Pakistani national charged with alleged plot to assassinate Donald Trump, federal prosecutors say
(NEW YORK) — A Pakistani national with purported ties to Iran was arrested last month on charges he plotted to assassinate former President Donald Trump and multiple other public officials, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court.
While the criminal complaint does not mention Trump by name, multiple sources familiar with the case told ABC News one of the intended targets of the alleged plot was Trump.
After spending time in Iran, Asif Merchant flew from Pakistan to the U.S. to recruit hitmen to carry out the alleged plot, according to a detention memo. The person he contacted was a confidential informant working with the FBI, according to the criminal complaint.
Merchant, 46, is charged with murder for hire.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Newly released documents describe the chaotic moments on board Alaska Airlines flight 1282 after the door plug blew out shortly after takeoff earlier this year, as the National Transportation Safety Board holds a two-day hearing into the matter.
The NTSB released thousands of pages of documents and interview transcripts, including with members of the crew, on Tuesday, amid its investigation into the Jan. 5 blowout on the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane.
The crew described the frantic, confusing moments after the door plug blew out minutes after taking off from Portland International Airport during interviews with NTSB investigators.
Because flight attendants were strapped into their jump seats in the galley, they had no idea what had just happened, the documents show. They also could not see into the cabin and were focusing on getting their oxygen masks on. They only knew there was a depressurization event because an automated PA announcement came on to alert passengers to use their masks, the documents show. Bright cabin lights also turned on.
Communication in the cockpit was extremely limited because of noise. Headsets flew off and the oxygen masks were making a squealing noise after the pilots took them off, according to the documents. The pilots decided to put the masks back on to stop the squealing, but then their eye protection began to fog on the final approach, according to the documents.
The pilots had to continuously repeat certain messages to air traffic controllers because the audio was so bad, according to the documents.
Flight attendants also could not make contact with the flight deck because of the noise. One flight attendant told NTSB investigators she didn’t know if there was a hole in the plane in the flight deck and worried the pilots may have been incapacitated, before ultimately being able to make contact with them, according to the documents.
“The scariest thing was I didn’t have exact communication with my flight deck and at first I didn’t know if the decompression was in the front, if we have pilots, and not being able to fully communicate with the back and just know exactly what happened and what was going on,” the unidentified flight attendant told the NTSB, according to the documents. “I think out of all, that was probably the scariest part out of all that.”
The rear flight attendant was initially certain that passengers died, the crew member told NTSB investigators. The flight was nearly full with the exception of a few seats; the two seats next to the missing door plug happened to be empty. When the rear flight attendant felt it was safe enough to leave his oxygen mask, he saw empty seats near the hole and was sure people were sucked out, he told the NTSB, adding that it’s so rare for people not to move into an empty window seat or empty row on a full flight.
“At the point where I first saw the hole, I saw five empty seats,” he told investigators. “In that moment I thought we lost — I was certain that we had lost people because we were full except for a few open seats and I did not recall that 26 A and B had not been occupied. So I was absolutely certain that we had lost people out of the hole and that we had casualties.”
The plane safely made an emergency landing and no one was seriously injured in the incident. Tray tables were ripped off and hit passengers on their way out of the aircraft, and one teen lost his top and was badly bruised, according to the documents.
The pilots had no idea there was a hole in the plane until after the plane landed and passengers deplaned, according to the documents.
“I knew that there was something wrong,” one pilot said, according to the transcript. “I knew that there was a — there was air being brought into the airplane where there shouldn’t be, but I had no idea if it was a hole, if it was a window, if it was a main cabin door. I had no idea. I had no idea. I never heard anything from the flight attendants.”
The NTSB has not been able to interview the 737 door plug manager because the employee is on medical leave, the agency said.
The documents were publicly released as NTSB began holding an investigative hearing into the door plug incident. The hearing, held on Tuesday and Wednesday, will “assist in obtaining information necessary to determine the facts, circumstances, and probable cause of the transportation accident or incident under investigation and to make recommendations to improve transportation safety,” the NTSB said in a statement.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Boeing Commercial Airplanes senior executive Elizabeth Lund said the company is working on a design change of the door plug to make it even more secure. Planes currently in service will be retrofitted hopefully within a year, she said.
After Lund detailed changes the company has implemented in the months following the incident under increased oversight from the Federal Aviation Administration, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy issued a “word of caution.”
“This is not a PR campaign for Boeing,” she said. “You can talk all about where you are today. There’s going to be plenty of time for that. We want to know the safety improvements. But what is very confusing for a lot of people who are watching, who are listening, is what was going on then. This is an investigation on what happened on Jan. 5.”
An NTSB preliminary report released in February found that four bolts designed to prevent the door plug from falling off the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane were missing before the plug blew off the flight.
Boeing records reviewed by the NTSB showed that damaged rivets on the edge frame forward of the plug were replaced by Spirit AeroSystems employees at Boeing’s factory in Renton, Washington, on Sept. 19, 2023, according to the agency’s report.
Boeing had to open the plug by removing the two vertical movement arrestor bolts and two upper guide track bolts for the rivets to be replaced, but photo documentation obtained from Boeing showed evidence that the plug was closed with no bolts in three visible locations, according to the NTSB report.
One bolt area is obscured by insulation in the photo, though the NTSB said it was able to determine in its laboratory that that bolt was also not put back on.
During the hearing Tuesday, Lund said that paperwork authorizing the removal of the door plug, which would have documented the work being done, has not been found.
