assault

Sept. 3 (UPI) — Survivors of convicted sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, flanked by lawmakers and lawyers, spoke out at a press conference on Capital Hill Wednesday.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, called the fight for the Epstein files a “Democrat hoax.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., called on Republicans in the House to support the survivors by signing his discharge petition to force a vote to release all the files. But House GOP leaders are pushing members to avoid the petition and support the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is working for disclosures from the Department of Justice, The Hill reported.

In a closed-door meeting in the Capitol, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called on GOP lawmakers to instead support the efforts of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, led by Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., which is seeking more disclosures on the Epstein case from the DOJ, the Epstein estate, and former law enforcement officials who worked on the case.

Massie said of Comer’s committee, “They’re allowing the DOJ to curate all of the information that the DOJ is giving them.”

“I hope my colleagues are watching this press conference,” Massie said. “Hopefully today we’ll get two more signatures on the discharge petition, that’s all we need.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said she and the others would fight for the victims.

“Today, we are coming forward and we are going to fight like hell for these women, because we have to fight like hell for those that are enduring sexual abuse and are living in a prison of shame,” Greene said.

Trump said in a meeting Wednesday with the president of Poland to a reporter, “So this is a Democrat hoax that never ends. You know, it reminds me a little of the Kennedy situation [assassination], we gave them everything. Over and over again. More and more and more. And nobody’s ever satisfied.”

He said Democrats are trying to distract from his successes as president.

“I know that no matter what you do, it’s going to keep going,” the president said of the focus on the Epstein files.

“I think we’re probably having, according to what I read, even from two people in this room, we’re having the most successful eight months of any president ever,” he said. “And that’s what I want to talk about. That’s what we should be talking about. Not the Epstein hoax.”

Brad Edwards, who represents some of the victims, responded, urging Trump to join the survivors.

“Back in 2009 and several times after that, [Trump] didn’t think that it was a hoax then. In fact, he helped me. He got on the phone, he told me things that were helping our investigation. Our investigation wasn’t looking into him, but he was helping us then,” Edwards said. “So at this point in time, I would hope that he would revert back to what he was saying to get elected, which is, ‘I want transparency.'”

One of Epstein’s survivors, Chauntae Davies, said Epstein was very proud of his friendship with Trump.

“His biggest brag, forever, was that he was very good friends with Donald Trump. He had an 8-by-10 framed picture of him on his desk with the two of them,” Davies said.

Several victims expressed their pain and frustration with the lack of transparency and support at the event.

“Why was he so protected? And why didn’t anyone ever care to stop him?” survivor Haley Robson asked.

She urged lawmakers to “lift the curtain on these files and be transparent.”

Marina Lacerda said she was “one of dozens of girls that I personally know who was forced into Jeffrey mansion … when we were just kids,” CBS News reported.

Lacerda said she was 14 when she met Epstein, after being told she could earn $300 “to give an older guy a massage.”

“It went from a dream job to the worst nightmare,” Lacerda said.

She said she had “no way out … until he finally told me that I was too old.”

Lacerda questioned why Epstein was able to “go on with the abuse,” saying she could have testified earlier on to “help stop him.”

“Our government could have saved so many women, but Jeffrey Epstein was too important and those women didn’t matter,” Lacerda said. “Why? Well we matter now. We are here today, and we are speaking, and we are not going to stop speaking.”

A lawyer for some of the victims, Brittany Henderson, said the women want transparency and protection.

“The women here represent hundreds of other women who we have spoken to, many of whom were trafficked from other countries — from eastern European countries — where women don’t have the rights that we have here, women don’t have the protections that we have here. And those women are terrified that their names will be released in those files.”

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who is working with Massie on the discharge petition, said, “A nation that allows rich and powerful men to traffic and abuse young girls without consequence, is a nation that has lost its moral and spiritual core.”

Khanna said there are “corrupt, special-interest forces” blocking the release of the full files, saying “There is something that is rotten in Washington.”

Survivor Jena-Lisa Jones said, “Together, we can finally make a change.”

“Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, this does not matter,” Jones said. “This is not about sides.”

One survivor, Teresa Helm, spoke out against the interview that Attorney General Todd Blanche conducted with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

“Her voice was elevated way before our voices were elevated here today. And that same calm, manipulative voice that she had, so polite there that day with Todd Blanche, was the same, polite, coercive, manipulative voice that I heard as she was grooming me to then send me off to the home of Jeffrey Epstein, where he would assault me.”

She criticized Blanche’s failure to counter what Maxwell said.

“Does he even have the facts to be able to push back on her? We could sit there and push back. Why didn’t we get to attend that? Why weren’t we there that day? Or why wasn’t even one of us consulted prior to that day in that meeting?” she asked.

“We all work very hard on healing and [Maxwell’s voice] still gets to us after two decades,” she said.

Annie Farmer, a survivor who testified at Maxwell’s trial, said that there are two Americas.

“At a time with record high levels of distrust in our institutions, and a perception that there are two Americas — one for those with power and privilege and one for everyone else, passing this Epstein transparency bill is one important step that can be taken to prove to Americans that the government does not side with sexual perpetrators,” Farmer said.

Anouska De Georgiou, another survivor, said the issue is secrecy.

She called the discharge petition “so essential,” saying it’s “about ending secrecy wherever abuse of power takes root.”

“The only motive for opposing this bill would be to conceal wrongdoing,” she said.

Massie voiced the same concern.

“What’s clear is they’re not redacting just to protect victims; they are redacting to protect reputations,” Massie said. “Some of those people are probably innocent, but some of them are most certainly guilty.”

Sept. 2 (UPI) — Cardi B will not have to pay $24 million in damages after a Los Angeles County jury determined Tuesday that the rapper did not assault a security guard.

The jury’s verdict, reported by multiple outlets, is the end of a saga that began in 2018 when Emani Ellis, the former security guard, claimed she was left with enduring physical and emotional scars after an altercation with the rapper while she was visiting her obstetrician’s office in Beverly Hills.

Ellis sued the rapper, whose legal name is Belcalis Almanzar, claiming she hit her and scratched her face, leaving her with a scar that required plastic surgery, reported local ABC affiliate KABC. Almanzar said she confronted Ellis for filming her entering the office, saying she was trying to conceal that she was pregnant at the time, the station reported.

“I will say it on my deathbed,” Almanzar told reporters after the jury’s verdict. “I did not touch that woman. I did not touch that girl. I didn’t lay my hands on that girl,”

The trial was widely followed on social media, with observers generating memes from key moments that included Almanzar’s use of profanity, colorful testimony and the array of different wigs she wore.

Ellis told jurors she blurted out the rapper’s name after spotting her while making her rounds but never recorded her, reported Rolling Stone.

“She was extremely upset,” Ellis testified. “She put her finger in my face.”

