Pontiac — The U.S. Marshals and the Oakland County Fugitive Apprehension Team searched Friday night for the parents of Ethan Crumbley, the 15-year-old Oxford High sophomore charged with first-degree murder in the slayings of four students in Tuesday’s mass shooting.
The search came hours after James and Jennifer Crumbley of Oxford were charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of those four students by Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, who announced the charges at a noon press conference.
At one point Friday, authorities say each parent had stopped responding to their attorneys.
“The action of fleeing and ignoring their attorney certainly adds weight to the
charges,” Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said in a statement. “They cannot run from their part in this tragedy.”
By late Friday night, U.S. Marshals announced a reward of up to $10,000 for information that leads to their arrests.
Several hours after the search began, the couple’s lawyers, Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman, said the husband and wife were returning to the area to be arraigned.
“On Thursday night, we contacted the Oakland County prosecutor to discuss this matter and to advise her that James and Jennifer Crumbley would be turning themselves in to be arraigned,” Smith and Lehman told The Detroit News at mid-afternoon Friday. “Instead of communicating with us, the prosecutor held a press conference to announce charges.
“The Crumbleys left town on the night of the tragic shooting for their own safety. They are returning to the area to be arraigned. They are not fleeing from law enforcement despite recent comments in media reports.”
But by Friday evening, federal marshals said they had “adopted the case of the search for James and Jennifer Crumbley” and would be working in conjunction with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
The Crumbleys’ case is charged in 52-3 District Court in Rochester Hills, and an arraignment was tentatively set for 4 p.m. Friday. But the court closed late Friday afternoon without any sightings of the Crumbleys.
“Their attorney had assured us that if a decision was made to charge them, she would produce them for arrest,” Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe said earlier Friday.
That agreement with attorney Smith was sometime in the morning, McCabe said around 2 p.m. Friday. “Our last conversation with the attorney was that she had been trying to reach them by phone and text, and they were not responding,” he said.
McCabe said Fugitive Apprehension Team officers were out searching for the couple as of mid-afternoon Friday. The Crumbleys own a 2021 black Kia Seltos with the license plate DQG5203 and a 2019 white Kia Soul with the license plate DZH8994, according to the sheriff’s office and Secretary of State records.
McCabe said a conversation with law enforcement was initiated by the parents’ attorney Friday morning when it was announced the prosecutor was holding a press conference to announce whether a decision had been made to charge anyone else in the deaths.
“We didn’t even know they had been charged with anything until we were informed this morning by the media,” McCabe said.
McDonald’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment. But the prosecutor defended how the charges were pursued during a CNN Friday night interview.
“The prosecutor’s office doesn’t arrest people,” McDonald told CNN host Anderson Cooper.
A day and a half before the press conference, McDonald said she asked an assistant prosecutor if police had “eyes” on the parental suspects. She said she was told police knew where the Crumbleys were.
“They will be apprehended, one way or another,” McDonald said.
Late Friday night, McCabe pushed back against the prosecutor’s claims. McCabe said his office was not contacted by an assistant prosecutor about, and at no time did the department indicate to prosecutors that “eyes” on the Crumbleys.
The prosecutor earlier laid out numerous reasons for her decision, including the father’s purchase of the handgun, which was a Christmas gift for their son, and a meeting at the school in which they were shown a graphic drawing made by their son depicting a shooting victim. Each count is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
“I have spoken to (victims’ parents) and indicated what charges were coming,” McDonald said at her Friday noon press conference. “These parents are deep in grief.
“I have tremendous compassion and empathy for parents with children who are struggling, for whatever reason,” she added. “But the facts in this case are so egregious. The notion that a parent could read those words, and also know their son had access to a deadly weapon.”
The Crumbleys’ son, Ethan, has been charged as an adult with one count of terrorism causing death, four counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of assault with intent to murder and 12 counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. He faces up to life in prison without parole if convicted.
Scott Weinberg, a former Macomb County assistant prosecutor and a longtime Oakland County defense attorney, said Friday that “attorneys have just so much power” and cannot compel the presence of a client.
“As an attorney, you’re their adviser,” Weinberg said, “not their keeper.”
“Sometimes, people get scared,” he added. “They begin to wrap up personal affairs, they pay the mortgage, just so they don’t have to do it from jail.”
Arrangements for clients to turn themselves in make sense both for police, who can avoid a manhunt, and for the suspect, Weinberg said. Clients who turn themselves in willingly might get a favorable bond at their arraignment, he said.
“When and if they are picked up now, it’ll be hard to make that argument with a judge,” Weinberg said. “They might not get the reasonable bond they could’ve gotten.”
Weinberg has had clients who did not show up to surrender themselves.
“That happens all the time,” Weinberg said.
William Winters, a 38-year veteran defense attorney in Detroit, said such arrangements are “not generally” made in homicide cases.
“Police usually want a time and location, either at the police station or the courthouse,” when suspects surrender, Winters said.
A defense attorney “can’t” know if their client will honor the arrangement, he said.
“I’d want to be with the defendant in that case,” Winters said, to ensure a safe arrest.
Pontiac — The U.S. Marshals and the Oakland County Fugitive Apprehension Team searched Friday night for the parents of Ethan Crumbley, the 15-year-old Oxford High sophomore charged with first-degree murder in the slayings of four students in Tuesday’s mass shooting.
The search came hours after James and Jennifer Crumbley of Oxford were charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of those four students by Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, who announced the charges at a noon press conference.
At one point Friday, authorities say each parent had stopped responding to their attorneys.
“The action of fleeing and ignoring their attorney certainly adds weight to the
charges,” Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said in a statement. “They cannot run from their part in this tragedy.”
Several hours after the search began, the couple’s lawyers, Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman, said the husband and wife were returning to the area to be arraigned.
“On Thursday night, we contacted the Oakland County prosecutor to discuss this matter and to advise her that James and Jennifer Crumbley would be turning themselves in to be arraigned,” Smith and Lehman told The Detroit News at mid-afternoon Friday. “Instead of communicating with us, the prosecutor held a press conference to announce charges.
“The Crumbleys left town on the night of the tragic shooting for their own safety. They are returning to the area to be arraigned. They are not fleeing from law enforcement despite recent comments in media reports.”
But by Friday evening, federal marshals said they had “adopted the case of the search for James and Jennifer Crumbley” and would be working in conjunction with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
The Crumbleys’ case is charged in 52-3 District Court in Rochester Hills, and an arraignment was tentatively set for 4 p.m. Friday. But the court closed late Friday afternoon without any sightings of the Crumbleys.
“Their attorney had assured us that if a decision was made to charge them, she would produce them for arrest,” Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe said earlier Friday.
That agreement with attorney Smith was sometime in the morning, McCabe said around 2 p.m. Friday. “Our last conversation with the attorney was that she had been trying to reach them by phone and text, and they were not responding,” he said.
