Steve Bannon pushes for more ‘aggressive’ defense in court
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(NEW YORK) — Steve Bannon wants more aggressive lawyers to represent him when he stands trial on charges he defrauded donors to an online campaign to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, he argued in a court hearing Wednesday.
“I’ve been smeared by a political prosecution, persecution, for years and going to trial I need people who are more aggressive and will use every tool in the toolbox to fight this,” Bannon said.
Bannon, who was a White House strategist during President Donald Trump’s first term in office, pleaded not guilty in 2022 to charges he defrauded donors to the “We Build the Wall” online fundraising effort.
Prosecutors saw Bannon’s request on Wednesday as a gambit to delay trial.
“If there’s going to be request for delay because of the new attorneys coming in then we would oppose their entry,” prosecutor Jeffrey Levinson said.
Judge April Newbauer did not immediately relieve Bannon’s previous attorneys, but agreed to delay the trial by one week — to March 4 — to give Bannon’s new attorney, Arthur Aidala, time to get up to speed.
“This does not seem to upset anyone’s apple cart,” Newbauer said. “It does give new counsel a bit more time to prepare.”
Aidala pledged to be ready for trial by the date set.
“We will roll up our sleeves and get it done,” Aidala said.
The trial is expected to last about three weeks.
Bannon is accused of defrauding New York-based donors to the online fundraising campaign to build a wall along the U.S. southern border.
Bannon was initially charged with federal crimes, but received a pardon at the end of Trump’s first term.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge sentenced a tearful former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez to 11 years in prison Wednesday on corruption charges after being convicted of abusing the power of his office in exchange for bribes in the form of gold bars, a luxury car and other items.
“You stood at the apex of our political system,” Judge Sidney Stein said in issuing the sentence. “Somewhere along the way, you lost your way.”
Menendez, 71, was found guilty on all 16 counts last year in his federal trial, becoming the first sitting member of Congress to be convicted of acting as a foreign agent. His children, Alicia and Rob, were in court to witness the sentencing.
“The fact that he was a public office holder who held a position of great public trust has to be taken into account,” Stein said as he explained how he calculated the sentence.
Stein said Menendez “became a corrupt politician” as he ticked off the spoils of the corruption: the gold bars, the cash, the convertible.
“When there’s wrongdoing of this magnitude there are serious consequences,” Stein said.
Ahead of the former senator’s sentencing Wednesday afternoon, two New Jersey businessmen convicted of paying bribes to Menendez received lengthy prison sentences. Wael Hana was sentenced to eight years in prison and Fred Daibes to seven years.
Menendez calls prosecution a ‘witch hunt’
Outside the court following his sentencing, a defiant Menendez called the prosecution a “political witch hunt.”
“Regardless of the judge’s comments, today, I am innocent, and I look forward to filing appeals on a whole host of issues,” Menendez said.
Menendez referred to the Southern District of New York, which prosecuted the case, as the “Wild West of political prosecutions” while outlining grievances with the evidence and witnesses in the trial.
“President Trump is right — this process is political and it’s corrupted to the core,” Menendez said. “I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system.”
Danielle Sassoon, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement that Wednesday’s sentences were the result of “an egregious abuse of power” at the highest levels of the government’s legislative branch.
“Robert Menendez was trusted to represent the United States and the State of New Jersey, but instead he used his position to help his co-conspirators and a foreign government, in exchange for bribes like cash, gold, and a luxury car,” she said. “The sentences imposed today send a clear message that attempts at any level of government to corrupt the nation’s foreign policy and the rule of law will be met with just punishment.”
Menendez says he’s a ‘chastened man’
Menendez sat at the defense table in a suit and tie with hands folded across his stomach before he stood at his seat to address the judge ahead of his sentencing.
“Your honor you have before you a chastened man,” Menendez said as his voice began to break. “We sat in this court room for nine weeks, but you really don’t know me.”
The once-powerful Democrat introduced himself as the son of Cuban immigrants and explained his political biography, occasionally sniffling and choking up while reading from a prepared statement with hands stuffed in his pockets.
