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(WASHINGTON) — The Smithsonian Institution is facing a deadline to submit additional materials to the White House related to a review demanded by the Trump administration of the institution’s exhibitions, programming and internal governance.

According to a Dec. 18, 2025, letter from the White House addressed to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III, the Smithsonian Institution’s previous submission last fall “fell far short of what was requested, and the overwhelming majority of requested items remain outstanding.”

It is unclear which materials were submitted in September and which materials “remain outstanding.”

ABC News has reached out to the White House for comment. The Smithsonian declined to comment about the deadline.

The request for materials comes after the White House said in a letter addressed to Bunch last August that it plans to conduct a wide-ranging review of the Smithsonian’s museum exhibitions, materials and operations to ensure they align with President Donald Trump’s view of American history.

In response to the White House’s demand, Bunch said the institution would be conducting the review internally, a Smithsonian official confirmed to ABC News.

Following the internal review, a Smithsonian official said Bunch will brief the White House on its findings, but a formal report will not be sent to the White House, the Smithsonian official added.

A White House official told ABC News in September that the Smithsonian “cannot credibly audit itself.”

“The Smithsonian is not an autonomous institution, as 70% of its funding comes from taxpayers. While we acknowledge the Smithsonian’s recognition of its own programmatic failures and is moving toward critical introspection, it cannot credibly audit itself,” White House official Lindsey Halligan said. “By definition, an ‘audit’ must be neutral and objective. The American taxpayers deserve nothing less, which is why the White House will ensure the audit is conducted impartially. This is non-negotiable.”

The president signed an executive order on March 27, placing Vice President JD Vance in charge of supervising efforts to “remove improper ideology” from all areas of the Smithsonian and targeted funding for programs that advance “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology.”

The order — called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” — directed Vance and Interior Department Secretary Doug Burgum to restore federal parks, monuments, memorials and statues “that have been improperly removed or changed in the last five years to perpetuate a false revision of history or improperly minimize or disparage certain historical figures or events.”

Bunch, who met with Trump at the White House on Aug. 28, referenced his conversations with Trump in a Sept. 3 letter to the institution’s employees, which was obtained by ABC News.

In the letter, Bunch told employees he underscored the independence of the Smithsonian, saying it was “paramount.” He also told employees that the institution remains committed to telling the “American story” and “will always be, a place that welcomes all Americans and the world.”

ABC News’ John Santucci, Hannah Demissie, Laura Romero and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — As Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were arraigned this week on narco-terrorism charges, the key legal players in the case included a 92-year-old judge and the attorney for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

The case with international implications will feature high-profile defense attorneys and will be presided over by the most senior U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on Monday pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges. The next court date is set for March 17.

The Judge

U.S. District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein was appointed to the federal bench in 1998 by former President Bill Clinton and was confirmed by the Senate through unanimous consent.

Known by colleagues and lawyers as a no-nonsense jurist with an independent streak, Hellerstein presided over the 2019 federal civil trial of Harvey Weinstein, brought by 16 women who accused the former movie mogul of sexual assault.

In a major July 2020 ruling, Hellerstein, who turned 92 last month, tossed a $19 million settlement in the Weinstein civil case, saying that it failed to adequately compensate the accusers.

In his decision, Hellerstein slammed the settlement proposal as unfair, noting that accusers who had merely met Weinstein would receive compensation equal to those who were allegedly sexually assaulted by him.

“What is there to make me believe that a person who just met Harvey Weinstein has the same claim as the person who is raped by Harvey Weinstein?” the judge asked during a hearing on the settlement. 

Additionally, the judge said it was “obnoxious” that the settlement proposal would have included money to cover the legal fees for Weinstein and other directors of his former company. 

Hellerstein has also ruled against President Donald Trump, whose Justice Department is prosecuting Maduro, in multiple instances.

In 2023 and 2024, Hellerstein rejected requests by Trump’s attorneys to move a case charging him with falsifying business records to hide hush-money payments to adult movie star Stormy Daniels from state court to federal court.

“Trump has failed to show that the conduct charged by the Indictment is for or relating to any act performed by or for the President under color of the official acts of a President,” Hellerstein wrote in his ruling.

Trump was eventually convicted in state court on 34 felony counts.

In April 2025, Hellerstein blocked the Trump administration from deporting migrants under the Alien Enemies Act, ruling that migrants being held in the Southern District of New York could not be deported without them first receiving notice and an opportunity for a hearing.