McCabe said Fugitive Apprehension Team officers were out searching for the couple as of mid-afternoon Friday. The Crumbleys own a 2021 black Kia Seltos with the license plate DQG5203 and a 2019 white Kia Soul with the license plate DZH8994, according to the sheriff’s office and Secretary of State records.
McCabe said a conversation with law enforcement was initiated by the parents’ attorney Friday morning when it was announced the prosecutor was holding a press conference to announce whether a decision had been made to charge anyone else in the deaths.
“We didn’t even know they had been charged with anything until we were informed this morning by the media,” McCabe said.
McDonald’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment. But the prosecutor defended how the charges were pursued during a CNN Friday night interview.
“The prosecutor’s office doesn’t arrest people,” McDonald told CNN host Anderson Cooper.
A day and a half before the press conference, McDonald said she asked an assistant prosecutor if police had “eyes” on the parental suspects. She said she was told police knew where the Crumbleys were.
“They will be apprehended, one way or another,” McDonald said.
The prosecutor earlier laid out numerous reasons for her decision, including the father’s purchase of the handgun, which was a Christmas gift for their son, and a meeting at the school in which they were shown a graphic drawing made by their son depicting a shooting victim. Each count is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
“I have spoken to (victims’ parents) and indicated what charges were coming,” McDonald said at her Friday noon press conference. “These parents are deep in grief.
“I have tremendous compassion and empathy for parents with children who are struggling, for whatever reason,” she added. “But the facts in this case are so egregious. The notion that a parent could read those words, and also know their son had access to a deadly weapon.”
The Crumbleys’ son, Ethan, has been charged as an adult with one count of terrorism causing death, four counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of assault with intent to murder and 12 counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. He faces up to life in prison without parole if convicted.
Scott Weinberg, a former Macomb County assistant prosecutor and a longtime Oakland County defense attorney, said Friday that “attorneys have just so much power” and cannot compel the presence of a client.
“As an attorney, you’re their adviser,” Weinberg said, “not their keeper.”
“Sometimes, people get scared,” he added. “They begin to wrap up personal affairs, they pay the mortgage, just so they don’t have to do it from jail.”
Arrangements for clients to turn themselves in make sense both for police, who can avoid a manhunt, and for the suspect, Weinberg said. Clients who turn themselves in willingly might get a favorable bond at their arraignment, he said.
“When and if they are picked up now, it’ll be hard to make that argument with a judge,” Weinberg said. “They might not get the reasonable bond they could’ve gotten.”
Weinberg has had clients who did not show up to surrender themselves.
“That happens all the time,” Weinberg said.
William Winters, a 38-year veteran defense attorney in Detroit, said such arrangements are “not generally” made in homicide cases.
“Police usually want a time and location, either at the police station or the courthouse,” when suspects surrender, Winters said.
A defense attorney “can’t” know if their client will honor the arrangement, he said.
“I’d want to be with the defendant in that case,” Winters said, to ensure a safe arrest.
In this courtroom sketch, Ghislaine Maxwell is seated at the defense table while watching the testimony of witnesses during her trial on Tuesday in New York.
Elizabeth Williams/AP
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Elizabeth Williams/AP
In this courtroom sketch, Ghislaine Maxwell is seated at the defense table while watching the testimony of witnesses during her trial on Tuesday in New York.
Elizabeth Williams/AP
The first witnesses in the trial of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell took the stand this week in a Manhattan federal courtroom.
Maxwell, 59, is accused of recruiting girls and even participating in sexual abuse by financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died while in custody in 2019. She’s charged with several felony counts, including the trafficking of minors.
It’s a case that’s caught global attention, in part because of the powerful and famous men who have been linked to Epstein.
The high-profile trial has been swarming with media and curious onlookers. It has also attracted plenty of opportunists in and outside the courtroom, with people using the moment to rail against Covid-19 vaccines, brag about their YouTube following or decry “Satanic courts.”
The first accuser takes the witness stand
Both parties have been tight-lipped about the witness list. Four accusers, all of whom are now adults, are expected to testify during what’s thought will be a 6-week long trial. The first woman, an actress who went by the pseudonym “Jane,” took the stand on Tuesday.
Jane was emotional as she testified that the abuse by Epstein and Maxwell began when she was 14 years old. She told the court that Epstein and Maxwell first approached her at a summer camp for the arts in Michigan, for which Epstein was a donor. The abuse went on until she was 16, Jane said, and Maxwell was often in the room when it happened. She described feeling terrified and ashamed, and said she has carried that shame throughout her life.
A former boyfriend of Jane’s testified Wednesday using the pseudonym “Matt.” He recalled how when they were dating, Jane told him about a “godfather” who helped her family financially and how she said, “Matt, the money wasn’t f****** free.” He also recounted a fight between Jane and her mother, in which Jane yelled, “How do you think I got the money, mom?”
Epstein’s long-time pilot testified Tuesday that Jane was among the passengers on the financier’s private plane. Larry Visoski also said that other guests included former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, as well as Britain’s Prince Andrew and the late Sen. John Glenn.
Epstein and Maxwell’s most high-profile accuser, Virginia Giuffre, is not expected to take the stand. Giuffre has said she was 17 when Epstein and Maxwell started flying her around the world for sex with politicians, royals and billionaires. In a May 2016 deposition, she said Maxwell ordered her to have sex with Prince Andrew and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, among others. Andrew has publicly denied the accusations, and a spokesperson for Richardson told NPR that “the charges are completely false.”
A case of “memory, manipulation and money”
In opening statements, Maxwell’s lawyer, Bobbi Sternheim, said that this case is about “memory, manipulation and money.” And the defense has grilled witnesses during cross-examination about their ability to accurately remember events that happened some 20 years ago.
Maxwell’s team has also questioned why the accusers waited to come forward. During Jane’s cross-examination, the defense confronted Jane about having staying silent for so many years, only to hire a personal injury lawyer right as charges against Epstein and Maxwell were being made public.
Jane responded that the delay stems from the victim-shaming that is still very much a part of coming out as a survivor of sexual abuse, adding that it’s also why she has chosen to remain anonymous.
An expert witness for the prosecution, psychologist Lisa Rocchio, testified that survivors open up about their experiences when they feel safe doing so.
Maxwell is a silent presence in the courtroom
Glaringly absent in much during the defense so far: much mention of Maxwell. The bulk of their cross examinations have focused on Epstein.
The financier, 66, was arrested in July 2019 and held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. He was awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking of minors and sex trafficking conspiracy when he was found dead in his cell the following month. His death was ruled a suicide.
Epstein’s presence is everywhere during Maxwell’s trial, despite her pale figure sitting at the end of the defense table. Her team’s strategy so far seems to be to minimize Maxwell’s role in Epstein’s life.
