By MICHAEL R. SISAK The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Moments after Luigi Mangione was put in handcuffs at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s, a police officer searching his backpack found a loaded gun magazine wrapped in a pair of underwear.

The discovery, recounted in court Monday as Mangione fights to exclude evidence from his New York murder case, convinced police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, that he was the man wanted for killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan five days earlier.

“It’s him, dude. It’s him, 100%,” an officer was heard saying on body-worn camera video from Mangione’s Dec. 9, 2024 arrest, punctuating the remark with expletives as the officer combing the bag, Christy Wasser, held up the magazine.

Wasser, a 19-year Altoona police veteran, testified on the fourth day of a pretrial hearing as Mangione seeks to bar prosecutors from using the magazine and other evidence against him, including a 9 mm handgun and a notebook that were found during a subsequent search of the bag.

Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges. He appeared in good health on Monday, intently watching the video and occasionally jotting notes. The hearing, which began Dec. 1 and was postponed Friday because of his apparent illness, applies only to the state case. His lawyers are making a similar push to exclude the evidence from his federal case, where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Prosecutors have said the handgun found in the backpack matches the firearm used in the killing and that writings in the notebook showed Mangione’s disdain for health insurers and ideas about killing a CEO at an investor conference.

Mangione’s lawyers contend the items should be excluded because police didn’t have a search warrant for the backpack. Prosecutors contend the search was legal and that officers eventually obtained a warrant.

Wasser, testifying in full uniform, said she was following Altoona police protocols that require promptly searching a suspect’s property at the time of an arrest, in part to check for potentially dangerous items. She was heard on body-worn camera footage played in court that she wanted to check the bag for bombs before removing it from the McDonald’s.

Wasser told another officer she didn’t want to repeat an incident in which another Altoona officer had inadvertently brought a bomb to the police station.

Thompson, 50, was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for his company’s investor conference on Dec. 4, 2024. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione was arrested in Altoona, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan, after police there received a 911 call about a McDonald’s customer who appeared to resemble the suspect.

Wasser said that prior to responding to the McDonald’s she had seen some coverage of Thompson’s killing on Fox News, including the surveillance video of the shooting and images of the suspected shooter.

Wasser began searching his bag as officers took him into custody on initial charges of forgery and false identification, after he acknowledged giving them a bogus driving license, police said. The same fake name was used by the alleged gunman used at a Manhattan hostel days before the shooting.

By then, a handcuffed Mangione had been informed of his right to remain silent — and invoked it — when asked if there was anything in the bag that officers should be concerned about.

According to body-worn camera video, the first few items Wasser found were innocuous: a hoagie, a loaf of bread and a smaller bag containing a passport, cellphone and computer chip.

Then she pulled out the underwear, unwrapping the gray pair to reveal the magazine.

Satisfied there was no bomb, she suspended her search and placed some of the items back in the bag. She resumed her search at the police station, almost immediately finding the gun and silencer. Later, while cataloging everything in the bag in what’s known as an inventory search, she found the notebook.

A Blair County, Pennsylvania, prosecutor testified that a judge later signed off on a search warrant for the bag, a few hours after the searches were completed. The warrant, she said, provided a legal mechanism for Altoona police to turn the evidence over to New York City detectives investigating Thompson’s killing.

As he has through the case, Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann described Thompson’s killing as an “execution” and referred to his notebook as a “manifesto” — terms that Mangione’s lawyers said were prejudicial and inappropriate.

Judge Gregory Carro said the wording had “no bearing” on him, but warned Seidemann that he’s “certainly not going to do that at trial” when jurors are present.

New York City reached a record-tying 12 days with no murders — a streak only ended when a 38-year-old man was shot in the stairwell of a Bronx NYCHA building, police said Monday.

Gregory Stewart was shot in the head about 9:05 p.m. Sunday inside a Sotomayor Houses building on Watson Ave. near Rosedale Ave. in Soundview, cops said. Medics rushed the victim to Jacobi Medical Center but he could not be saved.

Stewart’s murder ended a stretch of 12 days, beginning Nov. 25, that saw no new recorded homicides citywide. The only other time the city is known to have gone that long with no murders was in 2015, which also saw a 12-day stretch with no homicides, according to NYPD stats.

“Right strategy. Great execution. That’s how you set record after record,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement Monday. “Thank you to the members of the NYPD who have sacrificed so much this year to drive down violent crime to record lows.”

A man was taken into custody in Sunday’ slaying but has not yet been charged. The victim lived in the Wakefield section of the Bronx, according to cops.

