Government shutdown and Trump will animate NJ governor debate
Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., conducts a news conference in the U.S. Capitol on the inclusion of solar tax credit legislation in reconciliation on Tuesday, September 28, 2021. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)/Jack Ciattarelli and Matt Servitto attend 2025 Paisan Con at The Williams Center on May 10, 2025 in Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Bobby Bank/Getty Images)
(NEW JERSEY) — New Jersey’s gubernatorial candidates face off in their second debate, hosted by New York City’s WABC-TV and Philadelphia’s WPVI-TV less than a month out from Election Day.
Polling shows Democratic nominee Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot, has an edge over Republican former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli. A recent survey from Quinnipiac shows Sherrill leading in a head-to-head matchup, 51%-42%.
This is not Ciattarelli’s first go around — he narrowly lost a bid to unseat Murphy in 2021. But this time, he faces wider margins and is expected to try to dodge Sherrill’s attempts to link Ciattarelli with President Donald Trump on every issue. Trump has endorsed Ciattarelli’s bid.
Outside groups have infused large sums of cash into this race. Democrats, looking to defend control as term-limited Phil Murphy leaves office, are writing fat checks: Greater Garden State, a super PAC supported by the Democratic Governors Association, reserved over $20 million in ads to support Sherrill. And the Democratic National Committee has invested $3 million into the governor’s race, a sum it says is its largest in an off-cycle race in New Jersey.
Republicans have thrown in far less: Restore New Jersey, a Republican Governors Association-backed group, invested $1 million in ads supporting Ciattarelli in September.
New Jersey has not elected the same party three straight terms since 1961, with affordability and taxes central to the race. Trump’s inroads with Jersey voters could be tested in November, as Republicans point to last year’s presidential results as a sign the state has gotten more favorable for the GOP.
Late last month, Sherrill ‘s unredacted military records were released by the National Archives that revealed she did not walk at graduation. In 1994, more than 130 Midshipmen were implicated in a cheating scandal. No documents released or obtained by news outlets have shown that Sherrill was involved in the cheating, but because she did not report her classmates, she was not permitted to walk at graduation.
CBS News, which was the first to report about the release of Sherrill’s unredacted military records, reported that the request came from Ciattarelli ally Nicholas De Gregorio, who was tasked with doing so by political operative Chris Russell.
Sherrill said this was a 30-year-old widely reported incident that does not reflect on her military service and accused the Trump administration of leaking the records in concert with the Ciattarelli campaign and asked for them to stop distributing them as they contained protected personal information.
Sherrill’s campaign communications director Sean Higgins said in a statement: “This disrespects the service of all military veterans, jeopardizes the safety of their records, and shows that Jack Ciattarelli will say or do anything to get elected, no matter the dishonor he brings upon himself — and that should frighten everyone.”
Ciattarelli disagreed.
“For eight years, Mikie Sherrill has built her entire political brand around her time at the Naval Academy and in the Navy, all the while concealing her involvement in the scandal and her punishment. The people of New Jersey deserve complete and total transparency,” the Ciattarelli campaign said in a statement.
Another likely animating issue in the debate will be the impacts of the government shutdown and White House funding freezes in the Garden State. The Hudson Tunnel Project, which White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought froze funding for on Oct. 1, is meant to expand rail links between New York City and New Jersey.
After the announcement, Sherrill slammed the Trump administration for “attacking” the project and wrote in a post on X that Ciatterelli “said there’s not a single issue where he disagrees with Trump, and he promised to never take them to court.”
Ciatterelli, meanwhile, told NJ Advance Media/NJ.com that the hold “doesn’t stop what’s going on today with regard to the construction. And I think it’s a large negotiation that’s taking place.”
-ABC’s Oren Oppenheim and Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge on Sunday blocked the Trump administration from deporting hundreds of unaccompanied Guatemalan children from the U.S. to Guatemala.
A federal judge had temporarily blocked the administration from removing the minors and set an emergency hearing for 3 p.m. Sunday, but U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan moved the hearing to 12:30 p.m after the court was notified the Guatemalan children were “in the process of being removed from the U.S.”
“The Court ORDERS that the Defendants cease any ongoing efforts to transfer, repatriate, remove, or otherwise facilitate the transport of any Plaintiff or member of the putative class from the United States,” Sookananan wrote. “The putative class includes all Guatemalan unaccompanied minors in Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement custody as of 1:02 AM on August 31, 2025, the time of the filing of the Complaint, who are not subject to an executable final order of removal,” the order says.,
In an ongoing hearing, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign said it is “possible” that one flight has taken off but has returned. However, he said all of the children covered in the lawsuit are still in the custody of the United States and that planes on the ground will not take off in light of the order.
