Historians sue over Trump’s attempt to ignore Presidential Records Act
U.S. President Donald Trump attends a news conference in James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on April 06, 2026, in Washington, DC. President Trump spoke about the successful military mission to rescue a weapons systems officer whose F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down in Iran. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The world’s largest association of historians is suing the Trump administration over a recent effort to justify the president keeping his official records rather than turning them over to the National Archives.
The American Historical Association and a second organization, American Oversight, filed the suit in Washington, D.C., District Court Monday, describing the case as an attempt to “preserve the historical record that belongs to the American people, before it is forever lost.”
“This case is about the preservation of records that document our nation’s history, and whether the American people are able to access and learn from that history,” the complaint said.
Last week, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel issued an advisory opinion that stated Trump “need not further comply” with the decades-old law governing the handover of presidential records for public preservation after a president leaves office.
American Oversight, which is a nonprofit watchdog group, and the American Historical Association, which was founded in 1884 and is comprised of more than 10,000 historians, are asking a federal judge to declare that the Presidential Records Act is constitutional and to block Trump from using the opinion to justify keeping official records for himself.
“The Administration’s actions nullifying a law duly enacted by Congress, based on a legal determination that contravenes a decision of the Supreme Court, violate the separation of powers twice over,” the complaint said.
Passed by Congress in the wake of the Watergate scandal, the Presidential Records Act established that official presidential records — such as emails, phone records, and other materials created by White House staff over the course of their official duties — become public property and are maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration.
After his first term in office, Trump was accused of violating the Presidential Records Act by storing boxes of sensitive presidential records at his Mar-a-Lago estate and taking steps to thwart the government’s efforts to retrieve them.
He was indicted for allegedly retaining classified information and obstructing justice, though the case was dismissed over U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s concerns about the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith.
Bill Gates watches the Women’s Singles Final at the 2026 Australian Open, January 31, 2026, in Melbourne, Australia. (James D. Morgan/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Microsoft founder Bill Gates is speaking out publicly for the first time since the latest release by the Department of Justice of nearly three million pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, saying he was “foolish” to spend time with the late convicted sex predator.
In an interview with 9News Australia, Gates denied any wrongdoing involving Epstein, including unfounded allegations made against the tech billionaire in draft emails Epstein wrote in 2013 that were included in the latest tranche of documents released by the DOJ on Friday.
“Apparently, Jeffrey wrote an email to himself. Ah, that email was never sent. The email is false,” Gates said in the interview, conducted in Australia and broadcast on Wednesday. “So, I don’t know what his thinking was there. It just reminds me that every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologize I did that.”
Gates, 70, spoke out after his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, said in an interview with NPR’s Wild Card podcast, set to air on Thursday, that Bill Gates and other wealthy men named in the Epstein files should answer questions about their association with him.
“Whatever questions remain there … those questions are for those people, and for even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me,” French Gates said in an excerpt of the interview released by NPR.
French Gates, who finalized her divorce from Bill Gates in 2021, said the details in the latest tranche of files made public brought back memories of “some very, very painful times” in her marriage. She has previously said that her ex-husband’s association with Epstein was one factor of many that led her to seek their divorce.
In the interview with 9News Australia, Gates said he first met Epstein in 2011, which was after Epstein’s 2008 conviction in Florida for soliciting prostitution from a minor. Gates said he thought Epstein could introduce him to other wealthy people who might donate to the Gates Foundation, which has donated billions of dollars globally to “improve health, alleviate extreme poverty, and advance gender equality,” according to its website.
“It’s factually true that I was only at dinners. I never went to the island, I never met any women,” Gates said of his association with Epstein, referring to the latter’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein allegedly sexually exploited dozens of young women and girls. “And the more that comes out, the more clear it will be that, although the time was a mistake, it had nothing to do with that kind of behavior.”
“The focus was always he [Epstein] knew a lot of very rich people and he was always saying he could get them to give money to global health,” Gates added. “You know, in retrospect, that was a dead end, and I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him.”
Asked by ABC about the latest DOJ disclosure in the Epstein case, a spokesperson for Bill Gates said, “These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false. The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame.”
Gates was in Australia partly for vacation and partly on behalf of the Gates Foundation to encourage the Australian government to commit more funds to eradicating preventable childhood diseases.