The last known murder in the city before Sunday’s homicide was the stabbing death of 80-year-old Lev Vayner inside his apartment on Overlook Terrace near W. 184th St. in Washington Heights on Nov. 24.

The suspect, 45-year-old Alon Riabichev, whom Vayner was kindly letting crash with him, called 911 around 3:15 a.m. and confessed to having killed Vayner, according to prosecutors. Riabichev is charged with murder.

A suspect has been arrested upstate for the Midtown Manhattan shooting that wounded Jets player Kris Boyd last month, law enforcement sources said Monday.

The 20-year-old suspect was not immediately charged but sources say he is expected to face charges of attempted murder after he is transported to Manhattan from Amherst, a Buffalo suburb where a U.S. Marshals task force nabbed him.

The suspect lives in the Bronx and has four prior arrests, including one last year for reckless endangerment and a 2018 robbery arrest as a juvenile delinquent that was sealed, law enforcement sources said.

The gunman early on Nov. 16 was part of a group of men who mocked the stylish clothes Boyd and his friends were wearing when they arrived at Sei Less, a W. 38th St. Asian fusion hot spot popular with the well-heeled.

Boyd and his friends, including fellow Jets players Irvin Charles and Jamien Sherwood, ignored the taunts, police said, but left the club after a short while and were mocked again by the same group, sparking an argument that got physical.

Boyd was shot in the chest, the bullet travelling into his lung, as the fight escalated.

The shooter and his accomplics ran off, police said, with the shooter later identified after cops released surveillance footage of him in the hopes someone would recognize him.

The suspect’s name has not been publicly released as detectives worked to establish probable cause to charge him.

Boyd was rushed to Bellevue Hospital and later released but was returned to the hospital over Thanksgiving after facing setback in his recovery, he posted on social media,

Multiple reports of larcenies from unlocked vehicles parked in Bloomfield Township were reported during the overnight hours from Dec. 4 to Dec. 5, officials said.

Purses, computers, shopping bags full of merchandise, and other personal property were reported stolen from eight vehicles, according to Bloomfield Township police. All the vehicles had been left unlocked in driveways, police said.

While an investigation continues, the Bloomfield Township Police Department said the community’s support is needed to thwart any more would-be thieves.

Residents are strongly urged to remove all valuables from inside their cars, keep them locked and don’t leave keys inside when they aren’t occupied.

Teen found stabbed at Royal Oak Township hotel

An investigation is underway into the stabbing of a 14-year-old boy Saturday night in Royal Oak Township.

As of Monday morning, officials hadn’t announced any arrest in the case.

According to Michigan State Police, troopers responded to the American Inn & Suites at 11000 W. Eight Mile Road just before 10:30 pm. Dec. 6 after the assault was reported. Troopers administered first-aid to the victim including applying a tourniquet to the victim’s leg, where he had been stabbed. The teen was then transported to an area hospital.

Troopers contacted his mother and brought her to the hospital, MSP stated.

MSP Lt. Mike Shaw requested further information from the public as investigators work to develop leads to the suspect.

“Anyone who has information on this incident is asked to call the Metro North Post at 248-584-5740 or Crime Stoppers at 800-SPEAKUP,” Shaw stated on X.

A 25-year-old Mt. Pleasant man is jailed in Livingston County on a $1 million bond, accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a home as his stalking of a juvenile escalated into an attack on their home.

Authorities in Brighton Township were first alerted at 9:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 28, after several bottles of flammable materials were thrown at a house on Burson Drive, igniting fires, the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office reported Friday, Dec. 5.

Within less than a day, Mt. Pleasant police officers had the suspect in custody in mid-Michigan and he was being transported to the Livington County Jail, awaiting criminal charges in the county just northwest of Metro Detroit.

Now, Alex Buley-Neumar is being held in the downstate jail on a $1 million bond, facing four felony criminal charges.

On Monday, Dec. 1, he was arraigned in the 53rd District Court on charges of the manufacture/possession of a Molotov cocktail causing damage, a potential 20-year felony; aggravated stalking of a minor, which carries up to 10 years in prison; using a computer to commit a crime, also a 10-year felony; and accosting a child for immoral purposes, a four-year felony.

When emergency responders arrived at the Burson Drive home in a residential neighborhood, the fires had been extinguished by “alert neighbors… preventing what could have been a catastrophic outcome,” the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office said in its statement. The home is about an hour-and-40 minute minute drive from Mt. Pleasant.

