California
Judge orders Trump to end National Guard troop deployment in Los Angeles
The Trump administration must stop deploying the California National Guard in Los Angeles and return control of the troops to the state, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction sought by California officials who opposed President Donald Trump’s extraordinary move to use state Guard troops without the governor’s approval to further his immigration enforcement efforts. But he also put the decision on hold until Monday.
California argued that conditions in Los Angeles had changed since Trump first took command of the troops and deployed them in June. The administration initially called up more than 4,000 California National Guard troops but that number had dropped to several hundred by late October. Only a 100 or so troops remain in the Los Angeles area.
The Republican administration extended the deployment until February while also trying to use California Guard members in Portland, Oregon as part of its effort to send the military into Democratic-run cities over the objections of mayors and governors.
U.S. Justice Department lawyers said the administration still needed Guard members in the Los Angeles area to help protect federal personnel and property.
An email to the White House seeking comment on Wednesday’s ruling was not immediately returned.
Trump took command of the California National Guard following protests over his stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws. The call up was the first time in decades that a state’s national guard was activated without a request from its governor and marked a significant escalation in the administration’s efforts to carry out its mass deportation policy. The troops were stationed outside a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles where protesters gathered and later sent on the streets to protect immigration officers as they made arrests.
California sued, and Breyer issued a temporary restraining order that required the administration to return control of the Guard members to California. An appeals court panel, however, put that decision on hold.
California argued that the president was using Guard members as his personal police force in violation of a law limiting the use of the military in domestic affairs.
The administration said courts could not second-guess the president’s decision that violence during the protests made it impossible for him to execute U.S. laws with regular forces and reflected a rebellion, or danger of rebellion.
In September, Breyer ruled after a trial that the deployment violated the law. Other judges have blocked the administration from deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, and Chicago.
New York
U.S. prosecutors seek to abandon soccer TV rights corruption case
NEW YORK (AP) — After a yearslong legal battle, U.S. prosecutors told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that they want to give up their fight to preserve the convictions of a former Fox executive and South American sports media company in a corruption case related to TV rights for international soccer tournaments.
Hernan Lopez, ex-CEO of Fox International Channels, and Full Play Group SA were convicted in 2023 after a trial in New York but subsequently granted an acquittal by a judge.
An appeals court reinstated the convictions in July, but additional appeals followed and the fate of the prosecution was uncertain.
Prosecutors told the Supreme Court that the government has now determined that “dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” though they did not expand on their rationale. They asked for the case to be sent back to a lower court so it can consider a motion to dismiss the indictment.
Attorneys who have represented Full Play and Lopez did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The filing followed a previous high court decision that has made it more difficult to secure corruption convictions, as well as a Trump administration overhaul of its approach to enforcement of public graft.
The federal government has moved this year to slash a section of Justice Department prosecutors responsible for pursing cases of fraud and corruption against public officials, and President Donald Trump previously paused a statute that prohibits people or companies operating in the U.S. from giving money or gifts to officials in other countries to win or retain deals.
The U.S. is set to host the 2026 World Cup along with Canada and Mexico. Trump, a Republican, has a close relationship with Gianni Infantino, president of the world soccer governing body FIFA, and last week was awarded a new FIFA peace prize.
Fox Corp., which split from a subsidiary of international channels during 2019 restructuring, was not charged in the bribery scandal and has denied any involvement.
Florida
Woman sues Royal Caribbean over her fiance’s death on a cruise ship
The fiancee of a man who died on a cruise ship has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Royal Caribbean, alleging it negligently served him at least 33 alcoholic drinks and was liable for his death after crew members tackled him to the ground and stood on him with their full body weight.
Connie Aguilar’s lawsuit for the death of 35-year-old Michael Virgil seeks unspecified damages and a jury trial. Royal Caribbean did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment on Tuesday.
Aguilar and Virgil were on a roundtrip voyage from Los Angeles to Ensenada, Mexico, with other members of their family, including their son, at the time of Virgil’s death in December 2024, the lawsuit said.
Crew members on board Navigator of the Seas served Virgil more than two dozen drinks, after which he got lost and became agitated trying to find his room, it said. That’s when crew members tackled him and stood on him with their full weight, the lawsuit charges. They subjected him to prolonged prone restraint, compressed his back and torso, and impaired his breathing, the lawsuit said.
