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Tag: Indictment

  • Zohran Mamdani reveals what Letitia James told him after getting indicted

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    Zohran Mamdani, Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, shared what New York Attorney General Letitia James told him after she was indicted on Thursday.

    Why It Matters

    The federal indictment of James has thrust the topic of prosecutorial independence into the national spotlight and reignited debate over concerns of possible politicization of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). James, who earned national attention for her successful civil fraud case against President Donald Trump in 2023, now finds herself facing allegations of bank fraud and making false statements, brought by a newly appointed Trump prosecutor.

    Lawmakers and legal experts say the case highlights growing concerns about the use of federal power for perceived political retribution amid a broader erosion of longstanding judicial norms. Some Republicans, meanwhile, argue the case brings long overdue accountability to a high-ranking official. The high-profile indictment comes as both major parties accuse each other of weaponizing the justice system, compounding doubts surrounding its integrity among Americans.

    What To Know

    While speaking with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Friday, Mamdani was asked about his conversation with the state’s attorney general. Mamdani said, “She told me, ‘Don’t worry about me.’ And I think that’s just indicative of what she means to so many New Yorkers.”

    “She is somebody who has put the city, the state, the people of it first, and frankly that’s why Donald Trump is persecuting her. It’s because of the fact that she looks at everyone in the state, everyone in this country as being held to the same standards of the law. And she held Donald Trump to that same law,” Mamdani continued.

    “And he couldn’t take the audacity, that he would have that applied to him,” Mamdani added. “And so, what we’re seeing is the weaponization of justice and it’s one that’s looking to make an example of the attorney general, but it’s one where we will have her back through every step of the way.”

    On Thursday, Lindsey Halligan, recently appointed by Trump as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, secured a federal grand jury indictment against James. The indictment alleges that James misrepresented the use of a Virginia property on a 2020 mortgage application, claiming it was a secondary residence to obtain more favorable terms, when it was allegedly used as a rental.

    Newsweek reached out to the press office for the Eastern District of Virginia via email Friday night for comment.

    What People Are Saying

    Mamdani, on X Thursday: “New Yorkers know Attorney General James for who she is: a champion for justice who fights relentlessly for the people. Donald Trump knows her only as an obstacle to his corruption. No one should be surprised that Donald Trump is employing fascist tactics—prosecuting his opponents, weaponizing the federal government, and attacking the very fabric of our democracy. And Trump should not be surprised when millions of Americans stand up to his authoritarianism and his greed. If Trump wants to leverage baseless charges to visit political retribution on New York’s Attorney General, he’ll have to go through New Yorkers first. Tish James has had our back, time and again. We have hers.”

    Abbe Lowell, attorney for James, in a statement Thursday: “We are deeply concerned that this case is driven by President Trump’s desire for revenge,” adding, “When a President can publicly direct charges to be filed against someone—when it was reported that career attorneys concluded none were warranted—it marks a serious attack on the rule of law. We will fight these charges in every process allowed in the law.”

    Scott Jennings, former adviser to President George W. Bush, on X Thursday: “Allow me to quote Letitia James directly: ‘When powerful people cheat to get better loans, it comes at the expense of hard-working people.’ There was no outrage from Dems about Tish’s political prosecution of Trump — but now that the shoe is on the other foot, it’s a crisis.”

    What Happens Next

    James is set to appear for arraignment in Virginia on October 24.

    If convicted of bank fraud or making false statements, the penalties could include up to 30 years in prison and $1 million in fines for each count, the DOJ says.

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  • New York Attorney General Letitia James indicted for alleged mortgage fraud

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    This two-count indictment of New York attorney General Letitia James accuses her of bank fraud and of making false statements to *** financial institution. Specifically, it alleges that she intentionally misrepresented *** rental property as her secondary residence to obtain better mortgage terms. James is *** longtime foe of President Donald Trump. Last year she won *** civil lawsuit alleging that the president and his company overstated real estate values. Now the president has publicly urged the Justice Department to prosecute James and other political opponents. In *** video message yesterday, James said this indictment is part of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system. These charges are baseless. And the president’s own public statements make clear. That his only goal is political retribution at any cost. Lindsay Halligan, US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, wrote in *** statement, quote, No one is above the law. The charges, as alleged in this case, represent intentional criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust, unquote. Now if convicted, James faces up to 30 years in prison per count. She’s expected to make her first appearance in federal court on October 24th at the White House, I’m Jackie DeFusco.

    New York Attorney General Letitia James indicted for alleged mortgage fraud

    New York Attorney General Letitia James is the latest political foe of President Donald Trump to face federal charges.

    Updated: 8:01 AM EDT Oct 10, 2025

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    New York Attorney General Letitia James is the latest political foe of President Donald Trump to face federal charges. A federal grand jury indicted James on charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. The indictment accuses her of intentionally misrepresenting an investment property in Norfolk, Virginia, as her secondary residence to obtain better mortgage terms.In a video statement on Thursday, James said the indictment is part of the president’s “desperate weaponization of our justice system.””These charges are baseless. And the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost,” James said. Trump has publicly urged the Justice Department to prosecute James and other political opponents. In a Truth Social post last month that was directed at Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump alleged his opponents are “guilty as hell” and complained “nothing is being done.” Trump said, “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”Last year, James won a civil lawsuit against the president, alleging that Trump and his companies artificially inflated real estate values. An appeals court later overturned the staggering fine, which had grown to more than half a billion dollars with interest, but upheld the lower court’s finding that Trump committed fraud. Lindsey Halligan, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement Thursday, “No one is above the law. The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust.”The statement noted that James faces up to 30 years in prison per count if convicted. Her first court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 24.Halligan, who previously served as a White House aide and Trump’s personal lawyer, is also spearheading the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. She was appointed to the job after the Trump administration removed Erik Siebert, the veteran prosecutor who had overseen both investigations for months and resisted pressure to file charges. On social media last month, Trump wrote, “I withdrew the Nomination of Erik Siebert as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, when I was informed that he received the UNUSUALLY STRONG support of the two absolutely terrible, sleazebag Democrat Senators, from the Great State of Virginia. He didn’t quit, I fired him!”James specifically cited the shakeup as evidence that her prosecution is politically motivated. “His decision to fire a United States attorney who refused to bring charges against me and replaced them with someone who was blindly loyal, not to the law but to the president, is antithetical to the bedrock principles of our country,” James said. Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:

    WASHINGTON —

    New York Attorney General Letitia James is the latest political foe of President Donald Trump to face federal charges.

    A federal grand jury indicted James on charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. The indictment accuses her of intentionally misrepresenting an investment property in Norfolk, Virginia, as her secondary residence to obtain better mortgage terms.

    In a video statement on Thursday, James said the indictment is part of the president’s “desperate weaponization of our justice system.”

    “These charges are baseless. And the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost,” James said.

    Trump has publicly urged the Justice Department to prosecute James and other political opponents. In a Truth Social post last month that was directed at Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump alleged his opponents are “guilty as hell” and complained “nothing is being done.”

    Trump said, “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”

    Last year, James won a civil lawsuit against the president, alleging that Trump and his companies artificially inflated real estate values. An appeals court later overturned the staggering fine, which had grown to more than half a billion dollars with interest, but upheld the lower court’s finding that Trump committed fraud.

    Lindsey Halligan, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement Thursday, “No one is above the law. The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust.”

    The statement noted that James faces up to 30 years in prison per count if convicted. Her first court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 24.

    Halligan, who previously served as a White House aide and Trump’s personal lawyer, is also spearheading the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. She was appointed to the job after the Trump administration removed Erik Siebert, the veteran prosecutor who had overseen both investigations for months and resisted pressure to file charges.

    On social media last month, Trump wrote, “I withdrew the Nomination of Erik Siebert as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, when I was informed that he received the UNUSUALLY STRONG support of the two absolutely terrible, sleazebag Democrat Senators, from the Great State of Virginia. He didn’t quit, I fired him!”

    James specifically cited the shakeup as evidence that her prosecution is politically motivated.

    “His decision to fire a United States attorney who refused to bring charges against me and replaced them with someone who was blindly loyal, not to the law but to the president, is antithetical to the bedrock principles of our country,” James said.

    Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:

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  • Letitia James, the New York attorney general who defeated Trump in court, indicted by Justice Department

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    (CNN) — New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted Thursday in Alexandria, Virginia, as President Donald Trump’s Justice Department continues to pursue charges against his political opponents.

    James has been under investigation since May over a 2023 mortgage she took out to buy a home in Norfolk, Virginia. Thursday’s indictment focused on a 2020 mortgage for a different property in Norfolk.

    The grand jury returned two felony charges: bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. James’ first court appearance is scheduled for October 24 in Norfolk.

