Law and Crime

May 22 (UPI) — Rapper Kid Cudi will take the stand Thursday in the closed door federal sex-trafficking trial against Sean “Diddy” Combs in a big day for prosecutors.

The 41-year-old Grammy Award-winning rapper, whose birth name is Scott Mescudi, is expected to share details about his romantic past from more than 10 years ago with Combs’ ex-partner, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, particularly the allegations that Combs allegedly was behind the blowing up of Mescudi’s car.

The trial began on May 5 at the U.S. District Court for Southern New York courthouse in Manhattan in a trial where cameras are prohibited.

Combs is charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and two counts of sex trafficking by force. He has pleaded not guilty and could be sentenced to up to life in prison if a jury finds him guilty on one or more charges.

On Tuesday, a special agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was the first to open testimony in the trial during the morning hours as a handful of other witnesses took the stand, including a board-certified forensic and clinical psychologist and Ventura’s mother.

Ventura, in a 2023 civil lawsuit settled privately without Combs admitting any wrongdoing, alleged that Combs told her that he would blow of Mescudi’s car.

“Around that time, Kid Cudi’s car exploded in his driveway,” court documents read, adding that Ventura was “terrified, as she began to fully comprehend what Mr. Combs was both willing and able to do to those he believed had slighted him.”

Meanwhile, Ventura testified in court last week and said she kept a burner phone to hide her relationship with Cudi.

The prosecution will likely try to prove that Combs used his considerable influence and wealth to execute the bombing of Cudi’s vehicle, according to a former federal prosecutor for New York’s Southern District.

Calling Mescudi to the witness stand could help the prosecution if it can demonstrate Combs used his considerable financial and business resources to carry out the bombing, said Rachel Maimin, a former federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York.

“The burden of proof is on the federal government, so they’ll have to show this was part of the racketeering,” Rachel Maimin, now a criminal defense attorney with Lowenstein Sandler LLP, told NBC.

“This may be a way of explaining how he used his business empire to further the prosecution’s goal of proving the racketeering enterprise,” she added.

SALT LAKE CITY, May 22 (UPI) — A new Washington state law that requires members of the clergy to report child abuse or neglect, including when the information is revealed in confession, is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.

The DOJ claims the law is anti-Catholic and appears on its face to violate the First Amendment. The investigation, which was announced earlier this month, will look at the development and passage of Senate Bill 5375.

The bill, which adds clergy members to the list of mandatory reporters, was passed by the Senate in a 28-20 vote and 64-31 by the House. It was signed into law May 2 by Gov. Bob Ferguson and is to go into effect July 27.

A DOJ news release says the law has no exception for the absolute seal of confidentiality that applies to Catholic priests.

“SB 5375 demands that Catholic Priests violate their deeply held faith in order to obey the law, a violation of the Constitution and a breach of the free exercise of religion cannot stand under our Constitutional system of government,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in the release.

“Worse, the law appears to single out clergy as not entitled to assert applicable privileges, as compared to other reporting professionals,” Dhillon said.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, disputes those claims and said the law is not anti-Catholic. She pointed out that members of the clergy are defined as a licensed, accredited or ordained minister, priest, rabbi, imam, elder or similarly situated religious or spiritual leader of any church, religious denomination, religious body, spiritual community or sect.

Mandated reporters include law enforcement officers, professional school personnel, social service counselors, nurses, psychologists and licensed childcare providers, among others. If they have reasonable cause to believe a child has suffered abuse or neglect, they are required to report that to law enforcement or the Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

Under the new law, clergy members must report abuse, but cannot be compelled to testify against the penitent in a court case or criminal proceedings.

“We are talking in our case here about really simply just the reporting in real time of known or suspected abuse and neglect of children in real time,” Frame said. “We’re simply saying, if you believe or you know that a child is actively being abused or neglected, call it in so we can go check on that child to make sure that they are safe.”

Archbishop Paul Etienne of the Archdiocese of Seattle descibted the the law as government overreach. After the apostles were thrown into jail for preaching in the name of Jesus Christ, St. Peter responded, “We must obey God rather than men,” he said in a written statement.

“This is our stance now in the face of this new law,” Etienne said. “Catholic clergy may not violate the seal of confession — or they will be excommunicated from the Church. All Catholics must know and be assured that their confessions remain sacred, secure, confidential and protected by the law of the church.”

The Catholic Church in the United States has been reporting incidents of abuse to law enforcement and cooperating with civil authorities for decades, according to Etienne. Those efforts began in 1986 in the Seattle Archdiocese, he said.

“Our policies already require priests to be mandatory reporters, but not if this information is obtained during confession,” Etienne said.

Frame countered that voluntarily complying with part of the law does not make priests mandatory reporters.

“They may be if they are a teacher, for instance, but they are not mandatory reporters in their role as clergy,” she said. “And to say that we’re already mandated reporters has caused great confusion such that people think the only point of this bill was to ‘go after confession.’ Not true.”

The senator has been trying since 2022 to pass legislation to make clergy mandatory reporters. Articles by Investigative West about how a Jehovah’s Witnesses community in Washington allegedly was covering up sexual abuse of children spurred her effort.

The nonprofit news organization reported the community was handling complaints internally and abuse was not being addressed.

Frame, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by a family member from ages 5 to 10, said children need to know that if they ask a trusted adult such as a faith leader for help, they’ll get it.

