Todd Blanche says media ‘should not be surprised’ if they’re subpoenaed over national security stories
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks to the Border Security Expo at the Phoenix Convention Center on May 6, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Gage Skidmore/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday that members of the media “should not be surprised” if they receive subpoenas for information related to their sources on stories pertaining to national security-sensitive matters, following a Wall Street Journal report that the outlet received subpoenas stemming from its coverage of the war in Iran.
“Prosecuting leakers who share our nation’s secrets with reporters, in turn risking our national security and the lives of our soldiers, is a priority for this administration,” Blanche said. “Any witness, whether a reporter or otherwise, who has information about these criminals should not be surprised if they receive a subpoena about the illegal leaking of classified material.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
In this photo released by the Norwich Fire Department, a train derailment is shown in Mansfield, Conn., on Feb. 5, 2026. (Norwich Fire Department)
(MANSFIELD, Calif.) — A freight train carrying flammable liquids derailed in Connecticut on Thursday, prompting a shelter-in-place advisory, officials said.
Approximately 14 railcars of a New England Central Railroad (NECR) train went off the tracks shortly after 9 a.m. in Mansfield near a body of water, fire officials said.
Six railcars carrying liquid propane went fully off the track, with four ending up in water, officials said.
Other derailed cars were carrying liquified natural gas and cooking grease, according to Mansfield Fire Chief John Roache.
The derailment occurred along the Willimantic River, near Eagleville Lake, according to NECR.
Air monitoring has not detected any flammable leaks from any of the train cars, Roache said during a press briefing Thursday. An NECR spokesperson also said there is no indication of any leaks.
Richard Scalora, a supervising emergency response coordinator with the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said his staff is working on several of the railcars to “assure that we don’t have any releases.”
“We’re going to continue in this position until all the rail cars are back on their wheels and safely removed from the area,” he said during the press briefing.
All residents within a half-mile of the area have been advised to shelter in place out of an abundance of caution, due to concerns over a potential natural gas leak, officials said.
No injuries have been reported, according to an NECR spokesperson.
“First responders are on scene with NECR managers to assess the situation,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Emergency response contractors are also en route to assist with an expeditious cleanup.”
The cleanup is anticipated to take several days due to the hard-to-reach location, with crews working to gain access to the site and bring in cranes, according to Roache.
“It’s not going to be a today operation,” he said. “We’re definitely taking it slow and methodical.”
Mansfield Town Manager Ryan Aylesworth said he will be issuing an emergency declaration later Thursday, calling it a “very serious event.”
“We are blessed with natural resources in this community that we want to safeguard, and certainly potential hazardous waste spill is a serious concern,” he said during the briefing. “Fortunately, right now, it appears that the situation is under control and the public health and safety is being maintained.”
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said he is in touch with “our state emergency management and environment teams to assess any impacts regarding the train derailment involving hazardous materials in Mansfield.”
Mayor Mamdani speaks at a press conference after a 7-month-old child was fatally shot in Brooklyn, New York, on April 1, 2026. (NYPD)
(NEW YORK) — A 21-year-old will be placed under arrest in his hospital bed on charges he murdered a baby in Brooklyn by a stray bullet, the New York City Police Department said Thursday.
Amare Green allegedly fired shots from the back of a moped into a crowd in Williamsburg that struck and killed 7-month-old Kaori Patterson-Moore and grazed her 2-year-old brother as they sat in a stroller on Wednesday afternoon.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called it a “devastating shooting” and said, “My heart aches for the parents impacted,” at a press conference on Thursday.
Green is a known associate of a street gang operating out of a public housing project in Brooklyn, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said. Investigators are looking into whether the baby’s father may have been the intended target as part of a dispute with a rival gang.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said detectives have identified the moped driver, but she declined to release a name. The driver is at large.
Tisch mentioned the impending arrest in a crime that shocked the city as she touted a continued drop in crime.
The shooting was reported at about 1:20 p.m. on the corner of Humboldt and Moore streets in the East Williamsburg area, according to police.
Several adults, including two people with strollers, and several other children, were nearby when two males approached the intersection on a moped, Tisch said. The rear passenger on the moped pulled out a gun and fired at least two shots toward the corner, Tisch told reporters, citing surveillance video.