    According to the indictment, James claimed on mortgage paperwork that a home she purchased in Norfolk would be her second residence. That claim allowed her to get favorable loan terms not available for investment properties, prosecutors say.

    But, prosecutors allege, James did not use the house and instead rented the property to a family of three. They allege she falsely stated in loan applications that the residence would be a secondary home when they allege James knew she would use it as an investment property.

    According to the indictment, James received a lower mortgage rate on the property as a secondary mortgage than she would have had it been treated as an investment property. Prosecutors allege James received improper gains of $18,933 over the life of the loan.

    The charges come as Trump continues to call for his enemies to be prosecuted in court. Former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty Wednesday to allegedly making a false statement in a congressional proceeding. The Justice Department has also opened investigation into former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, and others.

    “This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system,” James said in a statement.

    “These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost,” she added. “The president’s actions are a grave violation of our Constitutional order and have drawn sharp criticism from members of both parties.”

    James’ relationship with Trump has been adversarial for years as James campaigned on promises to investigate Trump and ultimately won a civil fraud case against Trump, his adult sons and his real estate business. A judge found them liable for fraud for inflating the value of their properties, and ordered Trump to pay $355 million in penalties.

    Attorney General Letitia James sits in the courtroom during the civil fraud trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump at New York Supreme Court in January 2024 in New York City. Credit: Seth Wenig/Pool / Getty Images/File via CNN Newsource

    A New York appeals court tossed the penalties and Trump has appealed the verdict.

    During the 11-week trial, Trump’s anger toward James was palpable. He railed against her in the courthouse hallways and from the witness stand. Trump testified as James sat across from him in the courtroom galley.

    “This is a political witch hunt and I think she should be ashamed of herself,” Trump testified. “You believe this political hack back there and that’s unfortunate.”

    James often punched back outside of the courtroom, on social media or in video statements.

    Last month CNN reported that Justice Department prosecutors in Virginia, led at the time by Erik Siebert, interviewed dozens of witnesses and did not believe they gathered enough evidence to support criminal charges against James.

    Under pressure by Trump to bring charges against Comey and James, Siebert resigned and was replaced as US attorney by Trump’s former personal attorney Lindsey Halligan.

    “No one is above the law. The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust,” Halligan said in a statement. “The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.”

    Ed Martin, Trump’s Justice Department weaponization chief, posted on social media after the charges were announced: “Promises made, Promises kept.”

    Martin previously posed for photos outside of James’ Brooklyn home in August and called on her to resign in a letter to her attorney.

    Mortgage fraud investigation

    The investigation had focused on a mortgage obtained in 2023 for a property in Norfolk.

    Her attorneys provided a document to the Justice Department in April to push back on what they called “threadbare” allegations.

    They said that one document in the mortgage application “mistakenly” said the property would be James’ primary residence. But they submitted other documents to argue there was no fraud.

    In one document, James writes in an email to her loan originator, “this property WILL NOT be my primary residence.”

    That property in question, however, was unrelated to the underlying charges in the indictment, according to a source familiar.

    CNN’s Casey Gannon and Devan Cole contributed to this report.

    This story has been updated with additional reporting.

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    Kristen Holmes, Hannah Rabinowitz, Kara Scannell and CNN

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  • Texas mom faces murder charges after shooting her 4 children, killing 2, authorities say

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    A Texas mother who shot her four children over the weekend, killing two of them, faces murder charges, authorities said Sunday.

    The 31-year-old mother is being charged with two counts of murder and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, Brazoria County Sheriff Bo Stallman told reporters. She is being held on a $14 million bond.

    Two of the children, ages 13 and 4, were fatally shot inside a vehicle Saturday. The other children, ages 8 and 9, are in “stable condition” after being flown by a medical helicopter to a Houston-area hospital, Stallman said.

    The children’s mother called 911 to alert authorities after the shooting, Stallman said. Authorities recovered a weapon at the scene, he added.

    “It is impossible to make sense of a senseless tragedy like this, but we will do everything we can to seek justice for these children,” Stallman said.

    The mother is a resident of Montgomery County to the north of Houston, he said.

    The shooting took place in Angleton, a city of about 19,500 and which serves as the county seat of Brazoria County. It is located about 45 miles south of Houston.

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  • Can Comey use Trump’s rhetoric as a legal defense?

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    Could James Comey — the former FBI director indicted in September for false testimony to Congress — find a powerful criminal defense tool in President Donald Trump’s repeated public attacks against him?

    Such a defense, known as “selective” or “vindictive” prosecution, is a tactic that defense attorneys often pursue but rarely win. If they use this legal strategy, Comey’s lawyers would argue that the prosecution is improper because it either violates Comey’s constitutional rights or is retaliatory in nature. 

    For Comey, the maneuver has a better-than-usual chance of succeeding, experts said.

    “I believe the Comey case to be the strongest case for selective prosecution I’ve seen in my 50 years as a defense lawyer,” said Stanley Brand, a distinguished fellow in law and government at Penn State University.

    Experts said Comey’s argument could carry weight because of Trump’s unusually voluminous criticism directed at him in speeches and on social media, and Trump’s public calls for Comey’s prosecution.

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    Comey’s legal team has not shared its legal strategy. In an Instagram post after the indictment was announced, Comey said, “My heart is broken for the Department of Justice. I have great confidence in the federal judicial system and I am innocent, so let’s have a trial, and keep the faith.”

    The Comey case, and the Trump criticism that preceded it

    Conflict between Trump and Comey has been festering for years. Trump fired Comey, who was an Obama nominee, as FBI chief in 2017, and Comey publicly criticized Trump’s leadership. Earlier this year, the FBI investigated Comey after he posted a photo of seashells spelling out “86 47,” which Trump allies called an incitement of violence against Trump, the 47th U.S. president. “Eighty-six” is often used in the hospitality industry to signal something is ready to be thrown out. Former FBI agents told PolitiFact they do not recall the term being used to mean an incitement of violence.

    In July 2024, Trump said of Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan, “I think they’re crooked as hell, and maybe they have to pay a price for that.” Later that month, he said, “The old FBI under Comey was crooked as hell. He was one of the most crooked.” 

    In August 2024, referring to Comey and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Trump said, “They’re sick people, and they’re criminals, and they should be taken care of.” The following month, when Trump was asked if he would be “comfortable” seeing Comey and Brennan “handcuffed and arrested live on TV,” Trump responded, “Would not bother me at all.”

    In September, Erik Siebert, the top federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, left his post under pressure from the Trump administration. Trump tapped a White House aide and former personal defense lawyer, Lindsey Halligan, to replace him.

    On Sept. 20, Trump addressed a Truth Social post to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi about a potential Comey prosecution, as well as prosecutions of other Trump critics, including Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and New York Attorney General Letitia James. “They’re all guilty as hell,” Trump wrote. “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. … JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED.”

    On Sept. 25, just days into Halligan’s tenure, a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia,  indicted Comey on two counts — making a false statement and obstructing a congressional proceeding, related to 2020 testimony. The grand jury declined to indict Comey on a third charge.

    The following day, Trump posted on Truth Social, “James ‘Dirty Cop’ Comey was a destroyer of lives. He knew exactly what he was saying, and that it was a very serious and far reaching lie for which a very big price must be paid!”

    Can Comey use these statements in his defense?

    Legal experts cite three ways defendants can argue that their prosecution was improper. One, known as malicious prosecution, is less useful for a defendant such as Comey because it would involve filing a civil lawsuit after being cleared at trial.

    But Comey could use one of the other two approaches to head off a trial entirely. 

    One is selective prosecution, which stems from constitutional principles including equal protection, due process and the First Amendment. The other option is vindictive prosecution, in which a prosecution is retaliatory in nature.

    Claims of selective or vindictive prosecution can be raised in a pretrial motion that aims to dismiss the case. 

    “The doctrine calls for dismissal of a criminal prosecution if the defendant can show that there are similarly situated people have not been prosecuted, and that the defendant was singled out for constitutionally impermissible reasons, such as race, religion, or political affiliation,” said David A. Slansky, a Stanford University law professor.

    When presented before a trial, a selective prosecution claim “requires some prima facie showing of discriminatory animus or effect before a court can be convinced to entertain it,” Brand said. If that standard can be met, “it can lead to discovery, which may sufficiently buttress the claim to support dismissal.”

    Such motions are common and “often seen in politically-charged indictments,” said Bradley Moss, a lawyer with the firm Mark S. Zaid, P.C. Trump raised both selective and vindictive prosecution claims in 2023 when he was tried for actions related to the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol. So did President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, who was convicted on gun charges and pleaded guilty to tax charges before being pardoned by his father. In neither case did the argument succeed.

    “To meet the high threshold, the defendant has to demonstrate with clear evidence that similarly situated persons have not been prosecuted and that the decision to prosecute was based on an arbitrary factor,” Moss said.

