Cody Balmer pleaded guilty to charges including aggravated arson, arson and the attempted murder of Shapiro, the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office said.
Prosecutors released surveillance video on Tuesday capturing the attack as it unfolded.
Balmer climbed a fence at the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg, broke a window and hurled a Molotov cocktail inside, prosecutors said.
Video showed Balmer walking through the house, hitting at doors, “including a door leading to where the Governor’s family and guests slept, but could not break through,” prosecutors said in a statement.
Balmer then ignited a second Molotov cocktail in the dining area, prosecutors said, and the fire it sparked was caught on surveillance video. Balmer then fled the scene, prosecutors said.
The attack occurred in the middle of the night, hours after the Shapiro family hosted more than two dozen people for the first night of Passover. At the time of the attack, the governor, his wife and three of their children were in the house, as well as 15 of their guests and two Pennsylvania State Police troopers, prosecutors said.
Balmer called 911, identified himself and confessed, allegedly telling the dispatcher that Shapiro “needs to know that he ‘will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people.'”
Balmer allegedly told police he would have attacked Shapiro with a hammer if he happened upon the governor inside the residence, according to court documents.
Balmer was a mechanic who may have been experiencing financial and mental health problems, sources previously told ABC News.
Balmer, who was arrested at 38 years old, will first be eligible for parole when he is 63, prosecutors said.
Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead. Via Flickr
(NEW YORK) — A federal appeals court has ruled that most of President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs are unlawful, potentially dealing a significant blow to the president’s effort to reshape the country’s trade policy unilaterally.
In a 7-4 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected Trump’s authority to carry out most of his tariffs, agreeing with the lower court that Trump’s actions were “invalid as contrary to law.” However, the court delayed the impact of its decision through mid-October to allow the Trump administration to appeal to the Supreme Court, as the tariffs remain in effect.
“Because we agree that [International Emergency Economic Powers Act’s] grant of presidential authority to ‘regulate’ imports does not authorize the tariffs imposed by the Executive Orders, we affirm,” the majority wrote.
The decision in effect tees up one of the most consequential legal questions for the Supreme Court about the scope of the president’s authority on trade policy.
After Oct. 14, the court will return the case to the lower court to decide how the Supreme Court’s recent decision limiting nationwide injunctions affects the decision.
Trump reacts to decision In a post on his social media platform Friday evening, Trump rebuked the appeals court’s decision, warning that a court order blocking the tariffs “would literally destroy the United States of America.”
Previewing the legal challenge expected in the coming weeks, Trump called on the Supreme Court to rule that he has the power to impose tariffs unilaterally.
“Now, with the help of the United States Supreme Court, we will use them to the benefit of our Nation, and Make America Rich, Strong, and Powerful Again! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump wrote.
What the decision says In its decision Friday, the appeals court determined that only Congress, not the president alone, has the authority to impose tariffs, setting up a high-profile legal question for the Supreme Court regarding the scope of the president’s power.
The decision centers on whether the authority to “regulate” imports, included in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, means the president can issue tariffs on his own.
Seven of the 11 judges said that the rarely used law does not give Trump the power to implement either his “reciprocal” tariffs or the “trafficking” tariffs imposed on Canada, Mexico and China aimed at stopping the flow of fentanyl across U.S. borders, writing that “tariffs are a core Congressional power.”
“We discern no clear congressional authorization by IEEPA for tariffs of the magnitude of the Reciprocal Tariffs and Trafficking Tariffs,” the majority wrote. “Given these considerations, we conclude Congress, in enacting IEEPA, did not give the President wide-ranging authority to impose tariffs of the nature of the Trafficking and Reciprocal Tariffs simply by the use of the term ‘regulate . . . importation.'”
A subset of four judges from the majority took the decision even further, determining that IEEPA does not give Trump the power to issue any tariffs, not just the two types of tariffs in question.
“The Government’s interpretation of IEEPA would be a functionally limitless delegation of Congressional taxation authority,” they wrote.
In a minority opinion, four other judges disagreed, suggesting Trump’s declaration of a national emergency is enough of an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to justify the tariffs.
“IEEPA’s language, as confirmed by its history, authorizes tariffs to regulate importation,” the judges wrote.
How the case came about A group of small businesses and a coalition of states sued to block the tariffs earlier this year, arguing that President Trump had overstepped his authority under the rarely used International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) when he issued a flurry of tariffs in April.
The following month, the New York-based Court of International Trade declared the tariffs were unlawful and encroached on Congress’s authority to regulate trade. The Trump administration quickly appealed the decision, which was stayed as the legal process played out.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit heard oral arguments on the tariffs in July, during which time the panel of judges appeared skeptical that Trump could justify the tariffs based on a national emergency.
