Talk of the Town
(WASHINGTON) — The FBI disrupted an alleged plot targeting the “UFC Freedom 250” fight at the White House, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.
Five people were arrested and were in custody as of Tuesday morning, according to sources.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(NEW YORK) — For the first time, the public can see the full body camera footage of Luigi Mangione’s arrest and his subsequent strip search at the Altoona Police Department in Pennsylvania.
The footage was released Friday after news outlets, including ABC News, petitioned the court.
Mangione was taken into custody in Altoona in December 2024, days after the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan. The video includes the search of Mangione’s bag when he was apprehended at an Altoona McDonald’s, the retrieval of the murder weapon and Mangione’s transport in a squad car.
This is the first time most of the footage has been seen outside court, including a redacted version of Mangione’s strip search.
The video included much of what was played during a three-week evidentiary hearing when defense attorneys argued the evidence should be suppressed. The judge decided much of it could be used but kept it under seal.
In August, Mangione pleaded guilty to two federal stalking counts in connection with Thompson’s killing, and now the Manhattan district attorney’s office is facing a deadline later this month to respond to Mangione’s motion to dismiss the state indictment against him.
Mangione admitted to the crime in federal court in August, saying, “I used a 3-D printer to make part of a gun, and I equipped the gun with the silencer and the magazine.”
“I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died,” he said, adding, “I knew what I was doing was illegal.”
Mangione’s sentencing in the federal case is set for Dec. 18.
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(NEW YORK) — A legal advocacy group has asked the New York bar to investigate Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for potential violations stemming from his role in the prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
The letter, from the Campaign for Accountability, was sent days after the federal judge overseeing the human smuggling case against Abrego Garcia dismissed the indictment, citing a “tainted investigation” by Blanche.
“The objective evidence here shows that, absent Abrego’s successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the Government would not have brought this prosecution,” U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw wrote in his ruling on Friday.
Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March of last year to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which he denies.
He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, after which U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis released him from ICE detention while he was awaiting trial.
Judge Crenshaw, in his decision Friday, wrote that the timing of a DHS agent’s decision to reopen a closed investigation of a November 2022 traffic stop, as well as “now unrebutted public statements tying the reopened investigation” to Abrego Garcia’s successful lawsuit “taints the investigation with a vindictive motive.”
The criminal charges in Tennessee stem from a 2022 traffic stop that was disclosed in an April 2025 press release issued by the Department of Homeland Security, which said it had a “bombshell investigative report” regarding the stop, alleging that Abrego Garcia was a suspected human trafficker. The release included a screengrab of body camera video from the traffic stop.
“Instead of investigating the November 2022 traffic stop to identify who was responsible for the human smuggling, Blanche started the investigation to implicate Abrego,” Crenshaw wrote. “He did so to justify the Executive Branch’s decision to remove him to El Salvador.”
In its letter filed on Wednesday, the Campaign for Accountability said that Blanche may have violated several rules within the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, including “prohibiting dishonesty, conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, and the use of criminal charges to gain an advantage in a civil matter.”
“A federal judge found that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche personally launched a criminal prosecution not to enforce the law, but to provide cover for the administration after Mr. Abrego Garcia fought against his illegal deportation to El Salvador where he was imprisoned in CECOT,” Campaign for Accountability Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith said in a statement. “It is imperative that the New York Bar hold Mr. Blanche accountable for his reprehensible conduct.”
A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Abrego Garcia was not charged or arrested during the traffic stop. Body camera footage showed Tennessee troopers — after questioning Abrego Garcia — discussing among themselves their suspicions of human trafficking because nine people were traveling in the vehicle without luggage.
A Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement following Crenshaw’s order, “Another activist judge has placed politics above public safety. The judge’s order is wrong and dangerous, and we will appeal.”
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(NEWARK, N.J.) — Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on Tuesday called for the immediate closure of Delaney Hall, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility that he and activists allege is housing detainees in poor living conditions and without adequate medical care, and threatened to file suit if the facility remains open.
There is already a lawsuit against the GEO Group, the private company contracted by ICE to run the facility. However, the mayor and city leaders said that they will expand their litigation to call for the facility’s closure if state health inspectors aren’t given full access to the detention center.
Protests and an alleged hunger strike have been ongoing since May 22 after reports alleged the 300 inmates inside the ICE detention center have been poorly fed, are not receiving proper medical care and are being held in poor conditions.
Baraka said there was a report that alleged one of the inmates suffered a miscarriage and was not given proper care.
“It’s troubling, which forces us to expand our lawsuit against Delaney Hall” Baraka said at a news conference outside Delaney Hall.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has previously said that the reports of the poor conditions are untrue.
The federal government and the GEO Group did not have an immediate comment about Baraka’s announcement.
Several elected officials have visited the facility since the protests began and claimed they have seen the poor conditions first hand.
Federal and state law enforcement agents have clashed with protesters on numerous days, with federal officers in some instances firing tear gas and using batons.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill and other New Jersey Democrats have criticized the federal government for their response and actions against the protesters and have called on everyone to turn down the temperature.
A curfew was enforced outside the facility starting Sunday night.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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