President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while aboard Air Force One en route to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin on June 5, 2026. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Friday issued an injunction blocking the Trump administration from establishing its $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” after expressing concerns that senior officials have not put in their commitment to not move forward with the fund in writing.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema repeatedly cited acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s refusal to commit to not moving forward with the fund under penalty of perjury, as well as President Donald Trump’s own words suggesting he was disappointed that the government might not establish the fund.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Todd Blanche, acting US attorney general, during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, April 27, 2026. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys for the Southern Poverty Law Center asked a federal judge Tuesday to demand that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche issue a correction to allegedly “false” statements he made in the aftermath of the indictment of the organization last week, according to a legal filing.
In a motion to the judge presiding over their criminal case in the Middle District of Alabama, attorneys for the SPLC accuse Blanche of lying in an interview he gave to Fox News last Tuesday when he claimed the government did not have information showing the organization has shared information it learned from informants with law enforcement.
“Those statements are false,” attorneys for the SPLC wrote. “Weeks before the indictment, undersigned counsel provided information to the government demonstrating unequivocally that the SPLC had shared information from its informants with law enforcement.”
Blanche, who earlier this month replaced Pam Bondi as attorney general, announced last week that a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging the group with wire, bank fraud and money laundering offenses related to its paying of informants to infiltrate hate groups.
The attorneys write that they previously requested Blanche issue a correction to the statements but that counsel for the government refused.
They specifically cite an April 6 meeting that SPLC attorneys had with prosecutors in Alabama in which they explained in detail how some of their past cooperation with the government had resulted in an indictment of a member of a well-known extremist group.
The SPLC then sent a letter to the DOJ, which they requested it share with the grand jury, detailing six categories that they argued showed the organization using informants to dismantle white supremacist organizations, which they said undercut the core of the government’s case that argues SPLC used the informants to boost such groups.
The organization is asking the judge overseeing the case to order the disclosure of grand jury transcripts and issue a separate order restricting the government from making further “prejudicial” statements that could taint a possible jury pool.
A Tesla crashed into the outdoor dining area of an Urbane Cafe in Simi Valley, California, on Monday afternoon, killing one person and injuring five others, authorities said. (KABC)
(SIMI VALLEY, Calif.) — A car crashed into the outdoor dining area of an Urbane Cafe in Simi Valley, California, on Monday afternoon, killing one person and injuring five others, authorities said.
The crash was reported at about 2:30 p.m. near Tierra Rejada and Madera roads in a busy shopping center, according to Simi Valley Police.
Aerial footage from ABC News Los Angeles station KABC showed a white Tesla lodged in the restaurant’s outdoor patio after the collision.
One person was pronounced dead at the scene, while five others suffered minor injuries, according to the Ventura County Fire Department.
Authorities have not released the identity of the person who died, and additional information about the victims was not immediately available.
Investigators said they are still working to determine the cause of the crash. The Tesla driver was a 64-year-old woman with four juvenile passengers in the car, police told KABC.
The driver and one passenger were taken to a hospital for minor injuries, according to KABC.
“We’re still trying to determine if speed was involved. We do know that the Tesla was going northbound through the parking lot. It was attempting to make a right-hand turn to go eastbound toward Madera and, unfortunately, did not make the turn and went over the sidewalk when it struck the female victim,” Simi Valley police Sgt. Rick Morton told KABC.
Earlier this month, a Tesla Model 3 crashed into a home in Katy, Texas, killing a woman. Her family has since filed a lawsuit against Tesla and the driver, alleging the vehicle’s driver-assistance technology contributed to the crash.
Tesla has disputed those claims, saying the driver manually overrode the system by pressing the accelerator. Federal safety officials are investigating the crash.
Authorities have not said whether any driver-assistance technology was engaged at the time of Monday’s crash.
“We don’t believe it was an intentional act, but until we can determine what the cause was, whether it was mechanical failure or there was impairment by the driver, it’s still to be determined,” Morton said.
A Virginia State Police car. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
(STAFFORD COUNTY, Va.) — Five people were killed and 44 were injured in a massive crash between a bus and multiple vehicles on Interstate 95 in Virginia early Friday morning, according to state authorities.
The accident unfolded at about 2:35 a.m. on I-95 south in Stafford County, about 45 miles south of Washington, D.C., the Virginia State Police said.
As traffic slowed for a work zone, a bus did not slow down and struck a Chevrolet Suburban, police said.
The bus then hit other cars, while the Suburban was forced into an Acura SUV and other cars, police said.
The Acura caught fire, police said. Four of the five people killed were in the Acura: a 45-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman, a 13-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, all from Greenfield, Massachusetts, police said.
The fifth victim killed, a 25-year-old woman, was in the Suburban, police said.
Forty-four people were taken to hospitals, including three with critical injuries, police said.
The bus — which was en route from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina –was carrying about 34 people, police said, noting that the bus driver, Jing S. Dong, 48, suffered injuries.
Charges are pending, police said.
The crash initially closed all lanes of I-95, Virginia’s Department of Transportation said, causing massive delays for the Friday commute. All lanes have since reopened.