    What’s Comey’s likelihood of success?

    Experts widely agreed that claims of selective or vindictive prosecution to forestall a trial are rarely successful.

    “The burden is high and these motions are rarely granted,” said Neama Rahmani, president of the firm West Coast Trial Lawyers. 

    Brand said judges usually presume good faith on the part of government lawyers, essentially giving them the benefit of the doubt. He said it’s also hard to collect sufficient evidence to meet the burden of proof.

    But despite these long legal odds, legal experts said Comey has a better shot at success than most, as might other Trump adversaries who could find themselves defendants in the coming months. 

    Cheryl Bader, a Fordham University clinical associate law professor, said as for vindictive prosecution, “there is unusually strong evidence that Comey was singled out for prosecution because of his opposition to President Trump.”

    Brand agreed. “The record is rife with evidence of the president’s animus toward defendants and his direct orders to initiate prosecutions regardless of Justice Department prosecutorial standards and mores,” he said. 

    The sudden indictment after Halligan’s arrival after the office had declined to pursue a prosecution could also strengthen Comey’s case, Brand said.

    “The decision of previous prosecutors who declined charges based on their belief that insufficient evidence existed … amounts to a strong case even before discovery of what documents may exist internally,” Brand said.

    Given the “incredibly difficult” standards for dismissal of the charges, Moss said Comey’s legal team might instead focus their efforts on dismissing the charges on the substance of the indictment, arguing that the facts “are not sufficient as a matter of law.”

    James Robenalt, a partner with the law firm Thompson Hine, said this would be an appealing approach for Comey’s legal team because the charges he faces involve “an exacting crime that depends exactly on words used.”

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  • Trump says he expects charges for other adversaries after Comey indictment

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    Donald Trump said on Friday that he expected more people whom he considers his political enemies to face criminal charges, a day after the justice department indicted former FBI director James Comey and faced a torrent of criticism for enacting the president’s campaign of retribution.

    “It’s not a list, but I think there’ll be others,” Trump said as he departed the White House to travel to the Ryder Cup golf tournament. “I mean, they’re corrupt. They were corrupt radical left Democrats.”

    Related: Who has Trump targeted so far besides Comey in his retribution campaign?

    Trump’s blunt remarks underscored the perilous moment for his political adversaries, given that the justice department pressed ahead with criminal charges against Comey, even though it was widely seen – inside and outside the administration – to be a weak case.

    The indictment against Comey, filed in federal district court on Thursday in Alexandria, Virginia, alleged that he misled lawmakers in September 2020 when he stood by his previous testimony to Congress claiming he had never authorized anyone at the FBI to leak to reporters.

    Prosecutors alleged that statement was not true and that Comey had authorized his friend and Columbia law school professor Dan Richman to leak to reporters about an investigation into Hilary Clinton, when Richman worked for a short time as a special government employee at the FBI.

    But the underlying evidence against Comey, which remains unclear from the two-page indictment, was considered to be insufficient for a conviction. The issues were laid out in a memo and Erik Siebert, the then interim US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, declined to bring charges.

    Trump fired Siebert within days and replaced him with Lindsey Halligan, most recently a White House aide with no prosecutorial experience. Halligan was briefed on the problems with the case but pressed forward with charges anyway, presenting the case herself to the grand jury.

    The grand jury returned an indictment on two counts but declined to approve a third. Even then, only 14 out of 23 grand jurors voted to bring the false statement charge, barely more than the 12-person threshold, court documents show.

    The fraught nature of the Comey indictment raised fresh fears that Trump’s political appointees at justice department headquarters in Washington and at its field offices elsewhere will feel emboldened to pursue criminal cases against the president’s other adversaries.

    Among other people, Trump has fixated in recent weeks on criminal investigations against the New York attorney general Letitia James and Democratic senator Adam Schiff over mortgage fraud allegations. James brought a civil fraud case against Trump last year and Schiff led the first impeachment trial.

    Last weekend, before Comey’s indictment, Trump called on his attorney general Pam Bondi to pursue Comey, James and Schiff. “They impeached me twice and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

    The administration also launched a criminal investigation into former CIA director John Brennan, who Trump despises for his role in the US intelligence community’s assessment in 2016 about Russian malign influence operations aimed at helping the Trump campaign.

    Last month, the FBI also searched the home and office of John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser turned critic, over allegations he mishandled classified documents. The FBI recovered documents with classification markings but Bolton’s lawyer claimed they had been declassified.

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  • Feds indict three women for alleged ‘doxing’ of ICE agent in Los Angeles

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    Three women opposed to President Trump’s intense immigration raids in Los Angeles were indicted Friday on charges of illegally “doxing” a U.S. Customs and Immigration agent, authorities said.

    Ashleigh Brown, Cynthia Raygoza and Sandra Carmona Samane face charges of disclosing the personal information of a federal agent and conspiracy, according to an indictment unsealed late Friday.

    Brown, who is from Colorado and goes by the nickname “AK,” has been described as one of the founders of “ice_out_ofla” an Instagram page with more than 28,000 followers that plays a role in organizing demonstrations against immigration enforcement, according to the social media page and an email reviewed by The Times.

    According to the indictment, the three women followed an ICE agent from the federal building on 300 North Los Angeles Street in downtown L.A. to the agent’s residence in Baldwin Park.

    They live-streamed the entire event, according to the indictment. Once they arrived at the agent’s home, prosecutors allege the women got out and shouted “la migra lives here,” and “ICE lives on your street and you should know,” according to the indictment.

    “Our brave federal agents put their lives on the line every day to keep our nation safe,” Acting U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli said in a statement. “The conduct of these defendants are deeply offensive to law enforcement officers and their families. If you threaten, dox, or harm in any manner one of our agents or employees, you will face prosecution and prison time.”

    An attorney for Samane, 25, of Los Angeles, said she intends to plead not guilty at an arraignment next month and declined further comment.

    The Federal Public Defender’s Office, which is representing Brown, 38, of Aurora, Colo., did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Court records did not list an attorney for Raygoza, 37, of Riverside.

    Footage published to the ice_out_ofla Instagram page seemed to capture Brown’s arrest earlier this week. The video shows a man in green fatigues and body armor saying he has a warrant for her arrest, while reaching through what appears to be the shattered driver’s side window of her car. Brown asks what the warrant is for while the man can be seen holding a collapsible baton. Then the video cuts out.

    Posts on the Instagram page describe Brown as a “political prisoner.”

    A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles did not immediately respond to questions about whether the women specifically shouted out the agent’s address online or what the defendants specifically did to “incite the commission of a crime of violence against a federal agent,” as the indictment alleges.

    Federal law enforcement leaders have repeatedly expressed concern about the “doxing” of agents with ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol as residents of Los Angeles, Chicago and other cities continue to protest the Trump administration’s sprawling deportation efforts.

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem threatened to prosecute people for publishing agents’ personal information last month in response to fliers in Portland that called for people to collect intel on ICE.

    But the indictment returned Friday appeared to be the first prosecution related to such tactics.

    Critics of the Trump administration’s operations have expressed outrage over ICE and CBP agents wearing masks and refusing to identify themselves in public while hunting undocumented immigrants throughout Southern California.

    Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that forbids federal law enforcement from wearing masks while operating in California. The supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution dictates that federal law takes precedence over state law, leading some legal experts to question whether state officials can actually enforce the legislation.

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  • Trump calls Comey a

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    President Trump is reacting to news that former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted on two counts in the Eastern District of Virginia. CBS News’ Scott MacFarlane, Caroline Polisi and Caitlin Huey-Burns have more on reaction to the indictment.

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  • ‘I’m not afraid’: Former FBI director responds after being indicted

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    This indictment filed overnight does not specifically mention the Russia investigation, but it does accuse Comey of making *** false statement and obstructing *** congressional proceeding. Comey’s accused of lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the investigation into Russia meddling with the 2016 election and whether he authorized *** leak to the press. Now timing is everything. Last week, the chief prosecutor who worked in the same office that filed the case against Comey resigned after President Trump pressured him to bring charges against the New York attorney General. Social media post, the president asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to do something about Comey. The president then nominated US Attorney Lindsay Halligan, former personal attorney to the president. Halligan quickly moved forward to present the Comey case to *** grand jury shortly after charges were filed. Comey responded, My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system, and I’m innocent. So let’s have *** trial. And keep the faith. Overnight, President Trump posted on social media saying that Comey has been bad for the country and is being held responsible for his crimes against the nation. If Comey is convicted, he faces up to 5 years in prison at the White House. I’m Rachel Horzheimer.

    ‘I’m not afraid’: Former FBI Director responds to indictment

    Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted for allegedly lying to Congress about the Russia investigation, prompting a response from Comey expressing confidence in the judicial system.

