ABC News Live: Alex Murdaugh trial begins in South Carolina
Plus, the latest on the investigations into classified documents found at several top government officials’ homes, and what you should do if you get laid off.
Plus, the latest on the investigations into classified documents found at several top government officials’ homes, and what you should do if you get laid off.
Embattled GOP Rep. George Santos told House Republicans during a closed door meeting on Tuesday that he would recuse himself from sitting on any committees, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. Santos was recently assigned two committees -- the House Small Business Committee and the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. Leaving the House Republican meeting, Speaker Kevin McCarthy confirmed that Santos said he would recuse himself from committees but indicated if he were to fill the committee seats, it would be on a temporary basis.
Ashley Judd says she is back in therapy after tabloids released photos earlier this month from her mother's death. Judd's mother, singer Naomi Judd -- one half of The Judds -- died by suicide in April 2022. Ashley Judd said she spent three months in the fall following her mother's death doing psychotherapy, specifically eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR.
The use of the death penalty under the rule of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his father, King Salman, has almost doubled annually since they rose to power, according to a new report seen by ABC News. The report, published on Tuesday by the non-profit European Saudi organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) and the anti-death penalty charity Reprieve, titled “Bloodshed and Lies: Mohammed bin Salman’s Kingdom of Executions,” says that the average number of executions has risen 82% under their rule, even as the country has projected a modernizing image to the outside world. The number of executions annually has risen from an average of 70.8 between 2010-2014, to 129.5 per year since 2015, when the current king and crown prince came to power.
A suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a mosque in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing and wounding hundreds of worshippers, officials said. More than 300 people were said to be praying there when the suicide bomber struck. Security and government officials confirmed the explosion was from a suicide bomber.
A California man who prosecutors say intentionally drove his Tesla off a cliff with his family inside is facing attempted murder charges. Dharmesh Arvind Patel, 41, of Pasadena, was arraigned on three felony counts of attempted murder at the San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City on Monday afternoon. Patel's attorney, Josh Bentley, did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.
President Joe Biden is expected to pose two questions to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during a Wednesday meeting and will challenge the Speaker to commit to avoiding a catastrophic default and unveil a specific, detailed and comprehensive budget, according to a White House memo obtained first by ABC News. The highly anticipated meeting comes amid an ongoing standoff over the debt limit. According to the memo, the president is expected to ask McCarthy if he will "commit to the bedrock principle that the United States will never default on its financial obligations" and whether he agrees with "former presidents, including Presidents Trump and Reagan, that it is critical to avoid debt limit brinksmanship."
The death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died following a violent encounter with Memphis police officers, has put diversity in policing back in the spotlight. Five now-former officers charged in his death are Black. A sixth officer involved, who is white, has been relieved of duty but not fired or charged.
Georgia mom Deshai Fudd thought she had an idea of what to expect when she started having contractions one day in late November last year. Fudd already had two children, but to her great surprise, she and her husband Loston Fudd welcomed their third child not at the hospital where they expected to be, but in the car, in traffic on the way there.
Actress, producer, CEO -- all of these words can be used to describe Tracee Ellis Ross. Ross is putting that on display with the new Dear Media podcast "I Am America," which she co-created and for which she serves as executive producer and co-writer. Each episode highlights a different individual, people Ross calls "hidden angels," sharing their unique stories.
Eagerly awaiting the arrival of state-of-the-art tanks from Western allies, Ukrainian tank commander Ihor Levchenko told ABC News he's confident that compared to the "rusty and old" contraptions he now operates, the prized armored combat vehicles will give his country "a very significant advantage on the battlefield." Levchenko showed ABC News the Soviet-era-design tanks he and his battalion now use, concealed in a small woodland in eastern Ukraine and within earshot of the constant thud of artillery from the front lines a few miles away. "The ones who do not get scared, are the ones that get killed," Levchenko said.
Two monkeys were reported missing from the Dallas Zoo on Monday, the latest in a series of animal incidents to rock the zoo. Members of the zoo's animal care team discovered two emperor tamarin monkeys missing from their habitats, which was "intentionally compromised," the Dallas Zoo told ABC News in a statement. Zoo officials alerted law enforcement officials about the missing monkeys, which have yet to be found.
Sam Bankman-Fried's bond guarantors should be named publicly, a federal judge ruled Monday after news organizations objected to the names being redacted. Bankman-Fried was released on a $250 million personal recognizance bond co-signed by his parents and two other non-parental sureties. The judge agreed with news organizations who argued the public interest weighed in favor of allowing the two names to be released.
A mass shooting in a Florida city has left 10 people wounded, the Lakeland Police Department announced on Monday. "One is in surgery and the other is either in surgery or headed to surgery," Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor said at a press conference on Monday. Lakeland Police did not identify any suspects, but believe that four alleged shooters fired guns on both sides of the street from their vehicle, which Taylor described as a four-door Nissan.
Donald Trump sued journalist Bob Woodward on Monday, claiming that the audio companion to Woodward's book "Rage" improperly used recordings of his interviews with the former president. According to Trump's suit, filed in federal court in Florida, he contends that he consented to being recorded only for the purposes of the book and not to the release of the audio recordings for other reasons. The complaint accuses Woodward of "systematic usurpation, manipulation, and exploitation of audio of President Trump gathered in connection with a series of interviews."
Bipartisan outrage continued following the Friday release of graphic footage of police officers beating Tyre Nichols after a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee, earlier this month -- with lawmakers saying such a brutal reaction was "unconscionable." "Justice for Tyre Nichols must be swift and complete," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., wrote in a tweet, calling Nichols' death "brutal and violent." Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., a past negotiator in Congress on potential policing reform, called for punishments for those involved.
Princess Kate is starting the new year with a new project, one that focuses on young kids. Kate, a mother of three who has made early childhood development a focus of her royal work, is launching "Shaping Us," a new campaign aimed at raising public awareness about the importance of the first five years of a child's life, according to Kensington Palace. The campaign kicked off Monday night with Kate and her husband Prince William attending a special reception at BAFTA headquarters in London, where Kate delivered a speech.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken began a potentially high stakes visit to Israel on Monday as the Biden administration seeks to deepen collaboration with the nation's new hard-line government on security concerns in the Middle East -- while preventing resurgent tensions between Israelis and Palestinians from erupting into full-scale fighting. Blinken met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose conservative coalition narrowly won back power in late 2022. Although concerns that Netanyahu's far-right coalition will weaken Israel's democracy and counter the Biden administration's agenda have persisted since he regained power, both officials praised each other during public remarks following closed-door talks, with the secretary describing their conversation as "very productive" and "very candid."
The Biden administration will end both the COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency on May 11, the White House informed Congress on Monday night. The current public health emergency is in place through April, while the national emergency is in place until March. "To be clear, continuation of these emergency declarations until May 11 does not impose any restriction at all on individual conduct with regard to COVID-19," the administration wrote.
Two additional Memphis police officers, including the white officer seen encountering Tyre Nichols during his traffic stop, were relieved of duty and three Memphis Fire Department personnel were fired as the investigation into the Jan. 7 death of Nichols continues, officials announced Monday. Officer Preston Hemphill and an unidentified officer were relieved of their duty a day after the incident, Memphis PD revealed Monday. The Memphis Fire Department also announced Monday that it fired two EMTs and a lieutenant who responded to the scene for failing to properly assess Nichols as he lay beaten on the ground.
Ciara is a singer, dancer, businesswoman... and a fashion designer, maybe? Since posting, Ciara's video has gained plenty of traction with more than 157,000 likes and loads of comments. Ciara is no stranger to the fashion world, having launched her own fashion line LITA in 2021.