Deputies found evidence of the incendiary devices and documented the fire damage. Investigators when learned the violence was connected to “an ongoing stalking and harassment case involving a juvenile victim over social media platforms.”

And the suspect was identified, prompting sheriff’s detectives to work overnight with police investigators and officers in locating him.

By 3 p.m. the next day, Saturday, Nov. 29, Buley-Neumar was being taken into custody without incident by Mt. Pleasant officers, the sheriff’s office said.

Sheriff’s officials also wanted to remind parents and families “to get involved and be aware of what their are doing on social media and who they are talking to.”

The sheriff’s office did not provide an age or gender of the stalking victim.

Buley-Neumar is due back in court for an 8 a.m. Dec. 9 hearing for a probable cause conference before Judge Shauna Murphy. A preliminary examination is scheduled at this time for Dec. 16.

He was represented by a court-appointed attorney at the arraignment and has requested one for the ongoing case, according to court records.

Detectives with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office are seeking the public’s help in finding a Pontiac teen who didn’t return home from school on Nov. 21 and hasn’t been seen by his family since.then, officials said.

Jahlon Christopher Hamilton, 15, has had contact with his mother through text messages since he went missing, the sheriff’s office said, but she doesn’t know his whereabouts. He has reportedly stated that he’ll return home, but hasn’t, the sheriff’s office said. She believes he’s somewhere in Pontiac.

Jahlon is a student at  Arts and Tech Academy — his last known whereabouts. He’s 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighs 140 pounds, and has brown eyes and black hair. Anyone who may have seen Jahlon Hamilton or knows his whereabouts is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 248-858-4950.

Detroiter shot dead outside Southfield hotel; second fatal shooting in Oakland County over the weekend

2 Southfield fires on Sunday leave 1 dead, several others burned out of homes

A West Bloomfield man faces nine felony charges after allegedly shooting into a neighbor’s home on Monday.

West Bloomfield Police Deputy Chief Scott Mong said Marquis Greg-Lamar Fletcher, 50, was arraigned via Zoom by a 48th District Court magistrate on Wednesday.

Fletcher was arrested on Monday in the 7400 block of Coach Lane after police were summoned by his wife, who said he was armed and having a mental health crisis, Mong said.

As police were en route to the scene, Fletcher allegedly carried firearms to a neighbor’s home, broke a window and fired several rounds inside. None of the four people inside the home were hurt, Mong said.

Fletcher faces the following charges:

•  first-degree home invasion, a 20-year felony,

•  assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, a 10-year felony,

•  discharging a firearm in or at a building, a 10-year felony,

•  wearing body armor during the commission of a violent crime, a four-year felony,

• one count of assaulting, resisting and/or obstructing a police officer, a 2-year felony and

• four counts of possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony. If convicted, he faces two years in prison for each count.

Fletcher remains in Oakland County Jail, with bond set at $500,000 cash or surety. His next 48th District Court appearance is 8:45 a.m. Dec. 9.

Mong said suspects in any crime are presumed innocent until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated after the governor of West Virginia updated his earlier report that they had died.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two West Virginia National Guard members who deployed to the nation’s capital were shot Wednesday just blocks from the White House in a brazen act of violence.

The West Virginia governor initially said the troops had died, but later walked back the statement to say his office was “receiving conflicting reports” about their condition. The governor’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the attack and the condition of the troops.

A suspect who was in custody also was shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

“We are in ongoing contact with federal officials as the investigation continues,” Gov. Patrick Morrisey said.

Law enforcement was reviewing surveillance video from the scene and believed the suspect approached the soldiers and pulled out a gun, said another law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

At least one of the soldiers exchanged gunfire with the shooter, the official said. Investigators were trying to determine the gunman’s motive, including whether the suspect was targeting the troops for any specific reason, the official said.

The shooting happened roughly two blocks northwest of the White House.

Social media video shared in the immediate aftermath showed first responders attempting CPR on one of the soldiers and treating the other on a glass-covered sidewalk. Other officers could be seen steps away restraining an individual on the ground.

Stacy Walters said she was in a car near the scene car when she heard two gunshots and saw people running. Almost instantly, law enforcement swarmed the area. “It’s such a beautiful day. Who would do this, and we’re getting ready for the holidays?”

Emergency medical responders transported all three people to a hospital, according to Vito Maggiolo, the public information officer for the DC Fire and Emergency Services.

The presence of the National Guard in the nation’s capital has been a flashpoint issue for months, fueling a court fight and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration’s use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem.