“I told the mandated reporter about the abuse and that’s how it was stopped, and that was my teacher,” she said.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which advocated for passage of SB 5375 through its FFRF Action Fund lobbying arm, said the law closes a longstanding and dangerous loophole that allowed clergy to withhold information about child abuse.

“FFRF urges the DOJ to immediately drop this politically motivated and legally unsound investigation,” the organization said in a news release. “Protecting children from harm must be a priority that transcends religious boundaries. It is not anti-Christian to hold clergy accountable — it is pro-child, pro-justice and pro-human rights.”

Other states that do not have an exemption for penitential communication as of May 2023 are New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia, according to the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

The Utah Legislature passed a bill last year that does not make clergy mandated reporters, but protects them from civil and criminal liability if they report ongoing abuse or neglect even if the information came from a penitent during confession.

Utah Rep. Anthony Loubet, R-Kearns, said he sponsored House Bill 432 after constituents reached out to him. Some religious organizations had implemented their own reporting requirements, but the protection from liability applied only to mandated reporters, which did not include clergy, he said.

Members of the clergy like having this option, Loubet said.

“This made it clear that they could report if they wanted to and if they did, they received the protection,” he said.

May 22 (UPI) — A former Republican House candidate from Florida has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for threatening to kill his political opponent.

William Robert Braddock, 41, of St. Petersburg, Fla., was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge William Jung, the Justice Department said in a statement.

The former Republican candidate for Florida’s 13th Congressional District pleaded guilty in February. He was charged with interstate transmission of a threat to injure.

Braddock was running for the Republican nomination for the 13th Congressional District in 2021. Though court documents do not name the target of his threats, information in the filings and media indicate it was Anna Paulina Luna, the frontrunner in that 2022 election.

According to federal prosecutions, Braddock viewed Luna — referred to in court documents as Victim-1, the Republican Party frontrunner — as his only obstacle to winning the primary.

He disparaged Luna for months to her peers and tried to involve himself in her life, court documents show. Then, in June 2021, during a phone call with one of Luna’s acquaintances, he threatened to have her murdered.

The court documents state he threatened to “call up my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad” who could make Luna “disappear.”

“I will be the next congressman for this district. Period. End of discussion,” he said, according to federal prosecutors. “And anybody going up against me is [expletive] ignorant for doing so.”

He continued by calling Luna “ignorant” and because of that, “I don’t have a problem taking her out, but I’m not going to do that dirty work myself, obviously.”

Then in November 2021, Braddock flew to Thailand and then settled in the Philippines where he remained until surrendering to Manila authorities in June 2023.

In September 2024, he was indicted and deported to the United States to stand trial.

Luna is currently serving her second term as the U.S. House Representative for Florida’s 13 Congressional District.

May 21 (UPI) — Two Israeli Embassy staff members were shot dead Wednesday night outside Washington’s Capital Jewish Museum where an event was being hosted by the American Jewish Committee, officials and authorities said.

“Two Israeli Embassy staff were senselessly killed tonight near the Jewish Museum in Washington DC,” Department of Home Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X.

Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith told reporters in a press conference that one person, the suspected shooter from Chicago, is in custody.

Police were notified of shots fired at 9:08 p.m. EDT outside the museum near the intersection of 3rd and F. Street Northwest.

Officers found two people, a man and a woman later identified as Israeli embassy staff, unresponsive and suffering from gunshot wounds, injuries that they succumbed to, she said.

“A young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem,” Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., said. “They were a beautiful couple.”

Smith said the suspect was seen pacing back and forth outside the museum before approaching a group of four people, pulling out a handgun and shooting both victims.

Event security detained the suspect who then entered the museum, she said.

“The suspect chanted, ‘Free, free Palestine’ while in custody,” she said, identifying the suspect at 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser suggested the attack Was terrorism.

“We will not tolerate this violence or hate in our city,” she said. “We will not tolerate any acts of terrorism, and we’re going to stand together as a community in the coming days and weeks to send a clear message that we will not tolerate anti-Semitism.”

This is a developing story.

May 21 (UPI) — Microsoft, the Department of Justice and others have thwarted the use of the Lumma Stealer malware that globally has infected nearly 400,000 computers.

The tech giant’s Digital Crimes Unit seized and helped take down, suspend and block about 2,300 “malicious domains” that were the backbone of Lumma’s infrastructure, said Steven Masada, assistant general counsel for Microsoft’s DCU.

Microsoft on May 13 filed a federal lawsuit against Lumma Stealer in the U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia, itnews reported.

Microsoft says Lumma Stealer is a “malware as a service” that can steal data from browsers, cryptocurrency wallets and other applications by installing malware.

The tech firm from March 15 through Friday identified more than 394,000 Windows computers around the world that were infected with the Lumma malware.

The Department of Justice on Wednesday unsealed two warrants authorizing the seizure of five Internet domains used by cybercriminals to operate the Lumma malware service, which also is called “LummaC2.”

The Lumma malware “is deployed to steal sensitive information, such as user login credentials from millions of victims in order to facilitate a host of crimes,” said Matthew Galeotti, leader of the DOJ’s Criminal Division, in a news release.

Those crimes include fraudulent bank transfers and cryptocurrency theft, Galeotti said.

