Judge blocks DOJ from sharing Jack Smith’s classified docs report with members of Congress
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(WASHINGTON) — The federal judge who oversaw Donald Trump’s classified documents case has blocked the Department of Justice from sharing special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on his probe with select members of Congress.
Judge Aileen Cannon, in an order issued one day after Trump’s inauguration, offered a scathing criticism of the Department of Justice’s “startling” conduct and willingness to “gamble” with the rights of Trump’s former co-defendants by attempting to allow four members of Congress to review Smith’s final report as directed by DOJ policy.
“Prosecutors play a special role in our criminal justice system and are entrusted and expected to do justice,” Cannon wrote. “The Department of Justice’s position on Defendants’ Emergency Motion … has not been faithful to that obligation.”
Trump pleaded not guilty in June 2023 to 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information. The former president, along with his longtime aide Walt Nauta and staffer Carlos De Oliveira, also pleaded not guilty in a superseding indictment to allegedly attempting to delete surveillance footage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Judge Cannon dismissed the case in July based on the constitutionality of Smith’s appointment, and Smith dropped Trump from his appeal of the case after the election due to a longstanding Department of Justice policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president — but the Justice Department appealed the dismissal of the case against Nauta and De Oliveira.
Cannon, in her ruling issued Tuesday, criticized prosecutors for being willing to release sensitive court materials — including material pursuant to grand jury subpoenas — while the case against Trump’s former co-defendants is ongoing.
“In short, the Department offers no valid justification for the purportedly urgent desire to release to members of Congress case information in an ongoing criminal proceeding,” Cannon wrote.
Cannon expressed concern that the report, if shown to members of Congress, could be leaked publicly and prevent Trump’s former co-defendants from having a fair trial.
“This Court lacks any means to enforce any proffered conditions of confidentiality, to the extent they even exist in memorialized form. And most fundamentally, the Department has offered no valid reason to engage in this gamble with the Defendants’ rights,” the order said.
Cannon’s order remains in effect at least 30 days after the case proceedings conclude, at which point the Justice Department can advise the court about their position on the order.
The DOJ’s new leadership under the Trump is not expected to press for the report’s release, making it unlikely that the report will ever see the light of day.
(WASHINGTON) — A Republican president-elect pledges support for expansive tariffs as a means of protecting U.S. businesses and hamstringing global competitors.
That description may conjure up former President Donald Trump, but it also applies to Herbert Hoover, who led the country nearly a century ago during the onset of the Great Depression.
Within months of the stock market crash, Hoover signed into law the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, a 1930 measure that increased tariffs for a broad swathe of imported goods. In response, several countries imposed retaliatory tariffs and trade plummeted. Many economists view the measure as a factor that exacerbated the nation’s economic downturn.
“A whole generation of Republicans and Democrats after World War II was very much conditioned against tariff hikes because of the experience of the 1930s. Now we have a new generation of leaders who are much more willing to pull the trigger on higher tariffs,” Douglas Irwin, a professor of economics at Dartmouth College and author of “Peddling Protectionism: Smoot-Hawley and the Great Depression,” told ABC News.
Here’s what to know about the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, its economic impact, and what its legacy means for tariffs promised by Trump, according to experts.
What is the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act?
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act arrived at a moment of economic crisis.
As the stock market wobbled and financial panic took hold, Congress negotiated a set of tariff increases that initially aimed to protect U.S. farmers from foreign competition but ultimately extended to a wide range of manufactured goods.
The measure is named after its key supporters in Congress: Republican Sen. Reed Smoot of Utah and Republican Rep. Willis Hawley of Oregon. It passed the Senate by a narrow margin of 44 to 42, and sailed through the House of Representatives by a vote of 264 to 147. Hoover signed Smoot-Hawley into law in June 1930.
For products already facing tariffs, the law, on average, raised the import tax from 40% to nearly 60%, making for an increase of roughly 20 percentage points, Kris Mitchener, a professor of economics at Santa Clara University who studies Smoot-Hawley, told ABC News. It also significantly expanded the number of goods subject to a tariff, he added.
“It culminated in a more or less complete rewrite of the tariff schedule,” Mitchener said, referring to the nation’s tariff code.
What happened after Smoot-Hawley took effect, and did it cause the Great Depression?
The Smoot-Hawley tariffs set off a near-immediate trade war, in which several foreign nations responded to tariffs by slapping U.S. imports with taxes of their own.
For instance, Canada placed tariffs on 16 products that accounted for roughly a third of U.S. exports, according to a working paper co-authored by Mitchener in 2021. France and Spain both slapped taxes on imported American automobiles, a major U.S. industry.
“America’s trade partners responded by targeting U.S. exports,” Mitchener said. “The most important declines were in the products that were targeted.”
