'Egg on their face.' Trump's revenge prosecution failures embarrass DOJ

Dismissed indictments; two grand juriesrefusing to issue new charges; a judge blocking key evidence from being used for a fresh case: in trying to prosecute key targets ofPresident Donald Trump, the Justice Department has faced failures on a scale rarely seen in federal prosecutions.

The most dramatic recent setback was a second federal grand jury's refusal on Dec. 11 to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, after an earlier grand juryrejected the Justice Department's proposed charges last week. Abbe Lowell, a prominent lawyer who represents James, described the repeat failure as "unprecedented."

Shortly before that, earlier indictments against James and former FBI Director James Comey were thrown out, and a judgeruled that the DOJ can't use evidence– at least for now – that was key to its first indictment against Comey.

See protests outside courthouse as former FBI Director James Comey is arraigned

The latest developments exacerbate the mounting struggles Trump administration lawyers have faced in trying to prosecute Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. The president called for prosecuting both of them, as well as Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) in aSept. 20 social media post.

"This is an embarrassment," Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, told USA TODAY. "The last thing you want to be as a prosecutor is to be on the defensive, and that's exactly what's happening here."

A DOJ investigation into Schiff has stalled, according toan NBC News report, which cited four anonymous sources familiar with the matter.Multiplemediareportssuggest federal investigators are now probing how the Schiff investigation has been handled.

The Justice Department declined to comment about its record in cases against Trump's targets.

Indictments dismissed after mounting legal challenges

A federal grand jury charged Comey Sept. 25 withlying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceedingduring testimony he gave to a Senate committee on Sept. 30, 2020. A separate federal grand jury charged James Oct. 9 withbank fraud and making false statementsto a financial institution.

Trump's vendetta against both of them goes back years. In 2017, hefired Comey as head of the FBI, which was investigating possible contacts between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Russian government. Afterward, Comey became anoutspoken critic of Trump. James brought acivil fraud lawsuit against Trumpin 2022, alleging he engaged in years of fraud as a real estate mogul.

Earlier this year, longtime prosecutors – including the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, who was appointed after Trump took office in January – reportedly concluded the evidence was too weak in both cases to bring charges.

Trump thenposted on social mediathat he fired the U.S. attorney, and recommendedAttorney General Pam Bondiinstall Lindsey Halligan instead, his former personal lawyer, who had no prosecutorial experience. Bondi took that step within days, and Halligan secured indictments against both Comey and James.

Almost from the get-go, the cases were hit with mounting hurdles.

ComeyandJameseach brought motions arguing the prosecutionswere motivated by Trump's personal animus, and therefore unconstitutional. James alleged the governmentengaged in unconstitutionally "outrageous" conduct, such as removing career prosecutors and ethics officials who stood in the way of bringing charges. Comey said his case arose frommisconduct before the grand jury, including failing to present the grand jury with the final indictment, and should therefore be tossed.

Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick, who wasappointed to his positionby other judges,wrote in Comey's casethat there was evidence of a"disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps."He said the government may have violated the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches and seizures when it obtained evidence, among other issues.

In late November, Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, a Clinton appointee, erased all the charges against both Comey and James after concluding that Halligan was unlawfully appointed.

The end result is that the prosecutions haven't amounted to much in court – even if they have made Comey and James' lives more difficult.

"So far, I don't think the federal government DOJ has had much success at all except to harass them, which is maybe the point," Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, told USA TODAY.

Multiple re-indictment attempts against James fail

The Justice Department's setbacks in the cases against Comey and James didn't end there.

While Bondi vowed to appeal the dismissals, the department soon took a different approach – trying to move on from the issues with Halligan securing the original indictments by seeking a new indictment against James.

The indictment process before federal grand juries heavily favors prosecutors. They, but not the defense team, are present. They only need to convince a majority of the jurors to indict. They only need to show their allegations are probably true. And the standards for putting evidence in front of jurors are lower than at trial.

