In an exclusive interview with Tom Llamas, President Trump discussed the impact of striking nuclear sites in Iran and whether in his view Tehran is trying to restart the nuclear program.
The man convicted of attempting to kill PresidentDonald Trumpwhile he played golf in Southern Florida has been sentenced to life in prison.
RyanWesley Routh, 59, was found guilty of attempting to assassinate Trump at one of his golf courses in West Palm Beach in the fall of 2024.
A federal jury on Sept. 23, found Routh guilty of trying to kill the then presidential nomineeat Trump International Golf Club. A Secret Service agent spotted the gun and shot at Routh chasing him off.
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Routh, who is originally from North Carolina.
Routh's attorney suggested a 27-year sentence would be punishment enough for the crime citing no one was hurt in the melee, but prosecutors disagreed.
The incident took place onSept. 15, 2024, just months after a bullet grazed Trump's ear in anotherattempt on his life at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Jurors convicted Routh of attempted assassination (which carries a maximum life sentence by itself), assaulting a federal officer and several other firearm offenses.
Prosecutors described the assassination attempt as a narrowly averted, while Routh suggested his actions were a peaceful protest, the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network reported. During the trial inU.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Routh told jurors he was incapable of pulling the trigger and had been guilty only of "caring too much."
"To merely have a weapon in the presence of another is not intent," said Routh, who fired his attorneys ahead of the trial and had represented himself.
After his conviction, Routh tried tostab himself in the neck with a pen. Routh had asked U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon for a "just punishment," in hopes of avoiding life in prison.
Contributing: Hannah Phillips with the Palm Beach Post,part of the USA TODAY Network
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Ryan Routh sentenced to life in prison
WASHINGTON (AP) — A government lawyer who told a judge that her job "sucks" during a court hearing stemming from the Trump administration's immigration enforcementsurge in Minnesotahas been removed from her Justice Department post, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Julie Le had been working for the Justice Department on a detail, but the U.S. attorney in Minnesota ended her assignment after her comments in court on Tuesday, the person said. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter. She had been working for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement before the temporary assignment.
At a hearing Tuesday in St. Paul, Minnesota, for several immigration cases, Le told U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell that she wishes he could hold her in contempt of court "so that I can have a full 24 hours of sleep."
"What do you want me to do? The system sucks. This job sucks. And I am trying every breath that I have so that I can get you what you need," Le said, according to a transcript.
Le's extraordinary remarks reflect the intense strain that has been placed on the federal court system since President Donald Trump returned to the White House a year ago with a promise to carry out mass deportations. ICE officials have said the surge in Minnesota has become its largest-ever immigration operation since ramping up in early January.
Several prosecutors haveleft the U.S. Attorney's officein Minnesota amid frustration with the immigration enforcement surge and the Justice Department's response to fatal shootings of two civilians by federal agents. Le was assigned at least 88 cases in less than a month, according to online court records.
Blackwell told Le that the volume of cases isn't an excuse for disregarding court orders. He expressed concern that people arrested in immigration enforcement operations are routinely jailed for days after judges have ordered their release from custody.
"And I hear the concerns about all the energy that this is causing the DOJ to expend, but, with respect, some of it is of your own making by not complying with orders," the judge told Le.
Le said she was working for the Department of Homeland Security as an ICE attorney in immigration court before she "stupidly" volunteered to work the detail in Minnesota. Le told the judge that she wasn't properly trained for the assignment. She said she wanted to resign from the job but couldn't get a replacement.
"Fixing a system, a broken system, I don't have a magic button to do it. I don't have the power or the voice to do it," she said.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Le was a probationary attorney.
"This conduct is unprofessional and unbecoming of an ICE attorney in abandoning her obligation to act with commitment, dedication, and zeal to the interests of the United States Government," McLaughlin said in a statement.
Le and the U.S. Attorney's office in Minnesota didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Kira Kelley, an attorney who represented two petitioners at the hearing, said the flood of immigration petitions is necessary because "so many people being detained without any semblance of a lawful basis."
"And there's no indication here that any new systems or bolded e-mails or any instructions to ICE are going to fix any of this," she added.
