Law enforcement on alert for Election Day threats, new report says

November 4, 2024

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(NEW YORK) — Election workers across the country are being bombarded with threats, and law enforcement agencies nationwide are dedicating “substantial resources” to ensure public safety during the election, according to a new threat assessment obtained by ABC News.

The document, transmitted Monday by the NYPD Intelligence Bureau, encapsulates the full picture of Election Day threats, including the risk of physical violence and disinformation generated by foreign governments. Potential targets include “election personnel and government officials, campaign offices, as well as voting-related sites, infrastructure, and technology,” the assessment said.

“Individuals may employ a variety of tactics that could include physical attacks, threats of violence, delivery of suspicious packages, swatting, arson, and property destruction, harassment, as well as cyberattacks and mis/dis/mal-information campaigns,” the assessment also said.

The FBI has received more than 2,000 threats to election workers and “opened at least 100 investigations into these unlawful actions” as of April, the assessment said, citing a September report by the U.S. Department of Justice, with more than 20 people charged.

In the last week alone, multiple individuals in separate states have faced charges related to threats against election officials, according to the assessment:

Teak Brockbank, 45, of Colorado, pleaded guilty to transmitting interstate threats after he made a series of online threats against election officials in Colorado and Arizona, a judge in Colorado, and federal law enforcement agents.
Richard Glenn Kantwill, 61, of Tampa, allegedly made threats against an election official.
John Pollard, 62, of Philadelphia, allegedly threatened to kill a state party representative who was recruiting poll watchers online.

Threats and hostile rhetoric against election officials have proliferated online, according to the assessment:

Last month, the NYPD Intelligence Bureau found users on several platforms that accused Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of attempting to influence the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, and called for his execution.
A user in an online extremist messaging channel called for a “national militia for the defense of the Republic” to ensure “election integrity.”
In September, suspicious packages containing powder were sent to secretaries of state and state election offices in at least 15 states.

“Each state runs elections a little bit differently but the commonalities across all the states are that election officials are professional, they follow the laws of their state, and the process is transparent,” Benjamin Hovland, chairman of the bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission, told ABC News.

DOJ charges senior Hamas leaders over involvement in Americans’ deaths during Oct. 7 attack on Israel

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(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department unsealed charges Tuesday targeting multiple senior members of Hamas’ leadership for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murdering of Americans during the terror group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

The criminal complaint, unsealed in the Southern District of New York, names six members of Hamas’ leadership structure and details extensively their alleged terrorist activities on behalf of the group.

The complaint details seven criminal charges against the Hamas leaders including conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist group resulting in death, conspiracy to provide material support for acts of terrorism resulting in death, conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, conspiracy to bomb a place of public use resulting in death, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction resulting in death and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Among those named in the criminal complaint are Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader assassinated in Iran in July, and Yahya Sinwar, who has been described by Secretary of State Antony Blinken as the “primary decider” in cease-fire negotiations.

The other defendants listed are Mohammad Al-Masri, Marwan Issa, Khaled Meshaal and Ali Baraka.

The charges were filed in February and kept under seal because the DOJ was hoping to be able to take Haniyeh and other members of the alleged conspiracy into U.S. custody, a DOJ official told ABC News, who added that it was no longer necessary to do so since three of the six charged are now deceased and given the recent developments in the region.

The charges accuse the group of financing and directing a “decades-long campaign to murder American citizens and endanger the security of the United States,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the complaint’s unsealing.

“As outlined in our complaint, those defendants — armed with weapons, political support and funding from the Government of Iran, and support from Hizballah [Hezbollah] — have led Hamas’ efforts to destroy the State of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim,” Garland said. “In its attacks over the past three decades, Hamas has murdered or injured thousands of civilians, including dozens of American citizens.”

Garland further confirmed in a statement Tuesday that the Justice Department is actively investigating Hamas’ murder of six hostages over the weekend, including dual American Israeli citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

“The charges unsealed today are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas’ operations. These actions will not be our last,” Garland said. “The Justice Department has a long memory. We will pursue the terrorists responsible for murdering Americans — and those who illegally provide them with material support — for the rest of their lives.”