A doctor’s secretary testified that she witnessed Ellis cornering Almanzar, but couldn’t account for the first 40 seconds of the altercation, reported KNBC-TV. Almanzar’s lawyers argued that Ellis was not badly injured because she did not go to the hospital or file a police report, and instead went home and took a nap, the station reported.

After the trial, Almanzar told reporters that she had to miss her kids’ first day of school and had to get up at 5:30 a.m. to prepare for court after working late on her new album Am I the Drama? She said all the wigs shore wore left her forehead “raw, raw, raw.”

Cardi B has prevailed in a civil lawsuit brought against her by a Beverly Hills security guard after two days of testimony from the rapper that was sometimes colorful and drew laughter from jurors.

Emani Ellis sued Cardi B for $24 million, accusing her of assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress in the aftermath of a confrontation in a hallway outside of an obstetrician’s office. Ellis claimed that, during the set-to, the rapper scratched her with a long nail extension, leaving a facial scar.

The hip-hop star was found not liable on all counts by jurors after less
than an hour of deliberations.

“I swear to God, I will say it on my deathbed, I did not touch that woman,” Cardi B said outside the courthouse following the conclusion of the trial. She added that she had missed her kids’ first day of school because of the civil trial.

“I want to thank my lawyers,” she said, “I want to thank the jurors, I want to thank the judge, and I want to thank the respectful press.”

Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, testified that she never touched, scratched or spat at the security guard, who she believed was taking video of her with her cellphone. The rapper was four months pregnant and had an appointment on the day of the incident — Feb. 24, 2018.

Ellis worked as a security guard at the Beverly Hills building where Cardi B had her medical appointment, and she testified that she was doing her rounds when she saw the celebrity exit the elevator. She testified that she was overcome with excitement and declared, “Wow, it’s Cardi B.”

Ellis alleged that the performer then turned to her and said, “Why the f— are you telling people you’ve seen me?” Cardi B then accused her of trying to spread news about her being at the doctor’s office, she testified during the four-day trial.

Cardi B cursed at her, used the N-word and other slurs, called her names, threatened her job, body-shamed her and mocked her career, Ellis said. She alleged Cardi B spat on her, took a swing at her and scratched her left cheek with a 2- to 3-inch fingernail.

But jurors believed Cardi B’s version of events, which was that Ellis was the aggressor.

The rapper blasted the plaintiff in an Alhambra courtroom, saying she was looking for a payout. Cardi B said the pair went chest-to-chest and exchanged angry words but nothing more.

She told jurors that she said to Ellis: “B—, get the f— out of my face. Why are you in my face? Why are you recording me? Ain’t you supposed to be security?’

“I’m thinking to myself, ‘Girl is big!’” she testified.” “She’s got big black boots on. I’m like, ‘D—, the hell am i gonna do now?’”

The rapper said that she’s 5 feet 3 and was 130 pounds and pregnant at the time of the incident. She wouldn’t have tried to fight the guard, who was far larger, she said.

Asked if she was “disabled” during the incident, Cardi B’s comments drew laughter in the courtroom: “At that moment, when you’re pregnant, I’m very disabled,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “You want me to tell you the things I can’t do?”

Tierra Malcolm, a receptionist for Dr. David Finke, with whom Cardi B had an appointment that day, told jurors that she saw Ellis corner the celebrity. The receptionist said she then got between them, and the guard reached for the rapper. Malcolm said she ended up with a cut on her own forehead.

Finke testified that he saw the guard cause that injury and also hit the receptionist’s shoulder. He further said that Ellis had no injuries. Both testified they never saw Cardi B hit Ellis.

During closing arguments on Tuesday, Ellis’ attorney, Ron Rosen Janfaza, told jurors, “Cardi B needs to be held accountable.” “There was no video camera … so really it comes down to one thing — do you believe, Ms. Ellis, a guard with a good record? She is a model citizen,” he told jurors.

Rosen Janfaza noted that, under cross-examination, the rapper acknowledged that she and Ellis were chest-to-chest as expletives were exchanged, and that alone is an unwelcome touch and battery on his client, he said. He told jurors that the receptionist and doctor did not see the 40 to 50 seconds where Cardi B labeled his client fat, spat on her and took a swing at her.

He said his client suffered for seven years, and “this was a violent attack.”

Cardis B’s attorney, Peter Anderson, said jurors needed to employ common sense to reject the security guard’s story and that the preponderance of evidence showed his client did nothing more than yell and curse, and “that isn’t something you can sue over.”

“The question is whether Cardi ever struck the plaintiff,” Anderson said. And the evidence is overwhelming that she did not, he said. Anderson said that the guard testified that she never made a police report, did not seek immediate medical attention, did not even use a Band-Aid on the scratch, but went home and took a nap.

Hundreds of Palestinians have fled Gaza City, piling their few remaining possessions onto pick-up trucks and donkey carts as Israel’s deadly bombings and forced displacement campaign intensifies in the area.

Families fleeing the Israeli military’s relentless bombardment have begun setting up makeshift tents amid miserable conditions in an area west of central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, to the south of Gaza City near Deir el-Balah.

Most of them have been forced to leave their homes more than once.

“We are thrown in the streets, like what would I say? Like dogs? We are not like dogs. Dogs are [treated] better than us,” Mohammed Maarouf, 50, told The Associated Press news agency, standing in front of his tent.

Maarouf and his family of nine had already been displaced from the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya. “We have no homes. We are on the streets,” he said.

Ahmad Saadeh, originally from Beit Hanoon, also in Gaza’s north, told AP that Palestinians were suffering from hunger, sickness and a lack of shelter in the coastal enclave, where famine was confirmed earlier this month.

“We suffer from many things,” he said. “We suffer that our children are ill.”

Israeli forces have carried out a sustained bombardment on Gaza City since early August as part of a deepening push to seize the city and displace about one million Palestinians living there.

On Friday, the Israeli military said it had begun the “initial stages” of its offensive, declaring the largest urban centre in the territory a “combat zone”.

The new operation could forcibly displace one million Palestinians to concentration zones in southern Gaza, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned.

At least 71 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza on Saturday, hospital sources told Al Jazeera.

Of that, 41 people were killed in Gaza City alone, including at least 11 Palestinians who were killed while queueing for bread from ovens serving communities of displaced people.

At least seven Palestinians also were killed in a series of Israeli attacks on a residential apartment block in a densely populated area of the city. Rescuers were seen digging through the rubble to retrieve bodies and try to find any survivors.

“The Israeli army has been intensifying its attacks across Gaza City. Homes and community centres have been reduced to rubble, eroding the foundations of civilian life in the area,” Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported.

“This is happening while people are going through famine, enforced starvation and dehydration. Things are leading to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.”

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Saturday also questioned Israel’s plans for a forced mass expulsion.

