Category: US

FBI chief Christopher Wray has criticized “deplorable” and “dangerous” threats circulating online against federal agents and the Justice Department after the agency’s raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.

“I’m always concerned about threats to law enforcement,” Mr Wray said. “Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who you’re upset with.”

As the fallout from the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago continues with rumors of a Trumpworld informant tipping off authorities, Mr Trump yesterday pleaded the fifth amendment in his sworn deposition to the long-running New York State probe into his real estate dealings.

Mr Trump has repeatedly condemned the investigation as a politically motivated “witch hunt”. His children Ivanka and Donald Jr both recently gave depositions in the civil investigation after months fighting against subpoenas for their testimony.

Meanwhile, reports have revealed that before its raid on Monday, the FBI had already obtained surveillance tapes from Mar-a-Lago via a subpoena to the Trump Organization. The former president has claimed without providing proof that agents may have planted evidence at his home.

A man suspected of shooting his brother and an Arcadia police officer was taken into custody after an hours-long standoff Wednesday night.

The man, who is in his 40s, was arrested around 10:40 pm, said Deputy Miguel Meza, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson.

A source told The Times the officer was stable and was undergoing surgery at Huntington Memorial Hospital for a gunshot wound to the side of his face affecting his jaw area.

The incident in the 5200 block of Greenfield Avenue began around 5:45 pm when Arcadia police were called to a family disturbance involving a person armed with a gun, Meza said.

At some point during the incident, the suspect shot his brother and the officer, Meza said. A woman not related to the suspect was injured by shrapnel.

The suspect’s brother and the woman were also in stable condition, Meza said.

LA County deputies were first called at 6:02 pm to assist Arcadia police officers who were taking fire, said Deputy Brenda Serna, a Sheriff’s Department spokesperson.

Arcadia police confirmed that shots had been fired in the area, according to a Nixle alert issued just after 6:50 pm, advising residents not to leave their homes unless contacted by police.

A law enforcement source told The Times that a gunman reportedly had people pinned down on Greenfield.

The residential street in southern Arcadia, just off the commercial stretch of Live Oak Avenue, was crowded with at least two black SWAT trucks and dozens of police cruisers as a helicopter circled overhead during the standoff.

Officers stood about in plain clothes and bulletproof vests as the incident dragged on.

Residents, returning from work, waited in growing numbers behind the police tape.

Tyler Nitz was leaving his job at a bank down the street when he saw police cars stream by. He turned on a scanner app on his phone and heard, “Shots fired,” “He’s shooting from the door and the window,” and “Officer down.”

Nitz followed the police cars to Greenfield, where he saw SWAT teams and armored vehicles surround a house. He did not hear any shooting.

He told The Times that a man had rushed toward the house in which the suspect appeared to be barricaded, yelling, “That’s my boy!”

Sal Zaragoza was driving on Live Oak Avenue when he saw Greenfield flooded with police vehicles. Police from agencies as far as La Verne, as well as what appeared to be a team of US marshals, were swarming a house, he said.

Additional information about the incident, including the suspect’s identity, was not available Wednesday night.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Neighbors for a Better San Francisco is barred by federal tax law from participating in political campaigns. But one of the group’s board members is William Oberndorf, who is also on the board of a similarly named group called Neighbors for a Better San Francisco Advocacy, a 501(c)(4) that is allowed to get involved in campaigns and spent millions trying to get Boudin removed from office.

Jenkins’ disclosure provoked controversy because she said she worked on the Boudin recall in a volunteer capacity. Here’s what we know about the revelation’s impact and what could come next:

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a state permit to construct the first freshwater, offshore wind turbine facility in North America was appropriately granted for the Icebreaker project in Lake Erie.

The Icebreaker project proposes to build six turbines eight to 10 miles off the Lake Erie coast, near Cleveland. The demonstration project would generate 20.7 megawatts of electricity, with a potential to expand if successful.

At issue before the court was whether the Ohio Power Siting Board followed the law in granting the permit.

Ohio Justice Jennifer Brunner wrote the majority opinion. Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor and Justices Patrick F. Fischer, R. Patrick DeWine, Michael P. Donnelly and Melody Stewart joined her opinion of her.

Justice Sharon Kennedy dissented.

Brunner, a Democrat, and Kennedy, a Republican, are running for Ohio Supreme Court chief justice in this November’s election. O’Connor is retiring due to age limits in the judiciary.

