Former CIA analyst pleads guilty to leaking Israeli retaliation plans
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(WASHINGTON) — A former CIA analyst arrested in November and charged with leaking highly classified records showing Israeli plans to launch a retaliatory strike on Iran pleaded guilty Friday in a federal court in Virginia.
Asif Rahman, 34, pleaded guilty to two counts of transmission of national defense information, according to court records.
Rahman faces up to 10 years in prison for the first count and up to three years for the second count. His sentencing was set for May 15.
Rahman admitted to accessing and printing out two documents regarding Israel’s retaliatory strike plans on Oct. 17 and transporting them to his residence, where he later uploaded images of them and provided them to “multiple individuals he knew were not entitled to receive them,” according to the plea agreement.
He later took various steps to try and conceal his involvement in the leak, even as authorities were able to track him down remarkably quickly given he was the only individual found to have printed out the documents, according to logs reviewed by investigators.
Rahman was arrested in Cambodia and later brought to Guam, according to the charging documents.
Rahman, a U.S. citizen, worked as an employee for the CIA starting in 2016.
In the days after the disclosure, Rahman deleted “approximately 1.5 gigabytes” of data from his personal folder in the Top Secret system, including scores of highly classified materials he had downloaded over the years — largely relating to the Middle East, according to prosecutors.
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory is already beginning to elicit requests from his supporters charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol for delays in their cases due to the potential they could be pardoned after Trump’s inauguration.
Attorneys for Christopher Carnell, a 21-year-old defendant from North Carolina who was found guilty earlier this year of felony and misdemeanor charges over his participation in the Capitol assault, requested that D.C. District Judge Beryl Howell delay a status hearing in his case scheduled for later this week, citing Trump’s past promises to pardon his supporters.
“Throughout his campaign, President-elect Trump made multiple clemency promises to the January 6 defendants, particularly to those who were nonviolent participants,” their filing said. “Mr. Carnell, who was an 18 year old nonviolent entrant into the Capitol on January 6, is expecting to be relieved of the criminal prosecution that he is currently facing when the new administration takes office.”
The filing further stated Carnell’s attorneys have reached out to Trump’s office to get further information “regarding the timing and expected scope of clemency actions relevant to his case.”
Federal prosecutors have charged more than 1,500 people across the country in the last four years over their roles in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, part of what the Justice Department has described as one of the largest criminal investigations in its history.
The D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office has continued to arrest individuals on a near-daily basis, many of whom have been charged with carrying out violent assaults on police protecting the building.
In addition to Trump’s promises to pardon many of those who participated in the attack, it’s widely expected the ongoing criminal investigation will be shuttered once Trump takes office.
(TIJUANA, MEXICO) — A 31-year-old man was arrested for allegedly trying to hijack a Mexican domestic commercial flight and reroute the aircraft to the U.S. Sunday morning, according to Mexican authorities and the airline, Volaris.
At some point after the flight took off this morning from León traveling to Tijuana, the Mexican man — identified by authorities only as Mario N — attacked a flight attendant and tried to storm the cockpit.
The plane was diverted to Guadalajara, where the Mexican National Guard arrested him.
It’s unclear the exact motive, but Mexico’s federal Department of Security said that airline personnel reported the man said that a close relative had been kidnapped and shortly before takeoff he received a death threat if he traveled to Tijuana.
The man was traveling with his wife and two children, Mexican authorities said.
Once the suspect was arrested in Guadalajara, the plane continued on to Tijuana without incident.
(NEW YORK) — Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is waiving extradition and will be transported to New York in short order.
Mangione was remanded to the custody of the NYPD, said his Pennsylvania defense attorney, Thomas Dickey.
“This is in his best interest, and we’re moving forward,” Dickey said.
A special edition of “20/20” airing Dec. 19 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC looks at the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the manhunt that led to the arrest of Luigi Mangione, who went from the Ivy League to alleged killer.
The news comes after Mangione appeared in court in Blair County, Pennsylvania, on Thursday morning.
Spectators gathered outside the Blair County courthouse on Thursday ahead of Mangione’s appearance.
One held a sign reading “Deny, Defend, Depose,” echoing the words written on shell casings and a bullet at the murder scene.
Adam Giesseman, who had a sign that said “Free Luigi” and “Murder for Profit is Terrorism,” told ABC News, “Our country is broken.”
Another waiting spectator, who only gave her first name, Natalie, voiced frustration that the insurance system is “set up for profit over people’s health.”
“It’s unfortunate that this happened, and I’m not glorifying it in any way — but it’s brought attention to the issue that affects all Americans,” she said.
Mangione faces an 11-count indictment by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and is also expected to face federal charges out of the Southern District of New York, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
SDNY and the FBI’s New York field office both declined to comment.
Federal charges could make Mangione eligible for the death penalty. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted of the state charges.
Mangione’s New York lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said in a statement, “The federal government’s reported decision to pile on top of an already overcharged first-degree murder and state terror case is highly unusual and raises serious constitutional and statutory double jeopardy concerns.”
“We are ready to fight these charges in whatever court they are brought,” Agnifilo added.
Danielle Filson, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, said, “The state case will proceed in parallel with any federal case.”
Mangione, 26, is accused of gunning down Thompson outside a Hilton hotel on Dec. 4 as the UnitedHealthcare CEO headed to an investors conference. Prosecutors alleged Mangione waited nearly an hour for Thompson to arrive.
A Manhattan grand jury upgraded charges against Mangione to include first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
The killing in the heart of Midtown Manhattan was “intended to evoke terror,” Bragg said.
In New York, Mangione is also charged with two counts of second-degree murder, one of which is charged as killing as an act of terrorism; two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree; four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree; one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree; and one count of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree.
In Pennsylvania, where Mangione was arrested on Dec. 9 after nearly a week on the run, he faces charges including allegedly possessing an untraceable ghost gun. Mangione had a 9 mm handgun with a 3D-printed receiver, a homemade silencer, two ammunition magazines and live cartridges when apprehended, prosecutors said.
ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