At the captain’s request, crew members administered a sedative and sprayed him with pepper spray, the lawsuit said.
This treatment led to respiratory failure, cardiac arrest and Virgil’s death, it continued.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide. It said Virgil died from the combined effects of mechanical asphyxia, which is when force or an object blocks breathing; obesity; an enlarged heart and alcohol intoxication.
Video shot by passenger Christopher McHale and obtained by KTTV of Los Angeles shows Virgil in a narrow hallway kicking a door.
A KTTV report said Virgil screamed profanities, threatened to kill McHale and a crew member and chased them down a hallway. McHale said the crew member locked himself in a towel room, which Virgil then tried to kick down.
The video captures security guards and others eventually holding Virgil down on the floor.
The lawsuit said crew members should not have served Virgil alcohol because he “exhibited obvious visual signs of intoxication” and were negligent for doing so, the lawsuit said.
Maritime common law requires carriers like Royal Caribbean to “supervise and assist passengers likely to engage in behavior dangerous to themselves or others,” the lawsuit said.
Royal Caribbean also failed to exercise its right to stop serving alcohol to Virgil to protect his life, the lawsuit said.
The company’s ships, it added, are deliberately designed to ensure there are alcohol-serving stations “in every nook and cranny” and the company “does as much as possible to encourage and facilitate alcohol consumption” on board.
The lawsuit said medical personnel on board lacked proper education, licenses, experience and skills and it failed to properly train crew members to assess when to stop serving a passenger.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in Miami, where Royal Caribbean, the world’s second largest cruise company, has its headquarters.
Washington
DOJ challenges court order limiting access to evidence in Comey investigation
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Tuesday challenged a court order that complicated efforts to seek a new indictment against former FBI Director James Comey by making a trove of evidence off-limits to prosecutors.
An order issued over the weekend by a federal judge in Washington barred the Justice Department at least temporarily from accessing computer files belonging to Daniel Richman, a close Comey friend and Columbia University law professor who prosecutors see as a central player in any potential case against the former FBI director.
Prosecutors moved Tuesday to quash that order, calling Richman’s request for the return of his files a “strategic tool to obstruct the investigation and potential prosecution.” They said the judge had overstepped her bounds by ordering Richman’s property returned to him and said the ruling had impeded their ability to proceed with a case against Comey.
The Justice Department alleges that Comey used Richman to share information with the news media about his decision-making during the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Prosecutors charged the former FBI director in September with lying to Congress by denying that he had authorized an associate to serve as an anonymous source for the media.
That indictment was dismissed last month after a federal judge in Virginia ruled that the prosecutor who brought the case, Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed by the Trump administration.
But the ruling left open the possibility that the government could try again to seek charges against Comey, a longtime foe of President Donald Trump. Comey has pleaded not guilty, denied having made a false statement and accused the Justice Department of a vindictive prosecution.
After the case was thrown out, Richman filed a motion that sought the return of his computer records, which the Justice Department obtained through search warrants in 2019 and 2020 as part of a media leak investigation that was later closed without charges.
Richman and his lawyers say that even after that investigation ended, the Justice Department continued for years to hold onto the materials it had collected from Richman’s computer, email and iCloud accounts despite those files containing a “significant quantum of privileged information.”
Justice Department officials searched the files this year for communications between Comey and Richman that could be used to build a case against Comey. But Richman and his lawyers say prosecutors conducted new, warrantless searches that went beyond the scope of the warrants and retained his files for years without any legitimate purpose.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sided with Richman’s lawyers and issued a temporary restraining order Saturday that required the Justice Department to return the files and to no longer access them.
The Justice Department challenged that order Tuesday, calling Richman’s request for his materials “a transparent effort to suppress evidence in the Comey matter.” Prosecutors said Richman’s motion had “effectively enjoined the government from investigating and potentially prosecuting Comey.
“But federal courts cannot enjoin federal criminal prosecutions; a civil plaintiff cannot circumvent bedrock federal criminal procedure via an equitable proceeding like this one,” they said. “So the Court should dissolve its temporary restraining order and deny Petitioner’s motion.”
In response to the Justice Department’s objections, Kollar-Kotelly did not immediately lift her order but did allow for further filings from both sides. She signaled her position that Richman should be given a chance to review the materials and assert any attorney-client privilege claims he thinks are necessary.