But the prosecution has driven home the point that Maxwell was an integral part of Epstein’s life. On Thursday, a former house manager and chauffeur at Epstein’s mansion in Palm Beach, Fla., took the stand. Juan Alessi testified that he worked at the estate for nearly a dozen years, describing Maxwell as “the lady of the house.” She was with Epstein 95 percent of the time he was there, Alessi noted. She called the shots in the house.
Alessi said he also was tasked with booking many of Epstein’s massages, noting, “It gradually went from one massage a day to three.” During her testimony Jane said she was repeatedly asked to sexually massage Epstein and that Maxwell had instructed her on what Epstein liked.
During cross-examination, the defense asked Alessi if he ever saw signs of anyone being coerced or hurt during these massages. Did anyone ever ask him for help or tell him they were distressed? “No, they never did,” he responded. “But I wish they would have because I would have done something to stop it.”
At least eight U.S. states now have at least 20 cases of the highly mutated omicron Covid-19 variant after Nebraska, Maryland and Pennsylvania all confirmed infections Friday.
Maryland health officials confirmed cases in three residents from the Baltimore Metropolitan Region. One patient was vaccinated and recently traveled to South Africa, and another was unvaccinated and a close contact of that patient, according to a press release from Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.
The third Maryland case is unrelated to the others and involves a vaccinated individual with no recent travel history, the press release said. None of the three individuals are hospitalized.
The patient in Pennsylvania is a man in his 30s from Northwest Philadelphia, according to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. The department is still working to get more information on the case, it said in a press release.
Hours earlier, Nebraska officials confirmed six infections after a traveler returned from Nigeria and apparently infected five members of their household.
The first patient returned from Nigeria on Nov. 23 and became symptomatic on Nov. 24, according to a press release from the Public Health Solutions District Health Department.
Only one of the six people were vaccinated and none have required hospitalization, the department said.
New York officials confirmed five cases late Thursday: one in Suffolk County on Long Island, two in Queens, one in Brooklyn and another in New York City. Minnesota public health officials confirmed the second U.S. case of variant earlier that day in a resident who recently returned from attending a convention in New York City.
President Joe Biden on Thursday tightened pre-departure testing rules for international flights and extended mask mandates on public transportation as part of a broader strategy to curb the spread of the new variant.
However, officials in New York and Hawaii, who reported cases of the variant Thursday, said they believe omicron is already spreading in their communities.
“This is not just due to people who are traveling to Southern Africa or to other parts of the world where Omicron has already been identified,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi told reporters at a press briefing Thursday.
Omicron has more than 30 mutations to the spike protein, which the virus uses to attach to human cells. Some of the mutations are associated with higher transmission and a decrease in antibody protection, according to the WHO.
Health officials in the U.S. and worldwide have worried that the variant may reduce the efficacy of vaccines to some degree.
“The molecular profile of the kinds of mutations that you see [in omicron] would suggest that it might be more transmissible and that it might elude some of the protection of vaccines,” White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci told reporters Wednesday. “But we don’t know that now.”
DENVER — A judge ruled Friday that a man charged with killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket earlier this year is mentally incompetent to stand trial and ordered him to be treated at the state mental hospital to see if he can be made well enough to face prosecution.
Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 22, is accused of opening fire at a busy King Soopers in the college town of Boulder in March, killing a police officer, shoppers and several store employees.
Four doctors have now determined that Alissa is not mentally competent to participate in court proceedings, and he has “deteriorated” over the past couple of months while in jail, District Attorney Michael Dougherty said. Given the consensus, Dougherty requested that Judge Ingrid Bakke send Alissa to the state mental hospital in hopes that medication and treatment will enable him to become competent under the law — able to understand legal proceedings and work with his lawyers to defend himself.
Dougherty did not disclose why the experts determined Alissa is not competent, and the report explaining the evaluation’s finding is not available to the public, only to the lawyers and judge. Alissa’s attorney, Kathryn Herold, said Friday her client has a “serious” mental illness but did not provide details. She also agreed he should be sent to the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo.
The ruling halts virtually all proceedings in the case indefinitely. Alissa is not scheduled to be back in court again until March 15, nearly a year after the shooting, to discuss whether any progress has been made. There is a possibility he could return before then if doctors believe he has become competent, Dougherty said. Prosecutors will get monthly updates from the hospital on his condition.
“I’m 100% confident that the day will come that he’s held fully responsible for what he did on March 22,” Dougherty said after the hearing.
Robert Olds, whose niece Rikki Olds, the supermarket’s front-end manager, was killed in the shooting, said he was frustrated by the latest delay, which puts off the day when his family can really begin to grieve by seeing Alissa put on trial. However, he also tries not to become too upset by the justice system’s slow pace, to avoid being “revictimized” by Alissa, he said.
Still, Olds noted Alissa seemed competent at his last court hearing when he answered the judge’s questions.
“He’s incompetent to stand trial, but on the day he did all of this he was pretty dang competent in his actions and everything else,” Olds said.
An earlier court-ordered evaluation completed Oct. 1 found Alissa was not mentally competent, but prosecutors asked for a second evaluation to be conducted with an expert of their choosing, the latest to find him incompetent. An earlier evaluation by a defense expert also found him to be incompetent, Dougherty said.
While none of those reports are public either, court filings regarding the Oct. 1 evaluation contained some hints of Alissa’s condition.
Alissa was provisionally diagnosed with an unspecified mental health condition that limits his ability to “meaningfully converse with others,” and he gave “superficial responses” to questions about hypothetical legal situations that indicate a “passive approach to his defense” and “potential overreliance on his attorneys,” according to a prosecution motion.
The defense, meanwhile, disputed the prosecution’s earlier claim that Alissa understood the legal process, noting he was fixated on the possibility of the death penalty even though Colorado has abolished it.
Competency issues have also delayed the prosecution of a man accused of killing three people in a 2015 attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs.
Robert Dear was repeatedly found incompetent to proceed in his state case. Federal prosecutors then charged him in 2019, but the competency issue has continued to delay the case in federal court.
Competency is a different legal issue than a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, which hinges on whether someone’s mental health prevented them from knowing right from wrong when a crime was committed.
————
This story has been updated to correct the first name of the defendant to Ahmad and to remove a reference to an Olympic distance runner being killed in the shooting. The runner worked in the store but eventually escaped.
In a statement on Twitter, the department said that officers responded to a report of property discovered at the church on Nov. 10 and were told by church members that a “large amount of money, including cash, checks and money orders” had been found inside a wall during a renovation project.
Burglary and theft investigators responded and an undisclosed amount of money was inventoried, documented and left in the custody of the church since it had been found on Lakewood’s property, the police said.
“Evidence from the recovered checks suggests this November case is connected to a March 9, 2014 theft report of undisclosed amounts of money at the church,” the police said, adding that the investigation was continuing.
In a statement, Lakewood Church confirmed the discovery.