Homendy also addressed the culture between Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems, after one unidentified Spirit employee told NTSB investigators, “Well, basically we’re the cockroaches of the factory.”
“What have you done since March to address that issue? Have you gotten feedback from your employees?” she asked Michael Riney, a customer relations director from Spirit AeroSystems based at the Renton facility.
Riney responded that he would discuss with his managers “to ensure they are soliciting that feedback” and would “personally follow up with them to understand what specifically I can do to help with that.”
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. wildfire season is continuing on a relentless pace across the West as a new blaze erupted in Southern California, destroying multiple homes and leaving residents little time to evacuate, authorities said.
The Edgehill Fire erupted Monday afternoon in the Little Mountain community and quickly tore up a hillside, destroying at least a half-dozen homes, according to fire officials.
“We were so grateful for this house and I can’t believe it’s gone,” Erika Hernandez, whose home was burned to the ground, told ABC Los Angeles station KABC-TV.
The Edgehill Fire is the latest in a California wildfire season that has already burned nearly 800,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,000 structures, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
Wildfires have burned more than 4.6 million acres across the United States, including 200,000 acres in just the first five days of August, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
On Tuesday, nearly 30,000 firefighters were battling 89 large active wildfires across California, Oregon and other Western states.
Capt. Andrew Bonhus said the Edgehill Fire was an example of how fast fires in the West, fueled by an abundance of dried-out vegetation and extremely high temperatures, have spread this year.
“This fire specifically moved extremely rapidly compared to others … on this hilltop,” Bonhus told ABC News.
The Edgehill Fire, east of Los Angeles, was initially reported around 2:30 p.m. local time as a five-acre blaze. But within three hours, the fire ballooned to more than 50 acres, catching multiple homes on fire as it crested a hillside, leaving residents with just minutes to evacuate, officials said.
At least 200 firefighters from several agencies, including firefighting helicopter crews, raced to put out the flames, officials said.
“We didn’t even start at the base of the fire. We go straight for the houses and start evacuations and start getting lines out to help protect structures and, most importantly, life,” Bonhus said.
Around 5:45 p.m. local time, the San Bernardino County Fire Department announced that the fire’s forward progress was stopped and that 25% of the blaze was contained.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Fortunately, according to Bonhus, many residents in the area had taken steps to create “defensible space” around their homes by clearing dry bush, trees and other potential hazards that can fuel a wildfire.
“Because of the defensible space around the houses, some were savable, some were not,” Bonhus said. “It kind of pushes home how critical having defensible space around your homes is.”
The Park Fire
In Northern California, firefighters continued to battle to Park Fire, which was started by an alleged arsonist on July 24 and as of Tuesday had burned 414,042 acres of wildland in Butte, Plumas, Shasta and Tehama counties, according to Cal Fire. The fire has destroyed 640 structures, including homes and businesses.
The blaze, the largest in the United States this year and the fourth biggest in California history, was 34% contained on Tuesday.
The Nixon Fire
Another large Southern California blaze, dubbed the Nixon Fire, which started on July 29, was 96% contained on Tuesday after burning 5,222 acres near the Riverside County town of Aguanga, according to Cal Fire.
At least 23 structures, including homes and businesses, were destroyed by the Nixon Fire and another three structures were damaged, according to Cal Fire.
Investigators determined the Nixon Fire was sparked by a privately owned electrical panel that caught fire. The agency did not say who owns the electrical panel or specify whether negligence is suspected.
Durkee Fire in Eastern Oregon
More than 1 million acres of wildland have burned in Oregon this year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Oregon has seen some of the biggest fires in the nation, including the Durkee Fire in the eastern part of the state that had burned 294,265 acres as of Tuesday, according to the fire center.
The blaze, which started July 17, was 86% contained on Tuesday and state fire officials said they expected to have it completely extinguished by the end of this week.
Alexander Mountain Fire
Colorado firefighters are also getting the upper hand on the Alexander Mountain Fire, which was first reported on July 29, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The fire burning west of the city of Loveland in a remote mountainous area near Roosevelt National Park has charred 9,668 acres, the U.S. Forest Service said Tuesday morning.
The fire was 74% contained, according to the Forest Service. More than 900 homes remained under mandatory evacuation on Tuesday. The fire has destroyed 45 structures, including 25 homes, officials said.
The fire remains under investigation, but fire officials said it appeared to be human-caused.
(PORTLAND, Ore.) — A small, twin-engine plane crashed into a residential neighborhood Saturday in a suburb of Portland, Oregon, killing two people aboard the aircraft and one on the ground, authorities said Sunday.
The Cessna 421C plane slammed into a row of townhouses near Heartwood Circle in Fairview after experiencing mechanical issues, according to a statement from the Gresham Fire Department.
Gresham Fire Chief Scott Lewis confirmed Sunday that the pilot of the aircraft and a single passenger were killed, as well as a resident of one of the townhouses the plane crashed into.
The names of those killed were not released.
The plane crashed near Troutdale Airport around 10:20 a.m. local time, hitting a power pole or tower, which caused a brush fire. The aircraft then crashed into a building of connected townhomes, igniting a fire in two structures, before spreading to a fourth, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said at a news conference Saturday.
At least five families have been displaced, with a sixth condo currently being evaluated, according to Lewis.
Two transmission lines from Portland General Electric remained down Saturday afternoon, according to officials.
Fairview is about 15 miles northeast of Portland.
Debris from the crash is scattered across multiple areas, and the sheriff’s office is securing the scene to assist the FAA investigation.
Photos show thick smoke and a burning home after the plane crashed.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide any updates.