“Today our city suffered a horrifying, senseless tragedy: a 7-month-old child being pushed in a stroller along a busy Brooklyn sidewalk was shot and killed in broad daylight,” the police commissioner said.
The baby was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
After the shooting, the two suspects collided with an oncoming car about two blocks away, police said. Both men were thrown from the moped. The rear passenger, who fits the description of the shooter, was taken to the hospital and is in police custody, Tisch said.
The other passenger took off, but police later located the moped.
Mamdani called the shooting a “devastating reminder” of the work that remains to be done to combat gun violence.
“A life that had barely begun was taken in an instant,” Mamdani said. “There are no words that can mend the heartbreak this family is feeling now.”
Les Wexner speaks onstage at the 2016 Fragrance Foundation Awards presented by Hearst Magazines – Show on June 7, 2016 in New York City. (Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images for Fragrance Foundation)
(WASHINGTON) — Members of the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday are set to depose retail billionaire Leslie Wexner, whose wealth fueled Jeffrey Epstein’s fortune before an alleged multimillion dollar theft ended their relationship, newly revealed documents suggest.
After learning that Epstein stole hundreds of millions from him in 2007, Wexner opted to quietly resolve the issue with Epstein, who at the time was being investigated by federal prosecutors for both sex crimes and money laundering, according to emails and a memo later drafted by prosecutors.
A vitally important person in the transformation of Epstein from college dropout to multimillionaire adviser to the ultra-wealthy, Wexner — a businessman behind brands like Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works — has received substantial scrutiny over his association with Epstein since Epstein’s arrest and death by suicide in 2019.
Years after the two severed ties, prosecutors in New York initially included Wexner in a group of potential co-conspirators to be investigated after Epstein was arrested in July 2019, though they later determined there was “limited evidence regarding his involvement,” according to a recently-released 2019 email from an FBI agent who was part of the sex crimes investigation.
“The Assistant U.S. Attorney told Mr. Wexner’s legal counsel in 2019 that Mr. Wexner was neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect,” a spokesperson for Wexner told ABC News in a statement following the release of Epstein files by the Department of Justice last month. “Mr. Wexner cooperated fully by providing background information on Epstein and was never contacted again.”
Lawyers for Wexner, in a meeting with federal prosecutors about two weeks after Epstein’s arrest, claimed that Wexner “had no knowledge of any inappropriate or unlawful activity with young women by Epstein” and that Wexner’s dealings with Epstein were “more professional than social,” according to a December 2019 prosecution memo summarizing the investigation into Epstein’s potential collaborators.
Wexner’s attorneys said the two ended their relationship after Wexner learned that “Epstein had stolen or otherwise misappropriated several hundred million dollars” from him, according to the memo. The memo stated that Epstein personally profited by repeatedly purchasing properties for the Wexners before buying them for himself at a fraction of the cost.
“The Wexners then decided to cut off Epstein,” prosecutors wrote in the memo summarizing their discussion with Wexner’s counsel.
‘All I can say is I feel sorry’ Epstein was — throughout 2007 — the subject of an ongoing investigation in Florida into sex crimes involving minors that had expanded to probe potential financial crimes and money laundering. The Wexners did not report the alleged theft of their funds to law enforcement and instead resolved the matter privately, according to prosecutors.
Wexner was contacted by federal prosecutors in Florida as early as August 2007 regarding the Epstein investigation, according to handwritten notes released last month by the Department of Justice. Notes from an August 2007 call between an attorney for Wexner and a DOJ representative suggest that prosecutors inquired about Wexner’s interactions with his “money manager,” documentation of their meetings, and whether Wexner ever visited Epstein’s home.
At the time, prosecutors had begun to broaden their investigation to not only cover sex crimes but also potential money laundering and wire fraud, documents suggest.
“She just wanted to know if Les has been to my house,” Epstein emailed his associate Ghislaine Maxwell in August 2007, in an apparent reference to the prosecutor’s contact with Wexner’s lawyer, according to emails obtained by DDOSecrets, a transparency website that received a cache of Epstein emails that were not included in the DOJ’s disclosures.
“That’s odd?? Why” Maxwell responded.