    Updated: 7:52 AM EDT Sep 26, 2025

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    Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted for allegedly making false statements and obstructing a congressional proceeding related to his testimony in 2020 about the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.The indictment, filed Thursday night, does not specifically mention the Russia investigation but outlines charges against Comey for lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the investigation and whether he authorized a leak to the press. Last week, Erik Siebert, the chief prosecutor who worked in the same office that filed the case against Comey, resigned after President Donald Trump pressured him to bring charges against the New York attorney general, Letitia James, in a mortgage fraud investigation.In a social media post, the president asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to do something about Comey, James, and Trump’s other political enemies, writing to Bondi, “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” President Trump then nominated U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, a former personal attorney to the president, who quickly moved forward to present the Comey case to a grand jury.Halligan rushed to present the case to a grand jury because prosecutors had until Tuesday to bring a case before the five-year statute of limitations expired.Shortly after the charges were filed, Comey responded in a video posted on his social media, saying, “My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system, and I’m innocent. So let’s have a trial and keep the faith.” Overnight, President Trump posted on social media, calling Comey “one of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to” and saying Comey is “being held responsible for his crimes against our Nation.”Trump continued by posting early Friday morning, “JAMES COMEY IS A DIRTY COP.”If convicted, Comey faces up to five years in prison.Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:

    WASHINGTON —

    Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted for allegedly making false statements and obstructing a congressional proceeding related to his testimony in 2020 about the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

    The indictment, filed Thursday night, does not specifically mention the Russia investigation but outlines charges against Comey for lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the investigation and whether he authorized a leak to the press.

    Last week, Erik Siebert, the chief prosecutor who worked in the same office that filed the case against Comey, resigned after President Donald Trump pressured him to bring charges against the New York attorney general, Letitia James, in a mortgage fraud investigation.

    In a social media post, the president asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to do something about Comey, James, and Trump’s other political enemies, writing to Bondi, “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” President Trump then nominated U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, a former personal attorney to the president, who quickly moved forward to present the Comey case to a grand jury.

    Halligan rushed to present the case to a grand jury because prosecutors had until Tuesday to bring a case before the five-year statute of limitations expired.

    Shortly after the charges were filed, Comey responded in a video posted on his social media, saying, “My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system, and I’m innocent. So let’s have a trial and keep the faith.”

    Overnight, President Trump posted on social media, calling Comey “one of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to” and saying Comey is “being held responsible for his crimes against our Nation.”

    Trump continued by posting early Friday morning, “JAMES COMEY IS A DIRTY COP.”

    If convicted, Comey faces up to five years in prison.

    Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:


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  • Former FBI Director James Comey indicted

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    (CNN) — Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted by a federal grand jury, an extraordinary escalation in President Donald Trump’s effort to prosecute his political enemies.

    Comey, a longtime adversary of the president, is now the first senior government official to face federal charges in one of Trump’s largest grievances: the 2016 investigation into whether his first presidential campaign colluded with Russia.

    “JUSTICE IN AMERICA! One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to is James Comey, the former Corrupt Head of the FBI,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

    Comey has been charged with giving false statements and obstruction of a congressional proceeding, and he could face up to five years in prison if convicted.

    Both charges are connected to his September 30, 2020, testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee. A source told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the indictment for lying to Congress is related to the FBI’s “Arctic haze” leak investigation, related to classified information that ended up in four different newspaper articles.

    Appearing by Zoom, Comey testified that “he had not authorized someone else to be an anonymous source in news reports,” the indictment said. “That statement was false.”

    Comey responded to the indictment in an Instagram video, saying, “Let’s have a trial. And keep the faith.”

    “My heart is broken for the Department of Justice but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system and I’m innocent,” he added.

    Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X, “No one is above the law.”

    “Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people,” Bondi wrote. “We will follow the facts in this case.”

    Inside the courthouse

    The charges were presented by Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s former personal attorney and the new top prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia. She was not accompanied by any career prosecutor and is the only Justice Department official who signed the charging documents.

    During a brief hearing, a judge announced the new case against Comey and said publicly that 14 jurors agreed to indict on the counts of false statements in the jurisdiction of a congressional proceeding and obstruction of a congressional proceeding.

    Halligan, who had never presented to a grand jury, did a crash course to prepare with DOJ attorneys and FBI officials ahead of Thursday, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Halligan participated in a number of “practice runs” and spent hours going through the material in preparation.

    Comey was charged for an alleged false statement he made to the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 30, 2020, though he had been asked the same question years earlier under oath.

    Prosecutors say Comey authorized a leak to the media about an FBI investigation via an anonymous source, but he then told the Senate he had not.

    In his 2020 Senate hearing, appearing by Zoom, Sen. Ted Cruz read to Comey an exchange he had with a different senator, Chuck Grassley, during congressional testimony three years prior.

    Cruz said to Comey in 2020:

    “On May 3rd, 2017, in this committee, Chairman Grassley asked you point blank, ‘Have you ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation?’ You responded under oath, ‘Never.’ He then asked you, ‘Have you ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton administration?’ You responded again under oath, ‘No.’”

    Comey then said to Cruz: “I can only speak to my testimony. I stand by the testimony you summarized that I gave in May of 2017.”

    Grand jury rejected third charge against Comey

    A court record made public on Thursday certified that the grand jury voted “no” on indicting Comey on another alleged false statement to Congress — a very unusual occurrence in the federal court system.

    That other false statement allegation, which is not part of the indictment of Comey, according to this record, appears to pinpoint Comey’s answer when he was asked about an alleged plan from Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign.

    “That doesn’t ring any bells with me,” Comey testified in 2020 in response to a question from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.

    In the Senate Judiciary Committee testimony, Graham told Comey about an alleged plan in 2016 where Clinton wanted to distract the public from her use of a private email server and fuel the 2016 Russia investigation around Trump and Russian hackers hurting the US elections.

    That question and answer has long fed conservative theories about Comey wanting to hurt Trump and assist Clinton during the campaign and into Trump’s first presidency.

    The grand jury did not have a majority of 12 yes votes, out of a possible 23, to indict Comey for that exchange with Graham, according to the court record.

    Comey’s son-in-law resigns

    Comey’s son-in-law, Troy A. Edwards, Jr., resigned Thursday from his position as a senior national security prosecutor shortly after the former FBI director was indicted, according to a letter obtained by CNN.

    In a one-sentence letter to Halligan, Edwards wrote: “To uphold my oath to the Constitution and country, I hereby resign as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in the Department of Justice effective immediately.”

    Previous concerns about charges

    The indictment Thursday evening comes as CNN previously reported concerns Bondi and prosecutors have had about the case.

    Bondi is facing pressure from Trump, who is demanding his political enemies face criminal charges as he once did. But attorneys inside the Eastern District of Virginia recently wrote a memo detailing their reservations over seeking the indictment, ABC News first reported.

    Bondi had concerns about the case, which focuses on whether Comey made false statements during congressional testimony involving the 2016 investigation into Russian interference in the US presidential election, according to a person familiar with her thinking, though she believes it would be possible to bring an indictment.

    Late Thursday, Bondi replied to CNN’s reporting, stating, “That is a flat out lie.”

    The attorney general had dinner at the White House Rose Garden with Trump and others Wednesday evening.

    ‘I just want people to act’

    Publicly and privately, Trump has complained that prosecutors were willing to bring numerous criminal cases against him while he was out of office, noting that in those instances he was charged with whatever they had at the time, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The person added that Trump has repeatedly said that the Justice Department should bring the best case it can when it comes to his political opponents and let the court decide the rest.

    “I just want people to act. And we want to act fast,” Trump told reporters Saturday as he departed the White House. “If they’re not guilty, that’s fine. If they are guilty, or if they should be charged, they should be charged, and we have to do it now.”

    Some inside the White House view Halligan’s willingness to bring the case as her jumping on a grenade to please Trump – though that is why she was picked to take on the role of leading the Eastern District of Virginia. While several Justice Department officials are worried about the strength of any case against Comey, multiple political aides share a different view: they prosecuted Trump, so people like Comey deserve to be prosecuted, too.

    Comey is expected to be arraigned in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on October 9, according to the court record.

    CNN’s Britney Lavecchia, Casey Gannon and Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report.

    This story has been updated with additional developments and details of the charges from the Justice Department.

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  • Sean “Diddy” Combs returns to court for hearing that could help determine how long he’ll stay in prison

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    Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyers to argue for immediate release in pre-sentencing hearing



    Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyers to argue for immediate release in pre-sentencing hearing

    01:51

    Sean “Diddy” Combs waved to his supporters as he appeared in court again Thursday morning, where a hearing took place to help determine how long the Grammy-winning producer will remain in prison. Combs has been detained in New York City since his arrest in September 2024.

