Jan. 6 hearing live updates: Trump set to plead not guilty
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(LOS ANGELES) — Former President Donald Trump’s election interference case resumes Thursday after months of delays, with a hearing in front of the federal judge overseeing the case.
The hearing comes a week after special counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment that revised the original Jan. 6 charges to reflect the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken while in office.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Trump is set to plead not guilty
At his expected arraignment at today’s hearing, Donald Trump has directed his attorneys to plead not guilty on his behalf to charges in the superseding indictment brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
Trump is not expected to appear at the hearing in person, after waiving his right to be present in a filing earlier this week.
The hearing in the case was scheduled before Smith filed the superseding indictment.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — The University of Idaho quadruple murder suspect, Bryan Kohberger, will stand trial in the capital city of Boise, Idaho, according to a new ruling from Idaho’s Supreme Court.
With this new venue, a new judge, District Judge Steven Hippler, has been assigned to the case.
The original judge on the case ruled Monday that the case would be moved out of Latah County, where the crime took place, agreeing with the defense who argued that Latah County was tainted by pretrial publicity.
Defense lawyers surveyed Latah County residents and said their results found the “pressure to convict” Kohberger was shown to be “so severe” that the venue couldn’t be impartial.
The defense said one respondent answered they would “burn the courthouse down” if he were not convicted. The same survey, according to the defense, found “much less emotional” responses from people living closer to Boise, which is about 300 miles south of Moscow.
The prosecution has said the case has national and international interest, and that the case has been covered plenty in Boise, so a change of venue would not solve any problem.
The relatives of victim Kaylee Goncalves didn’t want the venue changed, saying they “felt that a fair and impartial jury could be found in Latah County,” and they believed keeping the trial locally would help the community heal.
Kohberger is accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students in an off-campus house in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022.
Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University at the time of the crime, was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.
The trial is set to begin on June 2, 2025.
If convicted, Kohberger could face the death penalty.
Measures are taken by security forces on the scene of mass shooting at Apalachee high school in Winder, Georgia, United States on September 04, 2024. (Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(WINDER, Ga.) — As investigators worked to determine a motive behind Wednesday’s deadly school shooting in Georgia, they said they were also seeking answers about the weapon allegedly used by the 14-year-old suspect.
The shooting early Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder killed two students and two teachers, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53, were killed, along with students Mason Schermerhorn, 14, and Christian Angulo, 14, officials said. Nine others were injured, officials said.
The suspect, Colt Gray, a student at the school, surrendered Wednesday and was taken into custody, the GBI said. He will be charged with murder and he will be tried as an adult, the GBI said.
He was being held Thursday morning at Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center, the Department of Juvenile Justice told ABC News’ affiliate WSB-TV.
Chris Hosey, the director of the GBI, said Wednesday night that an AR-platform-style weapon was used in the incident.
Officials said they did not yet have any answers for how Gray was allegedly able to obtain the gun to get it into the school. County Sheriff Jud Smith said that Gray was interviewed by investigators and GBI, but did not disclose further details.
A motive has not yet been determined and it is unknown if the victims were targeted, investigators said.
The FBI said on Wednesday that the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, acting on an alert, interviewed the alleged shooting suspect in 2023.
“In May 2023, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time,” the FBI post read.
The FBI added, “Within 24 hours, the FBI determined the online post originated in Georgia and the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office referred the information to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office for action.”
(BEL AIR, Md.) — Two people were found dead and another was injured after an explosion Sunday morning leveled a home and damaged multiple neighboring residences in a suburban Baltimore neighborhood, authorities said.
The blast was reported around 6:42 a.m. on Arthur Woods Drive in the Harford County city of Bel Air, about 32 miles north of Baltimore, according to officials.
A 35-year-old contractor for Baltimore Gas and Electric was confirmed as the person killed by the explosion, Master Deputy Fire Marshal Oliver Alkire said Sunday. The name of the BGE contractor was not immediately released. A female neighbor living adjacent to the home that exploded was also injured, suffering cuts and bruises, and treated at the scene, Alkire said.
At 6:00 p.m. Sunday, Harford County officials said another victim was found dead in the rubble, bringing the death toll to two.
The identity of the second individual will be released by the medical examiner’s office, officials said.
At least 12 families have been displaced by the blast, according to officials, who noted the total number of damaged structures is still being counted.
A photo posted on X by Harford County Fire and Emergency Medical Services showed firefighters battling a small fire and searching the remains of the home, which was reduced to splintered pieces of wood, insulation and other debris.
“I’ve been on the job for 18 years and this was one of the largest explosions I’ve seen,” Alkire said during a news conference earlier Sunday.
Alkire said firefighters from the Harford County Fire Department were responding to a report of a gas leak in the area when the explosion occurred.
Jeffrey Sexton, a spokesperson for the Harford County Fire and EMS Association, confirmed that the remains of the BGE worker were found in a large debris field caused by the explosion.
Search-and-rescue crews on Sunday afternoon were still combing “piece by piece” through the rubble, which stretched across multiple blocks, officials said.
Alkire said that at least two BGE contract workers had also responded to the area before the explosion to investigate an electrical issue. He said the workers were aware of reports of an odor of gas in the area when the explosion occurred.
Multiple homes were damaged and a damage assessment was being conducted, according to Alkire. He said no evacuations have been ordered.
Alkire confirmed the house that exploded was for sale, but it was unclear if anyone was inside the house when it exploded. Officials described the house as being a “total loss.”
The cause of the explosion is under investigation by the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office, the Harford County Sheriff’s Department and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Residents in the neighborhood reported hearing the loud explosion and feeling their houses shake, authorities said.
Jefferey Beyers, who lives near the home that was destroyed by the blast, told ABC News that he and his wife were awakened by a “deafening explosion coupled with the kind of feeling of an earthquake.” Beyers pointed out windows in his house that he said were blown out from the frames.
“I think it’s important to get to the bottom of it, like understand what happened so that this kind of thing doesn’t happen again,” Beyers said.
Another neighbor, Marshall Garrett, who also lives nearby, told ABC News that he immediately rushed to the scene, beating the fire engines there. He described the scene as complete devastation and said it looked like something out of a movie.
“At first, we saw, we just saw the rubble,” Garrett said. “And then we started to see the flames streak out, and the smoke goes in the air.”