“It is impossible that a mass evacuation of Gaza City could ever be done in a way that is safe and dignified under the current conditions,” ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger said in a statement, describing the plan as “not only unfeasible but incomprehensible”.

Yet while Israel’s push to seize Gaza City has drawn international condemnation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has shown no signs of halting the military offensive.

Gideon Levy, a columnist with Israeli news outlet Haaretz, told Al Jazeera that Israel’s overarching plan for Gaza amounts to ethnic cleansing.

“The plan is to push all the inhabitants of Gaza out of their houses, then lock them in those concentration camps and then give them two choices, either to live in those camps forever or to leave the Gaza Strip,” Levy said.

Describing the Israeli government’s policy as “outrageous”, Levy added that Israel will only halt its offensive if US President Donald Trump decides that “enough is enough” and applies pressure on the country.

The US has provided Israel with billions of dollars in military assistance since its war on Gaza began in October 2023. Washington has also shielded its top ally from calls for accountability at the UN and other international arenas.

In February, Trump suggested removing all Palestinians from Gaza – a plan that would amount to ethnic cleansing, a crime against humanity.

President Trump declared Tuesday that federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., should seek the death penalty for murders committed in the capital, claiming without explanation that “we have no choice.”

“That’s a very strong preventative,” he said of his decision. “I don’t know if we’re ready for it in this country, but we have it.”

Trump’s pronouncement is about much more than deterring killings, though. With speed and brazenness, Trump seems intent on creating a new, federal arrest and detention system outside of existing norms, aimed at everyday citizens and controlled by his whims. The death penalty is part of it, but stomping on civil rights is at the heart of it — ruthlessly exploiting anxiety about crime to aim repression at whatever displeases him, from immigration protesters to murderers.

This administration “is using the words of crime and criminals to get themselves a permission structure to erode civil rights and due processes across our criminal, legal and immigration systems in ways that I think should have everyone alarmed,” Rena Karefa-Johnson told me. She’s a former public defender who now works with Fwd.us, a bipartisan criminal justice advocacy group.

Authoritarians love the death penalty, and have long used it to repress not crime, but dissent. It is, after all, both the ultimate power and the ultimate fear, that the ruler of the state holds the lives of his people in his hands.

Though we are far from such atrocities, Spain’s purge of “communists” and other dissenters under Francisco Franco, Rodrigo Duterte’s extrajudicial killings of alleged drug dealers in the Philippines (though the death penalty remains illegal there) and the routine executions, even of journalists, under the repressive rulers in Saudi Arabia are chilling examples.

What each of those regimes shares in common with this moment in America is the rhetoric of making a better society — often by purging perceived threats to order — even if that requires force, or the loss of rights.

Suddenly, violent criminals become no different than petty criminals, and petty criminals become no different than immigrants or protesters. They are all a threat to a nostalgic lost glory of the homeland that must be restored at any cost, animals that only understand force.

“We have no choice.”

The result is that the people become, if not accustomed to masked agents and the military on our streets, too scared to protest it, fearful they will become the criminal target, the hunted animal.

Already, the National Guard in D.C. is carrying live weapons. With great respect to the women and men who serve in the Guard, and who no doubt individually serve with honor, they are not trained for domestic law enforcement. Forget the legalities, the Constitution and the Posse Comitatus Act, which should prevent troops from policing American citizens, and does prevent them from making arrests.

Who do we want these soldiers to shoot? Who have they been told to shoot? A kid with a can of spray paint? A pickpocket? A drug dealer? A flag burner? A sandwich thrower?

We don’t even know what their orders are. What choices they will have to make.

But we do know that police do not walk around openly holding their guns, and certainly do not stroll with rifles. For civilian law enforcement, their guns are defensive weapons, and they are trained to use them as such.

Few walking by these troops, even the most law abiding, can fail to feel the power of those weapons at the ready. It is a visceral knowledge that to provoke them could mean death. That is a powerful form of repression, meant to stop dissent through fear of repercussion.

It is a power that Trump is building on multiple fronts. After declaring his “crime emergency” in D.C., Trump mandated a serious change in the mission of the National Guard.

President Trump with members of law enforcement and National Guard troops in Washington on Aug. 21, 2025.

(Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)

He ordered every state to train soldiers on “quelling civil disturbances,” and to have soldiers ready to rapidly mobilize in case of protests. That same executive order also creates a National Guard force ready to deploy nationwide at the president’s command — presumably taking away states’ rights to decide when to utilize their troops, as happened in California.

Trump has already announced his intention to send them to Chicago, called Baltimore a “hellhole” that also may be in need and falsely claimed that, “in California, you would’ve not had the Olympics had I not sent in the troops” because “there wouldn’t be anything left” without their intervention.

Retired Maj. Gen. Randy Manner, a former acting vice chief of the National Guard Bureau, told ABC that “the administration is trying to desensitize the American people to get used to American armed soldiers in combat vehicles patrolling the streets of America. “

Manner called the move “extremely disturbing.”

Add to that Trump’s desire to imprison opponents. In recent days, the FBI raided the home of former National Security Advisor John Bolton, a Republican who has criticized Trump, especially on his policy toward Ukraine. Then Trump attempted to fire Lisa D. Cook, a Biden appointee to the Federal Reserve board, after accusing her of mortgage fraud in another apparent attempt to bend that independent agency to his will on the economy.

On Wednesday, Trump wrote on social media that progressive billionaire George Soros and his son Alex should be charged under federal racketeering laws for “their support of Violent Protests.”

“We’re not going to allow these lunatics to rip apart America any more, never giving it so much as a chance to “BREATHE,” and be FREE,” Trump wrote. “Soros, and his group of psychopaths, have caused great damage to our Country! That includes his Crazy, West Coast friends. Be careful, we’re watching you!”

Consider yourselves threatened, West Coast friends.

But of course, we are already living under that thunder. Dozens of average citizens are facing serious charges in places including Los Angeles for their participation in immigration protests.

Whether they are found guilty or not, their lives are upended by the anxiety and expense of facing such prosecutions. And thousands are being rounded up and deported, at times seemingly grabbed solely for the color of their skin, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, arguably the most Trump-loyal law enforcement agency, sees its budget balloon to $45 billion, enough to keep 100,000 people detained at a time.

Despite Trump’s maelstrom of dread-inducing moves, resistance is alive, well and far from futile.

A new Quinnipiac University national poll found that 56% of voters disapprove of the National Guard being deployed in D.C.

This week, the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. for a second time failed to convince a grand jury to indict a man who threw a submarine sandwich at federal officers — proof that average citizens not only are sane, but willing to stand up for what is right.

That comes after a grand jury three times rejected the same kind of charge against a woman who was arrested after being shoved against a wall by an immigration agent.