“The Justice Department is resolved to use court-ordered disruptions like this one to protect the public from the theft of their personal information and their assets,” he added.

The DOJ’s affidavit seeking the two seizure warrants accuses the administrators of LummaC2 of using the seized websites to distribute the malware to their affiliates and other cyber criminals.

Browser data, autofill info, login credentials for email and banking services, and cryptocurrency seed phrases that open crypto wallets were common targets affected by the malware, according to the DOJ.

FBI investigators also identified at least 1.7 million instances in which the malware enabled cybercriminals to steal such information.

The DOJ on Monday seized two online domains used to distribute the malware, which caused the Lumma operators to direct users to three new domains on Tuesday.

The DOJ seized the three new domains on Wednesday.

Europol’s European Cybercrime Center and Japan’s Cybercrime Control Center enabled the takedown of Lumma infrastructure within their respective jurisdictions, Microsoft officials said.

May 21 (UPI) — An ex-New York state police officer on Wednesday pleaded guilty to shooting himself in the leg as part of a fake crime scene in what prosecutors said was a plan to gain sympathy.

Former trooper Thomas Mascia, 27, admitted in court that he staged the supposed crime scene on October 30 after he claimed to have been injured by an unknown shooter near exit 17 of New York’s Southern State Parkway while checking on a disabled vehicle.

The West Hempstead resident pleaded guilty to tampering with physical evidence, falsely reporting a police incident and for official misconduct.

He is expected to serve six months in prison, five years of probation and must undergo continued mental health treatment and pay more than $289,500 in restitution.

Mascia admitted that he spread shells at the alleged scene, then drove in his state vehicle to nearby Hempstead Lake State Park, where he then shot himself with the same caliber rifle loaded with the same shells left on the highway. It is there where he returned and called in the staged incident.

“You weren’t shot by someone else?” asked the assistant Nassau County district attorney, to which Mascia replied: “Yes.”

His actions had set off a statewide manhunt for the suspected vehicle Mascia described until investigators discovered the gunshot was self-inflicted.

Mascia attorney Jeffrey Lichtman stated Mascia also lied about getting hit by a car during an alleged 2022 hit-and-run incident upstate, adding that state police officials missed the signs of mental distress which, according to Lichtman, was what led to October’s staged event.

The former state trooper saw a delayed plea deal earlier this month after Mascia inadvertently expressed that he was not in good mental health.

On Wednesday, he said “yes” after the judge inquired if he was in a good mental state.

Additionally, Mascia’s parents were charged with criminal possession of a firearm.

Thomas Mascia Sr., a former NYPD officer until his conviction in the 1990s for his role in a cocaine ring, was charged after a search of the home related to the incident uncovered an illegal assault-style weapon along with about $80,000 in cash.

Meanwhile, Mascia is expected to be sentenced on August 20.

May 21 (UPI) — The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over his testimony last year to Congress, according to a report Tuesday.

House Republicans have accused Cuomo, who is currently a mayoral candidate for New York City, of lying to the House Oversight Committee about nursing home deaths in the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday, two people briefed on the matter revealed that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation in response, according to The New York Times — which was the first to report — as well as CNN and NBC.

The Justice Department’s inquiry comes after it recently withdrew a separate corruption prosecution of current New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is running for re-election against Cuomo.

Following last year’s testimony, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., claimed there was “overwhelming evidence” that Cuomo, 67, undercounted the total number of deaths in New York senior care facilities by 46%, during an audit in July 2020.

Cuomo insisted during the hearing that he had not drafted, reviewed or consulted on the nursing home report, which was published by the New York State Department of Health.

Comer referred Cuomo for prosecution last year, but was denied by former Attorney General Merrick Garland. The House GOP-led panel renewed that prosecution effort last month.

“Governor Cuomo testified truthfully to the best of his recollection about events four years earlier, and he offered to address any follow-up questions from the subcommittee — but from the beginning this was all transparently political,” Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, said Tuesday in a statement as he denied knowledge of the investigation.

“We have never been informed of any such matter, so why would someone leak it now? The answer is obvious,” Azzopardi said. “This is lawfare and election interference plain and simple — something President Trump and his top Department of Justice officials say they are against.”

On Tuesday, Voices for Seniors applauded the investigation, in a post on X, adding it was “overdue.”

“After years of silence, deflection and political spin, the wheels of justice are finally beginning to turn,” the group said. “This investigation is not just justified, it’s overdue. The evidence paints a damning picture of a leader more concerned with image than integrity. Grieving families have waited long enough.”

“We call on the DOJ to pursue this case with relentless urgency. Voices for Seniors stands prepared to cooperate fully.”

May 20 (UPI) — A maintenance worker was arrested for aiding in the escape of nearly a dozen inmates from a jail in New Orleans.

Sterling Willings, 33, was arrested Monday night for allegedly facilitating the escape of 10 inmates housed at Orleans Parish Justice Center in Louisiana and was booked “without incident” into a Plaquemines Parish jail Tuesday morning, according to ABC, CBS and NOLA.

According to state Attorney General Liz Murrill, Williams told agents that one of the escapees advised him to turn the water off in the cell where the inmates escaped from.

“This is a continuing investigation, and we will provide updates as often as possible,” Murrill said Tuesday in a statement.