A conviction at trial, by contrast, requires a jury to unanimously conclude the defendant is guilty beyond any reasonable doubt.

However, on Dec. 4, a federal grand jury rejected a prosecution request to re-indict James. That, according to multiple former prosecutors, suggests the evidence against James is weak.

Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor, estimated he sought indictments well over 100 times during his three years in the New Jersey U.S. attorney's office, and never failed to get one. He said the office as a whole sought thousands of indictments during that time and he only knew of one failure.

To present a case to two different grand juries in a week and fail to get charges both times "is humiliating and a repudiation of the prosecution," Epner told USA TODAY.

Rahmani estimated he obtained grand jury indictments against about 100 defendants during his time as a federal prosecutor, and never once had a grand jury fail to indict.

"If you can't convince the grand jurors, there's no way you're going to be able to convince trial jurors," he said.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi heads Justice Department

Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan under President Barack Obama, said in an email that prosecutors' ethical duties prohibit them from filing criminal charges when they probably won't get a conviction at trial.

"When prosecutors are selected based on loyalty rather than experience and integrity, this is the sort of garbage we can expect," McQuade said.

DOJ blocked from using evidence for new Comey indictment

The DOJ has also suggested it may seek to re-indict Comey. In acourt filing Dec. 9, prosecutors asked Judge Kollar-Kotelly to dissolve the temporary block she put on their ability to use the same evidence Halligan used when she secured charges against Comey the first time.

Kollar-Kotelly ruled Dec. 6 that keeping the evidence, which the government initially obtained during a separate 2017 investigation,probably amounted to an unconstitutional search or seizure.

Kollar-Kotelly could issue a new ruling removing or extending the temporary block Dec. 12, when it's set to expire.

Even if the Justice Department can overcome that challenge, it faces a further legal hurdle when it comes to whether the deadline has passed for charging Comey.

The first indictment against him came down just five days before the five-year statutory deadline for bringing charges.

The prosecution could argue that a federal law thattypically gives the government an extra six monthsto seek new charges after a federal indictment is dismissed applies. However, a lawyer for Comey, Patrick Fitzgerald, has signaled the defense would disagree. He suggested in a statement after the first indictment was dismissed that, because the indictment was void, it didn't trigger the six-month provision, so Comey can't be re-indicted on the same charges.

"The DOJ and Halligan herself, in particular – they have an egg on their face," Rahmani said. "These are nothing short of some pretty massive failures by the DOJ in these cases."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Trump DOJ's Comey and James revenge prosecutions keep failing

byVincento Seyarto

in

December 11, 2025

'Egg on their face.' Trump's revenge prosecution failures embarrass DOJ

Dismissed indictments; two grand juriesrefusing to issue new charges; a judge blocking key evidence from being used for a...

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Mexican devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe blends into national identity

MEXICO CITY (AP) — There's a saying in Mexico: "Not all Mexicans areCatholic, but all are Guadalupan."

The phrase conveys the deep connection betweenOur Lady of Guadalupeand the country's identity. In the nation of 130 million people — themajority of whomidentify as Catholic — this apparition ofthe Virgin Marycarries a symbolic force that often surpasses religious belief.

"AfterMexicoemerged as an independent nation, she came to embody not just religious devotion but a sense of national identity," said Nydia Rodríguez, director of a museum dedicated to the Virgin at Mexico City's Basilica. The sanctuary draws up to 12 million pilgrims during her feast day each Dec. 12.

Mexico's official emblemis an eagleperched on a cactus while devouring a serpent. The Virgin's likeness is often on display alongside it in government buildings, banners and portraits of political leaders.

"Mexico is a secular state, but in its history there has always been religion," Rodríguez said. "Our pre-Hispanic ancestors and Spanish society were deeply religious and there's a point where both traditions meet."

Among the pieces on display at the museum is a 19th-century painting known as the "Virgin of Congress." It stands at the center of the main hall, flanked by two golden eagles and framed by Mexican flags.

