National News

(WASHINGTON) -- A federal judge sentenced a tearful former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez to 11 years in prison Wednesday on corruption charges after being convicted of abusing the power of his office in exchange for bribes in the form of gold bars, a luxury car and other items.“You stood at the apex of our political system," Judge Sidney Stein said in issuing the sentence. "Somewhere along the way, you lost your way."Menendez, […]

(WASHINGTON) -- Former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez is set to be sentenced Wednesday on corruption charges after being convicted of abusing the power of his office in exchange for bribes in the form of gold bars, a luxury car and other items.Ahead of his sentencing Wednesday afternoon, two New Jersey businessmen convicted of paying bribes to Menendez received lengthy prison sentences. Wael Hana was sentenced to eight years in prison […]

(LOS ANGELES) -- California has just experienced one of its worst wildfire seasons in years, despite the Golden State's ample resources to combat the blazes once they spark.The Palisades and Eaton fires, while both mostly contained as of Wednesday, are still active in Los Angeles County after starting on Jan. 7 and burning through tens of thousands of acres and killing at least two dozen people -- and new fires have popped […]

(WASHINGTON) -- Officials in the Trump Justice Department have ordered a temporary freeze on any ongoing cases being litigated by the Civil Rights Division, according to a new directive reviewed by ABC News.The memo to the current acting head of the Civil Rights Division, Kathleen Wolfe, says that current career officials in the division must not file any new civil complaints or other civil rights-related filings in outside ongoing litigation. […]

(NEW YORK) -- Last year, 2024, was the warmest year on record for the planet, easily breaking the previous record set just a year earlier.Scientists say the unfolding El Niño event superimposed on long-term global warming is a primary driver of this huge spike in global surface temperatures since mid-2023. But the magnitude of the increase shocked many experts, leaving them somewhat puzzled about what else could be behind the remarkable temperature.NASA's […]

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/Bloomberg via Getty Images (WASHINGTON) -- Top white shoe law firm Sullivan & Cromwell will represent President Donald Trump as he appeals his criminal hush money conviction in New York, according to court filings Wednesday.The new attorneys filed a notice of appeal Wednesday, signaling their intention to appeal Trump's conviction to New York's Appellate Division, First Department.Among Trump's new lawyers is firm co-chair Robert J. Giuffra."President Donald J. Trump's appeal is […]

(SAN DIEGO) -- Even as the Trump administration's mass deportation of undocumented migrants was unfolding, the U.S. Coast Guard announced it had intercepted a boat packed with migrants off the California coast.A 40-foot panga-style boat attempting to smuggle migrants into the United States was stopped by two Coast Guard cutter crews Monday night about 20 miles off the coast of San Diego, the Coast Guard said in a statement released on Tuesday."The […]

(NEW YORK) -- Harvey Weinstein begged a Manhattan judge on Wednesday to put him on trial earlier than planned, saying he isn't sure he will live until the spring while incarcerated in the "hell hole" that is the New York City jail complex."Every day I'm at Rikers Island it's a mystery to me how I'm still walking," Weinstein told the court while seated in a wheelchair. "I'm asking and begging you, your […]

Aaron Schwartz/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images (WASHINGTON) -- The Department of Justice, now under new leadership following Donald Trump's inauguration, has moved to drop its appeal of the classified documents case that once accused Trump of mishandling some of the country's most sensitive secrets.Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Hayden O’Bryne on Wednesday moved to dismiss the appeal against Trump's former co-defendants in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the […]