Throughout the investigation, three other jail employees were suspended as the search for the remaining six inmates — Antoine Massey, Lenton Vanburen, Jermaine Donald, Leo Tate, Derrick Groves and Corey Boyd — carries on.

“We will uncover all the facts eventually and anyone who aided and abetted will be prosecuted to the full extent the law allows,” added Murrill.

Three of the escapees — Robert Moody, Dkenan Dennis and Kendall Myles — were apprehended within 24 hours and a fourth was arrested Monday, 21-year-old Gary C. Price.

On Friday, the 10 men escaped via a wall behind a toilet at around 1:00 a.m. CDT. Meanwhile, the escape wasn’t discovered until a routine headcount at 8:30 a.m., hours after the successful break.

More than 200 officers with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies were participating in the manhunt after the 10 men escaped Friday morning from Orleans Parish with authorities alerted in Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

Williams allegedly shut off the toilet water so the crew could make their exit after ripping the toilet off its foundation.

They breached a wall behind it, used a loading dock door to exit the jail and scaled fences with blankets to protect themselves from getting cut by barbed wire, according to officials. Finally, they crossed Interstate 10 and dispersed into a nearby neighborhood and took off their inmate clothes.

Sheriff Susan Hutson speculated the jailbreak could be an inside job.

“Even Stevie Wonder can see that this was an inside job,” Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams told ABC Tuesday morning, whose office is investigating the breakout.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, meanwhile, has ordered a comprehensive jail audit.

“Ten violent offenders don’t make their way into a pod made for two and make good their escape through concrete, rebar and barbed wire, without there being some sort of inside assistance,” Williams added.

The district attorney speculated that “greed, avarice, friendship, the motives that cause men to do bad things” could be among reasons why a jail employee would risk their job to help a prisoner escape.

Williams, the prison worker, is now facing at least 10 counts of simple to principle escape and one charge of office malfeasance.

May 20 (UPI) — The U.S. Justice Department charged Rep. LaMonica McIver in connection with her alleged actions during an incident at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in her congressional district.

U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba made the announcement via an X post that stated McIver, D-N.J., has been charged with counts related to “assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement.”

The charges stem from a confrontation that occurred earlier on May 9 at the Delancey Hall ICE detention prison in Newark. McIver, along with fellow New Jersey Democratic Reps. Rob Menendez and Bonnie Watson Coleman attempted to reportedly inspect the facility where as many as 1,000 undocumented migrants are being held.

McIver, Menendez and Watson Coleman, as well as Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, were allegedly involved in a physical confrontation between demonstrators and ICE agents. Baraka was arrested at the scene and charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor, but Habba noted in the press release the charge against him has since been dropped “for the sake of moving forward.”

Habba further explained she has invited Baraka to tour Delancy Hall.

However, she alleged that McIver “assaulted, impeded and interfered with law enforcement,” and “that conduct cannot be overlooked.” She also claimed she has “persistently made efforts to address these issues without bringing criminal charges,” and has given McIver “every opportunity to come to a resolution, but she has unfortunately declined.”

The statement did not mention if there is any intention to take McIver into custody.

McIver also released a statement Monday, in which she said she and the other Representatives present “were fulfilling our lawful oversight responsibilities, as members of Congress have done many times before,” and that the “visit should have been peaceful and short.”

Instead, she alleged, “ICE agents created an unnecessary and unsafe confrontation when they chose to arrest Mayor Baraka.”

“The charges against me are purely political — they mischaracterize and distort my actions and are meant to criminalize and deter legislative oversight,” she said. “This administration will never stop me from working for the people in our district and standing up for what is right. I am thankful for the outpouring of support I have received and I look forward to the truth being laid out clearly in court.”

May 20 (UPI) — Authorities in Britain have arrested a third suspect in connection with a fire set at a home owned by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The unidentified 34-year-old was arrested Monday morning in Chelsea on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life, Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

The arrest comes after a 26-year-old was arrested Saturday and a 21-year-old was arrested May 13.

The 21-year-old suspect has since been identified as Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, of Sydenham, London.

The Crown Prosecution Service on Thursday authorized Lavrynovych to be charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.

Authorities accuse the three suspects of being involved in three fires set at north London residences.

The first fire was set on May 8, another on May 11 and the third on May 12.

The most recent fire was lit at a residence in Kentish Town that is owned by the prime minister, who is currently living at his official 10 Downing Street residence with his family. The targeted home was being rented out at the time of the incident.

No injuries were reported in connection with any of the fires.

May 20 (UPI) — Lithuania on Monday filed a case against Belarus in the International Court of Justice, accusing its southern neighbor of facilitating a large-scale smuggling scheme.

The filing initiates legal proceedings against Belarus in the World Court, based in The Hague.

“We are taking this case to the International Court of Justice to send a clear message: no state can use vulnerable people as political pawns without facing consequences under international law,” Lithuanian Justice Minister Rimantas Mockus said in a statement.

Lithuania specifically accused Belarus of violating the United Nations Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, which was adopted in 2000, to supplement the U.N. Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

According to the application to the ICJ, the Baltic county accuses Belarus of “facilitating, supporting and enabling” the smuggling of migrants into the country while failing to implement smuggling protection measures at their shared border.

Vilnius also charges Minsk with failing to exchange information about smuggling with Lithuania’s border control agencies and neglecting to protect the rights of migrants.