Californians will decide this in November whether to redraw their electoral maps to put more Democrats in Congress. Latino leaders in Chicago are protesting possible troops there. People are refusing to allow fear to define their actions.

Turns out, we do have a choice.

The parade of Trump terribles is a long one, starting in Washington and stretching clear across this beleaguered nation.

A bumbling Defense secretary who lacks the competence to organize a two-car military procession.

A screw-loose Health secretary who seems not to care if measles and other plagues descend on America.

A director of national intelligence who’s shown no great abundance of that quality but, rather, an eagerness to twist and bend facts like a coat hanger, serving whatever cockamamie claim the president burps up.

Because, after all, obeisance and lay-down-your-life loyalty are the main prerequisites for service in the Trump administration, along with the all-important consideration of how one comes across on television.

How else to explain the chief federal prosecutor he’s imposed on Nevada, Sigal Chattah?

Chattah, 50, devoted years to a not-particularly-noteworthy legal career, practicing domestic and international law at her Las Vegas firm and teaching political science for a time at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In 2022, Chattah was the Republican nominee for state attorney general, losing rather handily to incumbent Democrat Aaron Ford.

But not before distinguishing herself as a notably reprehensible candidate.

Among other things, Chattah compared Ford to the leader of Hamas and said that her opponent, who happens to be Black, “should be hanging from a f— crane.” (The Israeli-born Chattah told the Las Vegas Review Journal the “smart-ass comment” was a tongue-in-cheek expression derived from her Middle East background.)

A pugnacious poster on social media — another perceived asset in Trump World — Chattah called a Black member of Congress a “hood rat,” a Black female prosecutor “ghetto” and a Black “Saturday Night Live” cast member a “monkey.”

She suggested immigrants — make that “invaders” — and college protesters should be shot and transgenderism should be treated with “meds or commitment to an in-patient facility.”

But what might have particularly endeared her to Trump is her embrace of his ego-salving Big Lie about the 2020 election being stolen from under him. Chattah even served as legal counsel to one of the fake electors who tried to overturn Joe Biden’s clear-cut victory and swipe Nevada for Trump.

It’s hardly unusual for a president to pick a member of his party to serve as U.S. attorney, replacing the choice of a previous administration. In fact, even though justice is supposed to be blind and thus, theoretically above political considerations, that’s how the selection process usually works.

But Trump has broken new and treacherous ground by installing not just partisans as federal prosecutors but lackeys — starting with Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi — who’ve shown their allegiance not to fair-minded application of the law but rather delivering on the feral impulses of their White House patron.

Trump’s pick for top prosecutor in the Los Angeles area is Bill Essayli, a former state assemblyman from Riverside County whose main qualification seemed to be his loud, performative approach to serving in Sacramento’s GOP minority.

Bondi appointed Essayli on an interim basis in early April. His appointment was limited to 120 days; normally within that time he would have been formally nominated and faced confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Knowing the latter was unlikely, the Trump administration executed an end run and named Essayli “acting U.S. attorney,” which gives him an additional 210 days in the job before he faces formal confirmation.

As it happened, the very same day that maneuvering took place, prosecutors moved to dismiss charges in a criminal case involving one of Trump’s political donors.

Coincidence?

The same sleight-of-hand — interim appointment, designation as “acting U.S. attorney” — was used to extend the tenure of Trump sycophants as chief federal prosecutors in New Jersey, New Mexico, upstate New York and, in Chattah’s case, Nevada.

(In a setback for Trump, a federal judge ruled last week that his former personal attorney, Alina Habba, was unlawfully serving as New Jersey’s top prosecutor, though the order was put on hold pending appeal.)

Chattah’s partisanship is plain as a desert squall. In a remarkable breach of protocol and ethics — not to mention the federal law forbidding employees from mixing work and politics — she kept her position as Nevada’s representative on the Republican National Committee even as she served as interim U.S. attorney.

Chattah abandoned the post only after the Nevada Independent reported on the obvious conflict of interest.

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 object to her continued service. The group said Chattah’s history of “racially charged, violence-tinged, and inflammatory public statements” was disqualifying.

The Trump administration extended her tenure nonetheless.

As part of their unavailing effort, the judges quoted a 1940 speech then-U.S. Atty. Gen. Robert H. Jackson delivered, citing the immense power and responsibility that rests with a U.S. attorney.

“The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America. His discretion is tremendous,” said Jackson, who went on to serve as one of the Supreme Court’s most distinguished justices. “… The prosecutor can order arrests, present cases to the grand jury in secret session, and on the basis of his one-sided presentation of the facts, can cause the citizen to be indicted and held for trial.

“While the prosecutor at his best is one of the most beneficent forces in our society, when he acts from malice or other base motives, he is one of the worst.”

Obviously, Jackson never knew Chattah or other Trump appointees besmirching the halls of justice. But the late justice, buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Frewsburg, N.Y., is doubtless turning somersaults in his grave.

Cardi B testified Tuesday that she never touched, scratched or spat at a security guard who is suing her over an alleged assault by the pop star outside a Beverly Hills obstetrician’s office.

The rapper, whose real name is Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, took the witness stand in the second day of the civil trial in an Alhambra court and vigorously denied assaulting Emani Ellis on Feb. 24, 2018. Cardi B was visiting the 5th-floor office of the obstetrician at the time and was four months pregnant with her first child.

“It was a verbal incident,” insisted Cardi B. “She didn’t hit me. I didn’t hit her. There was no touching. So, to me, it wasn’t no incident.”

The rapper did say that they went chest to chest in the hallway outside the doctor’s office, and that she called the guard a “b—” because she believed Ellis was recording her with a cellphone.

“Was there spitting?” the security guard’s lawyer, Ron Rosen, asked.

“Absolutely not,” Cardi B replied.

“Did you call her the N-word?”

“No,” the performer replied, noting that she considers herself “Afro-Caribbean.”

“Did you take a swing at her?” Rosen followed up.

“No,” replied Cardi B, who insisted it was a “verbal fight. … It did not get physical at all.”

Rosen delved into the difference between a fight and a verbal altercation, asking whether he and the pop star were then having a verbal altercation. Cardi B replied that they were debating, a statement that was greeted with laughter in the courtroom.

The lawyer countered, “We’re debating about whether you assaulted and battered Ms. Emani Ellis?”

“I guess so,” replied Cardi B. “But I didn’t touch her. She didn’t touch me.” The recording artist said there were no videos of the incident.

Ellis filed suit in 2020, alleging assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress as well as negligence and false imprisonment.

Ellis, who worked as a security guard at the building where Cardi B had her medical appointment, said during testimony on Monday that she was doing her rounds when she saw the celebrity get off the elevator. She testified that she was overcome with excitement and declared, “Wow, it’s Cardi B.”

