‘How many times do I have to say no?!’: Pirro dodges questions on Reflecting Pool case at news conference
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Sept. 9, 2026, in Washington. (Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro vented frustration at reporters on Wednesday as she repeatedly refused to answer questions about a topic that has landed her in hot water with President Donald Trump: his demands that she revisit the now-dismissed Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism case against former Olympian David Hearn.
In a news conference involving an unrelated crackdown targeting Chinese scam centers, Pirro interrupted reporters in at least three exchanges as soon as they mentioned Hearn’s case.
Asked by ABC News if she plans to revisit the Reflecting Pool case against Hearn per Trump’s request, Pirro interrupted: “Ah — why did I know that was coming?”
“President Trump has made clear that this is very important to him,” ABC News responded.
“And you know the president has the right to decide what he wants to do and what is important,” Pirro replied.
When another reporter later followed up and attempted to ask about Hearn’s case, Pirro again interrupted, “No, I’m not going there! Don’t even go there.”
At one point, after a reporter made another final attempt, Pirro yelled, “No! No and no! … How many times do I have to say no?!”
Pirro’s news conference is the first since her surprise move to dismiss the felony indictment against Hearn in August. In a filing, Pirro admitted that damage to the Reflecting Pool was likely caused by “botched” installation and not by vandals.
The move prompted outrage from Trump, who said Pirro “choked” in her handling of the case, and later refused to rule out firing Pirro who he urged to “re-visit” the decision to charge Hearn.
“U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro should re-visit her hastily made decision [to dismiss Hearn’s indictment],” Trump wrote in an Aug. 7 post on social media.
The judge who previously oversaw Hearn’s case is currently weighing whether to dismiss the case “with prejudice,” which would effectively bar prosecutors from seeking another indictment against Hearn.
Hearn’s attorneys have said that Trump is still pushing a “false version” of the events around the Reflecting Pool, bolstering their argument that the government should be blocked from pursuing charges again.
Donald Trump Jr. and his wife Bettina Anderson disembark from Air Force One as they arrive alongside U.S. President Donald Trump at Dublin Airport, September 12, 2026 in Dublin, Ireland. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A Russian oligarch with ties to President Vladimir Putin allegedly contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars for events around Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding to Bettina Anderson earlier this year, according to a report from ProPublica published Monday, with Anderson not disputing the “gift.”
The president’s son held his May wedding at an exclusive island in the Bahamas, with the oligarch — Umar Kremlev — footing a large portion of the bill for the events later that weekend, according to records reviewed by ProPublica, as well as three people familiar with the event who spoke with the outlet.
ABC News has not independently confirmed the details of the ProPublica report.
Kremlev covered expenses including renting out a private island and paying for a firework show, according to the ProPublica report. Payments for the expenses allegedly came from an entity affiliated with the controversial International Boxing Association — where Kremlev serves as president.
When ABC News asked about the report, the White House and a spokesperson for Donald Trump Jr. pointed to a recent Instagram post from his new wife, Anderson, which does not dispute that Kremlev paid for part of the post-wedding celebrations, but stressed their wedding ceremony was attended “ONLY by our family.”
“Our dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding. It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful,” Anderson wrote in her post.
“It’s unfortunate that something so personal and happy can be recast as something political or sinister simply because of who someone is or where they come from,” Anderson continued.
“So, for anyone determined not to let the facts get in the way of a good story: NO CONSPIRACY, NO MYSTERY,” said Anderson, who added that the weekend celebrations were initially planned to be a “fun weekend with friends,” but when plans “changed,” they decided to get married before the trip and celebrate as newlyweds.
In response to detailed questions from ProPublica, the outlet said that a spokesperson for Trump Jr. also did not dispute the payments from Kremlev.
“Umar is a personal friend of Don,” the spokesperson told ProPublica.
It’s not clear why Kremlev paid for parts of Trump Jr.’s wedding celebration.
ProPublica reported that Kremlev had recently traveled to China as part of the delegation accompanying Putin, and that Putin had recently awarded him the state honor of the Order of Friendship.
The Russian government and Putin have led coordinated campaigns to interfere in U.S. elections in both 2016 and 2020, according to national security reports.
While Trump Jr. leads the Trump business empire with his brother, Eric Trump, he still has major influence inside his father’s political orbit — including pushing for his friend, JD Vance, to be named as Trump’s running mate for 2024.
The spokesperson told ProPublica that Kremlev is “not someone he has a business relationship with” and that the men met through a mutual friend in the hunting world and bonded over their love of boxing and the outdoors.Kremlev’s press office told ProPublica that “Mr. Kremlev and Mr. Trump Jr have a friendly relationship” and they first met “a couple of years ago.” ABC News has also reached out to Kremlev for comment.