An attorney representing the children said that he’s aware that the children have not been deplaned and are in Harlingen and El Paso, Texas.
In court filings, attorneys accuse the Trump administration of attempting to repatriate more than 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan minors in coordination with the Guatemalan government in violation of laws that prevent such moves without giving them the opportunity to challenge the removals.
Unaccompanied minors are migrants under the age of 18 who have come to the country without a legal guardian and do not have legal status. The children in question in the lawsuit are all reportedly in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
In a statement, the National Immigration Law Center, which filed the lawsuit, said the Trump administration is denying the Guatemalan children from being able to present their case before an immigration judge.
“It is a dark and dangerous moment for this country when our government chooses to target orphaned 10-year-olds and denies them their most basic legal right to present their case before an immigration judge,” said Efrén C. Olivares, vice president of litigation at the NILC. “The Constitution and federal laws provide robust protections to unaccompanied minors specifically because of the unique risks they face. We are determined to use every legal tool at our disposal to force the administration to respect the law and not send any child to danger.”
In another court filing, NILC said that after it attempted to inform the government that it had filed a motion for a temporary restraining order, they learned shelters in South Texas had been “notified to prepare Guatemalan children in their custody for discharge.”
“Upon information and belief, ICE agents and their contractors have started attempting to pick up Guatemalan unaccompanied children from shelters in South Texas to transport them to the airport for potential removal from the United States as soon as the early morning of Sunday, August 31, 2025,” NILC said in the filing.
The lawsuit was filed on Saturday after legal service providers received notices from the Office of Refugee Resettlement that children in their program have been identified for reunification. In the notice, the agency said that court proceedings for children identified by the agency “may be dismissed.”
“ORR Care Providers must take proactive measures to ensure UAC are prepared for discharge within 2 hours of receiving this notification,” the notice said.
In one of the notices submitted in court filings, ORR has informed certain attorneys for unaccompanied minors that the “Government of Guatemala has requested the return of certain unaccompanied alien children in general custody” to be reunited “with suitable family members.”
In the statement, NILC said that because most Guatemalan children in U.S. custody are indigenous and many speak languages other than English or Spanish, they are more vulnerable to “being misled by officials looking to deport them.”
One of the children represented in the case is a 10 year old indigenous girl who speaks a rare language.
“Her mother is deceased and she suffered abuse and neglect from other caregivers,” the complaint says.
(LONDON) — President Donald Trump will meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the latter’s official country residence on Thursday, on the second day of a historic second state visit to the U.K. which saw Trump hosted by the royal family at Windsor Castle on Wednesday.
The two leaders will hold a bilateral meeting at Chequers, the prime minister’s estate in Buckinghamshire north of London.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump are expected to depart Windsor Castle at 10:30 a.m local time — 5:30 a.m. ET — with a farewell ceremony involving King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
Trump and Starmer are expected to meet at 11:15 a.m. local time. They will then hold a press conference at 2:20 p.m.
Multiple pressing global issues may be on the agenda. Among them are Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s growing threat to NATO’s eastern flank and the war in Gaza, where Israel’s offensive on Gaza City is expanding as the two leaders meet.
Trump’s visit comes after Starmer and other European leaders traveled to the White House to meet with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy just after Trump’s summit in Alaska with Russian President Putin.
Since that meeting, during which allies expressed optimism of a path forward on security guarantees, no progress has materialized.
Trump and the first lady are expected to leave London at just after 5 p.m. local time. They are expected to arrive back at the White House by 8:10 p.m. ET.
On Wednesday, Trump was greeted at Windsor Castle by the royal family and an elaborate military reception. Meanwhile, a crowd of thousands gathered in central London to protest Trump on Wednesday. Many of the protesters held anti-Trump signs and Palestinian flags.
During a tour of Windsor Castle, the Trumps laid a wreath on the tomb of Queen Elizabeth II during a service at the castle’s chapel, then spoke with the children before taking a tour of the chapel.
Later, the Trumps attended a state banquet, with other guests including Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, Rupert Murdoch, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
During his remarks at the state banquet, King Charles focused on the special relationship between the U.S. and the U.K., saying that “our people have fought and died together for the values we hold dear.”
“The ocean may still divide us, but in so many ways we are now the closest of kin,” he said.
At the end of his remarks, Charles proposed a toast to Trump and the first lady.