“The smuggling of migrants through Belarus into Lithuania has caused serious harm to Lithuania’s sovereignty, security and public order, as well as to the rights and interests of the smuggled migrants themselves, who have been exposed to grave abuses in trying to reach Lithuanian territory,” Vilnius said.

“The large-scale smuggling of migrants has also overwhelmed Lithuania’s reception facilities and asylum systems, which has heavily affected Lithuania’s ability to respond to the migration crisis at the border.”

It said it has made “extensive efforts” to address the issue with Belarus, but that Belarus has “refused to engage in constructive and effective dialogue.”

Belarus not only continued to deny its responsibility under the U.N. protocol, it said, “but also the facts on the ground underlying those breaches,” it said.

Lithuania’s foreign ministry said the “unprecedented” flow of migrants from Belarus dates back to at least 2021, and that it has evidence confirming the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko is directly involved in the scheme.

According to the ministry, Belarusian state-owned companies have increased the number of flights from the Middle East and other regions and organized the issuance of visas and accommodations.

It said that when the migrants arrive in Belarus, many are taken to the Lithuanian border by security forces and are forced to cross into the country under what the ministry described as “dangerous and life-threatening conditions.”

Lithuania states that the smuggling scheme is an attempt to use migrants to retaliate against Vilnius and the European Union over their rejection of Lukashenko’s attacks on democracy and human rights abuses with sanctions.

Belarus has yet to respond to the development.

In December, the European Commission approved member states to adopt measures to country “the weaponization of migration by Russia and Belarus.”

It said Eastern EU countries that border both Belarus and Russia are at risk of migrants being used “as a political tool to destabilize our societies.”

May 19 (UPI) — A federal judge ruled Monday that a DOGE-lead takeover of the U.S. Institute of Peace by the Trump administration was “unlawful.”

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said the removal of USIP’s president and his replacement by a DOGE-appointed official along with the termination of “nearly all” its staff and transfer of USIP property to the U.S. General Services administration was “effectuated by illegitimately-installed leaders who lacked legal authority to take these actions, which must therefore be declared null and void,” she wrote.

Personnel from White House adviser Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency gained access to the U.S. Institute of Peace after originally being turned away in March. USIP then sued the administration for “unlawful dismantling,” with its acting chief saying DOGE “has broken into our building.”

Legislation signed in 1984 by then-President Ronald Reagan had created the USIP to be an “independent nonprofit corporation established by Congress.”

The Trump administration fired most of USIP’s 12-member board, leaving U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Defense University President Peter Garvin as its three remaining board members.

The three then installed Kenneth Jackson as acting USIP president.

In March, nearly two months to the day of Monday’s ruling, Howell rejected an initial complaint filed by the U.S. Institute of Peace against the Trump administration’s attempted takeover, but questioned the tactics used by DOGE in its appropriation.

“By design, USIP was established by the two political branches to advance a safer, more peaceful world with the specific tasks of conducting research, providing training on peacemaking techniques, and promoting peaceful conflict resolution abroad — without formally involving the U.S. government in foreign disputes,” Howell wrote in a 102-page memorandum opinion.

“The President second-guessed the judgment of Congress and President Reagan in creating USIP 40 years ago,” Howell, an appointee of ex-President Barack Obama, wrote Monday.

Meanwhile, USIP stated in its complaint that the White House “incorrectly labeled” the institute a “governmental entity” part of the “federal bureaucracy.”

However, Howell declined to issue a temporary restraining order, saying USIP was a “very complicated entity” with both qualities of non-governmental organizations and features of government agencies, such as having to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests.

In 2003, a USIP spokesman said the think tank is required by law to be a non-partisan institution, and is mandated only to address issues related to overseas conflict.

In her 4-page ruling, Howell wrote Monday that USIP Acting President George Moose would stay as its leader and banned the administration from “further trespass against the real and personal property belonging to the Institute and its employees, contractors, agents and other representatives.”

The White House, meanwhile, contended that the U.S. Institute of Peace had existed for 40 years but “failed to deliver peace.”

“President Trump is right to reduce failed, useless entities like USIP to their statutory minimum, and this rogue judge’s attempt to impede on the separation of powers will not be the last say on the matter,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told NBC Monday.

May 18 (UPI) — The federal government will allow the sale of devices that enable standard rifles to operate like machine guns, a move that angered gun control groups.

The Justice Department said Friday it reached a settlement with Rare Breed Triggers. This is in accordance with President Donald Trump‘s Feb. 17 executive order Protecting Second Amendment Rights and the attorney general’s Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force announced on April 8.

“This Department of Justice believes that the Second Amendment is not a second-class right,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “And we are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety.”

There are two ways to speed the firing of bullets. Bump stocks use the recoil of the weapon to repeatedly bump the trigger, while trigger devices are aftermarket items that directly engage the trigger.

During the first Trump administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives banned bump stocks, which mimic rapid trigger pulls to fire rapidly in a way similar to a machine gun. In 2017, the gunman in a mass shooting killed 58 people in Las Vegas while firing from his hotel room window using bump stocks.

In 2022, ATF included specific trigger devices under the National Firearms Act of 1934. The ATF determined that the devices allow a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle to fire as fast as a military M-16 in automatic mode.

In 2023, the Justice Department, as part of the Biden administration, brought a lawsuit in New York against Rare Breed Triggers.

