Glenarden, Maryland, the Prince George’s County Police Department said.
The Arlington, Virginia, resident was beaten, raped and killed in a “brutal murder,” Bill DelBagno, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office, said during a news conference on Tuesday.
No suspects were identified and the case went unsolved for decades, leaving Donohue’s family waiting for answers, authorities said.
But police said DNA was left on her body.
In 2024, police said they identified a relative of the suspect through genetic genealogy, an investigative tool in which the unknown DNA from the crime scene is identified by comparing it to family members who voluntarily submit DNA samples to a database.
“Additional investigation ultimately led” police to identify the suspect as Rodger Zodas Brown, who lived in Prince George’s County at the time of the murder, police said.
Brown, now 82, was arrested last week at his home in Pinehurst, North Carolina, police said. He was “solemn,” “cold” and showed “no reaction” when he was arrested, police said.
There’s no apparent connection between Donohue and Brown, police said.
Brown was charged with first-degree murder, rape and related charges. He’s in custody in North Carolina awaiting extradition to Maryland, police said. It wasn’t immediately clear if Brown had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
In a statement released by police, Donohue’s family thanked the investigators, saying their “relentless pursuit of the truth” “has finally given us a sense of closure that we never thought possible after all this time.”
“This case serves as a reminder that we will never give up seeking the truth no matter how much time has passed,” Prince George’s County Police Chief Malik Aziz said.
The investigation remains active. Police asked anyone with information to call the department at 301-516-2512.
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(NEW YORK) — Attorney General Pam Bondi called the recent spate of arson attacks and vandalism against Tesla vehicles “nothing short of domestic terrorism” and promised harsh punishments for perpetrators if they are caught.
The White House also weighed in on the recent attacks Wednesday, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt calling the vandalisms “despicable.”
“Democrats were big supporters of Tesla and of electric vehicles until Elon Musk decided to vote for Donald Trump. So we would like Democrats to also come out and condemn this heinous violence that we have seen,” Leavitt said.
The statements from Bondi and Leavitt came after the latest incident in which five Tesla vehicles were damaged when a fire was started at a Tesla Collision Center in Las Vegas on Tuesday morning. That was the latest in a wave of incidents aimed at the electric vehicle company, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
“This was a targeted attack against a Tesla facility,” said Dori Koren, assistant sheriff for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Along with the burning vehicles, officials said the word “RESIST” was spray-painted across the doors of the facility and three rounds of shots were fired at the additional Teslas. The suspect approached the business wearing black clothing and is believed to have used Molotov cocktails and a firearm to conduct his attack, police said.
Officials received notice that an individual had “set several vehicles on fire in the parking lot and caused damage to the property.”
Police and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force are investigating this incident, which they believe was an isolated attack. Authorities are still searching for a suspect.
Two Tesla Cybertrucks also caught on fire at a dealership in Kansas City, Missouri, on Monday evening, according to the Kansas City Police Department.
Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations have been vandalized, suffered arson and faced protests in recent weeks since the company’s CEO Elon Musk began his work at the White House spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
In the statement Tuesday, Bondi said, “The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism.” In some of the cases, she said the Justice Department is charging perpetrators with crimes that carry five-year mandatory minimum sentences.
“We will continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes,” she said in the statement.
In the Kansas incident, a police officer in the area spotted smoke coming from one Cybertruck at a Tesla dealership on State Line Road shortly before midnight. The officer attempted to put out the flames using a fire extinguisher, but the fire spread to a second Cybertruck parked next to the original one, police said.
The Kansas City Fire Department ordered the bomb and arson unit to assist on the scene, the fire department said. Officials were able to put out the flames and the vehicles were “covered with a fire blanket to prevent reignition,” the fire department said.
“The circumstances are under investigation but preliminarily the fire is being investigated for the potential of being an arson,” police said in a statement on Monday.
There have been no arrests made for this incident, police said. The FBI is assisting the Kansas City Police Department in this investigation.
This follows a spree of similar incidents that have occurred across the country in the last few weeks.
Last week, “more than a dozen” shots were fired at a Tesla dealership in Tigard, Oregon, according to Kelsey Anderson, the public information officer at the Tigard Police Department.
Additionally, three Teslas were vandalized in Dedham, Massachusetts on March 11, according to the Dedham Police Department. Officials said “words had been spray-painted” on two Tesla Cybertrucks, with all four tires of the trucks and a Tesla Model S being “reportedly damaged.”
Earlier this month, a Tesla charging station was targeted in South Carolina, where an individual spray-painted an expletive directed at President Trump along with “LONG LIVE UKRAINE” on the ground in red paint and threw homemade Molotov cocktails at the station, according to the North Charleston Police Department.
Federal ATF agents arrested 24-year-old Daniel Clarke-Pounder in that incident, charging him with arson of property in interstate commerce.