"This was a gift for the first Constitutional Congress," Rodríguez said. "In a way, it legitimized those political leaders as if Our Lady of Guadalupe was backing up that Congress."

Where belief begins

The museum's "Virgin of Congress" is no ordinary painting. It belongs to a group of artworks classified as "touched by the original," a term used by Mexican scholars to describe a devotional copy of the original image.

According to the Catholic Church, that very first icon is considered a miracle. Its backstory describes the Virgin's apparition on a cold December night in 1531.

Under that belief, an Indigenous man named Juan Diego saw Our Lady of Guadalupe near Tepeyac Hill, where the current Basilica stands. She is said to have asked for a temple to be built to honor her son, Jesus Christ, but the local bishop was skeptical.

Guided by her instruction, Juan Diego placed flowers in his cloak. And when he later opened it, a colorful image of the Virgin appeared.

That cloth hangs in the center of the Basilica. Pilgrims travel from across Mexico all year long to give thanks for the miracles they believe the Virgin has granted them.

Teresa Morales is among them. The 85-year-old made a recent visit to the shrine ahead of Dec. 12 to show gratitude for her good health.

She said she felt tormented by knee pain that barely allowed her to walk. But as she prayed to an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that she keeps at home, her suffering stopped.

"The other day I came for confession and the priest told me to spread the word," she said. "To tell everyone that her miracles are real."

The Virgin's civic power

Our Lady of Guadalupe's power to bring people together was key when Mexico's movement for independence began in 1810.

The fight against Spanish rule was led by a priest called Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. Now considered the father of the nation, he rose up in arms one early morning in September carrying an image of the Virgin.

It was originally a painting that hung in a sanctuary in central Mexico. Aware of its symbolic force, Hidalgo tied it to a lance and used it as his banner.

"The priest was leading the people against the bad government," said Salvador Rueda, historian and director of Mexico's National Museum of History, where the iconic canvas is on display. "And why did everybody follow? Because Our Lady of Guadalupe represents us all."

Multiple galleries within the museum convey how the Virgin has played a double function in recent centuries. Her presence in private lockets, a mural by modernist architect Juan O'Gorman and medals granted by Mexico's first emperor to praise patriotic services show how it has been both a devotional image and a civic symbol.

According to Rueda, some visitors cross themselves when they spot the first painting at the exhibition. However, their reaction shifts as they approach Hidalgo's banner. "One is followed by devotion," he said. "The other is a flag."

Further armies embraced the Virgin's image in their causes. While details differ, both the Cristeros and the Zapatistas depicted her in their flags during the early 20th century.

"What started as a devotion ended up becoming a public image," Rueda said. "A reference to one's identity not as Catholic, but as Mexican."

While several experts have wondered whether the cloth at the Basilica is a painting rather than a miraculous object, Rueda said that historians should not care.

"Why would that matter?" he asked. "It's real because it's part of reality, of history. Because it shapes an entire world."

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP'scollaborationwith The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

byVincento Seyarto

in

December 11, 2025

Mexican devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe blends into national identity

MEXICO CITY (AP) — There's a saying in Mexico: "Not all Mexicans areCatholic, but all are Guadalupan." ...

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Afghan polio survivor's sock factory provides hope by employing disabled workers

HERAT, Afghanistan (AP) — In a tiny room in the center of Herat,Afghanistan's westernmost city, Shahabuddin uses his hands to propel himself along the floor to a freshly-made pile of socks waiting to be sorted and packaged.

Afghanistan Disabilities Sock Factory

A double amputee since a roadside bomb took both his legs a decade ago, when Afghanistan was mired inconflict between U.S.-led forces and Taliban insurgents, the 36-year-old father of four had struggled to find work. Unemployed for the last decade, he had been forced to rely on relatives for his family's survival.

But a new sock production workshop in Herat employing only disabled workers has given him new hope.