More than 300 West Virginia National Guard members were deployed to Washington in August. Last week, about 160 of them volunteered to extend their deployment until the end of the year while the others returned to West Virginia just over a week ago.

Police tape cordoned off the scene where fire and police vehicle lights flashed and helicopter blades thudded overhead. Agents from the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on scene, as National Guard troops stood sentry nearby. At least one helicopter landed on the National Mall.

President Donald Trump, who was in Florida for Thanksgiving, warned in a statement on social media that the “animal” who shot the guardsmen “will pay a very steep price.”

“God bless our Great National Guard, and all of our Military and Law Enforcement. These are truly Great People,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I, as President of the United States, and everyone associated with the Office of the Presidency, am with you!”

In Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Vice President JD Vance urged “everybody who’s a person of faith” to pray for the two Guardsmen. He cautioned that much remained unknown, including the motive of the shooter.

“I think it’s a somber reminder that soldiers, whether they’re active duty, reserve or National Guard, our soldiers are the sword and the shield of the United States of America,” Vance said as he delivered a Thanksgiving message to troops.

A spokesperson for Mayor Muriel Bowser said local leaders were actively monitoring the situation. Bowser had spent the morning at a Thanksgiving event at the Convention Center and then held a news conference to explain why she was not seeking reelection.

Trump issued an emergency order in August that federalized the local police force and sent in National Guard troops from eight states and the District of Columbia. The order expired a month later, but the troops remained.

The soldiers have patrolled neighborhoods, train stations and other locations, participated in highway checkpoints and also have been assigned to trash pickup and to guard sports events.

Last week, a federal judge ordered an end to the deployment but also put her order on hold for 21 days to allow the Trump administration time to either remove the troops or appeal the decision.

—–

Governor Patrick Morrisey had previously reported their deaths in a social media post.

By Charles E. Ramirez, cramirez@detroitnews.com

Police are investigating a potential threat against Groves High School, officials said Friday.

The Beverly Hills campus is part of the Birmingham Public Schools district.

School staff alerted the police department’s school resource officer at 9:30 p.m. Thursday about a “concerning” image posted on social media, according to authorities. The image displayed several hunting rifles lying side by side. It had no captions and was posted on a group thread related to the school district, police said.

Officers visited the student’s home to conduct a welfare check. Investigators said the student and his parents were cooperative.

“It was determined last night that there was no immediate threat to the community and there were no guns located at the individual’s residence,” Edward Arnold, the village’s Director for Public Safety, said Friday.

He said there are no firearms registered to the parents, and the photo had been taken several months ago when the student was in the Upper Peninsula.

On Thursday, district officials told parents in a letter that the police department received a tip from the state’s OK2SAY system for reporting school threats anonymously.

The report involved a social media post made by a Groves student that included an image depicting several rifles, the letter said. “Importantly, there was no direct threat made toward any individual or toward the school.”

School officials said although police deemed there was no immediate threat to the school’s students and staff, they will “continue to exercise due diligence and work closely with law enforcement to thoroughly review all aspects of the situation.”

The district also said the student suspected of posting the image of the weapons will not return to the school while the investigation is conducted.

“Additionally, families can expect an increased police presence at Groves and our feeder schools throughout the day (Friday) to provide added reassurance for students and staff,” officials said.

Groves High School has about 1,100 students.

In August, Michigan State Police said the OK2SAY system received 11,671 tips in 2024, a 20% increase from the previous year and the highest reporting level of the program since its inception in 2014.

More than 600 of those tips related to threats, 252 were about guns,125 were about bombs, and 73 involved weapons possession, according to the program’s annual report. That compares to 741 tips about threats, 185 about guns, 64 about bombs, and 73 about weapons possession in 2023.

A Coloradan who purchased an abandoned Douglas County storage unit found that it contained 1.7 million counterfeit fentanyl pills, plus several pounds of meth and fentanyl powder, law enforcement officials said Monday.

The discovery amounted to a record seizure of fentanyl in Colorado, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the sixth-largest in U.S. history.

The unit was purchased at auction after its previous renter lapsed on its payments.

The new owner then called law enforcement, including the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, after opening it to discover the pills. The unit also contained 12 kilograms of fentanyl powder and two and a half pounds of methamphetamine. Law enforcement subsequently learned that the unit’s previous owner had been arrested by the DEA in April, which is why the unit’s rent went unpaid.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s at least 50 times more powerful than morphine. While it has legitimate medical uses, illicitly created fentanyl has become the dominant opioid on the U.S. drug market, and it fueled an overdose crisis that surged in Colorado and across the rest of the United States. The street version of the drug is primarily pressed into pill form, typically to mimic the look of other legitimate opioid pills.