Matthew Perry attends the GQ Men of the Year Party 2022 at The West Hollywood EDITION on November 17, 2022 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for GQ)
(NEW YORK) — The woman reportedly known as the “Ketamine Queen” is set to be sentenced on Wednesday for providing the ketamine that killed Matthew Perry.
Jasveen Sangha admitted in a plea agreement to working with another dealer to provide the “Friends” actor with dozens of vials of ketamine, including the dose that led to his fatal overdose in October 2023 at the age of 54.
Sangha pleaded guilty last year to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.
Sangha faces a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison. She is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday morning local time in Los Angeles federal court.
Prosecutors said in court filings ahead of Sangha’s sentencing that she should serve 15 years in prison for her “cold callousness and disregard for life,” and that she’s shown little remorse, pointing to recorded jail communications in which, they say, Sangha talked about “obtaining ‘trademarks’ and securing book rights on the events of the case.”
In a sentencing memorandum filed last month, prosecutors said Sangha ran a “high-volume drug trafficking business out of her North Hollywood residence,” where she stored, packaged and distributed drugs, including ketamine and methamphetamine, since at least 2019. Prosecutors said Sangha continued to sell “dangerous drugs” even after learning she had sold ketamine that contributed to the overdose deaths of two men: Perry and, years earlier, Los Angeles resident Cody McLaury. McLaury died hours after Sangha sold him four vials of ketamine in 2019, prosecutors said.
“She didn’t care and kept selling,” prosecutors wrote. “Defendant’s actions show a cold callousness and disregard for life. She chose profits over people, and her actions have caused immense pain to the victims’ families and loved ones.”
Sangha “had the opportunity to stop after realizing the impact of her dealing – but simply chose not to,” which warrants a “significant” sentence, prosecutors also said.
The defense, meanwhile, said Sangha, who has been behind bars since her arrest in August 2024, should receive a sentence of time served due to her “demonstrated rehabilitation.”
“She has maintained sustained and exemplary sobriety, and actively engaged in recovery-oriented and rehabilitative programming while in custody, and has tremendously strong family and community support to facilitate successful reentry and reduce the risk of recidivism,” her attorneys, Mark Geragos and Alexandra Kazarian, wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed last month.
In response to the defense sentencing memorandum, prosecutors continued to argue that Sangha has shown a lack of remorse and claimed she has attempted to minimize the harm she’s caused.
“For example, defendant harmed two overdose victims, but her sentencing briefing does not even mention Cody McLaury and only references Matthew Perry in passing, in the context of defendant attempting to downplay her role in his death and to heap the blame on others,” prosecutors wrote in their response, filed last week.
They also argued that Sangha “expressed a similar lack of remorse in recorded jail communications” – including one on Dec. 25, 2024, during which prosecutors said an individual stated, “We’re gonna sell those book rights,” and Sangha allegedly responded, “Oh I know, the plan is in, the f—— trademark is going down,” according to the filing.
“Even if said in jest, this conversation suggests defendant does not appreciate the severity of her offenses, and instead sees her crimes as a potential future revenue stream,” prosecutors wrote. “It also shows that time in custody has, thus far, failed in getting defendant to adequately reflect upon the grave harms she has caused.”
Geragos has previously said that Sangha “feels horrible.”
“She’s felt horrible from day one,” Geragos told reporters outside the courthouse last year following Sangha’s guilty plea. “This has been a horrendous experience.”
In a victim impact statement filed ahead of the sentencing, Perry’s stepmother, Debbie Perry, said the pain caused by the defendant is “irreversible.”
“Please give this heartless woman the maximum prison sentence so she won’t be able to hurt other families like ours,” she wrote.
In addition to Sangha, four other people were charged and pleaded guilty in connection with Perry’s death: the other dealer, Erik Fleming; Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry’s live-in personal assistant; and two doctors, Mark Chavez and Salvador Plasencia.
Prosecutors said Sangha worked with Fleming to distribute ketamine to Perry, and that in October 2023, they sold the actor 51 vials of ketamine that were provided to Iwamasa.