“This is who I truly am, judge. A man devoted to service,” Menendez said, becoming emotional as he spoke of family and of constituents he helped. “I have lost everything I have cared about. For someone who spent a life in public service, every day is a punishment.”
The judge said Menendez will not have to report to prison until June 6 so he can be available when his wife, Nadine, goes on trial on similar corruption and bribery charges on March 18.
Menendez’s lawyer adjusted the defense’s request for leniency following the imposition of lengthy prison sentences for his co-defendants.
Menendez previously sought a sentence of no more than two years in prison, citing his “extraordinary public service,” but earlier Wednesday the two New Jersey businessmen convicted of paying the bribes were sentenced perhaps more harshly than the defense anticipated.
“The good outweighs the bad in the arc of Bob’s life,” defense attorney Adam Fee told the judge. “We would ask the court to sentence Bob to no more than eight years in prison.”
Prosecutor Paul Monteleoni had asked for 15 years in prison, arguing Menendez “believed that the power he wielded belonged to him.”
“The offense conduct reflects a truly grave breach of the trust placed in Menendez by his fellow senators, by the people of New Jersey,” Monteleoni told the court. “There are not many people who had power on the scale of Menendez.”
‘Rare gravity’ of the crimes
Menendez had potentially faced decades in prison. Sentencing guidelines called for more than 24 to 30 years in prison, with the U.S. Probation Office recommending 12 years’ imprisonment for Menendez, according to court filings.
Federal prosecutors have said the Democrat deserves 15 years in prison for his “naked greed” and the “rare gravity” of the crimes.
“This case is the first ever in which a Senator has been convicted of a crime involving the abuse of a leadership position on a Senate committee,” federal prosecutors wrote in a memo to the judge earlier this month. “It is the first ever in which a Senator — or any other person — has been convicted of serving as a foreign agent while being a public official.”
Prosecutors asked the court to impose a substantial prison sentence “to provide just punishment for this extraordinary abuse of power and betrayal of the public trust, and to deter others from ever engaging in similar conduct.”
Menendez’s attorneys had sought leniency, urging the court to even consider whether a non-custodial sentence — such as “home detention and rigorous community service” — would suffice.
“Probation’s recommended sentence of 12 years’ imprisonment would be draconian — likely a life and death sentence for someone of Bob’s age and condition,” his attorneys wrote in a memorandum to the judge earlier this month. “Bob is deserving of mercy because of the penalties already imposed, his age, and the lack of a compelling need to impose a custodial sentence.”
The defense noted that Menendez is helping his wife battle cancer and argued he is no longer in a position to be a repeat offender, given that he was convicted of crimes that arose from his position as a U.S. senator.
“With this case, his political and professional careers have ended; his reputation is destroyed; and the latter years of his life are in shambles. He is certain never to commit future offenses,” his attorneys wrote. “And his current state — stripped of office and living under a permanent shadow of disgrace and mockery — are more than sufficient to reflect the seriousness of the offenses and to promote respect for the law.”
The former New Jersey senator, who resigned in the wake of his conviction, has maintained his innocence.
“I have never violated my oath,” Menendez said outside the courthouse following the verdict in the nine-week trial. “I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country. I have never, ever been a foreign agent.”
Menendez twice unsuccessfully bid for a new trial ahead of his sentencing, most recently last week, with Stein finding the trial was fair while denying his request.
Menendez had also tried unsuccessfully to postpone his sentencing until after his wife stands trial.
Co-defendants get lengthy prison sentences
Two New Jersey businessmen who were found guilty in the case were also sentenced on Wednesday. Hana was sentenced to eight years in prison and Daibes to seven years — significantly more than what the defendants had sought and slightly less than what prosecutors recommended.
Prosecutors said Menendez promised to use his power as a senator to help Hana, who is originally from Egypt, by preserving a halal meat monopoly granted to Hana by Egypt.
Prosecutors said the former senator also promised Daibes that he would interfere with Daibes’ federal prosecution and help the government of Qatar by supporting a Senate resolution praising the country.
Daibes’ fingerprints were found on the envelopes of cash found at Menendez’s home and serial numbers on the gold bars traced them to Daibes and Hana, according to prosecutors.