"I became disabled due to the explosion. Both my legs were amputated," Shahabuddin, who like many Afghans goes by only one name, said during a brief pause in his work in early December. "Now I work here in a sock factory, and I am very happy that I have been given a job here."

The workshop is the brainchild of Mohammad Amiri, 35, a former grocery shop worker who started the business about a month ago. Amiri, himself disabled by childhood polio, wanted to create jobs and help provide income for other people with disabilities, particularly as many of them were injured during the conflict and have no other means of income.

He teamed up with another polio survivor to start the sock factory with a workforce of men disabled either through traumatic injuries or because of congenital issues or other reasons. They make four types of socks: long and short, for winter and summer.

"The factory, which is funded and supported by people with disabilities, began operations last month and currently employs around 50 people with disabilities," Amiri said. "They are busy in the production, packaging and sale of socks in the city."

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A combination of decades of conflict, a weak health care system and struggling economy have contributed to high levels of disability in Afghanistan. Data from a 2019 Model Disability Survey conducted by The Asia Foundation nonprofit organization indicates that nearly 25% of adults live with a mild disability, while 40% have moderate and about 14% have severe disabilities.

"These figures compel us to act with greater urgency and commitment," the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said in a statement released on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Dec. 3, quoting the same figures. "Persons with disabilities must not be treated as an afterthought; they must be fully integrated into every stage of planning, decision-making, and service delivery."

Meanwhile, Afghanistan is one of only two countries — along with neighboring Pakistan — where wild poliovirus remains endemic. The infectious disease can cause flu-like symptoms, but can also cause severe reactions, including paralysis, disability and death.

The Afghan Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs says 189,635 disabled people across the country are registered and receiving financial support from the government.

Amiri said his business faces serious competition from cheap imports of textiles, and expressed the hope that the government would stop imports from abroad. He has hopes of getting a contract to provide the Afghan security forces with socks, and wants to expand his workforce to 2,000 people.

His current employees include former refugees who have recently returned to Afghanistan after spending years abroad.

One such man is Mohammad Arif Jafari, 40, an economics graduate and polio survivor who lived in Iran for years. Returning to Afghanistan has been hard, he said.

"I suffered a lot due to unemployment. But fortunately, now I produce several types of socks," he said while selling his wares from a stall on the streets of Herat. "I am happy that I am working here and earning an income."

byVincento Seyarto

in

December 11, 2025

Afghan polio survivor's sock factory provides hope by employing disabled workers

HERAT, Afghanistan (AP) — In a tiny room in the center of Herat,Afghanistan's westernmost city, Shahabuddin uses his ...

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Cut off by their banks and even iced out by Alexa, sanctioned ICC staffers remain resolute

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Judges and prosecutors at the International Criminal Court are trying to live and work under the same U.S. financial and travel restrictions brought against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Osama bin Laden.

Nine staff members, includingsix judges and the ICC's chief prosecutor, have been sanctioned by U.S. President Donald Trump for pursuing investigations into officials from the U.S. and Israel, which aren't among The Hague court's 125 member states.

Typically reserved for autocrats, crime bosses and the like, thesanctions can be devastating. They prevent the ICC officials and their families from entering the United States, block their access to even basic financial services and extend to the minutiae of their everyday lives.

The court's top prosecutor, British national Karim Khan, had his bank accounts closed and his U.S. visa revoked, andMicrosofteven canceled his ICC email address. Canadian judge Kimberly Prost, who was named in thelatest round of sanctionsin August, immediately lost access to her credit cards, and Amazon's Alexa stopped responding to her.

"Your whole world is restricted," Prost told The Associated Press last week.

Prost had an inkling of what would happen when she made the list. Before joining the ICC in 2017, she worked on sanctions for the U.N. Security Council. She was targeted by the Trump administration forvoting to allow the court's investigationinto alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Afghanistan, including by American troops and intelligence operatives.

"I've worked all my life in criminal justice, and now I'm on a list with those implicated in terrorism and organized crime," she said.