Maduro’s attorney

Barry Pollack, Maduro’s attorney, has more than 30 years of experience as a lawyer and has represented high-profile clients. 

During Maduro’s arraignment on Monday, Pollack signaled that that he could assert that he is entitled, as a foreign leader, to protection against prosecution.

“He is the head of a sovereign state,” Pollack said in court, adding that there are “issues about the legality of his military abduction.”

Among the attorney’s past clients is Julian Assange. In June 2024, Pollack negotiated a plea agreement for the WikiLeaks founder who was charged with violating the Espionage Act for publishing classified information he obtained from Chelsea Manning, a U.S. Army intelligence analyst.

Under the plea agreement that Pollack hammered out with the Department of Justice, Assange was freed from prison in June 2024 after pleading guilty to a single felony count of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information.

Pollack — a partner in the Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler law firm in New York City and Washington, D.C. — also won the freedom of Martin Tankleff, a Long Island, New York, teenager who was wrongfully convicted of murdering his parents in 1988. Tankleff was released from prison in 2008 after Pollack successfully filed an appeal, arguing there was insufficient evidence to convict him.

Pollack also defended Michael Krautz, former accountant for the Enron Corp., who was charged along with other company executives with fraud and conspiracy to falsify business records stemming from overstated earnings of the company’s now-defunct subsidiary Enron Broadband Services.

Krautz was acquitted of the charges in 2006, just days after Enron founder Kenneth Lay and CEO Jeffrey Skilling were convicted on similar charges in one of the biggest business scandals in U.S. history.

“Barry’s unwavering commitment to his clients, the defense function, and the Constitution serves as inspiration to criminal defense lawyers across the nation,” Christopher W. Adams, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said in 2021, as the organization honored Pollack with its Robert C. Heeney Memorial Award.

Maduro also added constitutional law expert Bruce Fein to his legal defense team, according to a notice on the court docket on Tuesday. Fein has written critically about the Trump administration’s deportation policies and the president’s use of pardons.

Maduro’s wife’s lawyer

Houston-based defense attorney Mark Donnelly, a former federal prosecutor, has been retained by Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores.

Donnelly is the former senior advisor to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas and was a federal prosecutor for 12 years before going into private practice. He is now a partner in the Houston law firm Parker Sanchez & Donnelly.

“With over 100 jury trials under his belt, Mark not only is extremely comfortable in the courtroom, but also has the knowledge and experience to guide clients through all phases of representation,” his bio on his law firm’s website says.

According to the bio, Donnelly spent eight years as a prosecutor in the Harris County, Texas, District Attorney’s Office, where he led investigations into elected officials and others charged with violating the public trust.

In 2023, the Texas House of Representatives recruited Donnelly to assist in the historic investigation and impeachment trial of then-state Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton, who was accused of bribery and abusing his office to protect a donor accused of making false statements to secure business loans.

Paxton, a Republican, was acquitted in September 2023.

Donnelly is a proficient Spanish speaker and was once designated as a bilingual assistant prosecutor for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.

“We look forward to reviewing and challenging the evidence the government has,” Donnelly said in a statement to Houston Public Media about representing Flores. “While we would love to present our side now, we will wait to do so in court at the appropriate time. The first lady is aware that there is a long road ahead and is prepared.”

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(NEW YORK) — The U.S. has intercepted encrypted communications believed to have originated in Iran that may serve as “an operational trigger” for “sleeper assets” outside the country, according to a federal government alert sent to law enforcement agencies.

The alert, reviewed by ABC News, cites “preliminary signals analysis” of a transmission “likely of Iranian origin” that was relayed across multiple countries shortly after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, was killed in a U.S.-Israeli attack on Feb. 28.

The intercepted transmission was encoded and appeared to be destined for “clandestine recipients” who possess the encryption key, the kind of message intended to impart instructions to “covert operatives or sleeper assets” without the use of the internet or cellular networks.

It’s possible the transmissions could “be intended to activate or provide instructions to prepositioned sleeper assets operating outside the originating country,” the alert said.

“While the exact contents of these transmissions cannot currently be determined, the sudden appearance of a new station with international rebroadcast characteristics warrants heightened situational awareness,” the alert said.

While the alert is careful to say there is “no operational threat tied to a specific location,” it does instruct law enforcement agencies to increase their monitoring of suspicious radio-frequency activity.

If the contents of the alert prove true, it would confirm the fears expressed by law enforcement officials after the U.S. and Israel struck Iran that sleeper cells deployed around the West could be used for retaliation.

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