As a result, trading partners suffered reduced output, but so did the United States, Michener said.
The trade slowdown weakened the economy and exacerbated the nation’s economic downturn, experts said. However, the Great Depression had taken hold before the effects of Smoot-Hawley, ruling it out as a cause of the crisis, they added.
“Smoot-Hawley impacted the U.S. economy at a vulnerable moment,” Irwin said.
What could the legacy of Smoot-Hawley mean for Trump’s tariff proposals?
Smoot-Hawley cast a shadow over tariff policy for decades, Irwin said. “It gave tariffs a bad name,” he added.
For decades, prominent members of both major parties focused on the risks posed by tariffs, occasionally citing Smoot-Hawley, Irwin said.
“The Smoot-Hawley tariff ignited an international trade war and helped sink our country into the Great Depression,” then-president Ronald Reagan said during a radio address in 1986.
The measure also played a key role in shifting tariff authority from Congress toward the executive branch, since lawmakers sought a speedy way to roll back the tariffs, experts said.
In 1934, the Reciprocal Tariffs Act gave the president the power to increase or reduce tariff levels by up to 50%. A series of subsequent laws helped shift additional tariff authority to the president.
“Now, Congress doesn’t have much to do with setting tariffs,” Irwin said.
On the campaign trail, Trump said he could enact tariffs without support from Congress. He is largely accurate in his description of the wide latitude enjoyed by the president in setting and implementing some tariffs, experts previously told ABC News.
“Trump is using the delegated powers to pass tariffs,” Irwin said. “That’s completing the circle of Smoot-Hawley in some sense.”
The weather is forecast to be disguised as summer for Halloween in most of the Northeast.
As ghosts and goblins prepare to go trick-or-treating on Thursday, temperatures are expected to feel more like Labor Day than All Hallows’ Eve as an autumnal U.S. hot spell continues.
Potential high temperature records for the last day of October are forecast to be broken in several cities in the Northeast.
In New York City, temperatures Thursday could possibly reach 80 degrees, which would set a new record for the day. Records are also expected to fall in Philadelphia, Boston, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., as those cities are also expected to breach the 80-degree mark.
Even the far Northeast will experience a warm Halloween as Burlington, Vermont, and Bangor, Maine, are forecast to heat up to 76 degrees. Down south, Charleston, South Carolina, could hit 84 degrees, while Raleigh, North Carolina, is forecast to get up to 81.
Temperatures in the Northeast are forecast to be around 30 degrees higher than last year’s Halloween, when New York City, Philadelphia and Boston were in the low 50s.
The balmy weather, however, will be short-lived.
A strong cold front is expected to move through the Northeast on Friday afternoon, bringing an end to record heat.
For the New York City Marathon on Sunday, the high temperature for the day is forecast to be 57, according to the National Weather Service.
The cold front is also expected to bring chilly temperatures, rain and snow to parts of the Great Lakes and upper Midwest. A winter weather advisory issued for Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan includes the chance of measurable snow.
Elsewhere in the nation, a cold front responsible for severe weather from Oklahoma to Illinois on Wednesday is forecast to move east, producing strong to severe storms from western Texas to Little Rock, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee, all the way to Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio.
As people across the Northeast were breaking out T-shirts and shorts amid record-breaking high temperatures this week, several inches of snow blanketed the mountaintops of Hawaii.
As firefighters in Colorado battled wildfires and meteorologists issued red-flag fire danger warnings, high elevations of Hawaii’s Big Island resembled the Rocky Mountains in winter.
Several inches of snow blanketed the summits of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, the tallest peaks in Hawaii and part of the state’s Volcanoes National Park.
“Due to winter weather conditions, the summit is currently closed for both day and overnight use, and permits for Mauna Loa Summit Cabin are temporarily on hold,” the Volcanoes National Park said in a statement on its Facebook page.
Meanwhile, in the actual Rockies, a major storm system moving in is expected to bring up to a foot of fresh snow. But elsewhere in Colorado, firefighters were dealing with what investigators suspect is a “human-caused” wildfire that spread to 166 acres near the town of Divide and was 80% contained on Wednesday.
The wintry weather expected for the Rockies was countered by record-breaking temperatures this week across a large part of the nation from Detroit, where it got up to 77 degrees on Wednesday, to Laredo, Texas, where the temperature was expected to hit 94, tying a daily record.
(NEW YORK) — Even before the pandemic took hold in 2020, Americans drifted away from their social circles, dedicating more and more time to solitary activities. This shift has deepened feelings of social isolation, leaving many individuals longing for connections and companionship that once felt more accessible.
Approximately 20% of American adults are grappling with “daily loneliness,” according to a recent Gallup report, marking the highest level in two years. The U.S. Surgeon General, often referred to as the “Nation’s Doctor,” declared that we are currently facing a serious loneliness epidemic. They also stated that Generation Z — those born from the mid-1990s to the early 2010s — might be the loneliest generation.