How the sanctions work

The sanctionshave taken their tollon the court's work across a broad array of investigations at a time when the institution is juggling ever more demands on its resources and a leadership crisis centered on Khan. Earlier this year,he stepped asidepending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. He denies the allegations.

How companies comply with sanctions can be unpredictable. Businesses and individuals risk substantial U.S. fines and prison time if they provide sanctioned people with "financial, material, or technological support," forcing many to stop working with them.

The sanctions' effects can be sweeping and even surprising.

Shortly after she was listed, Prost bought an e-book, "The Queen's Necklace" by Antál Szerb, only to later find it had disappeared from her device.

"It's the uncertainty," she said. "They are small annoyances, but they accumulate."

Staff worry about their families

Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza, a sanctioned Peruvian judge who was involved in the same Afghanistan decision as Prost, told the AP that the problems are "not only for me, but also for my daughters," who can no longer attend work conferences in the U.S.

Deputy prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan echoed her colleagues' concerns, saying "You're never quite sure when your card is not working somewhere, whether this is just a glitch or whether this is the sanction."

Meanwhile the staffers, some of whom also facearrest warrants in Russia,are worried that Washington might sanction the entire ICC, rendering it unable to pay employees, provide financial assistance to protected witnesses or even keep the lights on.

The ICC was established in 2002 as the world's permanent court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the most heinous atrocities — war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression. It only takes action when nations are unable or unwilling to prosecute those crimes on their territory.

The court has no police force and relies on member states to execute arrest warrants, making it very unlikely that any U.S. or Israeli official would end up in the dock. But those wanted by the court,like Putin, can risk arrest when traveling abroad or after leaving office — the ICCtook custody this yearof former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is accused of crimes against humanity for his deadly anti-drugs crackdowns.

The Trump administration's rationale

When explaining Trump's executive order sanctioning the ICC in February, the White Housesaid the move was in responseto the "illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel."

"The United States will not tolerate efforts to violate our sovereignty or to wrongfully subject U.S. or Israeli persons to the ICC's unjust jurisdiction," Tommy Pigott, a State Department spokesman, said in response to questions from the AP.

There is little the staff can do to get the sanctions lifted. Sanctions imposed during the first Trump administrationagainst the previous prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, weren't removed until Joe Biden became president.

Ibáñez, a former prosecutor in Peru, vowed that the sanctions wouldn't have any impact on her judicial activities in The Hague. "In my country, I prosecuted terrorists and drug lords. I will continue my work," she said.

Prost, too, is defiant, saying the sanctioned staff "are absolutely undeterred and unfettered."

byVincento Seyarto

in

December 11, 2025

Cut off by their banks and even iced out by Alexa, sanctioned ICC staffers remain resolute

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Judges and prosecutors at the International Criminal Court are trying to live and work unde...

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In South Florida's Venezuelan enclave, big hopes that Trump’s pressure on Maduro succeeds

DORAL, Fla. — On a recent rainy afternoon near Miami, Maria Alejandra Barroso made her daily trek to Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church before heading to work and prayed for the Trump administration to succeed in ousting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

"Every day I pray for it to be peaceful and for innocent people to not get hurt," she said in an interview on Tuesday.

Barroso, 44, a server at a restaurant, emigrated from Venezuela in 2022 and has a pending asylum case. President Donald Trump's immigration policy changeshave stripped legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrantsand put more of themat risk of deportation. But Barroso said that ending Maduro's almost 13-year reign is far more important to her than any worries over possible deportation, since it would mean returning home.

"I'm not here because I want to be. It was necessary. I have friends in prison just for thinking differently," she said. "We want democracy and peace. I completely trust the actions of President Trump."

In Doral, a city in Miami-Dade County with the highest concentration of Venezuelans in the U.S., discussions revolve around whether Trump should get more involved in Venezuela and the controversy over the U.S. attacks on alleged drug boats. Talk about Trump's pressure campaign on Maduro is prevalent everywhere, and Venezuelans in the enclave are bubbling with hope for Maduro's ouster.