    Judge Arun Subramanian then began listening to arguments from lawyers on points of law that could help him decide a sentence for the Bad Boy Records founder, who was convicted of prostitution-related charges in July.

    Combs, 55, will have been jailed for nearly 13 months when he is sentenced Oct. 3.

    His lawyers argued in court papers submitted this week that he should be sentenced to no more than 14 months in prison. With credit for good behavior, that would mean he would be released immediately.

    Prosecutors have said they believe he should spend at least several more years behind bars, although they haven’t submitted their sentencing recommendations to the judge yet.

    The judge has signaled that he, too, is leaning toward a substantial amount of prison time, twice refusing to grant bail since the jury returned its verdict, citing Combs’ history of violence.

    Combs was convicted of arranging interstate travel for people engaged in prostitution, two counts that each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, but acquitted of the more severe racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges that could have resulted in a lifetime sentence. Prosecutors said during the trial that Combs had arranged for paid sexual encounters between male sex workers and his girlfriends, some of whom testified about being beaten, kicked and choked by him. 

    The music mogul pleaded not guilty to all of the charges brought against him.

    Prosecutors said in the wake of the jury’s guilty verdict that Combs should receive at least 51 to 63 months imprisonment on the two convictions, which would equate to approximately four to five years. They later indicated that they would recommend a longer sentence.

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  • Woman who tried to sell Elvis Presley’s Graceland sentenced to over 4 years in federal prison

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    A Missouri woman was sentenced Tuesday to more than four years in federal prison for scheming to defraud Elvis Presley’s family by trying to auction off his Graceland home and property before a judge halted the brazen foreclosure sale.

    U.S. District Judge John T. Fowlkes Jr. sentenced Lisa Jeanine Findley in federal court in Memphis to four years and nine months behind bars, plus an additional three years of probation. Findley, 54, declined to speak on her own behalf during the hearing.

    Findley pleaded guilty in February to a charge of mail fraud related to the scheme. She also had been indicted on a charge of aggravated identity theft, but that charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement.

    Findley, of Kimberling City, falsely claimed Lisa Marie Presley borrowed $3.8 million from a bogus private lender and had pledged Graceland as collateral for the loan before her death in January 2023, prosecutors said when Findley was charged in August 2024. Findley then threatened to sell Graceland to the highest bidder if Presley’s family didn’t pay a $2.85 million settlement, according to prosecutors.

    Findley posed as three different people allegedly involved with the fake lender, fabricated loan documents and published a fraudulent foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper announcing the auction of Graceland in May 2024, prosecutors said. A judge stopped the sale after Riley Keough, Lisa Marie’s daughter, sued. 

    Experts were baffled by the attempt to sell off one of the most storied pieces of real estate in the country using names, emails and documents that were quickly suspected to be phony.

    Graceland opened as a museum and tourist attraction in 1982 and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. A large Presley-themed entertainment complex across the street from the museum is owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises. Presley died in August 1977 at the age of 42. Members of the Presley family, including Elvis, Lisa Marie and Benjamin Keough are buried on the property. 

    The public notice for the foreclosure sale of the 13-acre estate said Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland museum, owed $3.8 million after failing to repay a 2018 loan. Keough inherited the trust and ownership of the home after her mother’s death.

    After the scheme fell apart, Findley tried to make it look like the person responsible was a Nigerian identity thief, prosecutors said. An email sent May 25, 2024, to the AP from the same email as the earlier statement said in Spanish that the foreclosure sale attempt was made by a Nigerian fraud ring that targets old and dead people in the U.S. and uses the internet to steal money.

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  • Man charged with shining laser pointer at Marine One with Trump aboard

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    A man accused of shining a laser pointer at presidential helicopter Marine One with President Trump aboard was arrested on federal charges Monday.

    Jacob Samuel Winkler, 33, of Washington, D.C., is charged with aiming the beam of a laser pointer at an aircraft, a felony punishable by a maximum prison sentence of five years. Online court records don’t list an attorney representing him.

    Marine One was airborne on Saturday after departing the White House when a U.S. Secret Service patrol officer spotted Winkler walking on a sidewalk, shirtless and loudly talking to himself, the officer wrote in an affidavit. The officer said he shone a flashlight at Winkler, who allegedly retaliated by flashing a red laser beam at the officer’s face.

    As Marine One flew over their heads, Winkler looked up and shined the laser pointer at the helicopter, according to the officer. 

    “This placed Marine One at risk of an airborne collision,” the Secret Service officer wrote.

    After the officer handcuffed him, Winkler repeatedly said phrases like “I should apologize to Donald Trump,” the affidavit alleges.

    Winkler allegedly told investigators that he points the laser “at all kinds of things, such as stop signs,” and didn’t know he couldn’t point it at Marine One, the affidavit says. Investigators also found a small knife in his possession, according to the officer.

    “This behavior endangers Marine One and everyone on board,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the top prosecutor in D.C., said in a statement to The Associated Press. “If you engage in this act, you will be identified and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

    The court filing doesn’t say if anybody aboard the helicopter noticed the laser. But the officer said Winkler’s conduct could have temporarily blinded or disoriented a pilot, placing Marine One at risk of an airborne collision with other helicopters in the area.

    The Federal Aviation Administration says lasers pose a “serious safety threat” to aircraft because they can incapacitate pilots. The agency has recorded 5,913 laser incidents so far this year — or about 28 per day — and 12,840 last year.

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  • White House names replacement for acting U.S. attorney in office probing Letitia James

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    A conservative lawyer who has said she was falsely accused of being at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has been named to serve as the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia, according to a copy of an email she sent to staff obtained by CBS News. The Virginia office was thrown into turmoil when its acting U.S. attorney was abruptly left on Friday.

    Mary “Maggie” Cleary said in an email to staff on Saturday that she had been named the new acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, according to her email.

    She replaces Erik Siebert, who resigned amid pressure from Trump administration officials to bring criminal charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James in a mortgage fraud investigation.

    “While this appointment was unexpected, I am humbled to be joining your ranks,” Cleary told employees in the email. “The Eastern District of Virginia has a distinguished legacy upon which we will build.”  

    Cleary will take over an office in tumult over political pressure by administration officials to criminally charge James, a longtime foe of President Trump. The investigation stems from allegations that James provided false information on mortgage applications to get better loan rates for a home in Virginia.

    The Justice Department has spent months conducting the investigation but has yet to bring charges, and there’s been no indication that prosecutors have managed to uncover any degree of incriminating evidence necessary to secure an indictment. James’ lawyers have vigorously denied any allegations and characterized the investigation as an act of political revenge.

    In 2022, James sued Mr. Trump for years of alleged financial fraud, claiming Mr. Trump and his family participated in a conspiracy to inflate his net worth by billions of dollars in order to secure better loan rates, among other things. A judge found them liable and ultimately ruled Trump and the Trump Organization must pay $354 million in fines, though the actual total recently climbed to above $500 million due to interest while he appeals.  

    While Siebert said in an email to colleagues Friday evening that he had submitted his resignation, Trump said in a social media post: “He didn’t quit, I fired him!” 

    Cleary recently rejoined the Justice Department as a senior counsel in the criminal division after working as a prosecutor in the Culpepper Commonwealth’s Attorneys Office. She also worked as deputy secretary of public safety in Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration and later served in Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares’ office.

    Cleary wrote in an article for The Spectator World earlier this year about being wrongly identified in a photo which allegedly placed her on Capitol grounds during the Jan. 6 riot. Cleary, who at the time was working as a federal prosecutor in the Western District of Virginia, wrote: “Everyone knew I was a conservative. It was all over my resume. I was in leadership in my local Republican Committee. But I had not gone to the Capitol that day.”

    She described being placed on administrative leave and interviewed by agents before later being cleared to return to work.

    “In the last four years, I’ve been somewhat cautious about sharing my experience, but now, while Donald Trump is president, I feel emboldened to finally tell how, I, too, was targeted politically,” Cleary wrote.

    At the time the article was published in May, she was interviewing to serve as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia. Cleary said she wanted that job “to end this type of treatment.”

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  • Luigi Mangione’s lawyers want death penalty off the table in UnitedHealthcare CEO murder case

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    Luigi Mangione’s lawyers urged a judge on Saturday to bar federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, arguing that authorities prejudiced his case by turning his arrest into a “Marvel movie” spectacle and by publicly declaring their desire to see him executed.

    Fresh from a legal victory that eliminated terrorism charges in Mangione’s state murder case, his lawyers are now fighting to have his federal case dismissed, seizing on U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s declaration prior to his April indictment that capital punishment is warranted for a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”

    Bondi’s statements and other official actions — including a highly choreographed perp walk that saw Mangione led up a Manhattan pier by armed officers, and the Trump administration’s flouting of established death penalty procedures — “have violated Mr. Mangione’s constitutional and statutory rights and have fatally prejudiced this death penalty case,” his lawyers argued in a court filing.