The man accused offatally shooting a D.C. National Guardsman and seriously wounding anotherwas arraigned in federal court on Wednesday.
Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who was shot during the Nov. 26 attack, entered the courtroom in a wheelchair and an orange jumpsuit.
He pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree murder while armed, one count of transportation of a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with the intent to commit a felony, three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, and four counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence or dangerous offense.
Lakanwal, 29, spoke Pashto during the hearing and used an interpreter to communicate. His attorney addressed the court on his behalf.
Lakanwal is accused of gunning downSpc. Sarah Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe,while they were on patrol near the White House as part of their deployment to the nation's capital. Beckstrom died at the hospital from a gunshot wound to the back of the head, according to a federal criminal complaint.
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Wolfe was also shot in the head and rushed to the hospital in serious condition. He wastransferred to an inpatient rehabilitation facility in December.
The federal criminal complaint alleges that video showed Lakanwal standing outside a metro station and then running toward an interstate as he opened fire with a revolver. A major in the National Guard who was in the area shot him, wounding him.
He was detained by another major.
Officials said, according to the complaint, that Lakanwal drove from Washington State, where he lived, to D.C. and "purposely and with deliberate and premeditated malice" shot the Guardsmen.
In December, he pleaded not guilty in D.C. Superior Court to first-degree murder, assault with intent to kill while armed, possession of a firearm, and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence in addition to murder.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Trump administration is reducing the number of immigration officers in Minnesota but will continue itsenforcement operationthat has sparked weeks of tensions and deadly confrontations, border czar Tom Homan said Wednesday.
About 700 federal officers — roughly a quarter of the total deployed to Minnesota — will be withdrawn immediately after state and local officials agreed over the past week to cooperate by turning over arrested immigrants, Homan said.
But he did not provide a timeline for when the administration might endthe operationthat hasbecome a flashpointin the debate over President Donald Trump'smass deportation effortssince the fatal shootings of U.S. citizensRenee GoodandAlex Prettiin Minneapolis.
About 2,000 officers will remain in the state after this week's drawdown, Homan said. That's roughly the same number sent to Minnesota in early January when the surge ramped up, kicking off what the Department of Homeland Security called its "largest immigration enforcement operationever."
Since then, masked, heavily armed officers have been met byresistance from residentswho are upset with their aggressive tactics.
A widespread pullout, Homan said, will occur only after protesters stop interfering with federal agents carrying out arrests and setting up roadblocks to impede the operations.
Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats who have heavily criticized the surge, said pulling back 700 officers was a good first step but that the entire operation should end quickly.
"We need a faster and larger drawdown of forces,state-led investigationsinto the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, and an end to this campaign of retribution," Walz posted on social media.
Vice President JD Vance said the officers being sent home were mainly in Minneapolis to protect those carrying out arrests. "We're not drawing down the immigration enforcement," Vance said in an interview on "The Megyn Kelly Show."
Trump administration has pushed for cooperation in Minnesota
Trump's border czartook over the Minnesota operation in late January after thesecond fatal shootingby federal officers and amidgrowing political backlashand questions about how the operation was being run.
Homan said right away that federal officials could reduce the number of agents in Minnesota, but only with the cooperation of state and local officials. He pushed for jails to alert Immigration and Customs Enforcement about inmates who could be deported, saying transferring those inmates to ICE is safer because it means fewer officers have to be out looking for people in the country illegally.
Homan said during a news conference Wednesday that there has been an "increase in unprecedented collaboration" resulting in the need for fewer public safety officers in Minnesota and a safer environment, allowing for the withdrawal of the 700 officers.
He didn't say which jurisdictions have been cooperating with DHS
The Trump administration has long complained that places known as sanctuary jurisdictions — a term applied to local governments that limit law enforcement cooperation with the department — hinder the arrest of criminal immigrants.
Minnesota officials say its state prisons and nearly all of the county sheriffs already cooperate with immigration authorities.
But the two county jails that serve Minneapolis and St. Paul and take in the most inmates had not previously met ICE's standard of full cooperation, although they both hand over inmates to federal authorities if an arrest warrant has been signed by a judge.
