Trump administration releases FBI records on MLK Jr. despite his family's opposition
The digital document dump includes more than 240,000 pages of records that had been under a court-imposed seal since 1977, when the FBI first gathered the records and turned them over to the National Archives and Records Administration.
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CNN
3 hours ago
- CNN
Wrongfully imprisoned Maryland man who spent 32 years behind bars sues former authorities
A Maryland man who was wrongly imprisoned for 32 years, including a decade on death row, for two killings he did not commit is suing former law enforcement officials in a lawsuit announced Thursday, though four of the five people named as defendants are deceased. John Huffington was pardoned by then-Gov. Larry Hogan in January 2023. Hogan cited prosecutorial misconduct in granting a full innocence pardon to Huffington in connection with a 1981 double slaying in Harford County. A Maryland board approved $2.9 million in compensation for Huffington later that year during Gov. Wes Moore's administration. Huffington said in a statement Thursday that 'it took many, many painful years, but the truth eventually came out.' Just 18 at the time of his arrest, he said neither of his parents ever got to see and understand that his name had been cleared and he was set free. 'All of those years I spent behind bars damaged and strained my relationships, cost me the ability to have a family of my own, cost me the ability to be with my mother when she died, cost me precious time with my father who was in his nineties and suffering from Alzheimer's when I finally was released,' he added. Huffington, 62, always maintained his innocence. He was released from Patuxent Institution in 2013 after serving 32 years of two life sentences. He was convicted twice in the killings known as the 'Memorial Day Murders.' Diane Becker was stabbed to death in her recreational vehicle, while her 4-year-old son, who was inside, was not harmed. Joseph Hudson, Becker's boyfriend, was fatally shot and found a few miles away. A second suspect in the slayings testified against Huffington, was convicted of first-degree murder, and served 27 years. Prosecutors relied on testimony that was later discredited about hair found at the crime scene purportedly matching Huffington's. He appealed his first conviction in 1981. In 1983, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to death. Prosecutors later commuted that sentence to two life terms. Questions about evidence in the case arose when The Washington Post uncovered an FBI report in 2011 that found the FBI agent who analyzed hair evidence in Huffington's case may not have used reliable science, or even tested the hair at all. The report had been written in 1999, but Harford County State's Attorney Joseph Cassilly didn't provide it to Huffington's lawyers. A Frederick County judge vacated Huffington's convictions and ordered a new trial in 2013 after Huffington presented new evidence using DNA testing that was not available during his earlier trials. When the hair evidence was tested for DNA more than 30 years later, the results showed it was not Huffington's hair. Maryland's highest court unanimously voted to disbar Cassilly in 2021. The court found he withheld exculpatory evidence in the 1981 double murder and lied about it in the following years. Cassilly, who maintained he did nothing wrong, retired in 2019. He died in January. His brother, Bob Cassilly, who is now the Harford County executive, said in a statement that his brother was a decorated war hero who was injured while serving his country and served as the county's state's attorney for 36 years while in a wheelchair. 'Joe cannot defend himself in this decades-old matter because he is now deceased, as are the other named defendants, except for one who is almost 80,' Cassilly said. 'Harford County government, in which I currently serve as county executive, has no role in this case – the county was never the defendants' employer.' Huffington also is suing the assistant state's attorney on his case, Gerard Comen, the Harford County government, and the county sheriff's office detectives, David Saneman, William Van Horn and Wesley J. Picha. All but Saneman are now dead, according to the lawsuit filed July 15 in federal court in Baltimore. Saneman told The Washington Post on Wednesday he had not seen or heard of the lawsuit and declined to comment.
CNN
3 hours ago
- CNN
Wrongfully imprisoned Maryland man who spent 32 years behind bars sues former authorities
A Maryland man who was wrongly imprisoned for 32 years, including a decade on death row, for two killings he did not commit is suing former law enforcement officials in a lawsuit announced Thursday, though four of the five people named as defendants are deceased. John Huffington was pardoned by then-Gov. Larry Hogan in January 2023. Hogan cited prosecutorial misconduct in granting a full innocence pardon to Huffington in connection with a 1981 double slaying in Harford County. A Maryland board approved $2.9 million in compensation for Huffington later that year during Gov. Wes Moore's administration. Huffington said in a statement Thursday that 'it took many, many painful years, but the truth eventually came out.' Just 18 at the time of his arrest, he said neither of his parents ever got to see and understand that his name had been cleared and he was set free. 'All of those years I spent behind bars damaged and strained my relationships, cost me the ability to have a family of my own, cost me the ability to be with my mother when she died, cost me precious time with my father who was in his nineties and suffering from Alzheimer's when I finally was released,' he added. Huffington, 62, always maintained his innocence. He was released from Patuxent Institution in 2013 after serving 32 years of two life sentences. He was convicted twice in the killings known as the 'Memorial Day Murders.' Diane Becker was stabbed to death in her recreational vehicle, while her 4-year-old son, who was inside, was not harmed. Joseph Hudson, Becker's boyfriend, was fatally shot and found a few miles away. A second suspect in the slayings testified against Huffington, was convicted of first-degree murder, and served 27 years. Prosecutors relied on testimony that was later discredited about hair found at the crime scene purportedly matching Huffington's. He appealed his first conviction in 1981. In 1983, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to death. Prosecutors later commuted that sentence to two life terms. Questions about evidence in the case arose when The Washington Post uncovered an FBI report in 2011 that found the FBI agent who analyzed hair evidence in Huffington's case may not have used reliable science, or even tested the hair at all. The report had been written in 1999, but Harford County State's Attorney Joseph Cassilly didn't provide it to Huffington's lawyers. A Frederick County judge vacated Huffington's convictions and ordered a new trial in 2013 after Huffington presented new evidence using DNA testing that was not available during his earlier trials. When the hair evidence was tested for DNA more than 30 years later, the results showed it was not Huffington's hair. Maryland's highest court unanimously voted to disbar Cassilly in 2021. The court found he withheld exculpatory evidence in the 1981 double murder and lied about it in the following years. Cassilly, who maintained he did nothing wrong, retired in 2019. He died in January. His brother, Bob Cassilly, who is now the Harford County executive, said in a statement that his brother was a decorated war hero who was injured while serving his country and served as the county's state's attorney for 36 years while in a wheelchair. 'Joe cannot defend himself in this decades-old matter because he is now deceased, as are the other named defendants, except for one who is almost 80,' Cassilly said. 'Harford County government, in which I currently serve as county executive, has no role in this case – the county was never the defendants' employer.' Huffington also is suing the assistant state's attorney on his case, Gerard Comen, the Harford County government, and the county sheriff's office detectives, David Saneman, William Van Horn and Wesley J. Picha. All but Saneman are now dead, according to the lawsuit filed July 15 in federal court in Baltimore. Saneman told The Washington Post on Wednesday he had not seen or heard of the lawsuit and declined to comment.