“I want to thank the citizen who reported this discovery, the storage facility staff for their cooperation, and the deputies who responded quickly and professionally,” said Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly said in a statement. “Let me send a strong and unmistakable message: fentanyl and illegal narcotics will not be tolerated in Douglas County.”

The powder seized in the operation was enough to create another six million pills, the DEA said.

6 charged in massive drug bust with enough fentanyl to kill 1.5 million people

Progress on overdose deaths could be jeopardized by federal cuts, critics say

Union Township woman arrested for alleged sale of narcotics

The case against a Farmington Hills police officer accused of sexually assaulting a police cadet has advanced from district court to Oakland County Circuit Court for possible trial.

At the conclusion of a Nov. 20 preliminary exam, 52-1 District Judge Travis Reeds bound over the case against Michael Rybinski, ruling that the evidence presented established probable cause.

Rybinski, 31, of WIxom, is charged with one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and three counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct for an alleged assault that reportedly happened outside of work on June 16.

Rybinski is on administrative leave, according to the Farmington Hills Police Department.

As previously reported, the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office said the alleged victim stated that the incident happened in her car after she agreed to give Rybinski a ride home. He had reportedly called her for the ride, stating he was drunk. He’s accused of groping, forcibly fondling and trying to kiss her despite her repeatedly telling him to stop. The alleged victim reported the incident the next day, the prosecutor’s office said. The Farmington Hills Police Department subsequently referred to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit, the prosecutor’s office said.

Rybinski is out on bond after posting $2,000 — the required 10% of the $20,000 bond set at his district court arraignment. With the bindover, his arraignment in the higher court is scheduled for Dec. 4 before Judge Mary Ellen Brennan.

Third-degree criminal sexual conduct carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison. Fourth-degree CSC is punishable by up to two years in prison.

By JOHN HANNA and JACK DURA The Associated Press

CARBONDALE, Kan. (AP) — Four law enforcement officers were shot Saturday morning while responding to a domestic violence call at a home in a rural area south of Topeka, and a 22-year-old male suspect died of gunshot wounds at the scene.

The suspect’s 77-year-old grandfather also was wounded in the gunfire but he and the law enforcement officers are all expected to recover, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said.

The shooting occurred around 10:30 a.m. Three Osage County sheriff’s deputies and one Kansas Highway Patrol trooper were shot, the KBI’s director and the patrol’s superintendent said.

Two deputies underwent surgery at a Topeka hospital and were in good condition, the KBI said, and the third deputy was discharged. The trooper was transferred from the same hospital to the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas.

“After being on scene less than 10 minutes, gunfire erupted,” patrol Superintendent Erik Smith said during a news conference at the Carbondale City Library.

Carbondale is a town of about 1,300 people about 16 miles south of Topeka, the state capital, off Highway 75.

The shooting stunned neighbors John and Heather Roberts, who live about a mile north of where it occurred on the same two-lane road. They never sensed any problem in any of the family members, such as drugs, alcohol abuse or violence, and they said the suspect’s grandmother gave Christian books to area children she knew.

They said it is not uncommon to see law enforcement vehicles on the road outside their home because they live at the line between Osage County, home to Carbondale, and Shawnee County, home to Topeka, and vehicles turn around there or the counties exchange prisoners.

John Roberts said he was putting siding on his barn when two law enforcement vehicles flew down the road in the morning.

“Both of them were running, I would say, well over 100 miles an hour as they went by,” he said. “Then the city of Topeka officers started going by. That’s when I started to really get concerned.”

He said the suspect visited the shop he has at his home to return tools and was “a good kid.” Roberts added that many families in the area own guns because hunting is a common hobby, and that was the case with this family.

“I love the family. They’re great people,” Heather Roberts said, adding that she and her husband were praying for the wounded officers too.

She said every time the suspect visited their home, he would give her a hug and he was “very respectful.”

“I don’t know what snapped in him today, but his grandparents loved him very much,” she said.

___

Dura reported from Bismarck, North Dakota.

Exiled by the elite after his conviction for sexually soliciting a teenage girl and failing to rehabilitate his image as a sexual predator, an embittered Jeffrey Epstein in 2011 believed his old friend Donald Trump had escaped scrutiny.

