Judge in Comey case raises alarm over ‘profound investigative missteps’
Former FBI Director James Comey talks backstage before a panel discussion about his book “A Higher Loyalty,” June 19, 2018, in Berlin. (Carsten Koall/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A magistrate judge expressed alarm Monday at what he called “a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps” that may have irreversibly tainted the prosecution of James Comey and violated the former FBI director’s constitutional rights, in a scathing opinion granting Comey’s attorneys access to a vast trove of grand jury evidence.
Judge William Fitzpatrick ordered the Trump administration to turn over a full transcript and recording of the September grand jury presentation by Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, which he said included instances where she may have made “fundamental misstatements of the law that could compromise the integrity of the grand jury process.”
“The Court recognizes that the relief sought by the defense is rarely granted,” Fitzpatrick said in a ruling Monday. “However, the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.”
Comey pleaded not guilty in October to one count of false statements and one count of obstruction of a congressional proceeding related to his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020, amid what critics call Trump’s campaign of retribution against his perceived political foes.
Halligan, Trump’s handpicked U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, sought the indictment of Comey over the objections of career prosecutors after Trump forced out previous U.S. attorney Erik Siebert who sources said had resisted bringing cases against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Halligan, who had no experience as a prosecutor, sought the indictment after Trump, in a social media post, called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to act “NOW!!!” to prosecute Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Fitzpatrick, in Monday’s ruling, wrote, “Having been requested by the government to review the grand jury materials, the Court has identified two statements by the prosecutor to the grand jurors that on their face appear to be fundamental misstatements of the law that could compromise the integrity of the grand jury process.”
Separately, the judge raised concerns that based on materials handed over by the government, it appears the indictment that Halligan ultimately returned in open court may not have been presented or deliberated on by the grand jury, which initially rejected one of the three charges she had sought.
“If this procedure did not take place, then the Court is in uncharted legal territory in that the indictment returned in open court was not the same charging document presented to and deliberated upon by the grand jury,” Fitzpatrick said. “Either way, this unusual series of events, still not fully explained by the prosecutor’s declaration, calls into question the presumption of regularity generally associated with grand jury proceedings, and provides another genuine issue the defense may raise to challenge the manner in which the government obtained the indictment.”
Based on his outlined concerns about potential government misconduct, Fitzpatrick ordered the government to provide all of the grand jury materials to Comey’s attorneys by 5 p.m. ET Monday.
Badwater Basin, the site of Lake Manly, is viewed from Dante’s View showing the lake receding due to evaporation on April 21, 2024, near Furnace Creek, California. (George Rose/Getty)
(DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif.) — An ancient lake that once existed at Death Valley National Park has reemerged after record rainfall in the region.
Several inches of water have formed in Badwater Basin, which lies at 282 feet below sea level, the lowest point in North America, according to a press release from the National Park Service.
During the Ice Ages, the basin — colloquially known as Lake Manly — was once a lake with depths of up to 700 feet.
Ice covered the Sierra Nevada between 128,000 and 186,000 years ago, allowing rivers to flow into a long valley that fed into Lake Manly, according to NASA. At the time, the lake measured nearly 100 miles long.
In modern times, the basin typically lies bare, without any significant moisture.
Death Valley just experienced its wettest fall on record, according to the National Weather Service. Between September and November, 2.41 inches of rain fell — more than what typically falls in the desert landscape in one year. November alone recorded 1.76 inches — breaking the record set in 1923 at 1.7 inches.
The lake is much more shallow than the one that formed in 2024 in the aftermath of Hurricane Hilary — an event that prompted the first tropical storm watch in California’s history.
On Aug. 20, 2024, alone, more than 2 inches of rain fell in Death Valley, according to the NPS.
This year’s rainfall will allow those who missed the last emergence of Lake Manly to see the rare phenomenon once again.
The water can’t drain out, since the basin is contained and at such a low elevation, said Andrew Heltzel, chief commercial officer of the Xanterra Travel Collection, an operator of lodges, restaurants and excursions at several of the most iconic national parks in the U.S., including Death Valley, Yellowstone and Grand Canyon.
“It’s almost impenetrable,” Heltzel told ABC News, describing the outskirts of the basin as “like a seal.”
The only way for the water to escape is through evaporation, which could take months.
When the water is present, it creates a stunning reflection of the surrounding mountain peaks.
“My advice would be to, if you are interested in seeing this, not to delay to get there,” Heltzel said. “It is getting smaller through evaporation every day.”
The “most exciting” aspect of the way the rain fell this time is that it could spark a superbloom of wildflowers in the spring, Heltzel said.
The pace and amount of rain that fell made for the “perfect ingredients” for a significant display of wildflowers to emerge, Heltzel said.
