Talk of the Town
(ST. PAUL, Minn.) — Former CNN journalist Don Lemon pleaded not guilty on Friday to federal civil rights charges in connection with an incident in which anti-ICE protesters disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.
Lemon appeared in federal court in St. Paul before Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko, following his arrest in Los Angeles last month.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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(WASHINGTON) — The federal judge who presided over the 2019 criminal case against convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein has became the third judge to grant a Justice Department motion to unseal grand jury materials and other undisclosed evidence from the government’s investigative files.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman of the Southern District of New York issued a four-page order Tuesday that determined that Congress — in passing the Epstein Files Transparency Act last month — clearly indicated that the materials from his criminal case should be publicly disclosed and that traditional rules of grand jury secrecy were overridden by the act.
“The ‘plain language’ of the Epstein Files Transparency Act unequivocally intends to make public Epstein grand jury materials and discovery materials covered by the Epstein Protective Order,” Berman wrote.
This is the third — and final — ruling on the Justice Department’s motions to lift restrictions on materials related to criminal investigations and prosecutions of Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.
It comes one day after Judge Paul Engelmayer granted the DOJ’s motion to release grand jury materials and other nonpublic evidence from Maxwell’s criminal case.
Judge Rodney Smith granted a similar request from the Justice Department for records associated with the first federal investigation of Epstein in Florida in the mid-2000s.
Berman, who presided over Epstein’s 2019 arraignment in New York and ordered him detained pending trial, stressed the need to protect the privacy and safety of alleged victims if and when the records from the case are publicly disclosed by the DOJ.
“The Court hereby grants the Government’s motion in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act and with the unequivocal right of Epstein victims to have their identify and privacy protected,” Berman wrote.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial.
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(NEW ORLEANS, La.) — More than 200 federal agents are expected to begin fanning out across New Orleans on Wednesday after the Department of Homeland Security announced the start of an immigration crackdown dubbed Operation Catahoula Crunch.
Named after the Louisiana state dog, the immigration enforcement operation in New Orleans is the latest stop in the Trump administration’s nationwide effort targeting undocumented migrants with criminal records, according to the DHS.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) commander-at-large Greg Bovino is expected to lead the operation in New Orleans, sources with knowledge of the plans told ABC News.
“We are here arresting criminals who should not be here,” Bovino said on Wednesday in a post on X, announcing the operation. “The state, local and federal law enforcement partners in Louisiana are excellent partners!!”
The actions of the CBP have previously ignited protests and pushback from Democratic leaders in Chicago, Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina. The crackdown has also prompted violent clashes between protesters and federal agents, who have deployed tear gas to quell demonstrations.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, DHS alleged that New Orleans’ sanctuary policies have led to the release of immigrants “who continue committing crimes against innocent Americans.”
“Sanctuary policies endanger American communities by releasing illegal criminal aliens and forcing DHS law enforcement to risk their lives to remove criminal illegal aliens that should have never been put back on the streets,” Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
McLaughlin said the immigration operation will go after “violent criminals who were released after arrest for home invasions, armed robbery, grand theft auto and rape.”
But some leaders in other cities where immigration sweeps occurred have criticized the tactics of masked federal agents they allege have instilled fear in their communities by snatching up people off the streets for simply being in the country illegally.
“What we are seeing unfold in our community is not public safety; it is a political stunt wrapped in badges, armored vehicles, and military uniforms,” Rep. Troy Carter Sr., D-La., who represents New Orleans, said in a statement on Tuesday. “These are militarized forces who are not trained in our local laws, not trained in community-based de-escalation, and do not know our neighborhoods or our people. That is a recipe for fear, confusion, and dangerous mistakes.”
New Orleans Mayor-elect Helena Moreno, a Democrat who immigrated to the United States from Mexico as a child, issued a statement last month advising immigrants in New Orleans to know their constitutional protections.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, has welcomed the federal immigration enforcement in New Orleans.
“New Orleans is a place under which we’ve had illegal criminal activity, alien activity,” Landry said in an interview on Fox News last month.
In a social media post on Saturday, Bovino hinted at “next level” immigration enforcement, but didn’t reveal where that would occur.
“Hold on to your hats ladies and gentlemen, immigration enforcement is going next level,” Bovino said in the post. “Illegal aliens, utilize the CBP Home app. to self deport — immediately.”