With the Ohio Supreme Court approval, the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp., which is called LEEDCo and is developing the project, has additional security to market the power to potential customers, the company said in a statement Wednesday, shortly after the Supreme Court decision was released.

A third of the power is under contract with the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. LEEDCo can now focus on marketing the remaining two-thirds.

There isn’t yet a date for when construction will start, as LEEDCo was waiting in court, said Will Friedman, president and CEO of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority.

“LEEDCo will need some time to regroup, market the power and determine next steps. We could not advance the project in any way while the Supreme Court case was pending,” he said. “Even though we prevailed today, it’s been a detrimental delay for over a year. With certainty received from the Court, we can now focus on marketing the remaining two-thirds of the electricity it will produce.”

Icebreaker is projected to have a $253 million local economic impact and create more than 500 jobs, according to the company.

The case ended up before the court after two Bratenahl residents opposed the project.

One described herself as a birdwatcher who learned to swim in Lake Erie before she could walk. She was concerned about the killing of birds and bats by the turbine blades. The other resident enjoys birding, boating and swimming in Lake Erie. They argued that the state hasn’t received enough data on whether the project poses significant harm to birds and bats.

At one point, Murray Energy Corp., a coal company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2019 and sold off its assets to American Consolidated Natural Resources Inc., was paying for expert testimony and the Bratenahl residents’ legal fees in the case.

But Brunner wrote that the board collected the necessary research to allow Icebreaker to begin construction, while also requiring more data before the company can operate the turbines.

“Rather than requiring Icebreaker to resolve those matters before issuing the certificate, the board determined that the conditions on its grant of the application were sufficient to protect birds and bats and to ensure that the facility represented the minimum adverse environmental impact,” Brunner wrote.

Kennedy, on the other hand, wrote that the board held the project to a lesser degree of scrutiny because it is a first-of-its-kind demonstration project. State law does not make exceptions for demonstration projects, and the board failed to gather the required data regarding the environmental impacts, including its impact on aquatic and avian wildlife, before issuing the certificate, she stated. If more relaxed standards should apply to demonstration projects, that decision must be made by the legislature, she wrote.

The Siting Board made over 30 conditions for Icebreaker to follow, including monitoring wildlife activity before and after construction from April 1 through Nov. 15 each year. Before construction, radar must be installed on a barge. The board also is requiring collision mitigation technology to be installed before turbine operations can begin.

The Supreme Court, in the majority decision, noted the board cited many scientific studies about birds and bats flying near and off the shores of Lake Erie, including studies of bird fatalities at 42 land-based wind farms in the Great Lakes region and bat fatalities at 55 land-based wind farms. The board also cited evidence that the location of the turbines would not likely impact the habitat of nesting birds and roosting bats because of its distance from the shoreline.

Brunner wrote that when appealing the board’s decision, the Bratenahl residents had to demonstrate the board’s decision was “so clearly unsupported by the record as to show misapprehension, mistake or willful disregard of duty.”

She wrote that the residents did not provide enough evidence to justify overturning the board’s decision.

Brunner wrote that Icebreaker, by being a demonstration project, is not exempt from information requirements about the danger to wildlife. However, she stated the lack of precise knowledge should not prevent the board from issuing the certificate if conditions are added that require the company to continue to study and report its environmental impacts.

“We have upheld the board’s practice of imposing conditions on wind-farm construction certificates,” the opinion stated, referring to the court’s 2012 opinion in the Buckeye Wind LLC project in Champaign County.

In the statement released by Icebreaker developer LEEDCo, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb says renewables such as Icebreaker Wind bring “a great opportunity to grow the wind industry locally as well as provide access to renewable energy for businesses and residents of Cleveland and the region. This project has always been a win-win for our economy and for our environment. Let’s position ourselves to be a leader, not a follower, to other states.”

Friedman, of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, said by one estimate, there will be $70 billion in the offshore wind business pipeline in the US by 2030.

“Other states are nipping at our heels to attract offshore wind and its economic benefits,” Friedman said. “We don’t want to squander this opportunity and let 15 years of work slip away to other states eager to capture market share.”

Ohio has no choice but to embrace the energy transition to meet the state’s power needs, said LEEDCo Board Chairman Ronn Richard, who is also CEO of the Cleveland Foundation, noting Intel’s decision to build the world’s largest computer chip factory near Columbus includes a commitment to power 100% of its operations with renewable energy. Other companies in Northeast Ohio and throughout the state have also set ambitious renewable targets, he said.