“I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump,” Epstein wrote to his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell that April, noting Trump had “spent hours at my house” with Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent women to speak out about being abused by the financier, who died by suicide in April.

The correspondence, obtained from Epstein’s estate by the House Oversight Committee, was included among more than 20,000 documents released this week that brought the men’s relationship history into greater focus. Scores of emails in the cache chart Epstein’s obsession with Trump as he spiraled into scandal and his Palm Beach neighbor ascended to the presidency.

Epstein was at a low point when he sent the missive to Maxwell after serving jail time in Florida for soliciting a 16-year-old. Two months earlier, a Manhattan judge had rejected a bid to downgrade his sex offender status, despite the well-connected wealth manager having then-District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., in his corner.

Giuffre had publicly spoken out about her allegations that Epstein trafficked her to powerful men for sex, sharing with the Daily Mail a now-infamous photograph of her with his friend Prince Andrew and Maxwell as apparent evidence.

Epstein’s 2011 email to Maxwell marveled that Trump, then hosting “The Apprentice” and floating a run for president had “never once been mentioned.”

“I have been thinking about that…,” Maxwell replied.

Democrats released Epstein’s 2011 message to Maxwell among a set of emails early Wednesday that appeared to suggest the president knew about the financier’s depraved lifestyle and its young victims.

Claiming that their colleagues across the aisle had engaged in a cherry-picking mission, House Republicans later published thousands of Epstein’s digital files online, revealing Giuffre’s identity in the 2011 message, which the Democrats had previously redacted. Many came to the president’s defense, arguing that it proved nothing. Giuffre, they noted, had denied that Trump had abused her or that she’d seen him abuse others in the years before her death.

The president has long denied engaging in any abuse and claimed he stopped talking to Epstein — whom he’d counted as a friend since the 1980s — in the early 2000s over a dispute related to real estate.

On Friday, following a barrage of reporting about the emails, Trump took to his social media site Truth Social to slam what he calls the “EPSTEIN HOAX.” He demanded the Justice Department investigate Epstein’s “involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi said Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, would head the probe.

Dirt on Trump

The trove of Epstein emails released this week, massive in volume and spanning 2011 to 2019, includes 1,625 references to Trump, although there is no direct communication between the two men.

Made clear throughout is that — whether or not he did — Epstein maintained he had dirt on Trump.

Messaging ahead of a presidential debate in December 2015, Epstein asked his quasi-consultant, Trump biographer Michael Wolff, with whom he spoke regularly, how Trump might best answer a potential question about their relationship.

“I think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt,” Wolff responded.

“Of course, it is possible that, when asked, he’ll say Jeffrey is a great guy and has gotten a raw deal and is a victim of political correctness, which is to be outlawed in a Trump regime.”

Wolff suggested it could be time to pull the trigger less than two weeks before Trump won the presidency in 2016, following the release of “Filthy Rich,” a book about Epstein’s perversions.

“There’s an opportunity to come forward this week and talk about Trump in such a way that could garner you great sympathy and help finish him. Interested?” Wolff wrote on Oct. 29. It’s not clear from the release whether Epstein responded.

The batch of emails released this week, made searchable online by the Courier Newsroom, is separate from the federal government’s investigative records — the so-called “Epstein files” — whose release the House of Representatives is set to vote on next week.

The trove sheds light on Epstein’s state of mind in the years before his death, and how closely he followed the president’s whereabouts, policy moves, and his own set of scandals. In countless typo-laden emails, the Brooklyn-born financier situated himself as a POTUS expert in conversations with journalists and various confidants, spoke with members of Trump’s inner circle, and sought to shape U.S. policy.

In June 2018, he asked former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland to convey a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin about his willingness to provide insight on Trump.

His correspondence with Wolff is featured throughout the records, and Epstein also frequently spoke about Trump with former New York Times reporter Landon Thomas Jr., joking about sending him a photo of Trump with girls in bikinis in his kitchen in December 2015.

Epstein communicated regularly with the often foul-mouthed former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, whom he told Trump was “borderline insane,” the emails show.

He also chatted often with Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who in August 2018 told the financier they had to discuss “a crazed jihad against u,” and that “somebody big has u in the gunsights.”

After Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance laws for then-President Trump in the now-notorious Stormy Daniels hush money scheme in 2018, Epstein alluded to his insider’s perspective in correspondence with Kathy Ruemmler, a former Goldman Sachs executive and Obama aide, with whom the cache shows he frequently chatted.

“You see, i know how dirty donald is,” the financier quipped. “my guess is that non-lawyers ny biz people have no idea. what it means to have your fixer flip.”

