The Latest: Former FBI Director Comey indicted; Trump predicts others will face criminal charges

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Former FBI Director James Comey has been charged with making a false statement and obstruction in a criminal case filed days after President Donald Trump appeared to urge his attorney general to prosecute him and other perceived political enemies.

The indictment makes Comey the first former senior government official involved in one of Trump’s chief grievances, the long-concluded investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, to face prosecution. Trump has for years derided that investigation as a “hoax” and a “witch hunt” despite multiple government reviews showing Moscow interfered on behalf of the Republican’s campaign, and has made clear his desire for retribution.

The criminal case is likely to deepen concerns that the Justice Department under the leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Trump loyalist, is being weaponized as it pursues investigations of public figures the president regards as his adversaries.

Here's the latest:

The White House is moving forward with a deal that would allow the U.S. government to take a small equity stake in a Canadian company that is developing one of the world’s largest lithium mines in northern Nevada, an official said.

The Department of Energy and Lithium Americas, developer of the proposed Thacker Pass lithium mine and processing plant about 200 miles north of Reno, have agreed on changes to a $2.3 billion federal loan that could allow the project to move forward to extract the silver-white metal used in electric vehicle batteries.

General Motors has pledged more than $900 million to help develop Thacker Pass, which holds enough lithium to build 1 million electric vehicles annually.

The proposed equity stake in Vancouver-based Lithium Americas is the latest example of the Trump administration intervening directly in private companies.

“We support the project moving forward,’′ said the White House official, who was granted anonymity in order to talk about a deal that is not yet completed.

— Matthew Daly

▶ Read more about the proposed deal here

Nexstar Media Group joined Sinclair Broadcast Group in bringing “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” back to its local TV stations on Friday, restoring the late-night talk show to the full slate of ABC affiliates across the U.S.

The companies suspended the program over the comedian’s comments related the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The move means “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will return to local TV on Nexstar’s ABC affiliates in 28 cities, along with the 38 stations where Sinclair agreed to restore the show.

Trump made the announcement on his social media site shortly after he returned to the White House from attending the Ryder Cup golf tournament in New York.

He said Earhart’s story is such an “interesting story” and that “many people” have asked him about it and whether he’d consider declassifying and making public everything the government knows about her, including her final flight.

Earhart’s plane vanished in 1937 during her attempt to fly around the world.

“Her disappearance, almost 90 years ago, has captivated millions,” Trump wrote. “I am ordering my Administration to declassify and release all Government Records related to Amelia Earhart, her final trip, and everything else about her.”

The Supreme Court on Friday extended an order that allows President Donald Trump’s administration to keep frozen nearly $5 billion in foreign aid, handing him another victory in a dispute over presidential power.

The court acted on the Republican administration’s emergency appeal in a case involving billions of dollars in congressionally approved aid. Trump said last month that he would not spend the money, invoking disputed authority that was last used by a president roughly 50 years ago.

The Justice Department sought the high court’s intervention after U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ruled that Trump’s action was likely illegal and that Congress would have to approve the decision to withhold the funding.

The federal appeals court in Washington declined to put Ali’s ruling on hold, but Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily blocked it on Sept. 9. The full court indefinitely extended Roberts’ order.

The helicopter landed at 4:18 pm.

Wearing a blue suit and white golf shoes, Trump walked into the Oval Office with his granddaughter, Kai Trump, who is a competitive golfer at the collegiate level.

He didn’t stop to answer any questions from reporters and had nothing else on his public schedule for the rest of the day.

Security guards stand outside the Jacob K. Javits Federal Office Building at 26 Federal Plaza, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith, file)

A federal immigration officer who shoved an Ecuadorian woman to the floor at a Manhattan court is “being relieved of current duties,” the Department of Homeland Security said Friday in a rare rebuke of one of its officers.

The altercation, which was captured on videos that spread quickly on social media, unfolded after the woman’s husband was arrested at an immigration court in New York City.

Footage shows the woman approach the immigration officer following her husband’s arrest, pleading with the officer in Spanish and at one point saying “You don’t care about anything,” before he pushes her into a wall and then onto the floor of a crowded hallway.

“The officer’s conduct in this video is unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE,” said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at DHS, which oversees immigration enforcement.

It is extremely rare for the Trump administration’s DHS to discipline immigration officers for aggressive tactics across the U.S.

▶ Read more about the incident here

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that he has decided that the 19 soldiers who received the Medal of Honor for their actions in 1890 at Wounded Knee will keep their awards in a video posted to social media Thursday evening.

Hegseth’s predecessor, Lloyd Austin, ordered the review of the awards in 2024 after a congressional recommendation in the 2022 defense bill — itself a reflection of efforts by some lawmakers to rescind the awards for those who participated in the bloody massacre on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation near Wounded Knee Creek.

While the events of that day are sometimes described as a battle, historical records show that the U.S. Army, which was in the midst of a campaign to repress the tribes in the area, killed an estimated 250 Native Americans, including women and children, of the Lakota Sioux tribe, while attempting to disarm Native American fighters who had already surrendered at their camp.

“We’re making it clear that (the soldiers) deserve those medals,” Hegseth said in the video, before adding that “their place in our nation’s history is no longer up for debate.”

Trump is back at the airport in Farmingdale on New York’s Long Island after taking in a few hours of the golf tournament.

The U.S. trailed Europe when the president left.

He’s scheduled to return to Washington.

Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, appeared Friday afternoon on her late husband’s podcast to assure listeners that “The Charlie Kirk Show” “is not going anywhere.” “My husband’s voice will live on. The show will go on,” she said -- though not with her at the helm.