Bovino has come under fire after video from a protest in October showed him throwing a tear gas canister at demonstrators in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood without giving a verbal warning, a violation of a U.S. district judge’s earlier temporary restraining order limiting the use of force.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis admonished Bovino during a court appearance in November, saying he admitted to lying about the rock-throwing incident used to justify the deployment of tear gas against protesters. She then issued a preliminary injunction limiting the use of force during immigration arrests and protests.
The Trump administration appealed Ellis’s injunction. The Department of Justice argued, “This overbroad and unworkable injunction has no basis in law, threatens the safety of federal officers, and violates the separation of powers.” On Nov. 19, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay on the injunction.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the FBI New Orleans Field Office and the Louisiana State Police announced a joint enforcement effort to “deter assaults on federal officers and attempts to obstruct law enforcement actions.”
“We will not tolerate assaults on law enforcement officers in Louisiana and there will be consequences,” Jonathan Tapp, the special agent in charge of the New Orleans Field Office, said in the statement.
Tapp warned that FBI agents and State Police will “investigate and arrest anyone assaulting law enforcement officers, unlawfully impeding federal law enforcement activity, or assisting anyone to commit this criminal activity.”
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(MINNEAPOLIS) — President Donald Trump said the 37-year-old woman who was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday was at fault because she tried to “run over” the officer, according to an interview with The New York Times published on Thursday.
“I want to see nobody get shot. I want to see nobody screaming and trying to run over policemen either,” Trump told the publication, calling it a “vicious situation.”
State and local officials have pushed back on the assertions from the White House and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey calling the claims about the driver “b——-” and telling ICE to “get the f— out” and Gov. Tim Walz calling it “propaganda.”
The fatal shooting was captured on video by bystanders. In the video, which ABC News has verified, the driver, who was identified by city council members as Renee Nicole Good, is driving her SUV on a road near ICE officers. As one officer reaches for the SUV’s door handle, the vehicle lurches backward and then begins moving forward, rightward, seemingly away from the officers. One of the officers can be seen firing into the moving vehicle.
Protesters gathered on the city’s streets on Wednesday. And the FBI said in a statement, “Consistent with our investigative protocol, the incident is under review, and we are working closely with our law enforcement partners.”
Noem on Wednesday described the driver’s actions as an “act of domestic terrorism,” saying that an “anti-ICE rioter weaponized her vehicle against law enforcement.”
“An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots,” Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary of Homeland Security, said in a statement posted on social media.
State officials on Wednesday pushed back on such characterizations. The state’s attorney general, Keith Elllison, said in a statement that he was “heartbroken” over the shooting, but was also “angry. Very angry.” He accused the Trump administration of “weaponizing the federal government against the people of Minnesota.”
The death amounted to a “policy failure,” Ellison told ABC News in an interview, adding that there would be “an analysis on the use of force here.” Ellison said that the blame appeared to lie in part with Trump, who authorized the deployment, adding, “That’s not to take responsibility from the officer who used deadly force in a situation that does not appear to call for it.”
Walz said on social media, “I’ve seen the video. Don’t believe this propaganda machine. The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.”
Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson said Wednesday that the department’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is working in conjunction with the FBI to investigate the shooting.
The FBI said in a statement on Wednesday, “Consistent with our investigative protocol, the incident is under review, and we are working closely with our law enforcement partners.”
Officials have not released the name of the officer who opened fire.
Trump on Wednesday had said the officer acted in “self defense.”
“The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense,” he said in a post on social media.
When Trump was pressed by the Times on how he drew his conclusions about the incident, the president reportedly had an aide play a video clip from a laptop to reinforce his point.
Asked if he believed firing into a vehicle similar to Wednesday’s shooting is acceptable, Trump reportedly stuck to his position, saying of Good that she “behaved horribly.”
“And then she ran him over. She didn’t try to run him over,” Trump said, according to the repot.
Before playing the clip to the Times reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said, “With all of it being said, no, I don’t like that happening.”
When reporters told him the clip he was showing did not appear to show an ICE officer was run over, he told them, “it’s a terrible scene.”
“I think it’s horrible to watch,” Trump said. “No, I hate to see it.”
Ellison told ABC News that after he viewed the video, it was “clear to me” that the deadly force came as the driver was attempting to “evade” the officers, including the one who fatally shot her.
“Renee Good deserves justice, and my office will not look away,” Ellison said on social media on Wednesday evening. “As Attorney General, I will do everything in my power to pursue the truth and ensure accountability and transparency.”
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