“The real villain”

That December, The Miami Herald published the most complete account yet of allegations Epstein had serially exploited vulnerable teenage girls. The piece laid out how Epstein had effectively gotten off with a slap on the wrist in his 2008 plea deal due to former U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, who Trump had tapped as his Labor Secretary.

Epstein strategized with Wolff, who believed “directly debunking” the claims wasn’t the right move.

“That’s going against virtue itself,” Wolff wrote. “What I’d like to do is game out everything, creating a structure for thinking this through. Definitely not a piecemeal response. Figure out where we want to be and where we can reasonably get and work backwards.”

Epstein replied, “im thinking what would trump do.”

“Claims are ludicrous and self-serving, media is working with the other side’s lawyers, this is all about Donald Trump,” Wolff responded.

“…all about Donald Trump, the real villain,” Epstein said.

Less than two months later, Epstein explicitly implicated Trump, mentioning Mar-a-Lago to Wolff in a partially redacted email on January 31, 2019, and writing, “trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever. . of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”

Epstein was apparently still focused on the president the following June, when an email outlining some of Trump’s potentially questionable financial dealings landed in his inbox. Epstein’s accountant Richard Kahn sent over “interesting findings” from financial disclosures, or what Kahn called “trumps 100 pages of nonsense.”

Within eight weeks, Epstein was dead. Officials said he’d killed himself in his lower Manhattan jail cell a month after his arrest on sweeping sex trafficking charges.

Maxwell, his longtime partner in crime, was indicted a year later for aiding the abuse for at least a decade in the 1990s and convicted at trial in December 2021. This summer, she was transferred to a cushy prison facility in Bryan, Texas, after meeting with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, for a highly unusual sit-down.

Transcripts of the meeting showed that Epstein’s longtime right-hand revealed little new information but notably praised the president, whom she is reportedly now planning to ask for a pardon.

Royal Oak police have released additional information about a woman crashing her vehicle into the Ulta Beauty store on Woodward Avenue early Sunday morning — alleging she had been fleeing officers and is suspected of drunk driving.

Katrina Deann-Renee Patterson, 26, is charged with multiple felonies:

• Fleeing police — third-degree
• Assault/resist/obstruct police
• Two counts of felonious assault
• Malicious destruction of a building
• Malicious destruction of personal property
• Malicious destruction of police property

According to a news release from Royal Oak Police Lt. Rich Millard, the incident unfolded at around 12:40 a.m. Nov. 9 when officers responded to a report of a white SUV driving on the railroad tracks near West Fourth Street and South Center Street. Officers reportedly spotted an open container of alcohol in the SUV, which had a tire “going flat,” and the driver — identified as Patterson — refused to cooperate with them. She then took off in her SUV, down Washington Avenue.

The police pursuit continued onto Farnum Avenue, onto Oakridge Avenue and then into an alley paralleling Woodward where Patterson reportedly turned; she accelerated and lost control of her vehicle, crashing into the Ulta store, the release states.

Patterson allegedly tried to flee while her SUV was fully lodged in the building, “backing up and ramming a patrol car,” the release states. She kept trying to drive away, moving the SUV further into the store where she caused thousands of dollars in damage, the release states.

After the SUV became lodged on debris, Patterson was taken into custody without further incident, the release states.

Patterson is suspected of being under the influence of alcohol at the time, but that determination is pending blood test results, the release states.

The amount of damage caused in the crash has not yet been determined.

Patterson and a male passenger — who was cited for having open alcohol in the vehicle — were medically evaluated for minor injuries suffered in the crash. No officers were injured.

“We are extremely fortunate this suspect did not seriously injure or kill our officers, herself, her passenger or anyone else during this reckless incident,” said Police Chief Michael Moore.

Of the criminal charges Patterson faces, malicious destruction of a building carries the stiffest possible penalty —  up to 10 years in prison. The other crimes have possible penalties ranging from two years to five years incarceration.

Patterson is held in the Oakland County Jail with bond set at $50,000 — with no 10% provision. Her next court appearance is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 21.

Patterson’s criminal history includes a 2023 conviction for operating while intoxicated in Port Huron.

Recent similar incidents

This is the third reported incident in recent days of vehicles crashing into buildings in Oakland County.

Last Thursday, six people were hurt when a 77-year-old Bloomfield Hills woman drove into the Thai Taste To Go restaurant on Telegraph Road near Long Lake Road in Bloomfield Township.