“It’s bulls—, she just wanted to let him know about an investigation is my guess,” Epstein wrote back.
It is unclear if Wexner was aware of the investigation into financial crimes when his attorney was contacted, but in the following months, Wexner began the process of ending Epstein’s role as his money manager, according to emails in the DDOSecrets collection between lawyers for Epstein and Wexner.
“All I can say is I feel sorry. You violated your own number 1 rule … Always be careful,” Wexler emailed Epstein in 2008 days before Epstein reported to prison for soliciting underage sex, according to documents included in DDOSecrets collection.
“No excuse,” Epstein replied.
‘She pretty much wants everything’ According to a 2019 prosecution memo, Wexner’s wife began to look into Epstein’s management of their money after Epstein claimed he was “having legal problems involving an overly aggressive police chief and some sort of massage.”
According to the memo, Abigail Wexner discovered Epstein “misappropriated a significant amount of the family’s funds,” including by purchasing property on the Wexners’ behalf before selling it to himself at a fraction of the cost.
“When confronted, Epstein tried to convince Wexner’s wife that she did not understand the financials and insisted that he had the Wexners’ best interests at heart,” the memo said. “The Wexners did not want to bring unnecessary public attention to the issue, so they withdrew the power of attorney, and hired counsel to negotiate a private settlement with Epstein.”
Epstein resigned from the foundation and all of his roles with Wexner in September 2007, according to an independent review conducted in 2020 of Epstein’s involvement with the Wexner Foundation.
“Mr. Wexner terminated Epstein as his financial advisor, revoked his power of attorney, and directed that he be removed from all bank accounts,” a spokesperson for Wexner said in a statement to ABC News.
As early as October 2007, emails indicate that Epstein began transferring assets back to Wexner.
“When speaking with [Abigail Wexner], she pretty much wants everything,” Wexner’s financial controller told an attorney for Epstein.
Later that year, an attorney for Wexner pushed the process along, telling an attorney for Epstein that his client “is eager to execute documents,” according to the DDOSecrets cache.
Prosecutors wrote in a 2019 memo that Epstein returned $100 million to Wexner by January 2008.
Though the dispute with Wexner was privately resolved by January 2008, Epstein’s attorneys appeared to have mounted a pressure campaign to discredit the prosecutor pursuing a money laundering investigation into Epstein, according to emails in the DDOSECRETS collection. Epstein had signed a non-prosecution agreement in September 2007, but his lawyers continued to negotiate with the government over its terms for several more months.
“In what can only be seen as an attempt to intimidate Mr. Epstein, Ms. Villafana [an assistant U.S. Attorney] then added money-laundering and unlicensed wire-transmittal to the list of violations under investigation even though there was no evidence against Mr. Epstein concerning these charges,” attorneys for Epstein wrote in a letter to the Office of Professional Responsibility dated Feb. 11, 2008.
By June 2008, Epstein began his jail sentence in Palm Beach after reaching the controversial plea deal that allowed him to avoid federal charges.
‘You and I had gang stuff for over 15 years’ Although Epstein and Wexner appear to have severed ties following Epstein’s plea deal, documents released by the DOJ suggest that Epstein may have attempted to rekindle their relationship in subsequent years by drafting a letter reminding Wexner of shared experiences and alleged secrets. In the letter, Epstein wrote that he protected him when he was questioned by Wexner’s wife about his management of their money.
“You and I had ‘gang stuff’ for over 15 years. A great deal of it, that she was unaware of. I had no intention of divulging any confidence of ours, no matter what accusations she made. And she made quite a few,” Epstein wrote in the draft note. Based on publicly available documents, it is unclear whether Epstein ever sent the note to Wexner.
Wexner publicly addressed his relationship with Epstein in August 2019 amid mounting public pressure, saying in a letter to his charitable foundation that he was “deceived” by Epstein.
“As the allegations against Mr. Epstein in Florida were emerging, he vehemently denied them. But by early fall 2007, it was agreed that he should step back from the management of our personal finances. In that process, we discovered that he had misappropriated vast sums of money from me and my family. This was, frankly, a tremendous shock, even though it clearly pales in comparison to the unthinkable allegations against him now,” Wexner wrote.