Trump then spoke, thanking Charles and saying he had worked to preserve his nation’s history, uplifted the poor and supported soldiers.
Trump also mentioned the Prince and Princess of Wales, saying it was nice to see them, saying that Kate was “healthy” and “beautiful.”
The president mentioned a few of the United Kingdom’s most significant historical accomplishments and said the U.K. laid the groundwork for law and liberty. Trump said the bond between America and the United Kingdom is irreplaceable.
“Together, we must defend the exceptional heritage that makes us who we are, and we must continue to stand for the values and the people of the English-speaking world, and we do indeed stand for that,” Trump said.
Larry Hoover, in prison since 1973, faces the parole board with his wife, Winndye Jenkins, at the Dixon Correctional Center on on Feb. 7, 1995, in Dixon, Illinois. John Dziekan/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(CHICAGO) — For 23 hours a day, Larry Hoover, the founder of notorious street gang Gangster Disciples, had been sitting in a 7-by-12-foot concrete cell at the ADX Florence federal supermax facility in Colorado, where he spent 27 years in almost complete isolation, according to his attorneys.
Hoover, 74, remains imprisoned under a separate Illinois state sentence, an up-to-200-year term stemming from a 1973 murder conviction.
Since that transfer to the Colorado State Penitentiary earlier this year, his attorneys say, Hoover has suffered three heart attacks while performing prison labor, the most recent in September. They describe, in a newly filed legal petition with the prison board, his condition as fragile and his treatment as “a slow, state-sanctioned death sentence.”
Hoover’s lawyers are asking Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to do what the federal government has already done, recognize his transformation and grant Hoover a chance to live out his remaining years in freedom.
Hoover founded the Gangster Disciples on Chicago’s South Side in the late 1960s. In 1973, he was convicted on state charges of ordering the murder of William “Pooky” Young, a 19-year-old drug dealer accused of stealing from the gang. Hoover was sentenced to 200 years in prison under Illinois’ former indeterminate sentencing system.
In 1997, following a 17-year federal investigation, Hoover was convicted on 40 counts including drug conspiracy and racketeering for allegedly directing gang activity from prison. He was sentenced to six life terms, sentences that President Donald Trump commuted earlier this year.
On Wednesday, Hoover’s attorney, Justin Moore of the Stafford Moore Law Firm, filed a 39-page petition for clemency, obtained exclusively by ABC News. His plea now rests with the Illinois Prisoner Review Board and Pritzker.
Ron Safer, who served as the former lead federal prosecutor in Hoover’s 1997 conviction, told ABC News’ Chicago station WLS that he was disappointed Hoover was granted federal clemency.
“I believe in redemption. I believe in rehabilitation. I believe in mercy. There are some crimes that are so heinous, so notorious, that they’re not deserving of mercy,” Safer said. “If Larry Hoover said there was going to be a killing, there was a killing.”
Wednesday’s filing argues that Hoover’s continued imprisonment, given his age, health and decades of rehabilitation, no longer serves justice or public safety.
At the heart of the filing are Hoover’s words, breaking his silence for the first time in 25 years in two deeply personal letters to an as-yet-assigned judge and to the public, offering a window into his remorse, aging and reckoning.
“People, when writing about me in the papers, always use photos of me depicting the way I appeared 40 years ago, as if I’m still a young, strong and rebellious gang leader. That man no longer exists,” Hoover wrote in a typed letter to the judge. The letter is undated.
“I am no longer the Larry Hoover people sometimes talk about, or he who is written about in the papers, or the crime figure described by the government,” he wrote. “That man has over these many years transformed into the man I am today. It is true that some men never learn, or that prison makes some into monsters; I’ve seen it, but for me, over time, prison — this prison in particular — became a place of reflection.”
In a separate and also undated letter addressed to the public, Hoover wrote, “I have come to realize that with my silence over these years I have done myself a grave disservice.”
“I have been involved, and in fact, had initiated, I cannot avoid taking responsibility. With this responsibility, now being able to honestly assess and appreciate the magnitude and scope of the harms my actions had wrought, I cannot help but to have immense remorse,” Hoover wrote.
In his letter, Hoover expressed deep remorse for the harm his past actions caused, saying he had wasted his talents on choices that hurt his Chicago, his community and society. He emphasized that he has long renounced all ties to the Gangster Disciples and any form of criminal activity, declaring that he wants nothing to do with that life “now and forever.”
After more than five decades in prison, including over 25 years in isolation, Hoover said, there is no chance he would reoffend, noting that most men his age devote their final years to steering others away from crime. He said he hopes to spend his remaining time honoring a promise he made to his late mother not to waste his final years.