Hamas carried out an unprecedented incursion from Gaza into southern Israel by air, land and sea on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 253 others hostage, according to Israeli authorities. Officials say there are now 97 hostages remaining in Gaza. Before the killing of the six hostages over the weekend, U.S. and Israeli officials had assessed that fewer than 50 were still living.

Twelve American citizens were taken during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. Two were released in late October, and two more were freed in November as part of a cease-fire deal. Of the eight Americans who remain detained in Gaza, four have been declared dead. U.S. and Israeli officials believe that four others could be alive.

More than 40,800 Palestinians have been killed and more than 94,200 others have been injured in Gaza since Oct. 7, amid Israel’s ongoing ground operations and aerial bombardment of the strip, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.

ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston contributed to this report.

Navy IDs 2 ‘trailblazing’ female aviators killed in Washington jet crash

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(WASHINGTON) — The Navy identified on Monday two “trailblazing” women aviators who were killed when their jet crashed in northeast Washington during an Oct. 15 training mission.

A day after Navy officials declared them dead, they were identified as Lt. Cmdr. Lyndsay P. “Miley” Evans, a Naval flight officer, and Lt. Serena N. “Dug” Wileman, a Naval aviator. Both women were 31 years old and from California, according to the Navy.

Evans and Wileman were described by Navy officials as “two highly skilled, combat decorated aviators.”

“More than just names and ranks, they were role models, trailblazers, and women whose influence touched countless people on the flight deck and well beyond,” the Navy’s Carrier Strike Group Two and Carrier Air Wing 3 said in a statement.

The aviators were identified a day after Cmdr. Timothy Warburton of the Navy’s Electronic Attack Squadron 130 — which goes by the nickname “Zappers” — announced they had been declared dead.

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the loss of two beloved Zappers,” Warburton said in a statement. “Our priority right now is taking care of the families of our fallen aviators and ensuring the well-being of our Sailors and the Growler community. We are grateful for the ongoing teamwork to safely recover the deceased.”

Wreckage of the EA-18G Growler jet was located Wednesday on a mountainside east of Mount Rainier, military officials said.

Search-and-rescue crews faced mountainous terrain, cloudy weather and low visibility during the search for the crew, Navy officials said in a statement last week.

The jet, from Electronic Attack Squadron 130, crashed at about 3:23 p.m. on Oct. 15, about 30 miles west of Yakima, according to the Navy.

The jet crashed after launching a training flight from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, officials said.

Evans and Wileman had recently returned from a nine-month deployment to the Red Sea in the Middle East, where they were part of the Carrier Air Wing 3 and stationed aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to the Navy. During their deployment, the aviators were involved in what the Navy described as “the most dynamic combat action.”

“During their deployment, both Evans and Wileman distinguished themselves in combat operations,” Capt. Marvin Scott, a Navy flight commander, said in a statement.

Scott added, “These role models cemented legacies by making history that will inspire future generations of Naval officers and aviators.”

Evans completed multiple combat strikes into Houthi-controlled territories in Yemen, making her one of the few women to fly combat missions over land, according to the Navy.

In 2023, Evans was part of an all-female Super Bowl flyover of State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, which the Navy said was “a historic moment marking 50 years of women flying in the Navy.”

In 2024, Evans was also named the Growler Tactics Instructor of the Year, according to the Navy.

In 2023 and 2024, Wileman also flew on multiple combat missions into the Houthi-controlled territories of Yemen.

“I have personally flown with both of these great Americans in both training and dynamic combat operations, and they always performed professionally and precisely. I could not be more proud to have served with each of them,” Capt. Marvin Scott, a Navy flight commander, said in a statement.

The cause of the crash that killed Evans and Wileman is under investigation, according to the Navy.

The Growler aircraft, which according to the Navy is worth about $67 million, is “the most advanced technology in airborne Electronic Attack and stands as the Navy’s first line of defense in hostile environments.”

The 130 squadron adopted the nickname “Zappers” when it was commissioned as the Carrier Early Warning Squadron 13 in 1959, the military said.