Ellis said the performer then turned to her and said, “Why the f— are you telling people you’ve seen me?” Cardi B then accused her of trying to spread news about her being at the doctor’s office, she testified.

Cardi B cursed at her, used the N-word and other slurs, called her names, threatened her job, body-shamed her and mocked her career, Ellis said. She alleged Cardi B spat on her, took a swing at her and scratched her left cheek with a 2- to 3-inch fingernail.

Cardi B said when she turned around after getting off the elevator, she heard Ellis say her name and then saw Ellis with her cellphone and said, “Why are you recording me?” The performer said the guard said, “My bad,” but continued to follow her and said she had the right to follow her.

Cardi B said that they went chest to chest and that she did curse at Ellis but that she never touched the guard, who was physically larger. When the obstetrician’s receptionist finally came out, the guard alleged the singer had hit her — something that Cardi B said never happened.

The rapper conceded she never saw proof that Ellis was recording her. She said her appointment was both sensitive and confidential; she was seeing a doctor because of concerns about her pregnancy, which wasn’t yet public.

For the second day of the trial, the rapper — who is known for her daring style choices — donned a blond showgirl hairstyle that contrasted with the black short hair she wore during the first day of testimony. Under questioning, she said they were both wigs and that she had 1-inch nail extensions.

She refused to concede that she usually wore 2- to 3-inch nails, replying that sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn’t.

Mingus Reedus, son of “The Walking Dead” star Norman Reedus and Danish model Helena Christensen, made a concerning statement to a reporter in the wake of his arrest Saturday on suspicion of assault.

On Sunday, a New York Post reporter confronted the 25-year-old outside of his Manhattan apartment. “You want to watch me kill myself?” the model said when he spotted the journalist. He refused to answer questions after that, the Post reported.

The grim remark came just one day after Mingus Reedus was taken into custody by police who responded to a Saturday morning report of an assault in progress, according to USA Today. The Post reported that a 33-year-old female victim was subsequently taken to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue with “minor injuries.”

Reedus pleaded not guilty Saturday to charges of of third-degree assault, assault recklessly causing injury, criminal obstruction of breathing, second-degree harassment and aggravated harassment, NBC News said. He was released without posting bail.

It wasn’t Reedus’ first arrest on suspicion of assault. He faced accusations in 2021 of punching a woman at the San Gennaro festival in New York City. At the time, he told the New York Daily News that “it was instinct” after the woman was “swarming” his friend group.

“We didn’t think anything of it, but these five girls followed us for two blocks, throwing food at us and yelling,” he said. “We told them to leave us alone, but they kept following, threatening to hurt my girlfriend and her friend.”

He said one woman was “pulling my hair from the back, another throwing water in my face.” Soon after, police got involved, but Reedus claimed they “refused to listen to the context” and arrested him.

In March 2022, he struck a deal and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge — disorderly conduct. He was sentenced to a conditional discharge that required him to attend five private counseling sessions.

As Israel’s military advances further in towards Gaza City, Palestinians like Mohammed Zaher fear another forced expulsion with nowhere to go. Exhausted and trapped, he pleads for the war to end, describing life under occupation as unbearable.

At least 81 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli attacks and forced starvation since dawn as the Israeli military said it had begun the first stages of its planned assault to seize the enclave’s largest urban centre, Gaza City, where close to a million people remain in perilous conditions.

Three other Palestinians starved to death in the besieged enclave on Wednesday, bringing the total count of hunger-related deaths to 269, including 112 children.

Israeli attacks included a strike on a tent housing displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza that killed three people.

Mohammed Shaalan, a prominent former Palestinian national basketball player, was the latest victim of shootings at GHF aid distribution points, as Israeli forces shot him dead in southern Gaza. At least 30 aid seekers were killed on Wednesday.

Gaza has been stalked by famine as Israel’s punishing blockade and ongoing assault have choked off food, fuel, and medical supplies.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) warned that malnutrition is rising across Gaza amid Israel’s ongoing aid blockade. “This isn’t just hunger. This is starvation,” WFP said.

“Malnutrition is a silent killer,” the agency said, noting that it causes “lifelong developmental damage” and weakens immune systems, “making common illnesses deadly”.

This isn’t just hunger. This is starvation.

Malnutrition in #Gaza is rising fast – with more children and mothers showing severe signs.

Malnutrition is a silent killer:
🔴 Weakens immune systems, making common illnesses deadly
🔴 Causes stunting & lifelong developmental damage… pic.twitter.com/nEmqSsJX7M

— World Food Programme (@WFP) August 20, 2025

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says nearly one in every three Palestinian children in Gaza City is now malnourished.

Israeli rights group Gisha has debunked a series of Israeli government talking points that seek to minimise and evade responsibility for the starvation crisis unfolding across all of Gaza.

Despite Israel’s claim that the United Nations is to blame for a lack of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip, Gisha says that “Israel has used its control over aid entry as a weapon of war since day one” of its military offensive.

“Israel has created and continues to create conditions that make the transfer of aid into Gaza almost impossible,” it said.

Meanwhile, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire and described the conditions its staff are working under in Gaza as dire.

“We are working under catastrophic conditions,” said Dr Hind, a UNRWA physician in Gaza.

Another health worker said staff often walked distances “under the scorching sun” just to reach their posts before working to deliver care “to our people in dire need of help”.

Gaza’s civil defence has, meanwhile, sounded the alarm over the severity of the fuel crisis in the enclave, saying the lack of fuel is compromising its ability to respond to emergency and rescue situations.

“Many times, our vehicles have stopped on the way to missions, some due to fuel shortages and others due to a lack of spare parts for maintenance,” a statement by the civil defence said. “We face major humanitarian challenges amid the ongoing threats of an escalation in the Israeli war of extermination.”

Another wave of ‘mass displacement’

The strikes come as Israel’s military said that it will call up 60,000 reservists in the coming weeks as it pushes forward with a plan to seize Gaza City, which has come under relentless attacks over the last several weeks. A military spokesperson said the first stages of its assault on the city have begun.

Close to one million Palestinians are reportedly trapped in the area, where Israeli tanks have been pushing closer to the city’s centre this week. Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for UN chief Antonio Guterres, expressed concern over the army’s operations in Gaza City, which he said would “create another mass displacement of people who’ve been displaced repeatedly” since the war began.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said Israeli forces have been intensifying attacks in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, as well as Jabalia in the north.

“That includes ongoing explosions from systematic demolitions of homes. This is a very effective strategy by the Israeli military, which funnels down into one main goal: emptying the Gaza Strip of its population by depriving people from having something as basic as a home,” Mahmoud said.

“People are leaving behind their belongings, their food supplies that they managed to get in the past few weeks,” he added.