The National Association of Gun Rights filed a separate lawsuit in Texas challenging the ban and a judge there ruled the ban was unlawful.

In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 6-3 vote in Cargill v. Garland, ruled ATF exceeded its statutory authority by issuing a rule classifying a bump stock as a “machine gun.”

The Court’s majority found that bump stocks do not meet the definition of a machine gun because they didn’t allow for automatic fire with the single pull of a trigger.

The next month, the Northern District of Texas applied the case to a device called a “forced-reset trigger” and concluded that they also cannot be classified as a “machine gun.”

DOJ is avoiding additional legal action against Rare Breed Triggers in appeals and related cases concerning the similar issue, Bondi said.

The settlement with Rare Breed Triggers includes agreed-upon conditions that significantly advance public safety with respect to FRTs, including that Rare Breed will not develop or design them for use in any pistol and will enforce its patents to prevent infringement that could threaten public safety.

Rare Breed also agreed promote the safe and responsible use of its products.

“The cuffs are off. As of May 16, 2025, we’re free! Expect the website to be updated on Monday, May 19,” the company posted on its website.

The decision was condemned by Vanessa Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Giffords, the national gun violence prevention group led by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in 2011 while meeting with constituents in her hometown of Tucson, Ariz.

“The Trump administration has just effectively legalized machine guns. Lives will be lost because of his actions,” Gonzalez said. “This is an incredibly dangerous move that will enable shooters to inflict horrific damage. The only people who benefit from these being on the market are the people who will make money from selling them, everyone else will suffer the consequences.”

The national gun control advocacy group Brady United said in a press release that “highly dangerous weapons of war can now be purchased anonymously” and without a background check.

“The Trump Administration’s secret settlement with the gun lobby to permit the sale of Forced Reset Triggers will turn already deadly firearms into weapons of mass destruction,” Kris Brown, president of Brady United, said in the release.

“Machine guns are weapons of war that have absolutely no place in our communities. This dangerous backroom deal is not only an astonishing abuse of power, but undermines decades of sensible government gun safety policy and puts whole communities at immediate serious risk,” he said.

Brady previous was called the National Council to Control Handguns and founded in 1974 by Dr. Mark Borinsky, whose son was shot and killed in 1974.

In 1981, White House Press Secretary Jim “the Bear” Brady suffered a bullet to the head, and the organization now bears his name.

May 18 (UPI) — A 25-year-old man on Sunday has been tentatively identified as the suspect in an explosion outside a Southern California fertility clinic that injured four and and killed one.

The FBI believes Edward Bartkus, a resident of Twentynine Palms, home to a large U.S. Marine Corps base, about 58 miles northwest of Palm Springs, used a vehicle-borne improvised bomb. The explosion occurred at 11 a.m. PDT Saturday and damaged several buildings.

“We are working through some other technical means to positively identify the decedent here, but we believe at this moment, based on the evidence that we’ve gathered, that that is Mr. Bartkus as the decedent here,” Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said at a Sunday morning news conference.

None of those injured are believed to be staff members of the clinic, city officials said.

American Reproductive Centers wrote on Facebook that a “vehicle exploded in the parking lot near our building.”

“Our mission has always been to help build families, and in times like these, we are reminded of just how fragile and precious life is,” the center posted. “In the face of this tragedy, we remain committed to creating hope — because we believe that healing begins with community, compassion, and care,” they wrote in the post.

“Out of every tragedy, there is an opportunity to come together with deeper purpose. While today’s events have shaken us all, they also shine a light on the strength of our community, the bravery of our first responders, and the resilience of the families we serve.

“At ARC, we believe in creating life – not just in the biological sense, but in the emotional and spiritual sense, too,” the post said.

The clinic expects to reopen Monday.

The Center for Reproductive Services and the American Coalition for Telemedicine told CBS News that they had not heard of any threats to their facilities or the organizations they work with across the country.

“We were able to save all of the embryos at this facility,” Davis said. “Good guys, 1, bad guys, 0.”

The blast could be felt more than a mile away from the blast zone and pieces of vehicles were thrown hundreds of feet in the air and then several blocks away.

“You can use your imagination for how big that bomb device was,” Davis said.

People at The Skylark Hotel, about 500 yards from the clinic, said they felt the explosion.

Palm Springs city officials said in a Facebook post that the blast occurred near several healthcare facilities.

“We believe he was the subject found by the vehicle,” Davis said.

The vehicle was a 2010 silver Ford Fusion sedan.

Davis said this is the largest bombing ever investigated in Southern California.

“It does require some planning and some skill to build a bomb of this kind, although we have seen similar devices with even more significant damage before including the horror of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the blast that rocked the World Trade Center during the first attack in February 1993,” Law Enforcement analyst Richard Esposito told CBS News.

Barkus has not been in the FBI’s radar, according to Davis.

In writing or recordings, the suspect was against bringing people into the world against their will, according to CBS law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation.

“The subject had nihilistic ideations and this was a targeted attack,” Davis said. “We believe he was attempting to livestream it and yes, that is also part of our investigation.”

On Saturday, Davis said: “Make no mistake, this is an intentional act of terrorism.”

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also sent agents to help with the investigation.