The intimate guest list for the celebration made the presence of Kremlev, among a “large group” of other Russian guests, puzzling for attendees, according to ProPublica.
President Donald Trump notably did not attend Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding, posting on social media that “circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America” prevented him from joining the celebration in the Bahamas. He had also canceled his originally planned travel to his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club and remained in Washington that weekend.
The day prior, Trump said he was going to “try and make it” and noted that it was a “small, little private affair” — though he said the event is “not good timing” for him given his responsibilities surrounding the war in Iran.
“I said, ‘You know, this is not good timing for me. I have a thing called Iran and other things,'” Trump had said in the Oval Office in May.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Monday tossed out multiple Justice Department subpoenas to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other officials tied to a federal investigation regarding the state’s cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, according to a newly published legal opinion.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at Networth and Chill podcast at the Vox Media Podcast Stage at SXSW on March 15, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for Vox Media)
(CALIFORNIA) — As he gears up for a possible presidential bid, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday proposed a national “billionaires’ tax,” — a day after the state wealth tax measure he opposes qualified for the November ballot.
Newsom’s counter proposal calls for a federal minimum tax rate on Americans worth more than $100 million, rather than a state level one-time 5% wealth tax that the governor argues could be dodged by billionaires who could leave the state for another.
Newsom, who said earlier this month that he is “considering running for president,” said the country should return to pre-2017 corporate tax rates and close offshore loopholes that allow multinationals to shift profits and pay less in taxes. He also said inheritance rules need to be rewritten.
“Over the next twenty years, this country will live through the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in human history, with roughly $124 trillion changing hands. If we do not act, that transfer of wealth among the ultra-wealthy will lock in a permanent American aristocracy of inherited wealth,” Newsom wrote in a Substack post announcing the proposal on Friday morning.
The announcement comes a day after California’s own billionaire tax qualified for the November ballot, having collected more than double the signatures needed. The measure, a one-time 5% tax on billionaire wealth introduced by healthcare workers union SEIU-UHW, in response to steep healthcare funding cuts resulting from President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” has faced opposition from Newsom, California Democratic gubernatorial nominee Xavier Becerra and major lobbying organizations.
“We can’t let a single advocacy organization, however well-intentioned, write the state’s tax code on its own terms,” Newsom wrote, calling out the SEIU-UHW.
The measure has also led to heavy spending from billionaires, who oppose the tax. The nonprofit, Building a Better California, which supports committees promoting two competing ballot initiatives that would nullify the billionaire tax initiative, if passed, has raised more $118 million — and $80 million of that comes from Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
Newsom says that he understands the “anxiety driving the wealth tax proposal in California,” but that he’s voting no on the California proposal, because he argues the measure dedicates almost all of the revenue to just state-funded healthcare services.
SEIU-UHW Vice President Debru Carthan said Thursday that the coalition supporting the tax would not back down.
“The billionaire tax will be on the November ballot,” said Carthan. “And we intend to win.”
About 250 billionaires would be taxed under the California measure, and the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office says it’s likely that some billionaires would leave the state.
“You may not be able to pick up and move to Texas or Florida to shelter your income from taxation, but I promise you that billionaires can, and do,” Newsom writes. “Wealth is movable, and it shops for the state with the lowest taxes. The fight belongs at the federal level, where this broken system was created in the first place.”
Dan Schnur, a political science professor at UC Berkeley, called Newsom’s tax proposal “savvy political positioning” as it helps him enter the 2028 field without being seen as an opponent to taxing the rich.
“He’s not against taxing billionaires, he just has a different way of doing it,” Schnur said. “He now has an answer for progressive Democrats, whether in California or in early primary states, as to why he didn’t support the ballot measure.”
In Washington, another 2028 contender, California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, joined Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders — both of whom supported the California’s initiative — in introducing legislation that would establish an annual 5% wealth tax on billionaires nationwide.
Newsom is also proposing a national public equity fund, giving Americans a stake in economic gains generated by artificial intelligence companies. The fund — aimed at workers left behind by automation — would support universal child care, free higher education, career training and healthcare.
“Part of this fund could provide a real transition for the laid-off factory worker in Ohio or the 25-year-old coder in San Francisco who sent out a thousand resumes and got zero callbacks,” Newsom wrote. “This could include significant severance and portable benefits while we support them through the transition and into new jobs with programs like enhanced employment insurance.”
“As artificial intelligence reshapes the country, every American should own a piece of the future it builds,” Newsom wrote.
Other potential 2028 contenders are also beginning to stake out their positions on AI. Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has introduced legislation proposing a nationwide moratorium on AI data center construction, which would create a temporary prohibition on the construction and expansion of data centers until Congress passes legislation to address the economic, environmental and safety impacts of artificial intelligence.