“Recently, while repair work was being done at Lakewood Church, an undisclosed amount of cash and checks were found,” the church said. “Lakewood immediately notified the Houston Police Department and is assisting them with their investigation. Lakewood has no further comment at this time.”
Mr. Osteen is among the country’s best-known televangelists, and his church, which holds services in the former Compaq Center, once home to the Houston Rockets, seats about 16,000 people. Before the pandemic, the church had been drawing an average of about 42,000 people to services every week, according to a church spokesman.
Pontiac — The lawyers for the parents of the Oxford High teenager charged in Tuesday’s school shooting said Friday that James and Jennifer Crumbley are returning to the area to be arraigned on charges of involuntary manslaughter.
The Oakland County Fugitive Apprehension Team was searching Friday for the parents of Ethan Crumbley, the 15-year-old Oxford High sophomore charged with first-degree murder of four students and other criminal charges, after county Undersheriff Mike McCabe said the couple had stopped responding to their attorney.
“On Thursday night, we contacted the Oakland County prosecutor to discuss this matter and to advise her that James and Jennifer Crumbley would be turning themselves in to be arraigned,” lawyers Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman told The Detroit News. “Instead of communicating with us, the prosecutor held a press conference to announce charges.”
“The Crumbleys left town on the night of the tragic shooting for their own safety. They are returning to the area to be arraigned. They are not fleeing from law enforcement despite recent comments in media reports.”
James and Jennifer Crumbley of Oxford were named in criminal warrants Friday, with each being charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of four Oxford High School students who were allegedly slain by their son. They also were named in a noon press conference held by Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald to announce the charges.
Their case is charged in 52-3 District Court in Rochester Hills, and an arraignment was tentatively set for 4 p.m. Friday. But the court closed late Friday afternoon without any sighting of the Crumbleys.
“Their attorney had assured us that if a decision was made to charge them, she would produce them for arrest,” McCabe said Friday.
That agreement with attorney Smith was sometime in the morning, McCabe said around 2 p.m. Friday.
“Our last conversation with the attorney was that she had been trying to reach them by phone and text, and they were not responding,” he said.
McCabe said Fugitive Apprehension Team officers were out searching for the couple as of mid-afternoon Friday. The Crumbleys own a 2021 black Kia Seltos with the license plate DQG5203 and a 2019 white Kia Soul Station Wagon with the license plate DZH8994, according to the sheriff’s office and Secretary of State records.
McCabe said a conversation was initiated by the parents’ attorney Friday morning when it was announced the prosecutor was holding a press conference to announce whether a decision had been made to charge anyone else in the deaths.
“We didn’t even know they had been charged with anything until we were informed this morning by the media,” McCabe said.
McDonald laid out numerous reasons for her decision, including the father’s purchase of the handgun, which was a Christmas gift for their son, and a meeting at the school in which they were shown a graphic drawing made by their son depicting a shooting victim. Each count is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
“I have spoken to (victims’ parents) and indicated what charges were coming,” McDonald said at her Friday noon press conference. “These parents are deep in grief.
“I have tremendous compassion and empathy for parents with children who are struggling, for whatever reason,” she added. “But the facts in this case are so egregious. The notion that a parent could read those words, and also know their son had access to a deadly weapon.”
The Crumbleys’ son, Ethan, has been charged as an adult with one count of terrorism causing death, four counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of assault with intent to murder and 12 counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. He faces up to life in prison without parole if convicted.
Scott Weinberg, a former Macomb County assistant prosecutor and a longtime Oakland County defense attorney, said Friday that “attorneys have just so much power” and cannot compel the presence of a client.
“As an attorney, you’re their adviser,” Weinberg said, “not their keeper.”
“Sometimes, people get scared,” he added. “They begin to wrap up personal affairs, they pay the mortgage, just so they don’t have to do it from jail.”
Arrangements for clients to turn themselves in make sense both for police, who can avoid a manhunt, and for the suspect, Weinberg said. Clients who turn themselves in willingly might get a favorable bond at their arraignment, he said.
“When and if they are picked up now, it’ll be hard to make that argument with a judge,” Weinberg said. “They might not get the reasonable bond they could’ve gotten.”
Weinberg has had his own clients not show up to surrender themselves.
“That happens all the time,” Weinberg said.
William Winters, a 38-year veteran defense attorney in Detroit, said such arrangements are “not generally” made in homicide cases.
Police usually want a time and location, either at the police station or the courthouse,” when suspects surrender, Winters said.
A defense attorney “can’t” know if their client will honor the arrangement, he said.
“I’d want to be with the defendant in that case,” Winters said, to ensure a safe arrest.
NEW YORK, Dec 3 (Reuters) – A green massage table seized from Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach estate was carried into a Manhattan federal courtroom on Friday, where British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is on trial for her role in the sex abuse of underage girls.
Maxwell is accused of recruiting and grooming girls for Epstein to sexually abuse. Many of Epstein’s encounters with teenagers began as massages before escalating, prosecutors say, calling the term massage a “ruse” to get girls to touch Epstein.
Jeffrey Parkinson, a retired police officer who assisted with the 2005 search as part of an investigation into Epstein’s conduct, testified on the fifth day of the trial that he carried the massage table out of the property after the search.
Prosecutor Maurene Comey then directed a detective to bring the table into the Manhattan federal courtroom and display it for the jury. Parkinson told Comey he recognized it.
“It’s from the second floor south bathroom where the shower was,” Parkinson said.
Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of sex trafficking and other crimes. Her attorneys argue she is being scapegoated for Epstein’s alleged crimes since Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail in 2019 at the age of 66 while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges.
President Joe Biden signed a short-term government funding bill on Friday, snuffing out one looming crisis as Congress turns its gaze toward two other big-ticket items.
Biden’s signature prevents a shutdown hours before an end of Friday deadline. The measure — which the House and Senate passed Thursday — will keep the government running through Feb. 18.
With the threat of a disruptive funding lapse quashed, lawmakers will move to the next steps in a daunting December to-do list. The Democratic-led Congress will next try to stave off a potential default on U.S. debt, pass Biden’s $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act and approve an annual defense budget bill.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expects the U.S. will hit its debt ceiling on Dec. 15 if lawmakers do not raise or suspend the limit. Republicans have said they will not vote to hike the U.S. borrowing limit, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has signaled he may not block Democrats from doing so on their own.
The GOP has argued Democrats need to raise the debt ceiling alone as they try to pass their sprawling social spending bill without Republican votes. Yellen has pointed out that Congress would have had to increase the limit regardless of what legislation Democrats passed this year. Raising or suspending the debt ceiling does not authorize new spending.
While Democrats try to defuse the risk of a default, they also aim to push Biden’s top domestic priority through the Senate. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants to pass the Build Back Better Act — which would invest in child care, household tax credits, Medicare, Medicaid and green energy — by Christmas.
He awaits word from the Senate parliamentarian about whether the plan complies with the budget process that will allow Democrats to pass it on their own. Schumer will also need to win over Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who have not yet signed off on the bill.