Judge orders Trump to end National Guard troop deployment in Los Angeles
The Trump administration must stop deploying the California National Guard in Los Angeles and return control of the troops to the state, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction sought by California officials who opposed President Donald Trump’s extraordinary move to use state Guard troops without the governor’s approval to further his immigration enforcement efforts. But he also put the decision on hold until Monday.
California argued that conditions in Los Angeles had changed since Trump first took command of the troops and deployed them in June. The administration initially called up more than 4,000 California National Guard troops but that number had dropped to several hundred by late October. Only a 100 or so troops remain in the Los Angeles area.
The Republican administration extended the deployment until February while also trying to use California Guard members in Portland, Oregon as part of its effort to send the military into Democratic-run cities over the objections of mayors and governors.
U.S. Justice Department lawyers said the administration still needed Guard members in the Los Angeles area to help protect federal personnel and property.
An email to the White House seeking comment on Wednesday’s ruling was not immediately returned.
Trump took command of the California National Guard following protests over his stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws. The call up was the first time in decades that a state’s national guard was activated without a request from its governor and marked a significant escalation in the administration’s efforts to carry out its mass deportation policy. The troops were stationed outside a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles where protesters gathered and later sent on the streets to protect immigration officers as they made arrests.
California sued, and Breyer issued a temporary restraining order that required the administration to return control of the Guard members to California. An appeals court panel, however, put that decision on hold.
California argued that the president was using Guard members as his personal police force in violation of a law limiting the use of the military in domestic affairs.
The administration said courts could not second-guess the president’s decision that violence during the protests made it impossible for him to execute U.S. laws with regular forces and reflected a rebellion, or danger of rebellion.
In September, Breyer ruled after a trial that the deployment violated the law. Other judges have blocked the administration from deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, and Chicago.
New York
U.S. prosecutors seek to abandon soccer TV rights corruption case
NEW YORK (AP) — After a yearslong legal battle, U.S. prosecutors told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that they want to give up their fight to preserve the convictions of a former Fox executive and South American sports media company in a corruption case related to TV rights for international soccer tournaments.
Hernan Lopez, ex-CEO of Fox International Channels, and Full Play Group SA were convicted in 2023 after a trial in New York but subsequently granted an acquittal by a judge.
An appeals court reinstated the convictions in July, but additional appeals followed and the fate of the prosecution was uncertain.
Prosecutors told the Supreme Court that the government has now determined that “dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” though they did not expand on their rationale. They asked for the case to be sent back to a lower court so it can consider a motion to dismiss the indictment.
Attorneys who have represented Full Play and Lopez did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The filing followed a previous high court decision that has made it more difficult to secure corruption convictions, as well as a Trump administration overhaul of its approach to enforcement of public graft.
The federal government has moved this year to slash a section of Justice Department prosecutors responsible for pursing cases of fraud and corruption against public officials, and President Donald Trump previously paused a statute that prohibits people or companies operating in the U.S. from giving money or gifts to officials in other countries to win or retain deals.
The U.S. is set to host the 2026 World Cup along with Canada and Mexico. Trump, a Republican, has a close relationship with Gianni Infantino, president of the world soccer governing body FIFA, and last week was awarded a new FIFA peace prize.
Fox Corp., which split from a subsidiary of international channels during 2019 restructuring, was not charged in the bribery scandal and has denied any involvement.
Florida
Woman sues Royal Caribbean over her fiance’s death on a cruise ship
The fiancee of a man who died on a cruise ship has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Royal Caribbean, alleging it negligently served him at least 33 alcoholic drinks and was liable for his death after crew members tackled him to the ground and stood on him with their full body weight.
Connie Aguilar’s lawsuit for the death of 35-year-old Michael Virgil seeks unspecified damages and a jury trial. Royal Caribbean did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment on Tuesday.
Aguilar and Virgil were on a roundtrip voyage from Los Angeles to Ensenada, Mexico, with other members of their family, including their son, at the time of Virgil’s death in December 2024, the lawsuit said.
Crew members on board Navigator of the Seas served Virgil more than two dozen drinks, after which he got lost and became agitated trying to find his room, it said. That’s when crew members tackled him and stood on him with their full weight, the lawsuit charges. They subjected him to prolonged prone restraint, compressed his back and torso, and impaired his breathing, the lawsuit said.