Relatives of Israeli captives held in Gaza have condemned the Israeli Defence Ministry’s approval of the plan to seize Gaza City and accused the government of ignoring a ceasefire proposal approved by Hamas, saying it was “a stab in the heart of the families and the public in Israel”.

Hamas says the Israeli military’s push into Gaza City is a clear sign that Israel plans to continue “its brutal war against innocent civilians” and aims to destroy the Palestinian city and displace its residents.

“Netanyahu’s disregard for the mediators’ proposal and his failure to respond to it proves that he is the true obstructionist of any agreement, that he does not care about the lives of [Israeli captives], and that he is not serious about their return,” the Palestinian group said.

The Gaza City offensive, which was announced earlier this month, comes amid heightened international condemnation of Israel’s ban on food and medicine reaching Gaza and fears of another forced exodus of Palestinians.

“What we’re seeing in Gaza is nothing short of apocalyptic reality for children, for their families, and for this generation,” Ahmed Alhendawi, regional director of Save the Children, said in an interview. “The plight and the struggle of this generation of Gaza is beyond being described in words.”

Mediators, meanwhile, continue to pursue efforts to secure a ceasefire in the 22-month war.

Qatar and Egypt have said they have been waiting for Israel’s response to the proposal, which Hamas had agreed to earlier this week.

The latest framework calls for a 60-day truce, a staggered exchange of captives and Palestinian prisoners, and expanded aid access.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not publicly commented on the proposal, which is backed by the United States. Last week, he insisted any deal must ensure “all the hostages are released at once and according to our conditions for ending the war”. There have been further reports that the far-right government is holding to that line.

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said Arab states must pressure the US into getting Israel to agree to a ceasefire.

“Clearly, the Israelis are of two minds: One mind is recalling the reservists, issuing the plans, approving the plans for directly re-occupying the Gaza Strip [and] transferring its people from the north to the south in preparation for ethnically cleansing Gaza.”

“On the other hand, there is of course the domestic pressure … [and] the idea that Israel can secure the release of a few hostages alive and get involved in some sort of a longer[-term] deal,” Bishara said.

“Without Arab pressure on Washington, I think the Israelis will probably go with the first scenario.”

Israel’s genocidal war has killed more than 62,122 Palestinians, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

The Israeli military says it has begun the “preliminary actions” of a planned ground offensive to capture and occupy all of Gaza City and already has a hold on its outskirts.

A military spokesman said troops were already operating in the Zeitoun and Jabalia areas to lay the groundwork for the offensive, which Defence Minister Israel Katz approved on Tuesday and which will be put to the security cabinet later this week.

About 60,000 reservists are being called up for the beginning of September to free up active-duty personnel for the operation.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City are expected to be ordered to evacuate and head to shelters in southern Gaza.

Many of Israel’s allies have condemned the plan, with French President Emmanuel Macron warning on Wednesday that it “can only lead to disaster for both peoples and risks plunging the entire region into a cycle of permanent war”.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) meanwhile said further displacement and an intensification of hostilities “risk worsening an already catastrophic situation” for Gaza’s 2.1 million population.

Israel’s government announced its intention to conquer the entire Gaza Strip after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal broke down last month.

Speaking at a televised briefing on Wednesday, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin said Hamas was “battered and bruised” after 22 months of war.

“We will deepen the damage to Hamas in Gaza City, a stronghold of governmental and military terror for the terrorist organisation,” he added. “We will deepen the damage to the terror infrastructure above and below the ground and sever the population’s dependence on Hamas.”

But Defrin said the IDF was “not waiting” to begin the operation.

“We have begun the preliminary actions, and already now, IDF troops are holding the outskirts of Gaza City.”

Two brigades were operating on the ground in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, where in recent days they had located an underground tunnel that contained weapons, and a third brigade was operating in the Jabalia area, he added.

In order to “minimise harm to civilians,” he said, Gaza City’s civilian population would be warned to evacuate for their safety.

A spokesman for Gaza’s Hamas-run Civil Defence agency, Mahmoud Bassal, told AFP news agency on Tuesday that the situation was “very dangerous and unbearable” in the city’s Zeitoun and Sabra neighbourhoods.

The agency reported that Israeli strikes and fire had killed 25 people across the territory on Wednesday. They included three children and their parents whose home in the Badr area of Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, was bombed, it said.

Defrin also said the IDF was doing everything possible to prevent harm to the 50 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to be alive. Their families have expressed fears that those in Gaza City could be endangered by a ground offensive.

The ICRC warned of a catastrophic situation for both Palestinian civilians and the hostages if military activity in Gaza intensified.

“After months of relentless hostilities and repeated displacement, the people in Gaza are utterly exhausted. What they need is not more pressure, but relief. Not more fear, but a chance to breathe. They must have access to the essentials to live in dignity: food, medical and hygiene supplies, clean water, and safe shelter,” a statement said.

“Any further intensification of military operations will only deepen the suffering, tear more families apart, and threaten an irreversible humanitarian crisis. The lives of hostages may also be put at risk,” it added.

It called for an immediate ceasefire and the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance across Gaza.

Mediators Qatar and Egypt are trying to secure a ceasefire deal and have presented a new proposal for a 60-day truce and the release of around half of the hostages, which Hamas said it had accepted on Monday.

Israel has not yet submitted a formal response, but Israeli officials insisted on Tuesday that they would no longer accept a partial deal and demanded a comprehensive one that would see all the hostages released.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 62,122 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry. The ministry’s figures are quoted by the UN and others as the most reliable source of statistics available on casualties.

A 59-YEAR-old Brit woman was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl at a popular holiday spot.

The shocking incident is alleged to have taken place earlier this month, but only came to light today.

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The Brit is said to have approached the teenager on a Costa del Sol beach.

She allegedly spoke to her in English to “gain her trust” before groping her.

The youngster, who is an Italian national, rushed to a nearby shop to seek help where a relative was working.

They subsequently called the police to report the incident.

Cops held the Brit, who allegedly has a history of sexual offences, in the same area.

The shocking incident happened at La Cala de Mijas near Fuengirola earlier in the month.

While the arrest was made by local police, Civil Guard officers are the ones who took her to court.

It is unclear today whether the Brit was a holidaymaker or an expat in Spain.

In addition, it’s also unknown if she has been remanded in custody pending an ongoing investigation or released on bail.

Local councillor Juan Carlos Cuevas described her alleged behaviour as “repugnant and intolerable”.

He added that, even though she has not yet been charged with any crime, it “deserves the strongest condemnation”.

The councillor further said the co-operation of locals and the rapid intervention of local police helped secure the arrest.

 “This case shows that when we work together, we manage to halt very serious situations,” he said.

Earlier this month, a Brit assassin who Spanish police say was on the run was arrested in Costa del Sol.

Pistols, ammunition and a silencer were found in his smashed-up Nissan Qashqai.