The House passed its version of the plan last month. The Senate will likely make changes, meaning the House would have to vote a second time.
The flurry of activity in the Senate does not stop with the sprawling social-spending plan. The chamber is also trying to pass the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which sets spending levels for defense programs.
The legislation has hit a wall in the Senate amid an impasse over a package of amendments to it.
Meanwhile, Biden’s signature on the spending bill only delays the threat of a shutdown. Democrats will try to craft full-year appropriations bills that can pass both chambers of Congress before funding runs out on Feb. 18.
Still, Republicans have preferred longer continuing resolutions, which lock in Trump-era funding levels tailored more to GOP priorities.
After Mr. Giri was attacked, the police said, his assailant traveled south and stabbed a tourist from Italy who is expected to survive.
The man, who is 27 and was spending his first day in New York, was struck in his torso near the northwest entrance to Central Park, several blocks away from the initial stabbing.
The separate attacks, which the police said they believed were both unprovoked, rattled those in the neighborhood.
As students and staff members entered the building on campus where Mr. Giri worked, and walked through other nearby areas, some said they had not yet heard of the attack.
But Jacob Solomon, a first-year Ph.D. student at Columbia, said he learned of Mr. Giri’s death as soon as he woke up on Friday. He said there was a sense of helplessness among some students, who feared falling victim to a similar random attack.
“It was just an unprovoked stabbing which is, I think, even more unsettling,” Mr. Solomon, 23, said.
Another student, Haswanth Venkatavijayan, said that he lives across the street from where Mr. Giri was stabbed and had walked there about a half-hour before it took place.
A blizzard warning has been issued for Hawaii, with at least 12 inches of snow forecast this weekend.
The warning is in effect for the Big Island summits from 6 p.m. Friday through 6 a.m. Sunday local time.
In addition to blizzard conditions, wind gusts over 100 mph are also expected, according to the alert issued by National Weather Service Honolulu.
“Travel could be very difficult to impossible,” the alert said. “Blowing snow will significantly reduce visibility at times, with periods of zero visibility.”
“The strong winds will likely cause significant drifting of snow,” it added.
A blizzard warning for tropical Hawaii may come as a surprise, but snow is not uncommon; the summits of the Big Island’s Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa volcanoes reach nearly 14,000 feet in elevation.
A flood watch has been also issued for all Hawaiian islands through Monday afternoon, as a prolonged period of heavy rainfall is anticipated over the weekend.
“Flash flooding caused by excessive rainfall continues to be possible,” the alert said.
“Landslides may also occur in areas with steep terrain,” it warned.
The “very active weather” in Hawaii is due to what’s known as the kona low, a seasonal cyclone that pulls moisture from the south, according to Weather Channel meteorologist Ari Sarsalari.
“The coverage of the precipitation is going to get a little more intense into the weekend,” Sarsalari said in a video update Friday. “This is going to be a lot of rain, so be prepared for some flooding issues.”
The slow-moving kona low is expected to bring the “greatest potential for heavy rain” over Maui and the Big Island, NWS Honolulu said.
Elsewhere in the United States, a storm system is expected to sweep from the northern Rockies to northern Great Lakes, bringing a blast of snow and gusty winds later this weekend. Winter storm watches and warnings have been issued from Montana to northern Wisconsin, where more than a half a foot of snow is possible this weekend.
Strong, gusty winds will also impact parts of the northern Rockies later Saturday into Saturday night. High wind alerts are in effect from Great Falls, Montana, to Cheyenne, Wyoming.
ABC News’ Dan Peck and Max Golembo contributed to this report.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Thursday proposed reestablishing the Florida State Guard, a civilian military force initially created during World War II, that would be under his command.
What he’s saying: DeSantis said this civilian force would “not be encumbered by the federal government,” adding that it would allow him “the flexibility and the ability needed to respond to events in our state in the most effective way possible.”
“Reestablishing the Florida State Guard will allow civilians from all over the state to be trained in the best emergency response techniques and have the ability to mobilize very, very quickly,” DeSantis said.
The big picture: Florida would become the 23rd state to have a state guard, alongside California, Texas and New York, according to the governor’s office. The forces are mainly deployed to respond during disasters.
Florida law also allows DeSantis to deploy a military force “to assist the civil authorities in maintaining law and order,” including during protests.
DeSantis said the force would be comprised of 200 volunteer members. His budget proposal includes $3.5 million that would be used to train and equip civilians.
The Florida State Guard was initially created to fill in for national guard members who were deployed during World War II. It was dissolved in 1947, per CNN.
The other side: Democrats oppose the idea. Gubernatorial challenger, Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.) tweeted that no governor “should have his own handpicked secret police.”
State Sen. Annette Taddeo (D), who is running for governor, called DeSantis a “[w]annabe dictator trying to make his move for his own vigilante militia.”
Between the lines: DeSantis, who is up for re-election next year, is considered a possible contender for the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
The Omicron variant has now been detected in at least five states, after multiple states announced their first cases of the strain on Thursday night. At least 10 total cases have now been reported in the U.S., as local leaders are warning that the variant is now spreading within some communities.
New York, California, Hawaii, Minnesota and Colorado have now reported cases.
News of the cases comes just one day after California health authorities and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the country’s first case of the variant in a traveler who had returned to San Francisco from South Africa. Authorities in Colorado and Los Angeles have also announced detecting cases of Omicron in travelers returning from Africa.
In attempt to curb the spread of new Omicron cases, President Biden said Thursday he planned to tighten testing rules for international flights as part of a new strategy to curb the virus. All passengers, regardless of vaccination status, will have to take a COVID-19 test within just one day before departure starting on Monday.
But officials in New York and Hawaii, who also reported Omicron cases on Thursday, say they believe the Omicron is already spreading in their communities.
“This is not just due to people who are traveling to Southern Africa or to other parts of the world where Omicron has already been identified. So that’s the most important sort of epidemiological takeaway that we want to convey,” Dr. Dave Chokshi, New York City’s top health official, told reporters on Thursday.
What we know about the latest cases
Hawaii announced Thursday that it had identified its first case of the Omicron variant, in a resident experiencing “mild to moderate” symptoms who appears to be the country’s first reported case in an unvaccinated adult. The person had previously survived a case of COVID-19 over a year ago, officials said, and had no travel history outside of the island.
New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul said Thursday that the state had confirmed five cases of the variant there, just hours after Minnesota health officials announced they had identified their first case in a resident who had traveled to New York City in November for a convention that drew thousands of attendees.
One of the New York’s five cases is in a 67-year-old woman with “mild symptoms” who had traveled to South Africa and has received at least one dose of vaccine, New York Governor Kathy Hochul told reporters on Thursday. She returned to the United States on November 25 and tested positive on November 30. New York officials said they still had limited information about the state’s other four cases, disclosing only the regions where they lived in the city.