The squadron was most recently deployed to the Southern Red Sea, where it carried out seven pre-planned strikes against Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, according to a statement.

The Zappers also carried out some 700 combat missions “to degrade the Houthi capability to threaten innocent shipping,” according to a press release announcing the squadron’s return to Washington in July.

Menendez brothers murder case gets reevaluated based on new evidence, next hearing in November

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(NEW YORK) — The Menendez brothers face the possibility of freedom after serving more than 30 years in prison, with their case being reviewed for possible resentencing by the Los Angeles County District Attorney following the emergence of significant new evidence.

On Aug. 20, 1989, Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, gunned down their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion. Jose Menendez was a wealthy 45-year-old entertainment executive, while 47-year-old Kitty Menendez was a homemaker.

The brothers were sentenced to life in prison after being convicted at their second retrial, following mistrials in the first trial.

“It was from the jump, one of the biggest cases in Los Angeles and in the country; no one could believe that these two young men had killed their parents this way,” ABC’s Terry Moran, who covered the trial, told “Impact X Nightline.”

The fact that they killed their parents 36 years ago was always clear. However, the reason they did it has always divided and captivated the nation.

During their initial trial, defense attorney Leslie Abramson contended that Lyle and Erik shot their parents in self-defense. She argued that the brothers feared their parents would kill them if they disclosed the years of alleged molestation they had suffered at their father’s hands.

The first trial ended in a mistrial on Jan. 13, 1994, due to a deadlocked jury. After a second trial, the brothers were found guilty of first-degree murder in 1996 and received two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.

A fresh legal filing has been submitted with even more distressing details of Jose Menendez’s alleged abuse.

According to the brothers’ attorneys, Erik Menendez penned a letter describing his father’s alleged abuse to his cousin.

Another alleged victim of their father, a former member of Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, also spoke out in 2023 Peacock documentary “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.” Roy Rosselló alleged that he was abused by José Menendez when he was 14.

The Menendez brothers have seemingly gone from public enemies to victims as a powerful movement builds online to set the brothers free.

Their story is now under a modern lens, casting a new perspective on an alleged trauma that was barely understood at the time — that men could also be victims of sexual abuse. Some people say this reexamination challenges long-held beliefs and prompts people to rethink their understanding of this complex issue.

“I have always thought that if the Menendez brothers were the Menendez sisters, they’d be free today, would have been convicted,” Moran said. “But an abuse victim often gets some kind of clemency.”

Prison reform advocate Kim Kardashian called for their release.

‘We are all products of our experiences,” Kardashian wrote in a personal essay about the brothers. “Time changes us, and I doubt anyone would claim to be the same person they were at 18.”

Actor Rosie O’Donnell has befriended the brothers.

“They were not horrible kids,” O’Donnell told “Impact X Nightline.” “They were severely, sadistically tortured by a pedophile predator father, and a very compliant and also involved mother, who had no interest in them.”

In the ’90s, Dr. William Vicary, a former psychiatrist, was a key witness for the defense in the case after defense attorney Leslie Abramson hired him to evaluate Erik Menendez. Vicary later received probation of his medical license for admitting to altering notes from those meetings.

“In the ’80s and ’90s, the public had very little knowledge about this type of sexual abuse, especially fathers abusing their own sons,” Vicary told “Impact X Nightline.” “Back then, there were many people that just dismissed this outright.”

Others like Alan Abrahamson, who covered the trial for the LA Times, still believe the brothers killed their parents for money and that the jury got it right, given their lavish spending spree in the aftermath of the killings.

“The parents were sitting in the den watching TV,” Abrahamson told “Impact X Nightline.” “Did they have any weapons? No.”

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced earlier this month that he was reviewing new evidence in the case against the brothers.

Some family members said the Menendez brothers should have been charged with manslaughter instead of murder. A group of relatives, including Kitty Menendez’s sister, agree.

The family members held a news conference in LA on Wednesday, hoping it would influence the appeal of their sentencing. The court has scheduled one hearing for November 2024.