The suspected hitman had a run-in with two women at a petrol station – after which he crashed his car.

He reportedly began harassing two Dutch women after trying to get them to buy him cocaine.

The suspect tried to flee as cops arrived at the scene.

Sources told local paper Diario Sur that he ran out of the car “with visible injuries” before quickly being caught by police.

President Trump said Monday he would renew his assault on mail-in voting after Russia’s autocratic leader, Vladimir Putin, told him to do so at their meeting in Alaska last week.

The president provided few details, but wrote on social media that he would “lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we’re at it, Highly ‘Inaccurate,’ Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES.”

Already in March, Trump had issued an executive order directing the Justice Department to “take all necessary action” to prevent mail-in ballots received after election day from being counted. The order also attempted to impose a proof of citizenship requirement for voter registration.

Those portions of the executive action has been enjoined by courts over constitutional concerns. But another provision, directing the independent U.S. Election Assistance Commission to shift its guidance on voting machines banning the use of certain bar codes and quick-response codes, has been allowed to proceed.

The U.S. Constitution states that the timing, place and manner of elections “shall be prescribed in each state” by local legislatures, and that Congress has the ability to pass laws altering state election regulations. The president is given no authority to prescribe or govern election procedures.

Trump’s action comes on the heels of his meeting with Putin in Anchorage, where the Russian leader told him that mail-in ballots led to his electoral defeat in 2020, according to the president.

The U.S. intelligence community has assessed that Putin attempted to influence the last three U.S. presidential elections in Trump’s favor.

“Vladimir Putin said something — one of the most interesting things. He said, ‘Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting,’” Trump told Fox News in an interview.

Trump has criticized mail-in voting since entering politics in 2015. But his presidential campaign embraced the practice leading up to the 2024 election, encouraging his supporters — especially those affected by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina — to take advantage of mail-in voting opportunities.

“Absentee voting, early voting and election day voting are all good options,” Trump said at the time. “Republicans must make a plan, register and vote!”

A total of 22,000 cases registered in province in 2023; in first five months of 2024, figure had already reached 17,000.

Healthcare providers in the war-torn eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) treated more than 17,000 victims of sexual violence over just five months last year, according to a United Nations report.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s annual report on conflict-related sexual violence, released on Thursday, said the cases were registered in the province of North Kivu between January and May last year, as fighting between Congolese forces and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels intensified.

“Many survivors sought care after violent sexual attacks, including penetration with objects, perpetrated by multiple perpetrators,” said the report, which charted crimes like rape, gang rape and sexual slavery.

The conflict, which has killed thousands this year alone and displaced millions, is still ongoing despite a Qatar-mediated agreement between DRC and M23 last month that was supposed to pave the way to a ceasefire, running parallel to United States efforts to broker peace between Kinshasa and Kigali.

Last year’s figure marked a continued surge in sexual violence as the Rwanda-backed M23 rampaged through the east, with a total of 22,000 cases registered throughout 2023. That figure was more than double the previous year’s tally.

In 2023, the spike in violence occurred as the conflict spilled over from North Kivu into South Kivu, forcing UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO to withdraw from the latter.

The report said that MONUSCO’s operations narrowed, “owing to military operations and widespread insecurity”. The mission had documented 823 cases of sexual violence in 2024, affecting 416 women, 391 girls, seven boys and nine men.

The UN said that 198 of last year’s cases were perpetrated by DRC “state actors”, including the army. It found that “M23 elements”, which “continued to receive instructions and support from the Rwanda Defence Force”, were implicated in 152 cases.

According to the report, survivors reported that they were exposed to the threat of sexual violence while searching for food in the fields and areas around displacement sites.

Many displaced women had resorted to prostitution to survive, “highlighting the nexus between food insecurity and sexual violence”.

Denis Mukwege, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for his work combating sexual violence in DRC, told The Times newspaper this year: “When you have people raping with complete immunity – and think they can go on and on without any consequence, nothing will change.”

Guterres’s report charted violations in 21 countries, with the highest numbers recorded in DRC, the Central African Republic, Haiti, Somalia and South Sudan.

While women and girls made up 92 percent of victims, men and boys were also targeted.

Aug. 13 (UPI) — Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein will face a third trial in New York in connection to the sexual assault case of actor Jessica Mann.

New York Judge Curtis Farber said Wednesday that the trial will take place before the end of 2025.

A jury was unable in June to come to a verdict on a rape charge that alleged Weinstein sexually assaulted Mann but did find him guilty of sexually assaulting former “Project Runway” production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006, and not guilty of assaulting former runway model Kaja Sokola that same year.

The judge announced he would not sentence Weinstein on the conviction involving Haley until Weinstein is retried for the charge related to Mann, who has alleged Weinstein raped her in 2013.

Weinstein was slated to be sentenced on Sept. 30 for the guilty verdict in Haley’s case, which means unless he pleads guilty to the charge that involves Mann, or either he is tried before September or prosecutors drop that charge, he’s likely to have that sentencing date postponed.

Weinstein, the co-founder of film studios Miramax and The Weinstein Company, was originally convicted of rape and criminal sexual act in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison for the crimes.

However, New York’s state Court of Appeals overturned his conviction after finding the jury in the 2020 trial was prejudiced by the judge of that trial who allowed women with unrelated allegations to testify.

Weinstein was also found guilty by a Los Angeles jury of sexual assault and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

He is currently appealing against that conviction and has denied all of the charges lodged against him. Weinstein has been held in custody in New York’s Rikers Island jail.

Busta Rhymes is rejecting claims leveled against him in a lawsuit filed this week by a former assistant, calling it an “attempted shake-down.”

Dashiel Gables, who filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, is accusing Rhymes — real name Trevor Smith Jr. — of wage and hour violations as well as assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

“I have been made aware of the claims made by Dashiel Gables, and I completely and categorically deny these allegations,” Rhymes said in a statement to The Times. “For a very brief period, Dashiel assisted me, but it did not work out. Apparently, Dashiel has decided to respond to being let go by manufacturing claims against me in an attempt to attack and damage my reputation.”

Rhymes, 53, said he is preparing a countersuit and is “confident [it] will expose this for what it is — an attempted shake-down by a disgruntled former assistant.”

In the lawsuit, which was reviewed by The Times, Gables alleges that Rhymes repeatedly called him a slur related to sexuality and mocked his poor hearing by telling him to “get a hearing aid.” He also says he was improperly categorized as a salaried employee and wasn’t paid overtime despite allegedly being required to work 15-, 16- and 18-hour shifts regularly for a flat $200 a day.

The lawsuit says he was required to perform “menial tasks,” including fetching cigars for the rapper.

The suit says Gables, 44, accompanied Rhymes on tour from early July to early September of last year, seven days a week, without being paid travel time or overtime, then worked for him from 2 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. daily without pay over his day rate from Sept. 3, 2024, until Jan. 10.