Authorities in New York do not believe the five new cases identified Thursday are linked to the Anime NYC 2021 convention attended by Minnesota’s first known Omicron case. Contact tracing has only recently begun for the 53,000 attendees who may have been exposed to the variant there, after organizers of the convention said they were cooperating with New York’s investigation.
“All attendees should receive an email or call from the NYC Test and Trace Corps or their local health departments with further information and recommended next steps. You are strongly advised to get tested,” the Anime NYC 2021 organizers said in a Twitter post.
Preparing for more cases
Cases of the Omicron variant have been reported in at least 27 countries, European health officials warned on Thursday. Not all cases in Europe have been linked to recent travel abroad, suggesting community spread of the variant there as well.
The majority of cases caused by Omicron outside Africa have been mild so far, though health officials have warned that healthy, young, vaccinated travelers are at lower risk of severe disease than the general population.
Experts have also warned that Omicron’s significant number of mutations could erode the protection offered by antibodies, especially those from surviving a previous infection. Preliminary results released as a preprint from South Africa, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, suggest a heightened risk of reinfection from the new variant of concern.
Hochul said New York state was not planning new shutdowns or rules to curb the variant, but was urging residents to get vaccinated, wear masks, and avoid large gatherings.
“The best thing that everyone can do is realize we’re not defenseless against this variant at all,” Hochul said.
NO SHUTDOWN — Congress avoided a government shutdown after Senate conservatives dropped their demands to nix President JOE BIDEN’s vaccine mandates in the funding bill — and Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER gave them a way out.
All 100 senators agreed late Thursday night to quickly proceed to a bill funding the government through Feb. 18. The breakthrough came after Schumer gave Republicans a vote (with a simple majority threshold) to defund federal vaccination mandates. He did so only because there were two Republicans absent, meaning that even if Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) sided with Republicans, the amendment would be defeated. (And fail it did, 48-50.)
Conservatives will argue they got something out of this drama: a vote on their issue. In reality, it was a face-saving measure. The far-right started out demanding that Congress effectively scuttle the mandates, then reduced their ask to a mere vote they knew would fail, ensuring smooth passage of a continuing resolution a full 30 hours before the shutdown deadline.
Another reality: Their shutdown threat was never going to give them what they wanted. Schumer was all too willing to embrace the showdown over vaccines amid the threat of the Omicron Covid-19 variant. Plus, fellow Republicans blasted their demand as irresponsible and pointless.
One thing the right did get out of it was attention. Their protest was front and center for days and will be again next week when Sen. MIKE BRAUN (R-Ind.) forces another vote on the issue. They also demonstrated to other members how to leverage year-end deadlines for votes on their pet issues — a precedent Schumer warned against before he acceded to their ask.
THE STEP BACK: Despite Thursday night’s movement on the funding bill, it’s been a week from hell for Schumer, who has multiple crises on his hands. The National Defense Authorization Act is still stalled amid GOP opposition, though it appears Democrats are discussing a possible workaround that could break the impasse in the coming days.
There’s been some talk by Democrats about adding a debt ceiling increase onto the NDAA, which Republicans broadly support. But House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY panned that idea, and Senate Republicans seem unlikely to go along with it.
December was always going to be Schumer’s Pamchenko, the near-impossible twist-throw in couples skating as depicted in the 1992 film “The Cutting Edge”(which one of us owns and shamelessly watches at least once a year). With the GOP disrupting his strategy at every turn, he’s going to need flawless execution to pull off the legislative equivalent.
So last week, nearly 10 months after the first snub, Trump finally granted her a visit to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring. “He doesn’t see the point in making enemies,” a source close to Trump said, adding that the former president is still skeptical of Haley because of her back-and-forth statements about him. “He likes teasing people,” another aide said.
Meanwhile, Trump has been complimentary of MEHMET OZ, telling confidantes that he believes the TV doc has a chance in the Pennsylvania Senate GOP primary — mainly because he’s a lot like him. Trump “likes the fact that [Oz is] in the mainstream of America and that he had a ton of face time with voters, similar to ‘The Apprentice,’ that he’s omnipresent in people’s houses through their television,” the source close to Trump said. Trump endorsed SEAN PARNELL in the primary before he dropped out after losing a messy custody battle with his wife.
Oz may have some serious competition for Trump’s nod in the Pennsylvania contest. A source close to DAVE MCCORMICK, the hedge-fund billionaire and husband of former Trump White House senior official DINA POWELL MCCORMICK, said “the Oz candidacy has not impacted him at all, other than to realize that he’s getting more encouragement to jump in sooner rather than later.” WSJ reported that McCormick met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago last week, also seeking his blessing if he decides to jump in the race.
BILL DE BLASIO has been running a very under-the-radar effortto build a campaign ahead of officially entering the race against New York Gov. KATHY HOCHUL. Rather than launching a traditional campaign, the outgoing NYC mayor started an advocacy effort focused on promoting his education reform agenda.
De Blasio has brought on some heavy hitters to the effort who will likely join his campaign, including his former senior adviser PETER RAGONE and ANNA GREENBERG, the pollster for his mayoral campaign.He’s also brought on Sen. BERNIE SANDERS’ (I-Vt.) digital lead, TIM TAGARIS, and the Bearstar Strategies team that ran California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM’s anti-recall campaign, including ACE SMITH, SEAN CLEGG and JUAN RODRIGUEZ.
BEHIND THE BRICK-AND-WROUGHT-IRON CURTAIN — Steps away from the Capitol grounds, the idyllic Capitol Hill neighborhood serves as more than a haven for D.C. residents: It’s a home for serious lobbyists who have abandoned K Street. Hailey Fuchs and Tara peek beyond the townhouse doors with lobbyists SCOTT ECKART of Emergent Strategies and BRIAN BELL of the Allied Pilots Association.Listen and subscribe to Playbook Deep Dive
BIDEN’S FRIDAY:
— 9:30 a.m.: The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief.
— 10:15 a.m.: Biden will deliver remarks on the November jobs report.
— 12:15 p.m.: Biden and VP KAMALA HARRIS will have lunch.
— 5:30 p.m.: Biden will depart the White House en route to Camp David.
The White House Covid-19 response team and public health officials will brief at 11 a.m. Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at 1:30 p.m.
THE HOUSE is out. McCarthywill hold his weekly press conference at 11:30 a.m.
THE SENATE is out.