    Mangione’s defense team, led by former Manhattan prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo, implored U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, an appointee of President Joe Biden, “to correct the errors made by the government and prevent this case from proceeding as a death penalty prosecution.”

    Bondi announced in April that she was directing Manhattan federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Mangione. It was the first time the Justice Department said it was bringing a capital case after President Donald Trump returned to office Jan. 20 with a pledge to revive federal executions, which his predecessor Biden had put on hold.

    Mangione’s lawyers argue that Bondi’s announcement — which she followed with Instagram posts and a TV appearance — showed the decision was “based on politics, not merit” and, they said, her remarks tainted the grand jury process that resulted in his indictment a few weeks later.

    Trump, who oversaw an unprecedented run of 13 executions at the end of his first term, offered his own opinions about Mangione on Thursday — despite court rules that prohibit any pretrial publicity that could interfere with a defendant’s right to a fair trial.

    “Think about Mangione. He shot someone in the back, as clear as you’re looking at me or I’m looking at you. He shot — he looked like a pure assassin,” Trump told Fox News.

    “There is a high bar to dismissing an indictment due to pretrial publicity,” Mangione’s lawyers wrote in their 114-page filing. “However, there has never been a situation remotely like this one where prejudice has been so great against a death-eligible defendant.”

    Federal prosecutors have until Oct. 31 to respond. Mangione is due back in court in the federal case Dec. 5, days after the start of pretrial hearings in his state case. No trial date has been set for either case.

    Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges.

    Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson, 50, from behind on Dec. 4, 2024, as he arrived to a Manhattan hotel for his company’s annual investor conference. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were scrawled on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

    Mangione, the Ivy League-educated scion of a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan. Authorities say he had a 9 mm handgun and a notebook describing his intent to “wack” an insurance executive.

    Mangione’s lawyers contend the simultaneous prosecutions amount to double jeopardy.

    In the federal case, Mangione is charged with murder through use of a firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty, as well as stalking and gun offenses.

    On Tuesday, the judge in his state case threw out terrorism charges that carried the possibility of a mandatory life sentence without parole. But Judge Gregory Carro rejected the defense’s request to dismiss the state prosecution entirely, saying the double jeopardy argument is premature because neither case has gone to trial or resulted in a guilty plea.

    The state case will proceed with other charges, including an intentional murder count that carries a potential punishment of 15 years to life in prison, with the possibility of parole. Unlike the federal system, New York does not have the death penalty.

    Mangione has attracted a cult following as a stand-in for frustrations with the health insurance industry.

    A few dozen supporters — mostly women — packed three rows in the rear of the courtroom gallery at his hearing Tuesday in state court. Some wore green, the color of the Mario Bros. video game character Luigi, and one woman sported a “FREE LUIGI” T-shirt.

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  • Georgia judge to toss landmark racketeering charges against ‘Cop City’ protesters

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    A Georgia judge on Tuesday said he will toss the racketeering charges against all 61 defendants accused of a years-long conspiracy to halt the construction of a police and firefighter training facility that critics pejoratively call “Cop City.”Fulton County Judge Kevin Farmer said he does not believe Republican Attorney General Chris Carr had the authority to secure the 2023 indictments under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law, or RICO. Experts believe it was the largest criminal racketeering case ever filed against protesters in U.S. history.The defendants faced a wide variety of allegations — everything from throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers, to supplying food to protesters who were camped in the woods and passing out fliers against a state trooper who had fatally shot a protester. Each defendant faced up to 20 years in prison on the RICO charges.Farmer said during a hearing that Carr needed Gov. Brian Kemp’s permission to pursue the case instead of the local district attorney. Prosecutors earlier conceded that they did not obtain any such order.“It would have been real easy to just ask the governor, ‘Let me do this, give me a letter,’” Farmer said. “The steps just weren’t followed.”The case is not over yetFive of the 61 defendants were also indicted on charges of domestic terrorism and first-degree arson connected to a 2023 “night of rage” in which masked activists burned a police car in downtown Atlanta and threw rocks at a skyscraper that houses the Atlanta Police Foundation. Farmer said Carr also didn’t have the authority to pursue the arson charge, though he believes the domestic terrorism charge can stand.Farmer said he plans to file a formal order soon and is not sure whether he would quash the entire indictment or let the domestic terrorism charge proceed.Deputy Attorney General John Fowler told Farmer that he believes the judge’s decision is “wholly incorrect.”Carr plans to “appeal immediately,” spokesperson Kara Murray said.“The Attorney General will continue the fight against domestic terrorists and violent criminals who want to destroy life and property,” she said.Defense attorney Don Samuel said the case was rife with errors. Defense attorneys had expected to spend the whole week going through dozens of dismissal motions that had been filed. During an impassioned speech on Monday, the first day of the hearing, Samuel called the case “an assault on the right of people to protest” and urged Farmer to “put a stop to this.”“We could have spun the wheel and seen which argument was going to win first,” Samuel told The Associated Press after Farmer announced his decision from the bench.The long-brewing controversy over the training center erupted in January 2023 after state troopers who were part of a sweep of the South River Forest killed an activist, known as “Tortuguita,” who authorities said had fired at them while inside a tent near the construction site. A prosecutor found the troopers’ actions “objectively reasonable,” though Tortuguita’s family has filed a lawsuit, saying the 26-year-old’s hands were in the air and that troopers used excessive force when they initially fired pepper balls into the tent.Numerous protests ensued, with masked vandals sometimes attacking police vehicles and construction equipment to stall the project and intimidate contractors into backing out. Opponents also pursued civic paths to halt the facility, including packing City Council meetings and leading a massive referendum effort that got tied up in the courts.Carr, who is running for governor, had pursued the case, with Kemp hailing it as an important step to combat “out-of-state radicals that threaten the safety of our citizens and law enforcement.”But critics had decried the indictment as a politically motivated, heavy-handed attempt to quash the movement against the 85-acre project that ultimately cost more than $115 million.Environmentalists and anti-police activists were unitedEmerging in the wake of the 2020 racial justice protests, the “Stop Cop City” movement gained nationwide recognition as it united anarchists, environmental activists and anti-police protesters against the sprawling training center, which was being built in a wooded area that was ultimately razed in DeKalb County.Activists argued that uprooting acres of trees for the facility would exacerbate environmental damage in a flood-prone, majority-Black area while serving as an expensive staging ground for militarized officers to be trained in quelling social movements.The training center, a priority of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, opened earlier this year, despite years of protests and millions in cost overruns, some of it due to the damage protesters caused, and police officials’ needs to bolster 24/7 security around the facility.But over the past two years, the case had been bogged down in procedural issues, with none of the defendants going to trial. Farmer and the case’s previous judge, Fulton County Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams, had earlier been critical of prosecutors’ approach to the case, with Adams saying the prosecution had committed “gross negligence” by allowing privileged attorney-client emails to be included among a giant cache of evidence that was shared between investigators and dozens of defense attorneys.As the delays continued, defendants said their lives had been wrecked by the charges, with many unable to secure steady jobs or housing.Three of the defendants, organizers of a bail fund that supported the protesters, had also been charged with 15 counts of money laundering, but prosecutors dropped those charges last year.Prosecutors had previously apologized to the court for various delays and missteps, but lamented the difficulty of handling such a sprawling case, though Farmer pointed out that it was prosecutors who decided to bring this “61-person elephant” to court in the first place.Defense attorney Xavier de Janon said Farmer’s decision is a “victory,” but noted that there are other defendants still facing unindicted domestic terrorism charges in DeKalb County, as well as numerous pending misdemeanors connected to the movement.“The prosecutions haven’t ended against this movement, and I hope that people continue to pay attention to how the state is dealing with protests and activism, because it hasn’t ended,” de Janon said. “This is a win, and hopefully many more will come.”

    ATLANTA —

    A Georgia judge on Tuesday said he will toss the racketeering charges against all 61 defendants accused of a years-long conspiracy to halt the construction of a police and firefighter training facility that critics pejoratively call “Cop City.”

    Fulton County Judge Kevin Farmer said he does not believe Republican Attorney General Chris Carr had the authority to secure the 2023 indictments under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law, or RICO. Experts believe it was the largest criminal racketeering case ever filed against protesters in U.S. history.

    The defendants faced a wide variety of allegations — everything from throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers, to supplying food to protesters who were camped in the woods and passing out fliers against a state trooper who had fatally shot a protester. Each defendant faced up to 20 years in prison on the RICO charges.

    Farmer said during a hearing that Carr needed Gov. Brian Kemp’s permission to pursue the case instead of the local district attorney. Prosecutors earlier conceded that they did not obtain any such order.

