FAA bans US flights to Haiti for 30 days after planes struck by gunfire

(WASHINGTON) — A federal appeals court has granted Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request to pause his appeal of President-elect Donald Trump’s classified documents case until Dec. 2.

Smith asked for a delay earlier this week to assess the “unprecedented circumstance” of Trump’s election and impending presidential inauguration.

The move is part of Smith’s winding down of his two cases against Trump — the classified documents case and the federal election interference case — due to longstanding Department of Justice policy that prohibits a sitting president from facing criminal prosecution while in office.

“As a result of the election held on November 5, 2024, one of the defendants in this case, Donald J. Trump, is expected to be certified as President-elect on January 6, 2025, and inaugurated on January 20, 2025,” the filing said.

Smith asked to hold the appeal in abeyance and push the next filing deadline until Dec. 2 “to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy.”

Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back.

Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed the case against Trump and his co-defendants this summer, ruling that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional because he was not appointed by the president or confirmed by Congress.

Prosecutors then appealed that decision to the Atlanta-based United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

The judge in Trump’s federal election interference case paused all upcoming deadlines last week, following a request from Smith. Trump pleaded not guilty and denied all wrongdoing in that case.

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(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a request from Mark Meadows, the one-time chief of staff to former President Donald Trump, to move his Georgia election interference case into federal court.

Meadows was charged alongside Trump and 18 others last year in the Fulton County racketeering case over their alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state. Meadows and the others pleaded not guilty to all charges, and four defendants subsequently took plea deals.

Meadows for months has sought to move his case into federal court based on a law that calls for the removal of criminal proceedings when someone is charged for actions they allegedly took as a federal official acting “under color” of their office.

Meadows had argued to the Supreme Court that a lower court erred when it rejected Meadows’ request to move the case out of state court and into federal court, in part by pointing to the court’s recent landmark ruling granting Trump some immunity for official acts.

“Just as immunity protection for former officers is critical to ensuring that current and future officers are not deterred from enthusiastic service, so too is the promise of a federal forum in which to litigate that defense,” the 47-page filing states.

Both a lower court and appeals court have rejected that claim, with one judge writing that Meadows’ actions charged in the indictment “were taken on behalf of the Trump campaign” and were not his official duties.

The Fulton County election interference case is largely on pause pending an appeal of ruling that allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case after Judge Scott McAfee declined to disqualify her due to a “significant appearance of impropriety” stemming from a romantic relationship between her and a prosecutor on her staff.

A spokesperson for the DA’s office recently declined to comment when asked by ABC News for their views on the future of the case, given Trump’s reelection last week.

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(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York on Thursday raised the possibility of holding Rudy Giuliani in contempt if he fails to turn over property by next week to the two Georgia poll workers he defamed after the 2020 election.

A 90-minute hearing devolved into what the judge called “griping” after a lawyer for former election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss accused Giuliani of “game playing” and an attorney for Giuliani accused the two women of being “vindictive.”

A federal jury last year ordered Giuliani to pay Freeman and Moss nearly $150 million for defaming them with false accusations that the mother and daughter committed election fraud while the two were counting ballots in Georgia’s Fulton County on Election Day in 2020.

Earlier this week, Freeman and Moss’ attorney claimed that Giuliani had “secreted away” his property after the receivership controlled by the two election workers accessed Giuliani’s apartment, only to find it virtually empty.

The former New York City mayor was given a Nov. 14 deadline to turn over the shares in his Upper East Side co-op apartment, valuable sports memorabilia, a Mercedes-Benz convertible, and luxury watches — including one that belonged to Giuliani’s grandfather.

When defense lawyer Ken Caruso complained that forcing Giuliani to relinquish his grandfather’s watch was “vindictive,” an exasperated Judge Lewis Liman said, “Oh come on!”

“The law is the law and I don’t apply it differently to your client,” Liman said. “Don’t come to me and say something is vindictive.”

The judge was equally unmoved by the defense argument that Giuliani’s car, a blue Mercedes-Benz convertible once owned by the actress Lauren Bacall, was exempt from the judgment because it’s worth less than $4,000.

“Monday the title and keys will be delivered as well as the physical location of the car,” Judge Liman said.

Giuliani also balked at relinquishing about $2 million dollars he is owed for legal worked performed for Donald Trump.

“They wanted that money to make a political statement,” Caruso said.

Liman did not budge and reminded Giuliani of the consequences.

“He is under an unqualified order to deliver all the receivership property to the receiver,” Liman said. “If he doesn’t comply then I’m sure I’ll get a motion for contempt. If he hasn’t delivered, and there is a way in which he could have delivered, he’ll be subject to contempt sanctions.”

Outside court, Giuliani accused Freeman and Moss of bringing a “political vendetta” that was “financed by the Bidens.”

When ABC News asked whether he regretted defaming Freeman and Moss, Giuliani answered “No” before his lawyer stepped in to say the case was on appeal.

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