Chronic loneliness — prolonged feelings of loneliness and social isolation — affects not only your mental health but also has physical consequences.
“It can do everything from increase rates of high blood pressure, heart disease, increased rates of dementia, and actually decrease how long we live,” Dr. Kelli Harding, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, told “Nightline.”. “It’s as risky for health as, you know, smoking 15 cigarettes a day.”
To combat the loneliness epidemic, professional cuddlers like Jasmine Siemon from Bethesda, Maryland, are leading the way. She uses platonic touch therapy to assist adults dealing with issues such as intimacy, anxiety and loneliness.
Siemon told “Nightline” she always does a consultation to see what made the person interested in touch and cuddle therapy.
“I want to know what their touch history is. There’s a clear understanding of having agency over your body in the session,” she said. “At no point am I going to touch you in a way that you’re not comfortable with or that you’re not curious about, and vice versa. So the boundaries are the rigid boundaries — no touching anywhere a bathing suit covers.”
Siemon acknowledged that while her job may sound unusual to some, she has seen how her work has helped people like Elliot Wallace, who has been having cuddle therapy sessions with Siemon for a year.
“I found myself being nervous in certain cases, whether people were very close, like moving in too close or taking up my space or even being touched,” Wallace said. “And I wanted to find a way to not have that [be] threatening anymore.”
Since Wallace works a lot from home, he says it makes it harder for him to meet people. He sought out Siemon to help him discover who he is, so he can be more open and vulnerable with people.
While Siemon says she has seen how her work has helped some people, consulting a professional cuddler may not suit everyone. Experts warn that if cuddle therapy ends suddenly, it can lead to feelings of abandonment, rejection, loss and even despair.
Professional cuddlers are just one option for coping with loneliness, which can manifest in various ways. Kaari Hostler, a recent college graduate who has moved from the Midwest to New York City, hopes to connect with others, but the 22-year-old isn’t seeking love or romance. Instead, she’s looking to make friends.
Hostler was searching for ways to branch out when she came across “The Girls NYC” online. It’s an exclusive social group for women looking to make friends in their early 20s in New York City.
When attending these events, there is one important rule: you must come alone. Similar groups focusing on finding connections, like dinner parties and running clubs, are rising across the U.S.
“We spend so much time online, we end up isolating ourselves,” Hostler said. “It’s not a substitute for actual human interaction.”
Through social media, people can connect and game with others across continents. TikTok trends like “Get Ready With Me” videos — which show the process of someone getting ready for an event or activity — can help you feel connected to your favorite influencers. There are also dating and friendship apps.
However, these are remote and experts say may not be a good substitute for actual human interaction.
“Gen Z has had it tough,” Dr. Harding said. “They didn’t have a traditional graduation from high school. They have also been part of this great experiment of social media we are learning without guardrails.”
Like Hostler, 38-year-old Quincy Winston struggled to make new friends after relocating to Phoenix with his wife, Latoya, in 2015.
However, a heartfelt conversation with his wife sparked an idea.
“Her girlfriends are very organized, very tight knit,” said Winston. “A lot of my friends at the time were distant,” adding his wife told him that “it’s important for men to seek out friendship and build camaraderie.”
In 2022, Winston formed the Phoenix Professional Black Men’s Friends Group, a space for men to meet locally and find new friends.
“So for me, it’s been a self-discovery,” Winston said. “It’s been a journey. I’ll thank my wife every day for kind of opening up about my own emotions and encouraging other men to support other men.”
Winston’s group now has nearly 200 members, and helps men connect with something he says some men may struggle with.
“I think there’s a term out there,” Winston said. “Emotional intelligence — guys, you have to work at that. What do I need to do in order to be a friend and make friends and have friends and keep friends?”
Experts say loneliness does not discriminate, and could happen to anyone at any age.
At the New Ground Estate in London, 26 residents are making history — living at the first and only co-housing community in the United Kingdom dedicated to women aged 50 and over.
Some have likened this housing situation to a real-life version of “The Golden Girls,” the TV show that followed four older women living together in Miami.
“It is really beneficial because there’s that sense of community,” Dr. Harding said. “I think it can also reframe how we think about aging.”
Everyone at New Ground has their own flats but there are also communal living spaces — all run by the ladies themselves.
Jude Tisdall is 73 years old and moved into the community in 2018.
“There’s a few people here who are of a certain age and are inspirational and are fit and still active and doing things,” Tisdall said. “I think that has made me really, really think about is I’m going to live to the nth degree till I die. And that’s what I’ve got to do.”
Kelsey Klimara, Arturo Ruiz, Sabrina Shanghie and Caroline Kucera contributed to this report.