    “It would have been real easy to just ask the governor, ‘Let me do this, give me a letter,’” Farmer said. “The steps just weren’t followed.”

    The case is not over yet

    Five of the 61 defendants were also indicted on charges of domestic terrorism and first-degree arson connected to a 2023 “night of rage” in which masked activists burned a police car in downtown Atlanta and threw rocks at a skyscraper that houses the Atlanta Police Foundation. Farmer said Carr also didn’t have the authority to pursue the arson charge, though he believes the domestic terrorism charge can stand.

    Farmer said he plans to file a formal order soon and is not sure whether he would quash the entire indictment or let the domestic terrorism charge proceed.

    Deputy Attorney General John Fowler told Farmer that he believes the judge’s decision is “wholly incorrect.”

    Carr plans to “appeal immediately,” spokesperson Kara Murray said.

    “The Attorney General will continue the fight against domestic terrorists and violent criminals who want to destroy life and property,” she said.

    Defense attorney Don Samuel said the case was rife with errors. Defense attorneys had expected to spend the whole week going through dozens of dismissal motions that had been filed. During an impassioned speech on Monday, the first day of the hearing, Samuel called the case “an assault on the right of people to protest” and urged Farmer to “put a stop to this.”

    “We could have spun the wheel and seen which argument was going to win first,” Samuel told The Associated Press after Farmer announced his decision from the bench.

    The long-brewing controversy over the training center erupted in January 2023 after state troopers who were part of a sweep of the South River Forest killed an activist, known as “Tortuguita,” who authorities said had fired at them while inside a tent near the construction site. A prosecutor found the troopers’ actions “objectively reasonable,” though Tortuguita’s family has filed a lawsuit, saying the 26-year-old’s hands were in the air and that troopers used excessive force when they initially fired pepper balls into the tent.

    Numerous protests ensued, with masked vandals sometimes attacking police vehicles and construction equipment to stall the project and intimidate contractors into backing out. Opponents also pursued civic paths to halt the facility, including packing City Council meetings and leading a massive referendum effort that got tied up in the courts.

    Carr, who is running for governor, had pursued the case, with Kemp hailing it as an important step to combat “out-of-state radicals that threaten the safety of our citizens and law enforcement.”

    But critics had decried the indictment as a politically motivated, heavy-handed attempt to quash the movement against the 85-acre project that ultimately cost more than $115 million.

    Environmentalists and anti-police activists were united

    Emerging in the wake of the 2020 racial justice protests, the “Stop Cop City” movement gained nationwide recognition as it united anarchists, environmental activists and anti-police protesters against the sprawling training center, which was being built in a wooded area that was ultimately razed in DeKalb County.

    Activists argued that uprooting acres of trees for the facility would exacerbate environmental damage in a flood-prone, majority-Black area while serving as an expensive staging ground for militarized officers to be trained in quelling social movements.

    The training center, a priority of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, opened earlier this year, despite years of protests and millions in cost overruns, some of it due to the damage protesters caused, and police officials’ needs to bolster 24/7 security around the facility.

    But over the past two years, the case had been bogged down in procedural issues, with none of the defendants going to trial. Farmer and the case’s previous judge, Fulton County Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams, had earlier been critical of prosecutors’ approach to the case, with Adams saying the prosecution had committed “gross negligence” by allowing privileged attorney-client emails to be included among a giant cache of evidence that was shared between investigators and dozens of defense attorneys.

    As the delays continued, defendants said their lives had been wrecked by the charges, with many unable to secure steady jobs or housing.

    Three of the defendants, organizers of a bail fund that supported the protesters, had also been charged with 15 counts of money laundering, but prosecutors dropped those charges last year.

    Prosecutors had previously apologized to the court for various delays and missteps, but lamented the difficulty of handling such a sprawling case, though Farmer pointed out that it was prosecutors who decided to bring this “61-person elephant” to court in the first place.

    Defense attorney Xavier de Janon said Farmer’s decision is a “victory,” but noted that there are other defendants still facing unindicted domestic terrorism charges in DeKalb County, as well as numerous pending misdemeanors connected to the movement.

    “The prosecutions haven’t ended against this movement, and I hope that people continue to pay attention to how the state is dealing with protests and activism, because it hasn’t ended,” de Janon said. “This is a win, and hopefully many more will come.”

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  • Michigan judge tosses case against 15 accused fake electors for President Trump in 2020

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    A Michigan judge dismissed criminal charges Tuesday against a group of people who were accused of attempting to falsely certify President Donald Trump as the winner of the 2020 election in the battleground state, a major blow to prosecutors as similar cases in four other states have been muddied with setbacks.

    District Court Judge Kristen D. Simmons said in a court hearing that the 15 Republicans accused will not face trial. The case has dragged through the courts since Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, announced the charges over two years ago.

    Each member of the group, which included a few high-profile members of the Republican Party in Michigan, faced eight charges of forgery and conspiracy to commit election forgery. The top felony charges carried a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

    Investigators said the group met at the Michigan GOP headquarters in December of 2020 and signed a document falsely stating they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified electors.” President Joe Biden won Michigan by nearly 155,000 votes, a result confirmed by a GOP-led state Senate investigation in 2021.

    Electors are part of the 538-member Electoral College that officially elects the president of the United States. In 48 states, electors vote for the candidate who won the popular vote. In Nebraska and Maine, elector votes are awarded based on congressional district and statewide results.

    One man accused in the Michigan case had the charges against him dropped after he agreed to cooperate with the state attorney general’s office in October 2023. The other 15 defendants pleaded not guilty and have maintained that their actions were not illegal.

    Judge Simmons took nearly a year to say whether there was sufficient evidence to bring the cases to trial following a series of lengthy preliminary hearings.

    Prosecutors in Nevada, Georgia, Wisconsin and Arizona have also filed criminal charges related to the fake electors scheme. None of the cases have neared the trial stage and many have been bogged down by procedural and appellate delays.

    In Nevada, the state attorney general revived a case against a group of allegedly fake electors last year, while a judge in Arizona ordered a similar case back to a grand jury in May. In Wisconsin last month, a judge declined to dismiss felony charges against three Trump allies connected to a plan to falsely cast electoral ballots for Trump even though Biden won the state in 2020.

    The Georgia prosecution is essentially on hold while Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Atlanta, who brought the charges against President Trump and others appeals her removal from the case. Technically, Trump is still a defendant in the case, but as the sitting president, it is highly unlikely that any prosecution against him could proceed while he’s in office.

    The effort to secure fake electors was central to the federal indictment against Trump that was abandoned earlier this year shortly before Trump took office for his second term.

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  • Public defender’s office seeks removal of Trump’s top federal prosecutor in L.A.

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    The federal public defender’s office in Los Angeles filed a motion Friday to disqualify acting U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, arguing that the Trump administration’s pick to serve as the top federal prosecutor in Southern California is unlawfully occupying his post.

    Essayli, a former Riverside County assemblyman, was appointed by U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi in April, and his term was set to expire in late July unless he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate or a panel of federal judges. But the White House never moved to nominate him to a permanent role, instead opting to use an unprecedented legal maneuver to shift his title to “acting,” extending his term another nine months without any confirmation process.

    The federal public defender’s office filed a motion seeking to dismiss an indictment against their client and to disqualify Essayli and attorneys working under him “from participating in criminal prosecutions in this district.”

    The defendant, Jaime Ramirez, was indicted on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

    In a 63-page motion filed in Ramirez’s case, James Anglin Flynn and Ayah A. Sarsour, deputy federal public defenders, argued that the Trump administration circumvented limitations that Congress has imposed on temporary service in key offices, including U.S. attorneys.

    Essayli’s term was supposed to expire on July 29. At that point the White House had not formally nominated him before the U.S. Senate, and local federal judges had taken no action to confirm Essayli, or anyone else, to the position. At the eleventh hour, the White House named Essayli as acting U.S. attorney, allowing him to hold the post for 210 more days without confirmation hearings.

    Essayli “was not lawfully acting as the United States Attorney in any capacity” on Aug. 13, when the government obtained the indictment against Ramirez, the deputy federal public defenders wrote in their motion. “And he has no such lawful authority today.”

    The U.S. attorney’s office in L.A. did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Department of Justice declined to comment.

    In their motion, Flynn and Sarsour pointed out that the Trump administration has used similar strategies to keep political allies in power in U.S. attorney’s offices in New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico and the Northern District of New York. But legal challenges are mounting. Last week, a federal judge ruled that Alina Habba has been illegally occupying her seat in New Jersey since early July, although that order was put on hold pending appeal.