In issuing the sentences, Judge Stein called the evidence against Hana “substantial” and had strong words for Daibes.
“You are an American success story. You grew up in a refugee camp in Lebanon. But there is a dark side to what you have done,” Stein said of Daibes. “You bribed Sen. Menendez multiple times.”
Another New Jersey businessman, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty in the case ahead of trial. Prosecutors said Uribe paid for Menendez’s $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for helping disrupt a criminal investigation by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office related to Uribe.
(NEW ORLEANS, La.) — Nearly a month after a terrorist drove a truck down Bourbon Street, killing 14 people, New Orleans is set to host Super Bowl 59.
At a press briefing Monday, officials said there were no credible threats to the game, or its many surrounding events.
“Right now we have no specific credible threats to this event … which I think should give us all a sense of security,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters in New Orleans on Monday. “We recognize the importance of making sure that we’re doing due diligence and being prepared for events as proactive as possible, and pre-deploying resources and partnerships that will help us make sure that these events come off safely and with a focus on security.”
She added, “We have partners that we are dedicated to working with to make sure we get through these types of events in a way that has been important to focus on the priorities.”
NFL Chief of Security Cathy Lanier said in the days after the terrorist attack, the NFL changed their security plan.
“We have reviewed and re-reviewed all the details of what happened on Jan. 1,” Lainer said. “We have reviewed and re-reviewed each of our roles within the overarching security plan, and we have reassessed and stressed tested — our timing, our communication protocols, our contingency measures and our emergency response plans multiple times over, over the past several weeks.”
There will be over 2,700 state, federal and local law enforcement members securing the game, according to officials.
Lainer said the event is a “no-drone zone” meaning drones are not allowed anywhere near the stadium. A drone that was not cleared to fly over M&T Bank Stadium briefly halted the Steelers-Ravens wild card game last month.
Noem was on Bourbon Street on Monday at the site of the terrorist attack. Bollards that were not in place during the New Year’s celebrations, due to repair, are now back in place.
“We have an opportunity to learn from what happened,” Noem told reporters earlier in the day, she said she also wanted to honor the victims lost. “The Super Bowl is the biggest Homeland Security event we do every single year.”
The game gets a SEAR 1 rating — meaning there is a federal coordinator that is in charge of the security, in this case Eric DeLaune, the special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations’ New Orleans field office.
DeLaune is a Louisiana native and securing the game is personal for him, he said.
“I have worked to coordinate the security of the land, air and local waterways, with the vital support of our partners, leveraging a united front of all of those law enforcement entitles,” he said. “In the days ahead, there will be a significant increased law enforcement presence in New Orleans, some of which will be visible and obvious.”
Members of the Chicago White Sox grounds crew struggle to deploy the rain tarp in the bottom of the seventh inning as hail and rain delay a game against the Los Angeles Angels at Rate Field on March 30, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Matt Dirksen/Getty Images)
(CHICAGO) — More than 400,000 customers across the Midwest were without power in the early hours of Monday after severe weather battered the region.
As of 5:30 a.m. ET, more than 292,000 customers were without power in Michigan, according to poweroutage.us — a website that tracks power outages throughout the country.
Another 56,000 were disconnected in Wisconsin, 53,000 in Indiana, 15,000 in Kentucky and 13,000 in Ohio, the website said.
ABC News Chicago affiliate WLS reported that one person was killed in Valparaiso, Indiana, when “severe crosswinds” blew a tractor and a trailer onto their sides, according to a statement by Sgt. Benjamin McFalls of the Porter County Sheriff’s Office.
Severe weather was forecast for much of the Midwest and South as the storm traveled eastward through the weekend.
More than 75 million Americans were in the threat zone of the storm as of late Sunday. The system was expected to bring a range of hazardous weather impacts, including severe thunderstorms and a wintry blast on the northern side.
Sunday’s forecast said the severe weather was due to move to the East Coast and I-95 corridor from Upstate New York all the way south to Tallahassee and New Orleans on Monday.
Damaging winds will be the biggest threat for northern cities but tornadoes cannot be ruled out across southern areas.
ABC News Darren Reynolds and Jessica Gorman contributed to this report.