“Yesterday, a man intent on harming others in our city failed. Palm Springs survived and we are stronger and more resilient as a result,” Palm Springs Police Chief Andrew Mills said during Sunday’s news conference. “Our determination to continue life as we know it here in Palm Springs continues unabated and you’ll see this city dynamically grow as a result of this.

Late Saturday, the FBI and the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Office evacuated residents in the Twentynine Palms neighborhood where the suspect lived and more than 50 miles from the blast.

“I can confirm that we were executing a search warrant at that location in Twentynine Palms as a result of this explosion here,” Davis said. “Some residents were evacuated in the neighboring area as a practice of protocol and safety. We do not believe that there is an ongoing threat to the public in the Twentynine Palms area as a result of this investigation.”

May 19 (UPI) — Authorities in New Orleans are expressing confidence they will apprehend the remaining seven of 10 escaped inmates on the loose as they increase the reward for information on the whereabouts of the fugitives.

“We’re confident at this time that we have actionable intelligence on all seven of these fugitives, and we hope in the coming day — if not the coming hours — that we have them all apprehended,” Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Robert Hodges told reporters Sunday in a press conference.

Ten detainees escaped police custody at the Orleans Parish jail early Friday, sparking a manhunt that has so far led to the recapture of three of them.

A reward was offered for information resulting in any of their arrests, which was increased to $20,000 Sunday, with the FBI doubling its reward to $10,000 per inmate, while both the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Crime Stoppers were each increasing their rewards to $5,000 an inmate.

“We need the public’s help and we cannot do it alone,” Hodges said. “More importantly, if you are helping and assisting these fugitives, allowing them to remain uncaptured and not brought to justice, there will be consequences and there may be charges for you.”

Hodges emphasized that the recapture of these inmates occurred within the first 24 hours of their escape due to help from the public. Dkenan Dennis, 24, Kendell Myles, 23, and a 15-year-old male, have been relocated to another Louisiana state facility for their safety and the safety of others, Hodges said.

The seven inmates who remain at large have been identified as Corey Boyd, 19, Derrick Groves, 27, Jermaine Donald, 42, Lenton VanBuren, 26, Antoine Massey, 32, Leo Tate, 31, and Gary Price, 21.

“These are violent criminals and they escaped and they have consequences for their actions,” Hodges said.

FBI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp told reporters they “strongly believe” the escaped inmates are receiving help to evade capture.

The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office said jail officials discovered the breakout at 8:30 a.m. local Friday during a routine headcount.

It was learned that the detainees were able to exit Thursday night due to “defective locks and doors,” it said.

They next broke through a locked cell door at about 12:23 a.m. Friday before breaching a wall behind a toilet in their housing unit and then exiting the jail through a door at about 1 a.m., scaled a wall and fled across the interstate.

Three staff members have been suspended without pay amid an internal investigation into facility operations and supervision practices in connection to the escape, the sheriff’s office said.

More than 200 officers with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies are participating in the manhunt.

May 17 (UPI) — A man with a long gun entered a Las Vegas Athletic Club gym Friday afternoon and killed an employee and injured three others before police shot and killed him.

The shooting occurred at about 1:30 p.m. PDT at the LVAC location on Lake Mead and Rainbow Blvd. in northwest Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Athletic club officials on Saturday identified the deceased shooting victim as longtime employee Edgar Quinonez.

“Edgar was a beloved part of the LVAC family for 15 years,” the LVAC said Saturday in an Instagram post.

“In that time he became so much more than a colleague. He was a source of kindness, dedication and positivity,” the LVAC said. “His presence touched the lives of so many members and teammates, and his impact will never be forgotten.

“We are praying for Edgar’s family, friends and everyone who had the privilege of knowing him. He will be deeply missed.

Local police responded to the scene within minutes of the shooting and shot the suspect, who was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead.

The three surviving shooting victims were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Police have not revealed the shooter’s name or a possible motive for the attack.

May 17 (UPI) — A car explosion killed one and injured five in Palm Springs, Calif., Saturday morning during what local police are calling an “intentional act.”

The explosion happened in a parking lot at 1199 N. Indian Canyon about 11 a.m. and damaged several buildings, Palm Springs Police Chief Andy Mills said in a Facebook post.

“The blast appears to be an intentional act of violence,” Mills said. “The blast field extends for blocks with several buildings damaged – some severely.”

Mills said the “incident appears to be isolated,” and FBI investigators are on the scene. The identity of the deceased person is unknown.

The FBI’s Los Angeles field office confirmed it is investigating the explosion.

“FBI assets being deployed include investigators, bomb technicians and an evidence response team,” the FBI Los Angeles said in a post on X.

Several medical facilities are located within and near the blast area, including the Desert Regional Medical Center, NBC News reported.

Some windows were damaged at the medical center in a medical office building that was facing the explosion, hospital spokesman Rich Ramhoff told the Desert Sun.

Although it is open and fully operational, access is limited due to the police response.

Hospital officials ask visitors to stay away until full access is restored on local streets.

An American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic is located near where the car was parked when it exploded, but none of its employees were injured.

ARC officials said no damage occurred to the eggs, embryos and reproductive materials at the fertility clinic.

“We are heavily conducting a complete safety inspection and have confirmed that our operations and sensitive medical areas were not impacted by the blast,” ARC officials said in a Facebook post.

The fertility clinic will be open and fully operational on Monday morning with staff available to address any concerns its clients might have.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the explosion, his press office said in a social media post.