PLAYBOOK READS
CONGRESS
DON YOUNG TO TRUMP: ‘JUST SHUT UP’ — WaPo’s Paul Kane has a fabulous profile of one Republican who isn’t afraid of Trump: Rep. DON YOUNG (R-Alaska). In an interview about a possible Trump-backed primary challenge following his vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, Young basically told Trump to bring it. He even whipped out his long, infamous knife — the one he once held to JOHN BOEHNER’s throat — and talked openly about how he uses his weapon. As for Trump, he had some advice for him: “I think his policy is just so good,” Young said. “Just shut up — that’s all he has to do. He’s not going to. I know that.” The full write-up here
DON’T PROVIDE A TARGET — Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL “has told colleagues and donors Senate Republicans won’t release a legislative agenda before next year’s midterms,” Axios’ Jonathan Swan and Alayna Treene report. “Every midterm cycle, there are Republican donors and operatives who argue the party should release a positive, pro-active governing outline around which candidates can rally. McConnell adamantly rejects this idea, preferring to skewer Democrats for their perceived failures.”
THE WHITE HOUSE
SAME PLAYBOOK — As the Biden administration grapples with the Omicron variant, Adam Cancryn and Jonathan Lemire write that its plan of attack so far is expanding current regulations — and not embracing further-reaching initiatives: “Even as the president promised that his new approach ‘pulls no punches in the fight against Covid-19,’ his administration is stopping short of the more aggressive measures that health experts believe would more quickly rein in the pandemic — like vaccine mandates for domestic travel, more rigorous public health restrictions and enforced quarantines — wary of further inflaming GOP opposition and demoralizing an exhausted public.”
FRIENDS AFTER ALL — Harrisand Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG jointly visited North Carolina on Thursday “as Washington chatter has heated up over the possibility that Buttigieg could be positioned as the future standard-bearer of the Democratic Party instead of the vice president, should Biden not run for reelection in 2024,” CNN’s Jasmine Wright reports. “The notion has ignited reports of a shadow rivalry between the pair that hung over their joint trip to North Carolina to tout the newly passed infrastructure law and its effect on the nation’s transit.”
ALL POLITICS
THE SENATE GOP’S UNLIKELY EMBRACE, PART I — From Wrightsville, Ga., Michael Kruse has a big new feature on HERSCHEL WALKERand his lifelong reluctance to speak out on racial issues. Going back to when he was just 18, his silence on politics and race has left a bad taste in the mouths of some Black Georgians. Only in the past few years has he started to speak out, often to downplay racial divides. “Walker throughout and again and again made the same essential decision he had made back in the tempestuous spring of his senior year of high school. When it came to controversial social and political topics? He steered clear,” Michael writes. “Then came Trump.”
THE SENATE GOP’S UNLIKELY EMBRACE, PART II — With the Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary wide open, the party isn’t writing off Dr. Ozas their potential swing-state savior, Marianne LeVine and Burgess Everett report. Though most senators don’t know him well — and Oz has plenty of controversial baggage — they like his name recognition, deep pockets and early moves to line up veteran party operatives for his campaign.
QUIETLY BUCKING TRUMP — Five Republican senators — MIKE CRAPO (Idaho), SHELLY MOORE CAPITO (W.Va.), JONI ERNST (Iowa), JIM INHOFE (Okla.) and DEB FISCHER (Neb.) — have donated to KATIE BRITT’s campaign for Alabama’s Senate seat from their leadership PACs, though Trump has endorsed Britt’s opponent, Natalie Allison reports. “None of them have done so yet for GOP Rep. MO BROOKS, who Trump endorsed in April to replace the retiring Sen. RICHARD SHELBY (R-Ala.).”
CUOMO LATEST — The DOJ launched a probe into the sexual harrassment claims against former New York Gov. ANDREW CUOMO,CNBC’s Dan Mangan reports. “Cuomo, who has denied wrongdoing, already was known to be facing criminal investigations by various New York state district attorneys for his conduct toward women. … The federal investigation of Cuomo by the DOJ was disclosed in a legal services contract that the office of current Gov. Kathy Hochul signed with the law firm Wilkie, Farr & Gallagher.”
JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH
ABOUT THAT BOOK — Some members of the House select committee on Jan. 6 said former Trump chief of staff MARK MEADOWS “may have damaged his case for maintaining the secrecy of his contacts with former Trump on Jan. 6 by divulging selected details in his book, due to publish Tuesday,” Kyle Cheney and Nicholas Wu report.
— The committee also announced Thursday that it’s interviewed about 250 people. AP’s Mary Clare Jalonick writes that that’s “a staggering pace over just five months as lawmakers work to compile the most comprehensive account yet of the violent attack and plan to hold public hearings next year.”
TV TONIGHT — PBS’ “Washington Week”: Eugene Daniels, Sahil Kapur and Jonathan Martin.
SUNDAY SO FAR …
“Fox News Sunday”: Gen. David Thompson. Guest panel: Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Michèle Flournoy. Sunday panel: Karl Rove and Jennifer Griffin. Power Player: John Heubusch.
“The Sunday Show”: Cecile Richards … Nancy Northup … Ruth Marcus … Daniel Goldman … San Francisco Mayor London Breed.
“This Week”: Stephen Hodge. Panel: Rick Klein, Mary Bruce, Rachel Scott and Vivian Salama.
“Face the Nation”: Maria Van Kerkhove … Francis deSouza … Scott Gottlieb.
“Full Court Press”: Gordon Brown … Michael Osterholm.
“Inside Politics”: Panel: Molly Ball, Phil Mattingly, Laura Barrón-López, Lauren Fox and Joan Biskupic.
“Meet the Press”: Panel: Eugene Daniels, Errin Haines, Stephen Hayes and Ashley Parker.
Pope Francisreceived a Hanukkah gift from NYT Rome bureau chief Jason Horowitz: gelt and a dreidel. Horowitz “suggested he play a round with the cardinals.”
Kamala Harris pretended to drive an electric bus while laughingly reciting “the wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round.” Pete Buttigieg looked on.
The DCCC was roundly mocked for tweeting out a graph thanking Joe Biden for gas prices dropping by two cents a gallon. (It would also seem to suggest that the president is responsible for gas prices, which may not be what the White House wants to hear.)
SPOTTED: Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.)and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) at the Bob Dylan concert at the Anthem on Thursday night (h/t Alex Seitz-Wald). They returned to the Senate to vote quickly on passage of the C.R., and “dipped, ostensibly back to the Bob Dylan concert,” reports Caitlin Emma.
OUT AND ABOUT — It was “Emily in Washington” on Wednesday nightwhen French Ambassador Philippe Etienne hosted the cast of the Netflix hit “Emily in Paris” at his residence, including the star Lily Collins, a British actress who plays a bumbling American woman in Paris, and co-stars Ashley Park, William Abadie and Philippine Leroy Beaulieu. While many Americans and French blushed at the over-the-top cliches in the show, Etienne called the series “a love letter to Paris.” Show creator Darren Star (of “Sex and the City” fame) said learning he was being invited back to film season 2 during the pandemic was like Sally Field’s iconic Oscar speech moment, “You like me! You really like me!” Also SPOTTED at the intimate event: Steve Clemons, Liz Allen, John Hudson, Ryan Heath and Zachary Bishop, Heather Podesta, Jonathan Kott, Jonathan Stahler, Kathleen Koch and Chelsea Moser.
— Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) toasted Laphonza Butler, the new president of EMILY’s List, at a party on the patio at the DSCC on Thursday night. Also SPOTTED: Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), Christie Roberts, Jessica Knight-Henry, Mindy Myers, Martha McKenna, Jessica Mackler, Emily Cain, Muthoni Wambu, Sheila O’Connell, Rohini Kosoglu, Lauren Dillon, Karen Finney, Jess Floyd, Karen DeFilippi, Simone Ward, Jen Pihlaja and Celinda Lake.
TRANSITIONS — Brianna Herlihy is now deputy comms director for Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). She previously was director of press advance and spokesperson for DOJ’s antitrust division in the Trump administration. … Kelly O’Donnell is joining the National Confectioners Association as PAC director. She previously was PAC director for the National Association of REALTORS, TriNet and the Farm Credit Council. … Josie Bradley is joining TargetSmart as senior research analyst. She previously worked in field operations and directed political strategy in the Midwest for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. …
… Tamlyn Sheng will be digital content manager at ATHOS. She currently is digital director for Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), and is a Jody Hice alum. … Hana Vizcarra is now senior attorney for national climate issues in Earthjustice’s D.C. office. She most recently was a staff attorney at Harvard Law School’s Environmental and Energy Law Program. … Torey Mack is joining the Children’s Hospital Association as chief quality and solutions officer. She previously was deputy associate administrator for the Bureau of Health Workforce in the Health Resources and Services Administration.
ENGAGED — Shelley Greenspan, a foreign affairs officer at the State Department, and Reuben Smith-Vaughan, head of public policy for Latin America at Amazon, got engaged Friday in North Carolina. The two met while working at Amazon’s public policy office and reconnected on Bumble at the beginning of the pandemic. Reuben biked a gin and tonic to Shelley’s apartment before their first virtual Zoom date. Reuben proposed to Shelley with both their families present on the tennis court, fittingly the site of their first in-person date. Pic… Another pic
WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Chanan Weissman, White House liaison to the American Jewish community, and Elana Weissman, lower school principal at the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community Day School in Baltimore, welcomed Rosie Nessa on Monday.
— Jennifer Non, senior manager of media relations and public affairs at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, and Abraham Biriggwa, project manager at Tyler Technologies, welcomed Micah Jeffrey on Thursday. Pic
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) and Kathy Manning (D-N.C.) … Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson … Robby Mook … National Council on Disability Chair Andrés Gallegos … Tom Oppel … NBC’s Ali Zelenko … Margaret Mulkerrin … WaPo’s Scott Higham … Jesse Lee … Cody Sanders of Plus Communications … Robert Pondiscio … POLITICO’s Bruce Ritchie … Bill Sternberg … CBS’ Miles Doran … Missy Jenkins … Kevin Baron of Defense One … Lance Trover … Bill Tighe of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores … Danielle Bolger … Mike Inacay of Sen. Brian Schatz’s (D-Hawaii) office … The Fulcrum’s David Meyers … Daniel Chao … Mandi Critchfield of the Senate Banking Committee … Meg Hilling … Laura Howard of Sentinel Strategic Advisors … Jamie Carroll … former Reps. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.)
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NEW YORK, Dec 3 (Reuters) – Ghislaine Maxwell’s defense attorneys on Friday questioned a former Jeffrey Epstein employee about when he met a woman who testified earlier this week that the British socialite set her up for abuse by Epstein starting when she was 14 in 1994.
Juan Alessi, who worked full-time at Epstein’s Palm Beach estate from 1991 to 2002, said at Maxwell’s sex abuse trial in Manhattan federal court that he saw two girls who appeared underage spend time with Epstein and Maxwell. He said one of those girls was Jane, the woman who testified this week.
Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of sex trafficking and other crimes. Prosecutors accuse Maxwell of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein to abuse, and say she participated in some of the encounters.
Alessi said on Thursday he met Jane in 1994, the same year Jane said she met Epstein and Maxwell and was first abused. He said Jane appeared to be 14 or 15 when he first saw her at the Florida property.
But upon cross-examinaton by the British socialite’s attorney Jeffrey Pagliuca during the fifth day of testimony on Friday, Alessi said he could not recall precisely which year he met her in. Pagliuca then asked whether Alessi met Jane in 1998 or 2000 – when she could have been of legal age to consent.
“No, that’s not true,” Alessi said.
Pagliuca then referred to a 2016 deposition Alessi gave to a lawyer for Virginia Giuffre, who accuses Maxwell and Epstein of trafficking her for sex while she was a teenager, in which Alessi said he recalled picking her up and driving her to Epstein’s house in 1998 or 1999.
Alessi replied that he could have been confusing Jane and Giuffre in the deposition. He said on Thursday that he recalled meeting Giuffre, formerly known as Virginia Roberts, in approximately 2001.
Alessi’s account came after Jane, now in her early 40s, testified that she had regular sexual contact with Epstein while she was a teenager and that Maxwell took part in some encounters.
Jane is the first of four Maxwell accusers expected to testify in the trial. Maxwell’s attorneys questioned Jane about discrepancies between her testimony and earlier statements she made during interviews with law enforcement agents, and have said the women’s memories have become distorted over time.
Maxwell’s attorneys also argue she is being scapegoated for Epstein’s alleged crimes since the globetrotting investor is no longer alive.
Epstein, a globetrotting financier, killed himself in a Manhattan jail in 2019 at the age of 66 while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges.
Five Omicron-variant cases have been found in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday.
One Omicron case has been found in Los Angeles.
The Omicron variant has now been found in five US states.
Cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant have been detected in New York and Los Angeles, officials in both areas said on Thursday.
All five of the cases in New York were found in the New York City metropolitan area. Officials disclosed the locations of the cases:
One case in Suffolk County, Long Island, where a 67-year-old woman “with some vaccination history” who recently had been to South Africa contracted the virus variant.
Two cases in Queens.
One case in Brooklyn.
One “suspected traveler case” of someone who was in “one of the five boroughs.”
Officials said it was not known if four of the people were vaccinated.
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said at a briefing on Thursday that the cases were “no cause for alarm” but that health officials “are taking this extremely seriously from the public-health perspective” and “not complacent,” Politico reported.
Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City said at the briefing that people should assume the variant was spreading in New York and should take measures like getting vaccinated and wearing masks.
Los Angeles Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, meanwhile, said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times on Thursday that one case of the variant had been found in an LA resident.
County officials told the LA Times that the infection was found in a fully vaccinated person who had flown to South Africa via London on November 22.
The variant’s mutations increase the chances that it will be more transmissible, escape the immune protection from vaccines or previous infection, or cause symptoms that are different from other variants. But it’s not yet clear if Omicron does any of these things.
As of Friday, the variant had been found in at least 28 countries.
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