Jay-Z files defamation lawsuit against former accuser, her attorneys
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(LOS ANGELES) — Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter filed a defamation suit Monday against an Alabama woman who claimed he raped her when she was 13 in a since-withdrawn civil lawsuit.
Carter’s lawsuit said the woman, identified as Jane Doe, timed her claim “to inflict maximum pain and suffering on Mr. Carter” to extort payments from him.
The lawsuit also named the woman’s attorneys, Tony Buzbee and David Fortney, whom Jay-Z alleged “were soullessly motivated by greed, in abject disregard of the truth and the most fundamental precepts of human decency.”
The woman initially claimed that Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs took turns sexually assaulting her when she was 13 at a party following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. Both men denied the allegation.
Jane Doe withdrew her lawsuit last month after Carter raised questions about the veracity of her account and his attorney sought sanctions against Buzbee.
“Doe has now voluntarily admitted directly to representatives of Mr. Carter that the story brought before the world in court and on global television was just that: a false, malicious story. She has admitted that Mr. Carter did not assault her; and that indeed it was Buzbee himself … who pushed her to go forward with the false narrative of the assault by Mr. Carter in order to leverage a maximum payday,” Carter’s defamation lawsuit said.
“But the extortion and abuse of Mr. Carter by Doe and her lawyers must stop,” it continued.
In response, Buzbee released a statement saying, “Shawn Carter’s investigators have repeatedly harassed, threatened and harangued this poor woman for weeks trying to intimidate her and make her recant her story. She hasn’t, and won’t. Instead she has stated repeatedly she stands by her claims. These same group of investigators have been caught on tape offering to pay people to sue me and my firm. After speaking with Jane Doe today, it appears that the quotes attributed to her in the lawsuit are completely made up, or they spoke to someone who isn’t Jane Doe.”
He added, “This is just another attempt to intimidate and bully this poor woman that we will deal with in due course. We won’t be bullied or intimidated by frivolous cases.”
ABC News’ Jennifer Leong contributed to this report.
Female giant panda Qing Bao eats bamboo in her enclosure at the National Zoo on January 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Giant pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao made their long-awaited public debut at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, D.C., ahead of Lunar New Year next week.
Bao Li and Qing Bao, both 3, are emerging from quarantine and are featured in the newly relaunched giant panda cam, which consists of 40 cameras that will be operated live between the hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET.
The superstar pandas traveled from China and arrived in the U.S. on Oct. 15, 2024. National Zoo members had the opportunity to see the pandas in a special preview held between Jan. 10 and Jan. 19, a period that gave the giant pandas time to acclimate to their new home.
“Bao Li and Qing Bao have already won the hearts of our staff and volunteers, and we are excited to welcome panda fans back to the Zoo — the only place in the nation where you can see giant pandas for free — and celebrate the newest chapter of our giant panda breeding and conservation program,” Brandie Smith, the John and Adrienne Mars Director of the National Zoo, said in a news release.
“They’re very active and they’re just a lot of fun and obviously super cute,” zookeeper Mariel Lally told ABC News previously about the two pandas.
The National Zoo will host a series of public events and programs celebrating the giant pandas between Jan. 25 and Feb. 9, including a Lunar New Year event. Some Washington, D.C., hotels are even offering panda-themed packages with amenities such as stuffed toy pandas, roundtrip transportation to the zoo and panda-themed beverages.
Panda enthusiasts can see the giant pandas for free at the National Zoo, the only zoo in the U.S. where visitors can see the animals free of charge.
(NEW YORK) — Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations have been vandalized, suffered arson attacks and faced protests since the company’s CEO Elon Musk began his work with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, leading to mass layoffs of federal workers, authorities said.
The latest suspicious incident occurred overnight in Dedham, Massachusetts, where three Teslas were vandalized, according to the Dedham Police Department. Officials said “words had been spray-painted” on two Tesla Cyber-trucks, with all four tires of the trucks and a Tesla Model S being “reportedly damaged.”
Teslas were also damaged in Seattle on Sunday night, where crews had to extinguish a fire involving four electric vehicles, according to the Seattle Fire Department. Officials said other vehicles were moved away to prevent the spreading of the fire.
There were no buildings involved in the fire nor any injuries, according to the fire department.
The Seattle Police Department said the cause of the fire and whether or not foul play was a factor has not been determined. Other incidents in the U.S. were deliberately aimed at the company and it’s chief executive.
Six Teslas were also vandalized at a Tesla dealership in Lynnwood, Washington, on Saturday, with one black Tesla Cyber-truck graffitied with swastikas, according to the Lynnwood Police Department.