The state is working with the FBI and local police to support the response to the car explosion.

May 17 (UPI) — Three Iranian men were charged with National Security Act violations for targeting U.K.-based journalists with “serious violence” during a Saturday court appearance.

Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, of London were charged in the Westminster Magistrates Court in London, the BBC reported.

Sepahvand also is charged with “surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research” while planning to commit “serious violence against a person in the U.K.”

The trio are London residents who have sought asylum and were arrested on May 3 for “engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service” from Aug. 14 to Feb. 16, CNN reported.

Iran’s foreign intelligence service is the one they are accused of assisting by allegedly surveilling and targeting journalists for Iran International, which is an independent media outlet based in London.

The three are Iranian citizens and entered the United Kingdom between 2016 and 2022.

Sepahvand hid inside a lorry when he arrived in 2016, while the other two arrived in small boats.

Each was granted temporary asylum shortly after arriving in the United Kingdom.

None of the three entered pleas during Saturday’s court hearing, and the three men have another court hearing scheduled on June 6 at the Old Bailey Central Criminal Court in London.

May 16 (UPI) — A federal judge will hear arguments Friday from the Trump administration to determine if the government has the legal privilege to not share details about its actions taken toward the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Abrego Garcia was deported in March to the supermax Terrorism Confinement Center prison, or CECOT, in El Salvador because he was an accused member of the MS-13 gang.

The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration in April to return Abrego Garcia, who it said was illegally removed from the United States.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers continue to try to bring him back but allege the federal government has purposefully delayed his return. The Trump administration has since invoked “state secrets privilege,” which allows an executive department to withhold information or evidence in a court case because the information or evidence could jeopardize national security.

The administration’s use of the privilege has presiding U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis to ask lawyers from both sides of the case to file added legal papers about the administration’s use of the privilege.

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys filed papers Monday that purport the government has yet to produce any evidence that it has done anything to facilitate the man’s release from imprisonment in El Salvador.

Abrego Garcia was born in El Salvador but entered the U.S. illegally in 2011 and had been living in Maryland. He was granted a withholding of removal legal status in 2019 that protected him from deportation due to the risk he would face upon a return to El Salvador from local gangs.

He was one of hundreds of migrants sent by the Trump administration in March to CECOT, and despite the government’s acknowledgement that he was incorrectly deported, he has been purported to be a member of the gang MS-13 by immigration officials.

Abrego Garcia’s legal team has argued that he was not only never part of MS-13, but was never charged or convicted of any crimes in the United States.

May 16 (UPI) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday blocked the administration of President Donald Trump from using the rare wartime Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan detainees accused of being members of violent gangs.

The Supreme Court, in its decision, also rebuked judges from a U.S. District Court in North Texas for waiting too long to act on urgent requests related to the impending deportations.

The decision, which sent the case for deliberation back to the Fifth Circuit court, effectively blocks any removals under the Alien Enemies Act until the case can be properly reviewed.

The case is rooted in an April 17 request from two Venezuelan detainees for a temporary restraining order to stop their removal from the United States, which the district court denied that evening.

Later that night, the two detainees were given notice of their imminent removal, leading their lawyers to file a second, emergency request for a temporary restraining order to halt their deportation just after midnight.

“The named applicants, along with putative class members, are entitled to constitutionally adequate notice prior to any removal, in order to pursue appropriate relief,” the Supreme Court wrote in its latest ruling.

The lawyers asked the court to rule on the second request or hold a status conference by 1:30 p.m. The district court failed to rule on the request or hold a status conference that day, with their inaction becoming central to the Supreme Court’s rebuke.

“A district court’s inaction in the face of extreme urgency and a high risk of ‘serious, perhaps irreparable,’ consequences may have the effect of refusing an injunction,” the Supreme Court ruled.

By 3 p.m. on April 18, the lawyers for the detainees appealed to the Fifth Circuit, claiming that the district court’s inaction amounted to a constructive denial — which is when a court does not officially decline a request but acts, or fails to act, in a way that is effectively a denial.

The Supreme Court previously ruled in this case, ordering an emergency injunction that evening to stop the deportations before midnight. That ruling was a procedural hold, not a final ruling, and did not weigh in on the legality of the deportations.

In the days following the emergency injunction, the Fifth Circuit dismissed the appeal, reasoning that the detainees had not given the district court enough time to respond before escalating the case.

This prompted the process for the case to return before the Supreme Court as the detainees asked the high court to treat their emergency application as a formal petition for the court to hear the case, review the lower court’s rulings and to settle the constitutional questions raised by their deportations.

The Supreme Court has vacated the Fifth Circuit court’s dismissal and sent it back to the lower court for a proper legal review, preventing the government from further deportations until the case can be properly decided.

The high court clarified that, as on April 19, its ruling does not address the underlying merits of each side regarding removals under the Alien Enemies Act.

“We recognize the significance of the Government’s national security interests as well as the necessity that such interests be pursued in a manner consistent with the Constitution,” the Supreme Court wrote. “In light of the foregoing, lower courts should address AEA cases expeditiously.”

Justice Samuel Alito dissented, joined by Clarence Thomas, arguing that the Supreme Court never had the legal authority to step in because there was no valid appeal since the district court never actually denied the temporary restraining order request.