During a search of his apartment, agents said they found a purple composition notebook that contained a three-page handwritten statement which asserted anti-government beliefs and statements opposed to DOGE.
“The statement made mention of sending a message based on these beliefs and was signed with the initials ‘DC,'” court records said.
Protests against the company have also occurred at dealerships nationwide. Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs told ABC News the demonstrations and the company’s plummeting stocks — which have tumbled nearly 48% this year — can all “be tied to [Musk’s] time at DOGE.”
“It has been a distraction for the company and it’s been a problem for the brand,” Frerichs said.
In recent weeks, four top officers at the company have sold off $100 million in stock, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Musk, the owner of X, said on Monday that his companies “make great products that people love and I’ve never physically hurt anyone, so why the hate and violence against me?”
“Because I am a deadly threat to the woke mind parasite and the humans it controls,” Musk said on X.
Musk has also reposted reactions that criticized previous Tesla attacks, including one that said those responsible for the Las Vegas attack are “terrorists and should be treated accordingly.”
A spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
ABC News’ Jack Moore and Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
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(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department is in the midst of an urgent and chaotic effort to review sensitive materials from the FBI investigation into the convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, with Attorney General Pam Bondi pushing the FBI and her own department to release more files from the case amid continued pressure from President Donald Trump’s supporters, multiple sources told ABC News.
As many as a thousand FBI agents, many of whom are usually focusing on national security matters, have been enlisted to help with the effort, sources said.
The push comes two weeks after Bondi handed out binders with Epstein case files to pro-Trump social media influencers at the White House — files that ultimately contained little new information. The move caught White House officials off guard and outraged some supporters of the president, who had been promised that more details would be made public. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded that “everyone is working together as one unified team at the direction of President Trump.”
In tense private exchanges earlier this week, Bondi pressed FBI Director Kash Patel to do more to release still-secret information from the case involving one of the most infamous sex-trafficking criminals in modern history, sources said.
Justice Department officials have made it clear to others throughout the Trump administration that it is now a top priority of the attorney general to sort through the materials related to Epstein and decide what can be publicly disclosed in the days ahead, sources said, and FBI agents have been told to expect to work on this into the early morning hours.
Sources tell ABC News that the Justice Department’s national security division is devoting many of their resources to the effort, despite some top law enforcement officials believing that the information Bondi is demanding be reviewed contains no new revelations.
The all-hands-on-deck effort to expedite the release of additional material has led to a growing rift between officials at the FBI and DOJ, sources said, as both have faced online backlash from vocal MAGA over the Trump administration’s handling of the files.
In a statement, a DOJ spokesperson told ABC News, “Under Attorney General Bondi’s leadership, the Department of Justice is working relentlessly to deliver unprecedented transparency for the American people.”
The White House referred ABC News to the DOJ’s response.
“Director Patel is committed to full transparency and justice, swiftly delivering documents to the DOJ,” FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson told ABC News in a statement. “He has complete faith in Attorney General Pam Bondi’s leadership and dedication to holding the powerful accountable.”
Among the material under consideration for release is previously undisclosed video evidence from the sex-trafficking investigation into Epstein, sources said, adding that the DOJ has not yet made a final decision on that matter.
Authorities may also be reviewing materials detailed in a document released earlier this month that the Justice Department is calling “Evidence List,” a three-page catalog of material apparently obtained through searches of Epstein’s properties in New York, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Among the items investigators obtained, according to the document, is “one CD labelled ‘girl pics nude book 4’ and a folder titled “LSJ logbook,” which appears to be a reference to Epstein’s private island Little St. James.
The document also lists dozens of recording devices, computers, hard drives and memory sticks, along with various sexual paraphernalia.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while facing federal child sex trafficking charges. The well-connected financier, who owned a private island estate in the U.S. Virgin Islands, has long been rumored to have kept a “client list” of celebrities and politicians, which right-wing influencers have baselessly accused authorities of hiding. Multiple sources familiar with both civil and criminal cases against Epstein say no such list has been discovered.
In an interview last week, Bondi was asked about the increasing pressure from Trump’s base to release more files, and confirmed that the department was working to make them public.
“The MAGA group is mad that we don’t know more about the Epstein files … are you going to give us any more information?” Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo asked the attorney general.
Bondi responded that FBI Director Kash Patel was working on providing the DOJ with a timeline for the next document release.
“We will get out as much as we can, as fast as we can to the American people,” she said.
ABC News previously reported that Bondi faced backlash from the White House and Trump allies over her handling of the initial Epstein file release earlier this month.
During a White House event with pro-Trump social media influencers, Bondi distributed binders labeled “Epstein Files: Phase 1,” catching senior White House officials off guard. The materials contained mostly previously public records, sparking outrage from some of Trump’s supporters, including far-right activist Laura Loomer, who slammed the release as “unprofessional” and untrustworthy.
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