“This decision will create jobs, attract talent from outside our region and retain the best and brightest minds from right here in Ohio,” Richard said. “It also shows that we’re committed to improving health outcomes for Ohioans by cleaning up the air we breathe and the water we drink. It’s our hope that LEEDCo can now resume selling the remainder of the power and turn this dream into a reality.”

Wednesday’s decision is likely the last legal hurdle for Icebreaker, after years of hearings and appeals with the Siting Board. This included a requirement, since removed, that the operation of the turbine blades be curtailed from dusk to dawn between March 1 to Nov. 1 each year to mitigate the killing of migrating birds and bats. Icebreaker officials celebrated that win, saying the requirement was a poison pill that would make the demonstration project financially unviable.

The Siting Board made many decisions under former Chair Sam Randazzo, who opposed renewable energy in his earlier career as an energy lobbyist, and ultimately resigned from the Siting Board and Public Utilities Commission of Ohio after the FBI searched his Columbus home during its investigation into the alleged $60 million corruption scandal involving FirstEnergy and former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder. Randazzo hasn’t been charged by the feds and he claims he didn’t break any laws in relation to FirstEnergy.

An OnlyFans model who fatally stabbed her boyfriend in Miami was arrested in Hawaii on Wednesday and is expected to be charged with second-degree murder, authorities said.

In a statement, the Hawai’i Police Department said a warrant was issued for the arrest of Courtney Clenney, 26, alleging second-degree murder with a deadly weapon.

Clenney was taken into custody in the killing on April 3 of Christian “Toby” Obumseli while in rehabilitation for substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder, said her lawyer, Frank Prieto, confirming comments first reported by The Miami Herald.

She was being held at the East Hawai’i Detention Center and was expected to make a first appearance in local district court Thursday, the department said. She will eventually be extradited to Florida.

The 11th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s office said it would announce charges Thursday in connection with Obumseli’s slaying.

The Miami Police Department has previously described Obumseli’s death as a domestic violence-related incident that involved a physical altercation and ended with a stabbing.

In a statement, Prieto, who has previously described the couple’s relationship as “clearly toxic,” said he was “completely shocked” at Clenney’s arrest because of “the clear evidence of self-defense in this matter.”

“Obumseli attacked her and choked her that evening,” he said. “Courtney had no choice but to meet force with force.”

A lawyer for Obumseli’s family did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A cousin of Obumseli has previously said the family has “no cause to believe that this was a case of self-defense,” adding: “Toby was raised by a very strong family, with strong morals, strong values. He does not come from that.”

Clenney appeared on OnlyFans under the name Courtney Tailor and has 2 million followers on Instagram.

• A source told NBC News Trump pleaded the Fifth more than 440 times during his Wednesday deposition.
• Trump attorney Ron Fischetti said Trump only answered one question about what his name was.
• Trump in 2018 railed against pleading the Fifth, saying only “the mob” did that.

Former President Donald Trump, during his deposition in New York on Wednesday, ended up pleading the Fifth more than 440 times, per NBC News.

This was according to a source with knowledge of the deposition, who told NBC News how Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment rights hundreds of times.

Additionally, Trump’s lawyer Ron Fischetti told NBC News the only question Trump answered was one where he was asked what his name was.

A spokesperson for the New York Attorney General’s office confirmed to NBC News that Trump had invoked the Fifth, but did not elaborate on how many times he did so.

Trump declined to answer questions during a Wednesday deposition at the office of New York attorney general Tish James. James is investigating whether Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, violated banking, insurance, and tax laws and if it engaged in financial fraud.

The New York Times also spoke to Fischetti, who said that the deposition, which lasted around four hours with breaks in between, involved Trump saying “same answer” over and over again and reiterating his Fifth Amendment plea.

“They asked a lot of questions about valuations and golf clubs and all that stuff,” Fischetti told The Times.

Fischetti also told The Times that Trump had to be talked out of answering questions from the New York Attorney General’s office.

“He absolutely wanted to testify, and it took some very strong persuasion by me and some others to convince him,” Fischetti said.

Trump released a lengthy statement on Wednesday slamming James.

“I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?'” he said in the statement.

“Now I know the answer to that question,” he continued in the statement. “When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice.”

After the deposition, Trump made a post on Truth Social, declaring that he was leaving the Attorney General’s office.

“A very professional meeting. Have a fantastic company with great assets, very little debt, and lots of CASH. Only in America!” Trump wrote.

Trump famously declared in the past that only members of “the mob” would take the Fifth.

“You see the mob takes the Fifth,” he said in April 2018. “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”

Fischetti did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.