“This not going to be a forever thing of me hosting the show,” said the woman who is now the CEO and chair of the board of Turning Point USA, the organization her husband founded.

She said the podcast would “continue to be a voice for all of Charlie’s causes” and will be led by a rotating cast and hosts and feature previously unaired clips of her husband speaking and answering questions.

“We have decades worth of my husband’s voice. We have unused material from speeches that he’s had that no one has heard yet,” she said.

His social media accounts will also continue to post, and affiliated groups like Turning Point Action are moving “full steam ahead.”

“We’ve been very intentional in a way that always keeps Charlie first and his dreams alive and his legacy going,” she said, adding that Kirk had laid out a vision for the groups all the way through 2030. “We’re not going anywhere. We have the blue prints. We have our marching orders.”

“Democrats are here in the Capital, ready, willing and able to sit down with anyone at any time, at any place,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

Funding for the federal government runs out next week, with Congress at a standstill. Trump canceled a meeting with the Democratic leaders and the House canceled next week’s session.

“Four days away from a government shutdown and Republicans are on vacation,” Jeffries said.

“On the eve of a government shutdown, and Donald Trump is at a golf event,” he said. “It’s outrageous.”

Democrats are fighting to save health care funds that expire, threatening to skyrocket premium costs for Americans who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Republicans have said the issue could be addressed later this year.

A group of 40 former national park superintendents are calling on the Trump administration to close the parks to visitors in case of a government shutdown.

Past shutdowns in which parks have remained opened have led to the vandalism of iconic symbols, destruction of wildlife habitats and possible endangerment of visitors, the superintendents said Friday in a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

A shutdown now could be even worse as parks are already under strain from a 24% reduction in staffand severe budget cuts, the former park officials said.

The letter was organized by the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks and the Association of National Park Rangers.

Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee say the six pages of records from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate showing that the late financier was friends with some of the most powerful and wealthiest men in the world.

The pages from Epstein’s schedule show he was in touch with prominent figures like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Steve Bannon and Peter Thiel. There is no evidence those people knew about how Epstein was sexually abusing teenage girls.

Prince Andrew also flew with Epstein from New Jersey to Florida, according to a flight log released by the lawmakers.

The records redacted the names of victims, and the committee plans to release more once those are redacted as well.

The president took up position between the 1st tee and the 18th hole, near the bottom of the grandstand.

Four fighter jets flew over as a firefighter sang the National Anthem.

“Donald Trump!” some people chanted.

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin at the U.N. on Friday praised the work of journalists covering the ongoing situation in Gaza, saying that the dire circumstances “cannot be justified or defended.”

“We honor the journalists that have worked tirelessly and without regard to their own safety to ensure that nobody can ever say, ‘We did not know,’” Martin said.

Martin also said that his country “stands in full solidarity” with the people of Gaza, going on to also acknowledge the efforts of medics and U.N. workers in the area.

In his own U.N. speech earlier Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talked about “biased media” and Hamas’ “propaganda war that the Western media buys, hook, line and sinker.”

The White House has denied the allegations in a lawsuit that accuses Immigration and Customs Enforcement of illegally arresting immigrants in Washington, D.C.

“Not only are these allegations false, but they’re dangerous smears against ICE officers that are directly contributing to the dramatic increase in left-wing violence,” said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman.

“Enforcement operations require careful planning and execution; skills far beyond the purview of a casual observer.”

She said those arrested in D.C. include MS-13 gang members and others who have been convicted of serious crimes, including murder.

“The Trump Administration will continue fulfilling our promise to the American people to deport as many criminal illegal aliens as possible.”

The president has dismissed suggestions that Comey was being charged as part of a broader retribution campaign - but Trump said there will be more.

“It’s not a list, but I think there’ll be others,” the president told reporters on Friday as he departed the White House.

Trump accused his political opponents of weaponizing the Justice Department.

Saying “I hope” others will be charged, Trump also brushed aside concerns that a future Democratic administration could use its powers to go after Trump and his allies.

“Well, that’s what they tried to do, right? They did it with me for four years, they went after me,” Trump said. He later added: “It’s about justice, it’s not revenge.”

The president says he believes the U.S. is close to achieving a deal on easing fighting in Gaza that “will get the hostages back” and “end the war.”

“I think we have maybe a deal on Gaza, very close to a deal on Gaza,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn as he was leaving to attend the Ryder Cup.

Trump has repeatedly suggested that an agreement to calm Israel’s war with Hamas is imminent — only to have nothing to show for it.

Weeks ago, he said, “I think we’re going to have a deal on Gaza very soon.” And Trump has made similar pronouncements before and after that.

The chair of a Select House Committee on China has asked for an urgent briefing with the White House on the TikTok framework deal as supported by Trump on Thursday.

“As Chairman of the China Select Committee, I will be conducting full oversight over this agreement, starting with an urgent briefing I have requested from the Administration,” said Rep. John Moolenaar, R.-Michigan, said Friday.

While the transition of the ownership of the popular social media platform to a majority American-owned entity could mitigate some security concerns linked to TikTok, Moolenaar said: “The law also set firm guardrails that prohibit cooperation between ByteDance and any prospective TikTok successor on the all-important recommendation algorithm, as well as preclude operational ties between the new entity and ByteDance.”

ByteDance is the parent company of TikTok and is based in Beijing. Congress passed a law last year that demands TikTok to be spun off from the Chinese ownership on security grounds. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law in January.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York has sharply criticized the Trump administration over Comey's indictment.

“The indictment of James Comey is a disgraceful attack on the rule of law,” Jeffries said late Thursday.

“Donald Trump and his sycophants in the Department of Justice are completely and totally out of control, and have viciously weaponized the criminal justice system against their perceived adversaries.”