On that last day, the lawsuit alleges, Rhymes “constructively terminated” Gables’ employment “by repeatedly punching him in the face” after first raging at his assistant for not promptly bringing a “catering-size” pan of chicken in from the rapper’s car, then chewing Gables out for sending a text to his minor daughter during work hours.

Gables “tolerated a great deal of abuse while working for Busta Rhymes, he could not tolerate the repeated physical assault and was unable to return to work,” the complaint says, adding that Gables went to the hospital for treatment of bruising and swelling and filed a police report regarding the alleged assault. He did not return to work.

After Gables filed the police report he was “frozen out of the hip-hop music industry,” the complaint alleges. He is seeking back pay as well as compensatory and punitive damages and is asking for a jury trial.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office will not pursue charges against Chargers linebacker Denzel Perryman, who was arrested on suspicion of felony weapons possession Friday night, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Dept. records.

Perryman was arrested after deputies allegedly discovered five firearms — including two assault-style weapons — in his vehicle during a traffic stop Friday night, the agency said in a statement. He was released from jail Monday afternoon and his arrest will be listed as a detention on his record.

Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh publicly addressed the situation Monday, saying he visited with the veteran linebacker in jail over the weekend.

“He’s working through the legalities along with his representation,” said Harbaugh before Perryman’s release from jail. “Had a chance to see him yesterday, whenever I visited, and he was in good spirits. And love Denzel. He’s always done right. He’s never been in trouble. They’ve got a beautiful family.”

In training camp, Perryman was batting to be a starter at middle linebacker. In his absence, Troy Dye has taken most of the first-team snaps.

One of the veterans of the Chargers’ defense, Perryman, 32, had 55 tackles and one sack last season. He returned to the Chargers in 2024 — the team that drafted him in 2015 — after stints with the Las Vegas Raiders and the Houston Texans.

Keenan Allen reunion?

Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen catches a pass during training camp in 2023.

(Kyusung Gong / For The Times)

Despite the emergence of two rookie receivers in camp and a promising young core, the Chargers continued to explore the possibility of reuniting with veteran wideout Keenan Allen.

Allen was brought in for a workout Friday, but the team has yet to decide if they will sign him.

Harbaugh said the workout went well, noting Allen did “a lot of Keenan Allen things.”

Allen echoed those sentiments, responding to a viewer on a Twitch stream that, “The meeting went good, man. The meeting was straight.”

Harbaugh said he’s hopeful about the signing but is waiting on negotiations between general manager Joe Hortiz and Allen’s camp.

Last season with the Bears, Allen was the team’s second-leading receiver in a struggling Chicago offense. He started 15 games, was targeted 121 times, and finished with 70 receptions for 744 yards and seven touchdowns.

Throughout his career, the 33-year-old has battled injuries, missing 11 games over his final two seasons with the Chargers because of a hamstring strain and a heel bruise.

“He’s got the license to be one of the best,” Harbaugh said. “That all gets determined on the field — who we play. We play the best players. … So, like all the receivers on our team, he would have that opportunity.”

Etc.

Last year’s leading receiver, Ladd McConkey, has been working off to the side since July 29 with an undisclosed injury. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman described it as “extremely minor.” Harbaugh added that McConkey is “doing everything he can to get back” and continues to work without pads. … Mekhi Becton has also been absent from on-field reps as he deals with an injury Harbaugh called “not severe.” … Najee Harris began ramping up his conditioning this past week, doing laps around the practice field wearing a visored helmet and weight vest. Harbaugh said Harris is “doing everything he can” and is “better today than yesterday.” Harris has not yet returned to team reps, and his timetable for return is not clear.

The 42-year-old was detained by the British Transport Police after disembarking from a flight from Portugal.

Police in the United Kingdom have arrested the anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant activist Tommy Robinson on suspicion of assault, following an attack last month at London’s St Pancras station.

The far-right campaigner, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was arrested at about 6.30pm (17:30 GMT) on Monday evening at Luton airport, which is located north of the English capital.

Robinson had just landed there on a flight from the Portuguese city of Faro.

His detention comes a week on from the alleged assault at one of London’s main railway terminals.

“The man had been wanted for questioning after leaving the country to Tenerife in the early hours of 29 July following the incident at St Pancras,” the British Transport Police (BTP) said on Monday evening.

He will now be questioned in custody “on suspicion of… grievous bodily harm”, the BTP added.

Although the statement did not directly name Robinson, he was shown in a video of the incident that was widely circulated online.

In the footage, the former founder of the far-right English Defence League is seen walking near a motionless man, claiming to have acted in self-defence.

The other man was taken to hospital with serious injuries, which the police said were “not thought to be life threatening”.

Robinson has numerous convictions for public order and contempt offences.

In May, he was released from a prison in Buckinghamshire four months early, after the high court cut his 18-month sentence.

He was imprisoned in October 2024 for contempt of court after admitting that he had flouted an injunction that prevented him from repeating false claims about a Syrian schoolboy.

The injunction came into force after the far-right activist lost a libel case against Jamal Hijazi, a Syrian refugee whom Robinson was judged to have defamed.

Robinson has been described by the advocacy group Hope Not Hate as “the UK’s most notorious far-right extremist”.

Earlier this year, tech billionaire and former adviser to United States President Donald Trump, Elon Musk called for Robinson to be freed from a UK prison where he was held at the time, and where he is likely to be returning after his latest arrest.

Far-right activist Tommy Robinson has been arrested in connection with an assault at St Pancras railway station.

British Transport Police did not name Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, but confirmed a 42-year-old man, from Bedfordshire, was arrested over an assault in London on 28 July.

The force said the arrest took place at Luton Airport shortly after 18:30 BST on Monday, following a notification that the man had boarded an incoming flight from Faro.

The man was arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and will be taken to custody for questioning, police said.

The statement added he had been wanted for questioning after leaving for Tenerife in the early hours of 29 July following the incident.

British Transport Police previously said that they found a man with “serious but non-life-threatening injuries” following the incident at the railway station in Kings Cross.

The force confirmed on Thursday that he had been discharged from hospital.

Video footage on social media emerged shortly after the alleged assault showing Robinson walking back and forth near a motionless man lying on the floor, near the stairs down to the northbound Thameslink line.

The clip did not show how the man ended up on the floor.

Robinson then starts coming back up the stairs, appearing to try to talk to the passing commuter who called for help.

Robinson can be heard saying: “He’s come at me bruv.”

Robinson was contacted by a female BBC reporter for comment after the incident, but Robinson responded with a message that said “slag”.

Since the incident, Robinson has continued to post on his personal X account but has not made any comment on the arrest.

He shared a few supportive posts shortly after British Transport Police released their initial statement on the incident.