In 2024, too much rain fell too fast, and the soil was unable to absorb the moisture, Heltzel said.
“With the November rains, they came in gently enough that it was able to get into the ground and potentially give us those flowers as well as a second chance to see Lake Manly,” he said.
The last time a superbloom occurred was in 2016, according to the NPS.
The recent storms caused numerous road closures across the parks, with several paved roads covered in flood debris, according to the NPS. However, many of the park’s most popular sites remain open, including Zabriskie Point, Dantes View, Badwater Basin, and Mesquite Sand Dunes.
The National Park Service advised visitors to be aware that unpaved roads may be impassable due to storm damage and to be prepared for self-rescue when traveling on backcountry roads.
In February, Death Valley National Park will host the Dark Sky Festival, which can give visitors opportunities to sky gaze while also seeing Lake Manly, Heltzel said.
Death Valley has been designated as a Gold Tier Dark Sky Park, which signifies the highest rating of darkness, according to the NPS.
“The stargazing opportunities in Death Valley are second to none,” Heltzel said.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan leaves the Milwaukee Federal Courthouse on May 15, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
(MILWAUKEE) — Jury selection is set to begin on Thursday in the federal trial of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, who is accused of concealing an undocumented man to prevent his arrest by immigration authorities.
The court has scheduled jury selection over two days, with the trial set to begin on Monday in Milwaukee.
Prosecutors have told the court they expect to have 25 to 28 witnesses.
Dugan was arrested in April and charged in a two-count federal indictment alleging obstruction of official Department of Homeland Security removal proceedings and knowingly concealing the man, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, from immigration authorities.
According to federal prosecutors, Dugan encountered federal agents who were at the Milwaukee County Circuit Court on April 18 to arrest Flores-Ruiz, who was appearing in her courtroom on a battery charge.
Prosecutors say that after speaking to the agents, Dugan directed them to the chief judge’s office down the hall and then sent Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a non-public door in an alleged attempt, authorities claim, to help him evade arrest on immigration violations.
Dugan has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Her lawyers have called her arrest “virtually unprecedented” and sought to dismiss the case, arguing she has judicial immunity for official acts and her prosecution is unconstitutional. Judge Lynn Adelman denied the motion, finding that there was “no basis for granting immunity simply because some of the allegations in the indictment describe conduct that could be considered ‘part of a judge’s job.'”
The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Dugan in the wake of her arrest, stating in an order that it found it was “in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties.”
Flores-Ruiz, a native of Mexico, was later arrested and charged with unlawful reentry into the U.S.
He was sentenced to time served earlier this month after pleading guilty to the charge, federal court records show. DHS said last month he had been deported.
(NEW YORK) — What started as a dream vacation soon thrust a tight-knit blended family into shock and anguish when one of their own, a beloved teenage girl, was discovered dead on a cruise ship earlier this month.
Even more baffling and heartbreaking, her grandparents said in an interview with ABC News, the person authorities told the family is suspected of Anna Kepner’s death: her stepbrother.
“We were all having a great time,” grandmother Barbara Kepner recalled of the trip. “I couldn’t fathom why anyone would wanna hurt my baby.”
Her grandparents said 18-year-old Anna had her whole life ahead of her. She was an independent and “mighty” young woman, set to graduate high school in May and aspiring to join the Navy, the Kepners said. Those hopes came to a screeching halt when Anna’s body was found aboard the Carnival Horizon, where she and eight other family members were on holiday.
A cause of death has not been announced by authorities, but the Kepner family says the FBI has told them Anna apparently died from asphyxiation, possibly caused by a bar hold — an arm across the neck.
“We were looking forward to seeing her grow,” grandfather Jeffrey Kepner said. “The cruise itself wasn’t what made me excited. It was the fact that I was gonna get to spend another week with my youngest son and his family and all the grandkids.”
The FBI on Sunday continued to decline to comment on the ongoing investigation, and ABC News has not independently confirmed the details of Anna’s death.
“No such thing as steps”
The Kepners, their son, his three children, including Anna, his new wife, and her children from a previous marriage, took the trip together. It was to be a new tradition they were looking forward to keeping, Jeffrey Kepner said. The three generations had three staterooms on the ship.
“The two younger girls stayed with the parents and then the three teenagers, they decided amongst themselves they wanted to stay in the room together. But we had a larger room and we made it very clear that at any time if they weren’t getting along, they didn’t want to be together, we had an extra bed in our room that they could come to,” Barbara Kepner said.
The Kepners painted a picture of a happy group, where familial ties reached further than blood, and there’s “no such thing as steps” for siblings.