At the captain’s request, crew members administered a sedative and sprayed him with pepper spray, the lawsuit said.
This treatment led to respiratory failure, cardiac arrest and Virgil’s death, it continued.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide. It said Virgil died from the combined effects of mechanical asphyxia, which is when force or an object blocks breathing; obesity; an enlarged heart and alcohol intoxication.
Video shot by passenger Christopher McHale and obtained by KTTV of Los Angeles shows Virgil in a narrow hallway kicking a door.
A KTTV report said Virgil screamed profanities, threatened to kill McHale and a crew member and chased them down a hallway. McHale said the crew member locked himself in a towel room, which Virgil then tried to kick down.
The video captures security guards and others eventually holding Virgil down on the floor.
The lawsuit said crew members should not have served Virgil alcohol because he “exhibited obvious visual signs of intoxication” and were negligent for doing so, the lawsuit said.
Maritime common law requires carriers like Royal Caribbean to “supervise and assist passengers likely to engage in behavior dangerous to themselves or others,” the lawsuit said.
Royal Caribbean also failed to exercise its right to stop serving alcohol to Virgil to protect his life, the lawsuit said.
The company’s ships, it added, are deliberately designed to ensure there are alcohol-serving stations “in every nook and cranny” and the company “does as much as possible to encourage and facilitate alcohol consumption” on board.
The lawsuit said medical personnel on board lacked proper education, licenses, experience and skills and it failed to properly train crew members to assess when to stop serving a passenger.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in Miami, where Royal Caribbean, the world’s second largest cruise company, has its headquarters.
Washington
DOJ challenges court order limiting access to evidence in Comey investigation
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Tuesday challenged a court order that complicated efforts to seek a new indictment against former FBI Director James Comey by making a trove of evidence off-limits to prosecutors.
An order issued over the weekend by a federal judge in Washington barred the Justice Department at least temporarily from accessing computer files belonging to Daniel Richman, a close Comey friend and Columbia University law professor who prosecutors see as a central player in any potential case against the former FBI director.
Prosecutors moved Tuesday to quash that order, calling Richman’s request for the return of his files a “strategic tool to obstruct the investigation and potential prosecution.” They said the judge had overstepped her bounds by ordering Richman’s property returned to him and said the ruling had impeded their ability to proceed with a case against Comey.
The Justice Department alleges that Comey used Richman to share information with the news media about his decision-making during the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Prosecutors charged the former FBI director in September with lying to Congress by denying that he had authorized an associate to serve as an anonymous source for the media.
That indictment was dismissed last month after a federal judge in Virginia ruled that the prosecutor who brought the case, Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed by the Trump administration.
But the ruling left open the possibility that the government could try again to seek charges against Comey, a longtime foe of President Donald Trump. Comey has pleaded not guilty, denied having made a false statement and accused the Justice Department of a vindictive prosecution.
After the case was thrown out, Richman filed a motion that sought the return of his computer records, which the Justice Department obtained through search warrants in 2019 and 2020 as part of a media leak investigation that was later closed without charges.
Richman and his lawyers say that even after that investigation ended, the Justice Department continued for years to hold onto the materials it had collected from Richman’s computer, email and iCloud accounts despite those files containing a “significant quantum of privileged information.”
Justice Department officials searched the files this year for communications between Comey and Richman that could be used to build a case against Comey. But Richman and his lawyers say prosecutors conducted new, warrantless searches that went beyond the scope of the warrants and retained his files for years without any legitimate purpose.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sided with Richman’s lawyers and issued a temporary restraining order Saturday that required the Justice Department to return the files and to no longer access them.
The Justice Department challenged that order Tuesday, calling Richman’s request for his materials “a transparent effort to suppress evidence in the Comey matter.” Prosecutors said Richman’s motion had “effectively enjoined the government from investigating and potentially prosecuting Comey.
“But federal courts cannot enjoin federal criminal prosecutions; a civil plaintiff cannot circumvent bedrock federal criminal procedure via an equitable proceeding like this one,” they said. “So the Court should dissolve its temporary restraining order and deny Petitioner’s motion.”
In response to the Justice Department’s objections, Kollar-Kotelly did not immediately lift her order but did allow for further filings from both sides. She signaled her position that Richman should be given a chance to review the materials and assert any attorney-client privilege claims he thinks are necessary.