A Tesla charging station in South Carolina was targeted on Friday, where an unknown individual spray-painted an expletive directed at President Donald Trump along with “LONG LIVE UKRAINE” on the ground in red paint and threw homemade Molotov cocktails at the station, according to the North Charleston Police Department.
The suspect fled on foot before authorities arrived on the scene, police said.
Police “cut the power to the three charging stations that were burned by the homemade Molotov Cocktails,” officials said in a statement.
There have been no arrests made for this attack, police said.
Similarly, seven Tesla charging stations sustained heavy fire-related damage in Massachusetts on March 3, according to the Littleton Police Department. Officials determined the fires to be “deliberately” set, and the investigation is still ongoing to find the arsonist.
Shots were also fired at at Tesla dealership in Tigard, Oregon, where seven bullets damaged three cars and shattered windows on March 6, according to the Tigard Police Department.
Police said they are unaware of the motive of this specific incident, but were aware that “other Tesla dealerships have been targeted across Oregon and the nation for political reasons.”
On March 2, another Tesla dealership was spray-painted in Owings Mills, Maryland, where “NO MUSK” was written in red spray paint on the windows, followed by a symbol police originally thought was antisemitic.
“The graffiti was instead used against Elon Musk, and the graffiti was an ‘X’ inside of a circle, which we assume is for Twitter, which Musk owns,” Detective Anthony Shelton said in a statement obtained by Baltimore, Maryland, ABC affiliate WMAR.
Another incendiary event occurred in Colorado, where a woman was arrested on Feb. 27 after police caught her with explosives at a Tesla dealership, according to the Loveland Police Department. Lucy Grace Nelson, 40, was arrested after police launched an investigation following a series of vandalizations at the Tesla dealership, police said.
Nelson was charged with explosives or incendiary devices use during felony, criminal mischief and criminal attempt to commit a Class 3 felony, authorities said.
Protests against Tesla have also occurred at dealerships nationwide. Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs told ABC News the demonstrations and the company’s plummeting stocks — which have tumbled nearly 48% this year — can all “be tied to [Musk’s] time at DOGE.”
“It has been a distraction for the company and it’s been a problem for the brand,” Frerichs said.
Amid the crime sprees and protests, some Tesla owners have even placed stickers on their vehicles that read, “I bought this before Elon went crazy,” ABC News reported.
Trump said on Truth Social on Monday night that he is in support of Musk and is going to “buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk.”
Musk, the owner of X, has reposted some reactions that criticized the attacks and called the incident in Seattle “crazy.”
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene labeled the vandalisms as “domestic terrorism” and urged U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to “prioritize a thorough investigation into these matters” in a letter posted to X on Wednesday.
“These attacks, which seem to involve coordinated acts of vandalism, arson and other acts of violence, seriously threaten public safety,” Greene said in a letter posted to X.
A spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
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(WASHINGTON) — The state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter is an attractive target “for violent extremists to attack,” especially after the vehicle ramming in New Orleans that killed 14 people, though there are no known threats to the funeral, according to a new security assessment obtained by ABC News.
“State funerals are considered no-notice events that significantly reduce planning timelines for potential hostile actors,” the document said. “However, state funerals still present attractive targets due to the large gathering of senior US government officials, foreign dignitaries, and heads of state, as well as the symbolic nature of the venues and media attention expected.”
Carter, who died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100, will be honored with a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral on Thursday. President Joe Biden will deliver a eulogy and President-elect Donald Trump is expected to attend.
The memorials for Carter begin on Saturday when he’s transferred from his hometown of Plains, Georgia, to Atlanta. A ceremony will be held at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon.
Carter’s remains will be transferred to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday and he will lie in state at the Capitol from Tuesday to Thursday. After the service at Washington National Cathedral, Carter’s remains will return to Plains.
The assessment also noted other specially designated security events this month, including the certification of the Electoral College on Jan. 6 and Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. The simultaneous events “may increase the perception of a target-rich environment for a variety of threat actors,” the document said.
“Targets could include the planned special events and ceremonies related to the State Funeral and associated First Amendment-protected activities around these ceremonies,” the assessment said. “While there is no indication that the intersection of these two events will lead to an increased threat picture, the potentially large crowds for both may provide an attractive target to threat actors.”
The document also specifically mentioned the New Year’s attack in New Orleans, noting “the use of vehicle-ramming alone or in conjunction with other tactics has become a recurring tactic employed by violent threat actors in the West.”
The document added that “large crowds gathering in publicly accessible locations to observe or participate in State Funeral events could become targets of opportunity for a vehicle attack.”
Fourteen people were killed and dozens were hurt when a man drove a truck through crowds on Bourbon Street early on New Year’s Day. The suspect, who also died in the attack, posted several videos online “proclaiming his support for ISIS,” and mentioning he joined ISIS before this summer, according to the FBI.