The Trump administration has taken a more antagonistic stance toward Venezuela recently.

The U.S. military has moved thousands of troops and a carrier strike group to the Caribbean Sea in recent months and conducted strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Trump said in an interview with Politico on Tuesday that Maduro's "days are numbered" and refused to rule out a U.S. ground invasion. On Wednesday, the U.S.seized an oil tankeroff the coast of Venezuela.

Alejandro Márquez, 64, echoed the sentiment of Barroso outside the church, saying he would be on the first plane back to Venezuela despite being a U.S. citizen and living here since 2013.

"I'm focused on reconstructing Venezuela on the side of security," said Márquez, who is a former sub-secretary of defense and security in the northwestern state of Zulia.

Trump won over60% of Doralin the 2024 election. While some Venezuelans expressed skepticism about whether his pressure campaign will work, they're still checking their phones constantly to find news on social media or the latest information a friend forwarded on WhatsApp. Many Venezuelans in South Florida are using global flight tracking apps to monitor planes arriving and departing Venezuela, to try to glean whether there's any changes that may indicate some kind of activity.

A few miles from the church, at a popular cafeteria-style Venezuelan restaurant, El Arepazo, employee Rosangel Patiño said business is a little slower because people are afraid to go out amid Trump's immigration crackdown. But she said all the patrons that walk in are constantly talking about the situation in Venezuela and looking for the latest news.

"Everyone is glued to social media," Patiño said.

Victor Montero, a business owner who was having lunch at the restaurant, said when he gets home from work each day he scours YouTube for the latest information.

"I feel the same way as all Venezuelans. It gives me so much happiness to know that at any moment, it can all end," said Montero, who came to the U.S. from Venezuela 22 years ago. "The family in Venezuela is going through a very difficult time."

Trump has accused Maduro of being the leader of "a narcoterrorist organization" and of flooding the U.S. with drugs. Some experts say Trump's actions are aimed at regime change,a charge that Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied.

Whilesome experts have cautioned against the challenges of regime change in Venezuela, many Venezuelans, including Nobel Prize winner and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado,credit Trumpwith attempting to restore democracy in their country. In 2019, during his first term, Trump used a "maximum pressure" campaign against Maduro, including sanctions andrecognizing an opposition politicianas Venezuela's rightful leader.

"Venezuelans in Florida want Maduro gone. They want the situation in Venezuela resolved," said Eduardo Gamarra, a professor of politics and international relations at Florida International University.

"But a lot of them are concerned about what it means for them in terms of their situation with immigration," Gamarra added. For Venezuelans who don't have legal immigration status and who may be at risk of deportation, questions about how any conflict or change in Venezuela could affect them are top of mind, he said.

Gamarra, who does polling and focus groups, says he finds people are afraid to answer questions about immigration because they fear retaliation. "People are being very cautious when you ask them about Trump," he said, adding it makes it harder to do polling.

Venezuelans started coming to Florida in large numbers in the early 2000s after socialist Hugo Chávez rose to power. The first wave of Venezuelans were business-savvy, mid- to upper-class professionals. Some even owned second homes in Florida already.

But the situation deteriorated drastically when Maduro, a former bus driver and activist, took power in 2013 following the death of Chávez, his mentor. And that led toincreasingly desperateVenezuelans arriving in South Florida, many with little in their pockets. Under Maduro's rule the country's oil-driven economy has faced adecade-long collapsedue to mismanagement, corruption and sanctions. An estimated80% of residentslive in poverty. To solidify his iron grip, Maduro has usedrepression, arbitrary arrests, torture and disappearances. He eliminated independent media, criminalized civil society and banned opponents from public office. Around8 million Venezuelanshave fled under his rule.