CBS News
7 hours ago
- CBS News
Top DOJ official Todd Blanche meets with Ghislaine Maxwell in Florida
Washington — Todd Blanche, the second highest-ranking Justice Department official, met with Ghislaine Maxwell at the U.S. attorney's office in Tallahassee on Thursday to discuss convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. David Oscar Markus, Maxwell's lawyer, declined to comment "on the substance" of the meeting, but told reporters outside the office that "there were a lot of questions and we went all day." "And she answered every one of them. She never did say, 'I'm not going to answer,' never declined," he said. "This is the first time that the government has asked questions, so we were thankful that the deputy attorney general came and asked her questions. It's the first time the government did it. So it was a good day." In a post Thursday night on X, Blanche wrote that he met with Maxwell and "will continue my interview of her tomorrow. The Department of Justice will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time." Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence at a low-security federal correctional institute in Tallahassee. She was convicted in 2021 for her role in helping Epstein recruit, groom and abuse underage girls. Blanche's meeting comes after he said earlier this week that he planned to meet with Maxwell "in the coming days." "Justice demands courage. For the first time, the Department of Justice is reaching out to Ghislaine Maxwell to ask: what do you know?" Blanche wrote on social media Tuesday. He said he contacted Maxwell's lawyers at the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi. "I intend to meet with her soon. No one is above the law — and no lead is off-limits," Blanche wrote. Markus then confirmed that Maxwell's legal team was in discussions with the government. Pressure has been building on President Trump and his administration over Epstein's case after the Justice Department and FBI released a memo earlier this month that concluded Epstein did not have a "client list" and confirmed he died by suicide in 2019, shortly after he was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges. The memo also concluded that there was no "credible evidence" that the disgraced financier blackmailed prominent people. The Justice Department and FBI said they would not release any further information about Epstein's case. But the Trump administration's conclusions rankled some of his allies, who were skeptical of the Justice Department's claim that there is nothing left to divulge. Some of the administration's top officials, including Vice President JD Vance and FBI Director Kash Patel, had suggested before Mr. Trump returned to the White House that Democrats were hiding information about Epstein and his alleged list of clients. In an effort to quell the backlash, the Justice Department asked federal judges in New York who handled Epstein and Maxwell's cases to unseal transcripts from grand jury proceedings involving the two. Earlier this week, judges overseeing the requests each ordered the Justice Department to submit additional filings to the court about its efforts to unseal the grand jury records. The judges gave the defendants — in Epstein's case, his representative — and victims until Aug. 5 to lay out their positions on the proposed disclosure. It will be up to the judges to decide whether the grand jury material can be disclosed. If they grant the requests, the information will likely be heavily redacted, and it is likely to be weeks or months before the transcripts are unsealed. In addition to facing backlash from some of his allies, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have pushed to make material related to Epstein public. A House panel voted Wednesday to subpoena the Justice Department for files related to the federal probe into Epstein. The House Oversight Committee also subpoenaed Maxwell to sit for a deposition next month at the federal detention center in Tallahassee. Mr. Trump has acknowledged he and Epstein moved in the same social circles in Florida and New York from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. But the president said in 2019, following Epstein's arrest, that they hadn't spoken in 15 years. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Mr. Trump signed a "bawdy" letter to Epstein for his 50th birthday that said, in part, "may every day be another wonderful secret." CBS News has not independently seen or verified the letter. The president has denied that he wrote the letter, calling it "fake," and sued the Journal and its owners for defamation. He is seeking at least $20 billion in damages. The Journal reported Wednesday that when Justice Department officials reviewed documents related to Epstein earlier this year, they learned Mr. Trump's name appeared multiple times. Bondi and her deputy told the president at a White House meeting in May that his name was in the so-called Epstein files, as were those of other public figures, according to the Journal. Mr. Trump being mentioned does not mean he committed any wrongdoing. White House communications director Steven Cheung said in response to the Journal's report that "The fact is that The President kicked him out of his club for being a creep. This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media, just like the Obama Russiagate scandal, which President Trump was right about." Skyler Henry contributed to this report.
