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(GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA) — The U.S. Department of Defense on Wednesday announced the transfer of two detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, bringing the total announced departures to three detainees in the last 24 hours.

Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, who are both Malaysians, are being sent to their home country to serve the remainder of a five year sentence imposed in June, the Pentagon said in a press release. Officials had announced the transfer of Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu to Kenya on Tuesday.

There are now 27 detainees at Guantanamo, 15 of whom are eligible for a transfer out of the detention facility.

The two detainees whose transfers were announced Wednesday had previously been brought before a Military Commission, where they pleaded guilty to multiple offenses, including murder in violation of the law of war, the Pentagon said.

Both had agreed prior to their trials to testify against Encep Nurjaman, who the U.S. described as the alleged mastermind behind al-Qaeda attacks in Bali, Indonesia, in 2002, and in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2003, the Pentagon said.

“On June 13, 2024, in accordance with the pretrial agreements, the Convening Authority approved sentences of confinement for approximately five years for each and recommended that both men be repatriated or transferred to a third-party sovereign nation to serve the remainder of the approved sentence,” the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

In announcing the transfer of Bajabu to Kenya on Tuesday, the Pentagon said that a review board had found that his detention was “no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the national security of the United States.”

He was released to the Kenyan government, the U.S. said.

“The United States appreciates the support to ongoing U.S. efforts toward a deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility,” the Pentagon said.

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump has again asked an appeals court to transfer his New York criminal hush money case to federal court, reigniting an effort to stall his sentencing or throw out his conviction on 34 felony courts.

In a filing on late Monday, Trump’s lawyers asked the New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to reconsider a lower court’s September decision denying the former president’s attempt to remove the state case to federal court.

Defense lawyers argued in the filing that the jury in the case improperly saw evidence of Trump’s official acts as president which would have been protected by the Supreme Court’s July ruling on presidential immunity.

“This case presents complex first-impression issues relating to the Supremacy Clause, federal-officer removal, appearances of impropriety and conflicts in connection with an unprecedented and baseless prosecution of the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential election, and the ability of future Presidents to serve the American people without fear of reprisal from hostile local officials,” lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in the 99-page filing.

Trump was found guilty in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.

In July, the Supreme Court ruled in a blockbuster decision that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken while in office.

Criminal or civil cases against federal officials can be removed to federal court if the officials can prove the case centers on official conduct. When Trump sought to remove his hush money case to federal court in 2023 by arguing that the allegations related to his official acts as president, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied the move, writing that “hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President’s official acts.”

Judge Hellerstein then denied Trump’s request to reconsider his decision in September, as Trump was seeking to delay his sentencing, because the former president failed to show “good cause” for why the issue should be examined again.

“Nothing in the Supreme Court’s opinion affects my previous conclusion that the hush money payments were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority,” Judge Hellerstein wrote.

Trump is now appealing Hellerstein’s September decision, which defense lawyers argue relied on a “profoundly flawed analysis.”

Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 26, after the New York judge overseeing the case, Juan Merchan, granted Trump’s request to delay sentencing until after the November election.

In their filing Monday, Trump’s lawyers also aired grievances about an alleged conflict of interest by Judge Merchan and political motivations of the prosecutors, writing that witnesses “concocted the type of false and implausible story President Trump’s political opponents wanted to hear.”

If the effort to remove the case to federal court is successful, it could give Trump the authority to kill the prosecution if he is elected to the presidency in November. Unlike his federal criminal cases, Trump is unable to direct the prosecution or pardon himself if the case remains in state court.

The removal attempt could also impact the timing of Trump’s Nov. 26 sentencing if the motion remains unresolved by then.

Separately, Judge Merchan is expected to issue a ruling on Trump’s effort to throw out the conviction based on presidential immunity by Nov. 12.
 

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(SEATTLE) — Two people were killed by falling trees in Washington state as a powerful storm hammered the Pacific Northwest.

In Bellevue, a tree fell into a home, hitting and killing a woman while she was in the shower Tuesday night, Bellevue fire officials said.

In Lynwood, a woman in her 50s was killed when a tree fell on a homeless encampment, officials said.

Hundreds of thousands of people lost power in the storm, which snapped power lines and caused significant damage. As of Wednesday evening, about 320,000 customers were still without power, according to Puget Sound Energy CEO Mary Kipp.

“We haven’t had a storm like this since January of 2012,” Kipp said in in a video on X.

Crews were prioritizing restoring power to hospitals and schools, and Kipp estimated power wouldn’t be back for all customers “for at least a few days.”

Another roughly 23,000 customers of Seattle City Light were still without power as of Wednesday evening, according to a post from the utility on social media platform X.

The storm exploded into a bomb cyclone off the coast, near Vancouver Island, Canada, where winds gusted near 101 mph.

A bomb cyclone means the pressure in the center of the storm drops 24 millibars within 24 hours.

The storm is bringing dangerous wind and rain to the West Coast.

Two to 4 inches of rain has been recorded so far in western Washington, western Oregon and northwestern California.

The rain started in northwestern California on Tuesday afternoon and it isn’t expected to stop until Friday morning. Twelve to 18 inches of rainfall is expected by the end of the week.

A high risk for excessive rainfall has been issued. The rain will be the most dangerous on Thursday.

Flash flooding, rockslides and landslides are all likely.

In the mountains of Northern California, blizzard conditions will be possible as wind gusts reach 50 to 70 mph. One to 4 feet of snow is possible at higher elevations. One foot of snow has already hit the mountains west of Redding, California.

ABC News’ Marilyn Heck contributed to this report.

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