“Leading up to Perry’s death, Iwamasa repeatedly injected Perry with the ketamine that Sangha supplied to Fleming,” the DOJ said in a press release last year. “Specifically, on October 28, 2023, Iwamasa injected Perry with at least three shots of Sangha’s ketamine, which caused Perry’s death.”
Iwamasa pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 22.
Fleming pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death and is set to be sentenced on April 29.
Chavez and Plasencia have also been convicted for their roles in what prosecutors called a conspiracy to illegally distribute ketamine to Perry.
Chavez, who once ran a ketamine clinic, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and was sentenced to eight months home confinement in December 2025.
Plasencia, who briefly treated Perry prior to the actor’s death, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to four counts of distribution of ketamine and was sentenced to 30 months in prison in December 2025.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents screen travelers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia, US, on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (Photographer: Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown is taking its toll on the thousands of Transportation Security Administration employees at airports who have been working without pay.
Approximately 60,000 TSA officers who have gone over a month with partial pay began receiving their first $0 paychecks last week.
Many say they are living in fear, with some taking on extra jobs or even leaving the agency altogether to make ends meet.
And if there is no relief soon, veteran TSA leaders fear that the stress and uncertainty could impact operations for years
“Who wants to go work in public service in the public sector when you’re treated like a yo-yo?” a TSA worker who asked to remain anonymous told ABC News.
The current partial shutdown, now in its second month, comes close to last fall’s 43-day federal government shutdown, which paused payments to thousands of TSA workers, who were still required to work their shift.
Angela Grana, a TSA officer at Durango-La Plata County Airport in Colorado, told ABC News Live on Monday, the first day that TSA workers missed their checks, that the entire situation has been humiliating for her co-workers.
“The stories I get are very demoralizing,” Grana, who serves as the state’s regional vice president for AFGE TSA Local 1127, said. “To go ahead and do the Uber Eats or any other kind of side job, we have to have extra permission. For now, we can’t just do it.” Senate Democrats have vowed to block funding for DHS until reforms are made to Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal law enforcement.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called on Democrats Monday to join a discharge petition that would fund all DHS agencies except for ICE.
A vote on similar legislation failed earlier in the Senate. Jeffries would need at least four Republicans to sign on with all Democrats for the discharge petition to move forward.
Grana said the stress of making ends meet and keeping the airports safe is getting to a lot of TSA officers. Several airports across the country have begun food pantries for their employees affected by the partial shutdown.
“Let me tell you, for us to be concentrating on our jobs without the hunger pains in our stomachs. It’s really difficult to do. We can’t get it wrong,” Grana said. “We have to get it right every time. We cannot miss a bag, we cannot miss a threat.”
Jill DeJanovich, a TSA officer at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas and single mom of four, was one of the nearly 2,700 TSA workers who called out sick this week, because of the demands put on her.
DeJanovich, who is the a AFGE Local 1260 Chief Administrative Point of contact in Nevada, said she is frustrated with Congress for not moving forward and ending the quagmire over funding.
“Someone needs to cross the line before Congress goes on break for Easter recess,” she said.
While some TSA officers said they had to power on through, for others, like Robert Echeverria, the strain of a second DHS shutdown in five months proved to be too much.
After nine years working at Salt Lake City International Airport a lead TSA officer, Echeverria told ABC News that he left his job after the current shutdown. Echeverria said his family’s life savings were depleted after the last shutdown.
“Emotionally, we couldn’t go through that strain anymore,” he told ABC News.
“It was just really hard for my wife and emotionally to see my kids going through a hard time asking for things, and we wouldn’t be able to actually help them out,” he added.
A TSA worker who asked not to be named warned that the loss of employees can’t easily be fixed.
“Losing seasoned employees is very difficult to replace,” the TSA worker said. “New hires take two years to get off probation.”
The worker added that the accumulating debt borne by government employees will also affect staffing.
“One of the requirements is that you have a great credit rating. A lot of our officers are not going to have that now,” they said.
Joseph Cerletti, a TSA officer at Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport, told ABC News that he struggles to explain to his kids about their financial issues now that his family has to depend solely on his wife’s income.
Cerletti relented that he and his coworkers “don’t have the upper ground here” when it comes to fighting for their rights.
“It’s very hard to find words in the English language to describe how I feel about it, other than speechless,” he said. “This is just what I’ve been describing lately as figuratively an uphill gunfight.”