“It’s all family. It’s a blended family, yes, but that’s not how our family is,” Jeffrey Kepner said. “Our dynamic is we’re all just family.”
When Anna’s father remarried, the Kepners said they gained two new grandchildren.
“I loved them just like I’ve loved the rest of my grandchildren. They called us Memaw, Peepaw, told us they loved us,” Mrs. Kepner said.
“They were just like brother and sister,” Barbara Kepner said of the stepbrother now called a “suspect” in Anna’s death, according to court papers filed by his mother and Anna’s father in an unrelated matter.
Anna’s grandmother described the two teens as having been “two peas in a pod.”
“I know that those two kids cared about each other in the right way,” Barbara Kepner said. “I can’t accuse him because I don’t know what happened in that room.”
No formal charges have been filed.
Anna’s grandparents said authorities told the family that the stepbrother, according to security cameras, was “the only one seen going in and the only one seen going out” from the room he had been sharing with Anna.
Kepner said she couldn’t understand why anyone would do such a thing to Anna — and wants to see justice done.
“That will be for the courts to decide,” Kepner said.
The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s office declined to comment Friday. The Kepners said the family has been told preliminary information indicates that there were no signs of sexual assault and that there did not appear to be drugs or alcohol in Anna’s system.
Autopsy and toxicology reports that could confirm those details have not been completed.
“I couldn’t stop screaming.”
The last night her grandparents saw Anna alive, her dental braces had been bothering her at dinner, Barbara Kepner said. But Anna was still determined to join in the fun.
“She just said, ‘Meemaw, I think I’m gonna go back to my room for a little bit, I don’t feel well.’ And she must have felt better, because she got dressed up. And she came down, we were playing in the casino. And she sat down and she played $20. And she didn’t win anything. And she said, ‘Meemaw, I love you guys, I’ll see you later,’” Mrs. Kepner said. “She’d pop in and out to check in with us. And we never saw her again after that.”
The next morning, Jeffrey Kepner said he was buying bingo cards when a medical alert blared over the ship loudspeakers. He recognized the room number.
“I went blank,” Jeffrey Kepner said. “I was hoping that it was something minor.” Instead, what he saw when he walked in haunts him. “I still wake up seeing that,” he said.
Anna’s body was discovered by a room attendant “concealed under the bed,” and there were bruises on the side of her neck, according to the Kepners and a security source briefed on the investigation.
When her son — Anna’s father — entered the room, Barbara Kepner said, “all he had to do was look at her and he knew she was gone. And then my husband got there and pulled them out of the room. As he said, they cannot see what they saw.” Then her husband came to tell her what had happened.
“I knew when he walked in the room, something was wrong,” Mrs. Kepner said. “And all he could say to me was, ‘Anna.’ The last I can remember for probably hours that morning is I just screamed. I couldn’t stop screaming.”
The utter shock of the situation hasn’t left much room for grief yet, the Kepners said — but it has made them crave understanding and rack their brains for clues.
“Those are the questions that we’ve been asking — what did we miss?” Mr. Kepner said.
Barbara Kepner said she thought Anna would have told her if she had any concerns about her safety.
“With my grandchildren, I have one rule, and it’s the only rule I have with all of them. You be truthful with me, I’ll be truthful with you, and we’ll figure this out,” Kepner said.
She said on the ship, the stepbrother told her, “In his own words, say he does not remember what happened.” She added, “I believe, to him, that is his truth.”
The stepbrother was questioned along with other family members by law enforcement — who also pored over the ship’s security camera footage and access-card swipes to get a picture of who was where at the various times prior to the death, according to the Kepner family and a security source briefed on the investigation.
“He was an emotional mess. He couldn’t even speak. He couldn’t believe what had happened,” Mrs. Kepner said of the stepbrother. After the boat docked in Miami, the stepbrother was hospitalized for psychiatric observation and then released to stay with a family member, Kepner said.
Appearing virtually in a Florida family courtroom in connection with an unrelated custody matter connected to the divorce of Anna’s parents, the attorney for Kepner’s stepmother told the court Thursday that, immediately after the incident on the cruise ship, the stepbrother was “hospitalized.” He has since been released from the hospital and is now living with a relative of the mother and receiving counseling, the lawyer said. The lawyer did not explain the reason for the hospitalization.
“The biggest question that I want answered is the why. And that’s the answer that I don’t know if we’ll ever get,” Jeffrey Kepner said.
Along with the pain of the unknown, the grandparents said, has also come the feeling they’ve lost not one, but two kids they cared for.
“I now know how she died. It helps a little bit, but it’s not going to bring Anna back,” Barbara Kepner said. “No matter what we find out, no matter what they tell us, it’s not going to bring either one of these children back.”