The judges noted that the text of the IEEPA never explicitly mentions “tariffs” and that no other president has attempted to utilize the law in the same manner as Trump has.
“One of the major concerns I have is that IEEPA doesn’t mention tariffs anywhere,” one judge remarked during the arguments in June. “Here, IEEPA doesn’t even say tariffs — doesn’t even mention it.”
Ahead of Friday’s decision, U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer preemptively asked the court to stay their decision to prevent “serious harms” to ongoing negotiations and the country’s trade policy.
Trump administration officials had previously warned that losing the ability to issue tariffs would “lead to dangerous diplomatic embarrassment,” threaten ongoing negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, and “threaten broader U.S. strategic interests at home and abroad.”
(LOS ANGELES) — Two people were killed and six others were injured in a mass shooting at an apparent afterparty in downtown Los Angeles, authorities said.
Around 11 p.m. Sunday, officers saw someone run into a location that appeared to be a party with about 50 to 60 people in attendance, Los Angeles Police Department commanding officer Letisia Ruiz said. One person was arrested for possession of a firearm, police said, and officers locked down the scene, cleared it and left for another call.
Then, around 1 a.m. Monday, police received a radio call for shots fired, and officers responded to the location again and found several people struck by gunfire, Ruiz said. The eight gunshot victims were all adults, police said. One of the injured was listed in critical condition, police said.
Police have no suspect information and no motive, Ruiz said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — As parts of the Midwest continued to experience catastrophic flooding overnight and into Monday, dangerous heat and humidity are expected to set in this week.
Overnight, a flash flood emergency was declared in central Illinois for catastrophic flooding as rain fell at rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour. The area in and surrounding Brownstown, Illinois, seems to have taken the brunt of the rapid rainfall that made streets impassable.
That flash-flood emergency has since expired, and light rain continued to fall across central Illinois early Monday morning.
The St. Louis, Missouri, metro area was also under a flash flood warning overnight, with rainfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour. The rainfall total as of 5 a.m. was around 1.25 inches, but additional heavy rain is possible on Monday.
A slew of “considerable” flash flood warnings were issued in the east-central Missouri region on Monday morning — including for Montgomery City, where 3 to 6 inches of rain had fallen and more was expected.
Around 8 million people from northeast Missouri to western Kentucky and West Virginia were under a flash flood watch on Monday.
Heavy rain also fell Sunday in Dover, Maryland, where the finish of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway was delayed for 56 minutes.
Extreme precipitation events jump 60% in the Northeast
This summer has been one of extreme flooding throughout much of the United States with multiple 100-year rainfall events.
While meteorologists cannot say for sure what is causing this summer’s record rainfall, scientist have surmised that human-amplified climate change is causing extreme rainfall events to become more frequent and more intense.
Human-amplified climate change has contributed to increases in the frequency and intensity of the heaviest precipitation events across nearly 70% of the United States, according to the U.S. Fifth National Climate Assessment.
In the Midwest, extreme precipitation events have increased by about 45% in recent decades, the second largest regional increase in the nation, according to the assessment. Extreme precipitation events are very rare, defined as the top 1% of daily extreme precipitation events.
In the Northeast, extreme precipitation events have increased by about 60% in recent decades, the largest regional increase in the United States. And in the Southeast, extreme rainfall events have jumped about 37% in recent decades, according to the assessment.
90 million people bracing for dangerous heat
Meanwhile, 90 million people in the Midwest and South are bracing for widespread high levels of heat and humidity this week that is potentially dangerous to human health.
Multiple days of extreme heat warnings are in place from Kansas to Missouri and down the Mississippi River Valley to Mississippi. This includes St. Louis, Tulsa, and Memphis where heat indices, which factor in humidity, could make it feel 111 degrees on Monday.
In Kansas City, the heat index could climb to 107 through Thursday.
From South Dakota to Nebraska, heat indices could reach 102 to 108 on Monday and Tuesday.
Much of the South, from Louisiana to Florida and up through the Carolinas, are under a heat advisory as the heat indices are expected to range from 108 to 112 on Monday.
This heat and humidity will continue through much of the week for the Midwest and South.
Chicago, where an extreme heat watch is in place, could feel like up to 110 on Wednesday and Thursday.
For the Northeast, the week will start on the cooler side with seasonal or below-average temperatures on Monday and Tuesday — but heat from the Midwest is expected to surge east later this week.
On Friday, near-record high temperatures are possible along the I-95 corridor from Philadelphia to Boston, including New York City, with possible highs in the mid to upper 90s.
New York City could break a daily temperature record on Friday of 97 degrees, set in 1999.
A heat wave consisting of at least three consecutive days of temperatures in the 90s is expected to invade New York City from Thursday to Saturday. Nighttime low temperatures will only cool to the upper 70s, making it more dangerous for those without access to air conditioning.