His letters center on a petition written by his lawyers and filed on his behalf that portrays a man shaped by decades of confinement, failing health and personal reckoning. His attorneys argue that half a century behind bars has already fulfilled the purpose of punishment and that his rehabilitation stands as proof of transformation.
Hoover’s lawyers note that he has not committed a serious infraction during his decades in prison and has completed more than 100 educational and rehabilitation programs.
“My father has suffered multiple heart attacks from being forced to perform hard labor despite his age and medical condition,” said his son, Larry Hoover Jr., in a statement to ABC News “All he wants now is to come home, spend what time he has left with his family, and use his experience to help bring peace to the same communities he once came from.”
The filing also details what Hoover’s attorneys said were the stark conditions of his confinement and his deteriorating health. ABC News has contacted prison officials for comment.
Hoover is one of just 35 people still incarcerated under Illinois’ pre-1978 indeterminate sentencing system, which left prisoners with open-ended “C-numbers” and no release date except at the discretion of the review board, according to the filing. His lawyers note that Hoover’s co-defendant in the 1973 case, Andrew Howard, was paroled more than 30 years ago, a disparity his lawyers cite as evidence of continued punishment without purpose. Both were accused of murder and Howard was convicted of carrying out the killing.
The Illinois Parole Board, in it’s decision to deny Hoover’s release in 2022, stated, “The Board feels that parole release at this time would not be in the interest of public safety, as there is a substantial risk that Mr. Hoover would not conform to reasonable conditions of parole release, and that parole release at this time would deprecate the serious nature of the offenses and promote a lack of respect for the law.”
The new petition for his release revisits Hoover’s early life in Chicago’s South Side, describing a boy shaped by poverty, segregation, and systemic neglect.
“From his bedroom window as a child,” the filing states, “he saw drug deals, prostitution, fights, stabbings, and shootings. His daily reality was the theater of urban abandonment.”
One of his attorneys, Justin Moore, wrote in the petition, “Hoover did not create the fire. He grew up in it.”
Hoover’s story has drawn attention far beyond Chicago. In 2021, rappers Kanye West and Drake set aside their long-running feud to headline the “Free Larry Hoover” benefit concert in Los Angeles, calling attention to criminal justice reform and urging compassion for aging inmates like Hoover. West, a Chicago native, had previously advocated for Hoover’s release during a 2018 meeting with Trump in the Oval Office.
That public support has continued to grow. Among those backing Hoover’s clemency bid are civil rights leaders Jesse Jackson Sr. and the Rev. Al Sharpton, Rep. Jonathan Jackson, Chance the Rapper, Judge Greg Mathis, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Yohance Lacour and former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Also lending support is Alice Marie Johnson, Trump’s current White House pardon czar, who also serves as CEO of Taking Action for Good. Johnson wrote in a letter in the filing to the Illinois review board that Hoover is repentant and has the potential and the desire to live the rest of his life as a force for good in his community. She added that if he were released, she would personally help support his reintegration into society.
Rep. Jonathan Jackson expanded on that theme in a statement released by his office supporting clemency, questioning “whether continued imprisonment serves the public interest — or whether compassion is now the more just response.”
Hoover’s petition now rests with Pritzker and the Illinois board, which reviews clemency cases and can make recommendations to the governor.
Pritzker did not offer a comment following Trump’s commutation order, but has met with family and supporters of Hoover. A spokesperson for Pritzker’s office did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The filing lands at a time of renewed friction between Trump and Pritzker, whose relationship has long been strained over the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration and public safety policy in Illinois. In recent months, the two have clashed over ICE enforcement in Chicago, with Trump accusing Pritzker of “failing to protect” federal officers, while Pritzker has described Trump’s tactics as “acts of aggression against our people.”
Detractors, including some former prosecutors, law enforcement officials and community anti-violence advocates, argue that Hoover’s release could reopen wounds in Chicago neighborhoods still scarred by gang violence.
They maintain that, despite his renunciations, Hoover’s name still holds symbolic power among some Gangster Disciples factions.
Chicago FBI Special Agent in Charge Doug DePodesta said in a statement to WLS in Chicago in May that “Larry Hoover caused a lot of damage in Chicago. He was also convicted on state charges and is likely to continue serving time in state prison where he belongs.”
His supporters counter that his transformation and the decades he has already served show a man committed to peace, not power.
In his own words, Hoover wrote, “I want my legacy to be peace. I want my name to mean growth, not destruction. I want to be remembered not as who I was, but as who I fought to become.”