The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, which serves Minneapolis and several suburbs, said its policies have not changed. The Ramsey County Sheriff's Office in neighboring St. Paul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Border czar calls Minnesota operation a success
Homan said he thinks the ICE operation in Minnesota has been a success, checking off a list of people wanted for violent crimes who were taken off the streets.
"I think it's very effective as far as public safety goes," he said Wednesday. "Was it a perfect operation? No."
He also made clear that pulling a chunk of federal officers out of Minnesota isn't a sign that the administration is backing down. "We are not surrendering the president's mission on a mass deportation operation," Homan said.
"You're not going to stop ICE. You're not going to stop Border Patrol," Homan said of the ongoing protests. "The only thing you're doing is irritating your community"
Schools ask court to block immigration operations
Two Minnesota school districts and a teachers union filed a lawsuit Wednesday to block federal authorities from conducting immigration enforcement at or around schools.
The lawsuit says actions by DHS and its ICE officers have disrupted classes, endangered students and driven families away from schools.
It also argues that Operation Metro Surge has marked a shift in policy that removed long-standing limits on enforcement activity in "sensitive locations," including schools.
Homeland Security officials have not responded to a request for comment.
Associated Press reporters Corey Williams in Detroit; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; and Moriah Balingit in Washington contributed.
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In an exclusive interview with Tom Llamas, President Trump discussed the impact of striking nuclear sites in Iran and whether in his view Tehran is trying to restart the nuclear program.
Almost 900 previously undisclosedaccounts with potential Nazi linkshave been found at a Swiss bank, a US senator said.
Holders of the 890 wartime accounts included the German foreign ministry, the SS paramilitary organisation and a German arms-manufacturing company, Chuck Grassley told reporters.
The organisations werepart of the Nazi apparatusthat enabled the Holocaust under Adolf Hitler.
The investigation is being conducted by Neil Barofsky, an American lawyer hired as an independent investigator by UBS, the Swiss bank thatacquired Credit Suisse in an emergency takeover in 2023.
The inquiry aims to shine a light on what Mr Grassley said was the bank's hidden role in Second World War crimes. The Republican senator gave no details on how much money might have been held in the accounts or their current status.
On Tuesday, Mr Barofsky told a hearing of the Senate judiciary committee, which Mr Grassley leads, that Credit Suisse was willing during the Nazi erato expropriate money from accounts held by Jewsand transfer it to Nazi clients.
He said he had found thatCredit Suisse's banking relationships with the SS were more extensive than previously known, and the economic arm of the SS maintained an account.
Details also emerged in the investigation of the bank's connection to a scheme to help Nazis flee to Argentina to escape Allied justice, Mr Barofsky said.
Credit Suisse handled the financing of so-called ratlines, used by prominent Nazis to escape Europe after the war, investigators said.
The Argentine authorities also used an account at the Swiss bank to facilitate bribes and other payments to European officials to keep the ratlines running, that would amount today to about 17m Swiss francs (£16m).
The panel also questioned officials fromUBSover 150 or more important documents that Mr Barofsky said were being withheld from his investigation.
"What we're talking about are documents that are relevant to the question of whether a Nazi had an account or didn't have an account at Credit Suisse," he said.
Mr Barofsky said he suspects the missing papers list German clients, looted art and valuables, and other matters that are "very, very core to the heart of our investigation".
US senators were highly critical of UBS for withholding of the documents. Mr Grassley said the conduct of UBS was "absurd and a historic shame that'll outlive today's hearing".
John Kennedy, a Republican Senator from Louisiana, told Robert Karofsky, the head of UBS Americas: "That's what this is all about, you don't want to pay any more money... If you owe more money, then by God, pay it."
UBS executives denied accusations that they were trying to silence Jewish groups, including the Simon Wiesenthal Centre (SWC), but said they would need assurances the bank would not be subject to lawsuits if it were to release the documents.
In 1999, UBS and Credit Suisse apologised and reached a global settlement on all Nazi-era claims, including any future claims. UBS said the current investigation was a voluntary initiative.
The investigation is set to conclude by early summer, according to Senate judiciary committee aides, and a final report is expected at the end of the year.
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