    Habba was nominated for the post earlier this year but did not receive Senate or judicial confirmation. Instead, local federal judges chose Desiree Leigh Grace, a veteran Republican prosecutor within the office, to replace Habba. Bondi responded by firing Grace and naming Habba acting U.S. attorney, sparking confusion over who actually held the post and all but paralyzing the federal criminal court system in the Garden State.

    On Tuesday, the federal public defender’s office in Nevada filed a motion to do one of two things: dismiss an indictment that acting U.S. Atty. Sigal Chattah brought against one of its clients, or disqualify the U.S. attorney’s office entirely. The 59-page motion specifically challenged Chattah, stating that she is not lawfully serving as acting U.S. attorney.

    Echoing Judge Matthew W. Brann’s ruling on Habba, the Nevada public defenders argued that Chattah was not first an assistant U.S. attorney, as federal law required when the U.S. attorney seat became vacant.

    The motion also argues that Chattah was illegally kept in office past the 120-day limit and can’t exercise the powers of the office without Senate confirmation.

    “The Court should dismiss the indictment; at a minimum, it should disqualify Ms. Chattah from this prosecution, as well as attorneys operating under her direction; and the judges of this district should exercise their authority to appoint a proper interim U.S. Attorney,” the Nevada motion read.

    Last month, in the final days before Chattah’s interim appointment ended, more than 100 retired state and federal judges wrote Nevada’s chief federal district judge to urge him not to appoint her once her term expired. The group said Chattah’s history of “racially charged, violence-tinged, and inflammatory public statements” was disqualifying.

    The letter called Chattah’s interim appointment “a troubling pattern by the Trump administration of bypassing the Senate’s constitutional role in confirming U.S. Attorneys.”

    According to the letter, as of July, Trump had submitted formal nominations for only nine of his administration’s 37 interim appointees.

    “If this pattern persists, by late fall, more than one-third of the 93 U.S. Attorneys will have evaded Senate review this year alone,” the letter read. “Yet, the constitutional role of the Senate is vital regarding the appointment of U.S. Attorneys.”

    Each of Trump’s controversial picks has demonstrated fealty to the president. Chattah has long upheld Trump’s lie that he actually won the 2020 election. Habba — who once served as Trump’s personal attorney and has no prosecutorial experience — promised to turn New Jersey “red,” breaking with longstanding norms of federal prosecutors eschewing partisan politics. She has also filed criminal charges against two Democratic lawmakers in the state over scuffles with immigration officers at a Newark detention facility.

    Since taking office, Essayli has doggedly pursued Trump’s agenda, championing hard-line immigration enforcement in Southern California, often aping the president’s language verbatim at news conferences. His tenure has sparked discord in the office, with dozens of prosecutors quitting in the face of his belligerent, scream-first management style.

    A Times investigation last month found that his aggressive pursuit of charges against people protesting immigration enforcement in Southern California has led to weak cases being rejected again and again by grand juries. A number of others have been dismissed.

    Even if Trump had formally nominated him to serve a full term as U.S. attorney, it is unlikely he would have ever appeared on the Senate floor. California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, both Democrats, are both opposed to Essayli’s appointment and could have derailed any nomination by withholding what is known as their “blue slip,” or acknowledgment of support for a nominee.

    The procedural blockades have drawn Trump’s ire, and the president has challenged Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to do away with honoring the blue slip tradition. Grassley has held firm, but Trump has threatened litigation.

    Legal experts called the White House’s move to keep Essayli in office unprecedented last month, and warned it could affect criminal cases.

    “These laws have never been used, as far as I can see, to bypass the Senate confirmation process or the judicial one,” Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor in L.A. who now serves as a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, told The Times last month. “The most serious consequences are if you’re going to end up with indictments that are not valid because they weren’t signed by a lawful U.S. attorney.”

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    Brittny Mejia, James Queally

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  • Judge grants new trial for 3 Memphis ex-officers charged with the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols

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    A judge ordered a new trial Thursday for three former Memphis police officers who were convicted of federal charges in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, after defense lawyers argued that another judge who presided over their trial was biased in his belief that at least one of the men was in a gang.

    U.S. District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman issued the order for a new trial for Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who were found guilty in October 2024 of obstruction of justice through witness tampering.

    The ruling marks the latest setback for prosecutors in a case that shocked the country when videos were released showing officers violently kicking and punching Nichols during a traffic stop. The officers who have been granted a new trial in the federal case were acquitted of state murder charges in May. And last year, federal prosecutors were unable to secure convictions on the most severe counts against Bean and Smith.

    Two other officers charged, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., pleaded guilty before the federal trial.

    Lipman took over the case in June after U.S. District Judge Mark S. Norris, who presided over the case and the trial, recused himself days before the sentencings of the five officers.

    In a statement shared by his judicial office Thursday, Norris said, “Because of the code of judicial conduct, I cannot make a statement on this matter.”

    In her order, Lipman cited a notice filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office saying Norris expressed a theory that at least one of the officers was in a gang.

    The notice discussed an incident in which Norris’ law clerk was shot during a car theft days after the trial ended. The clerk was staying at the home of another law clerk who had previously worked for Norris on the Nichols case, it said.

    The notice also said police investigators believed some juveniles committed the shooting; that Norris wanted those responsible held accountable; and that he “evidenced reasonable frustration with the police investigation.”

    Norris met with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and an FBI agent, who explained why no federal charges would be brought in the clerk’s shooting.

    Norris indicated that he believed at least one of the former officers was in a gang and that it was responsible for the shooting, the notice said. It also said the U.S. Attorney stated that Norris told those present that the clerk “had been seen by one or more of the Defendants during the trial.”

    An assistant U.S. attorney who attended the May 30 meeting also said she remembered that Norris told her he could not meet with police to give a statement because the department was “infiltrated to the top with gang members,” the notice said.

    Bean, Haley, and Smith filed motions seeking a new trial, arguing that Norris was biased and violated their rights to due process by presiding over the case.

    Smith’s lawyer said there was no “suggestion or one hint in the federal discovery process or the federal trial that any defendant or any member of the Memphis Police Department was in any way affiliated with an illegal street gang either through membership or relationship.”

    Haley’s lawyer wrote that “Judge Norris made the gang statements on at least two occasions, demonstrating that it is a firmly held belief, not an off-hand remark.”

    Lipman also unsealed several filings made before and after Norris recused himself. In one of them, federal prosecutors argued that there was no evidence that he “harbored any bias before or during trial, let alone the type of extreme bias that would warrant the extraordinary remedy of a new trial.”

    Lipman found that while a review showed Norris’ decisions throughout the trial were “sound, fair, and grounded firmly in the law,” a new trial is necessary “because the risk of bias here is too high to be constitutionally tolerable.”

    A date for the retrial has not been set. Lipman ordered lawyers to submit positions on what charges they believe need to be tried.

    Smith’s attorney, Martin Zummach, said Lipman “did the right thing.” Bean’s lawyer declined to comment, and Haley’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request. Memphis police also declined to comment.

    Bean, Haley and Smith were found guilty of trying to cover up the beating by failing to say that they or their colleagues punched and kicked Nichols and broke police department rules when they did not include complete and accurate statements about what type of force they used.

    Bean and Smith were acquitted of more serious civil rights charges, however.

    Haley was found guilty of violating Nichols’ civil rights by causing bodily injury and showing deliberate indifference to medical needs and also conspiracy to tamper with witnesses.

    Bean, Haley and Smith were acquitted in May of all state charges, including second-degree murder. Haley is in federal custody, but Bean and Smith are on limited release.

    Martin and Mills pleaded guilty in federal court last year to violating Nichols’ civil rights by causing death and conspiracy to witness tamper. They did not stand trial in federal court with their former colleagues.

    Martin and Mills also avoided a state court trial after reaching agreements to plead guilty.

    The officers were part of a crime suppression team called the Scorpion Unit that was disbanded weeks after Nichols died.

    On Jan. 7, 2023, officers yanked Nichols from his car and then pepper-sprayed and hit the 29-year-old Black man with a Taser. Nichols fled, and when the five officers, who also are Black, caught up with him, they punched, kicked and hit him with a police baton. Nichols called out for his mother during the beating, which took place steps from his home.

    He died three days later.

    Video of the beating captured by a police pole camera also showed the officers milling about, talking and laughing as Nichols struggled with his injuries.

    It prompted intense scrutiny of police in Memphis, nationwide protests and renewed calls for police reform.

    Norris is a former Republican state senator who was confirmed as a U.S. district judge in West Tennessee in October 2018 after being nominated by President Trump.

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  • Healey: Indicted sheriff to ‘step away’ from duties

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    BOSTON — Embattled Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins will step down from his post while he defends himself against federal extortion charges.

    In a joint statement, Gov. Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell said Tompkins has “agreed to step away from his position until the federal case against him is resolved” and tapped Special Sheriff Mark Lawhorne to temporarily fill the post.


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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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