Maduro drew worldwide scrutiny and condemnation last year following presidential elections in which he lost by 40%but ignored the resultsand stayed in power. The Biden administration and governments of other countries officiallyrecognized opposition leader Edmundo Gonzálezas the winner.

Outside El Arepazo, Rafael Landa, who came to the U.S. five years ago, questioned whether Trump's actions will lead to regime change in Venezuela.

"I don't think it's going to be as easy as people think," he said as he opened the restaurant door. "I'm not getting my hopes up."

byVincento Seyarto

in

December 11, 2025

In South Florida's Venezuelan enclave, big hopes that Trump’s pressure on Maduro succeeds

DORAL, Fla. — On a recent rainy afternoon near Miami, Maria Alejandra Barroso made her daily trek to Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church ...

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Thousands ready to evacuate as flooding hits Pacific Northwest

Residents in the Pacific Northwest of the US and western Canada are bracing for potentially life-threatening floods as several days of heavy rain have swollen a number of rivers and tributaries.

On Thursday, the National Water Center reported heavy flooding along the Skagit and Snohomish rivers in the state of Washington that is expected to continue through Friday.

In Canada, major highways to Vancouver have been closed because of flooding, debris and the risk of avalanches.

There are evacuation orders in place for thousands of people in the US and Canada, and authorities have warned more rain is on the way.

In the US, the governor of Washington state, Bob Ferguson, declared astatewide emergencyand estimated 100,000 residents could face evacuation orders.

The emergency declaration warned that rain and possibly snow at mountain elevations would exacerbate flooding conditions.

Governor Ferguson said there were no reports of fatalities, but warned residents the risk wasn't over yet.

"On the Skagit River, for example, the river will be cresting tomorrow mid-morning. Again, that is expected to be historic level on that river," he told CNN on Thursday evening.

He warned it would take "weeks" to recover from the storm, and appealed for help from the federal government.

An evacuation order was lifted in the Orting community south of Seattle, but Central Pierce Fire and Rescue cautioned residents to "remain vigilant into the evening".

"Remember, turn around don't drown," the department wrote on Thursday on X.

More than 30 highways were closed across the state, with closures also affecting commuters in the Seattle area.

The flooding has hit all of western Washington, as well as further south along the Oregon coast.

Skagit County, a major agricultural area north of Seattle, issued an immediate evacuation order to residents who live on the floodplain. Some 75,000 people would be evacuated from low-lying areas, officials said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Thursday the Skagit river would cause "severe near-record flooding from Rockport downstream through Sedro Woolley".

It warned of "deep and swift flood waters" especially in the Cape Horn, Hamilton and Thunderbird area.

Rescues are taking place around the state, involving inflatable boats and helicopters.

The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office said in an overnight social media post that they had rescued "multiple" people by helicopter after they got trapped in their homes in Sultan, Washington, about 40 miles (65km) north-east of Seattle.

Officials said the Snohomish River was experiencing major flooding and "dancing with records" as water lapped against a local flood wall.

King County - which contains the city of Seattle - and Snohomish County officials have warned the road closures could last for several days.

Across the border in Canada's British Columbia, there are evacuation orders in place for the communities of Tulameen and Eastgate, andseveral other areas.

City officials said the Nooksack River was expected to overflow its banks, and they anticipate flooding, though not as severe as in 2021, when it caused significant damage and five deaths in the province.

Most major highways to the Lower Mainland are now closed, according to the travel-information website Drive BC.

The US-Canada Sumas Border Crossing is also closed to commercial traffic.

The entire region, spanning parts of both the US and Canada, has received torrential rain from an atmospheric river - a phenomenon where water evaporates into the air and is carried by the wind and forms long currents that surge through the sky like rivers flow on land.

Forecasters have warned of another storm on Sunday.

byVincento Seyarto

in

December 11, 2025

Thousands ready to evacuate as flooding hits Pacific Northwest

Residents in the Pacific Northwest of the US and western Canada are bracing for potentially life-threatening floods as...

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