And on Oct. 27 in Troy, a 45-year-old woman reportedly crashed a  Chevy Equinox into the side of a residence on Woodside Trail. In that incident, police said witnesses reported that prior to the crash the woman hit a trailer while making a left turn, and then her vehicle rolled down the hill into the building.  After she refused to submit to a breath test, officers were granted a search warrant to have medical personnel draw her blood and the case was subsequently turned over to the detective bureau, police said.

Felon charged in Troy gas station armed robbery

Pontiac man killed in 7-vehicle crash on icy M-59

Nanny accused of murdering grandfather to undergo court-ordered psych evaluation

Crushing aftermath: Highland man nearly killed when hit by drunk driver, left with lifelong injuries; driver could be out of prison next year

Felony charges are under review by the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office for a Detroiter who reportedly broke into a Bloomfield Township house last Friday — and the homeowner slept through it, officials said.

The suspect had been taken into custody on unrelated charges in Plymouth Township when police there allegedly found him in possession of personal property from a residence in the 2800 block of Berkshire Drive in Bloomfield Township. Bloomfield Township police were contacted, and officers went to the home where they found one of the doorwalls ajar and the inside of the residence disturbed, police said. A home invasion was confirmed. Personal checks and $900 were reported missing.

The suspect, age 27, doesn’t know the homeowner, police said.

Officers subsequently obtained video surveillance footage from the neighborhood showing the suspect walking through backyards in the area at approximately 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 7, police said.

The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office is reportedly considering filing charges of home invasion and possession of stolen property against the suspect.

Update: Police say woman who crashed into Ulta store was fleeing cops; drunk driving suspected

A 38-year-old felon is facing charges for a recent armed robbery at a Troy gas station.

Joseph Louis Carter was arraigned Nov. 10 in 52-4 District Court 10  for armed robbery, felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of felony firearm in connection with the Oct. 30 incident at the Shell gas station, located at 6951 Rochester Road. He’s held in the Oakland County Jail, denied bond.

According to the Troy Police Department, a masked man armed with a rifle — allegedly Carter — entered the gas station, pointed a weapon at the store clerk and demanded money from the cash register. The clerk handed over an undisclosed amount of cash to the robber, who then fled on foot.

No injuries were reported.

Police said video surveillance showed the robber with what appeared to be an AK-47 style rifle. He remained near the counter during the interaction before fleeing south behind the building, police said.

Police said Carter’s arrest was “made possible through the exceptional teamwork and dedication of our patrol officers, evidence technicians, detectives, Tactical Support Team, Directed Patrol Unit, and Special Investigations Unit.”

The police department also credited the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Detroit police, Ann Arbor police, assistant U.S. Attorney’s Office and the public for information and assistance in moving the case forward.

Carter’s next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 20 for a probable cause conference.

The Louvre had an alarmingly weak password for its security surveillance system when it was hit by a group thieves, who made off with more than $100 million in jewels.

The brazen daylight heist took place on Oct. 18, triggering  a massive investigation that has since revealed the suspects used power tools to bust through the second-floor window of the Apollo Gallery around 9 a.m. The entire operation took under seven minutes, and none of the robbers were at anytime captured by the lone security camera outside the gallery.

During testimony before a French Senate committee last month, Laurence des Cars, the president and director of the Louvre, said the camera had been facing west and did not cover the window the thieves used to gain access to Paris’ most popular museum.

“The security system, as installed in the Apollo Gallery, worked perfectly,” he said, per ABC News. “The question that arises is how to adapt this system to a new type of attack and modus operandi that we could not have foreseen.”

Despite touting its functionality, France’s National Cybersecurity Agency was able to access a server managing the museum’s video surveillance by cracking its ridiculously simple password: “LOUVRE,” according to confidential documents obtained by Libération. The eponymous password was initially uncovered by the agency during an audit in 2014. Additional audits revealed “serious shortcomings” in the museum’s security systems, including the use of 20-year-old software.

So far, seven people have been arrested in connection with the heist, two of whom have partially admitted their involvement.

An investigation into the matter is ongoing, and the stolen jewels remain missing weeks later.

Fire broke out Monday at the Corewell Health Care Center on Rochester Road in Rochester Hills requiring evacuation of the building.

According to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, no injuries were reported and the fire was out before 2 p.m. It’s believed the roof caught on fire while contractors were working on the HVAC unit on the roof.

As of 1:45 p.m. Monday, firefighters were still on scene. No other information was immediately available.

The Oakland Press will update this story as details become available.