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What we know about Trump's newly ordered probe into Biden's alleged use of 'autopen'

What we know about Trump's newly ordered probe into Biden's alleged use of 'autopen'

US President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to investigate former president Joe Biden's actions, targeting his aides, including an autopen.
The order could lay the groundwork for arguments by Republicans that a range of Mr Biden's actions as president were invalid.
The president has claimed that Mr Biden's aides concealed his "cognitive decline" and abused presidential authority.
What is happening, and why has Trump made such a big deal out of it?
Let's break it down.
Mr Trump has mandated two investigations through the memorandum he signed on June 4.
The investigations aim to assess Mr Biden's capabilities as a president and the executive actions he has signed.
The first investigation will examine whether anyone conspired to "deceive the public about Biden's mental state" and "unconstitutionally exercise" his authorities and responsibilities.
The second one will probe Mr Biden's executive actions executed during his final years in office, for example, policy documents signed with an autopen and who authorised its use.
This January, Mr Biden pardoned his siblings and their spouses in the final minutes of his presidency, saying his family had been "subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me".
He also pardoned Anthony Fauci, the former US chief medical adviser and retired General Mark Milley and members of the House committee that investigated the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
"Biden's cognitive issues and apparent mental decline during his presidency were even 'worse' in private, and those closest to him 'tried to hide it' from the public," he said.
Mr Trump said that the nation was governed through presidential signatures, adding that the president of the US "holds tremendous power and responsibility through his signature".
"The vast majority of Biden's executive actions were signed using a mechanical signature pen, often called an autopen, as opposed to Biden's own hand," he claimed.
"This was especially true of actions taken during the second half of his presidency, when his cognitive decline had apparently become even more clear to those working most closely with him."
The president has questioned whether Mr Biden's aides were usurping presidential authority, as he said he believed his predecessor lacked the capacity to exercise his presidential authority.
For decades, US presidents — including Trump — have used autopens, which is a device that mechanically replicates a person's signature, to sign documents and correspondence.
Barack Obama was the first president to use one to sign a law in May 2011, when he signed an extension to the Patriot Act.
Mr Obama was in France on official business and, with time running out before the law expired, he authorised the use of the autopen.
On the same day, House Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky, a Republican, announced he would expand the investigation into the alleged "cover-up of Biden's mental decline".
Mr Comer reiterated his call for Mr Biden's physician, Kevin O'Connor, and former senior White House aides Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams and Neera Tanden to appear for transcribed interviews.
"The American people deserve full transparency and the House Oversight Committee is conducting a thorough investigation to provide answers and accountability," the chairman said.
He warned subpoenas would be issued this week if they refuse to schedule voluntary interviews.
"I think that people will start coming in the next two weeks," Mr Comer told reporters.
He added that the committee would release a report with its findings, saying "and we'll release the transcribed interviews, so it'll be very transparent."
Here are the roles of Biden's five senior advisers:
Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House counsel David Warrington have been ordered to handle the investigation.
It's unclear how far Mr Trump will push this effort, which would face certain legal challenges.
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has not released any statements in response to Mr Trump's order.
ABC/wires

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How Harvey Weinstein's New York rape and sexual assault retrial unfolded
How Harvey Weinstein's New York rape and sexual assault retrial unfolded

ABC News

time3 hours ago

  • ABC News

How Harvey Weinstein's New York rape and sexual assault retrial unfolded

Harvey Weinstein has admitted in an interview he "acted immorally" but maintained his innocence at the end of a six-week retrial in New York. Warning: This story contains details about sexual abuse that readers may find distressing Weinstein, the former Hollywood honcho turned #MeToo outcast, is charged in New York with raping Jessica Mann in 2013 and forcing oral sex on Miriam Haley and Kaja Sokola, separately, in 2006. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. As Weinstein awaits his verdict in New York for a second time, here is how the past six weeks unfolded. Weinstein is on trial again after a New York state appeals court threw out his 2020 convictions, citing irregularities in the original proceedings. In particular, it included evidence from women whose charges were not part of the case. The former movie industry titan's 23-year prison sentence for the initial conviction was thrown out, but he remains imprisoned for separate offences in California. Miriam Haley returns to the courtroom at before Harvey Weinstein's retrial in state court in Manhattan on Friday, May 2. ( AP: John Angelillo/Pool ) Miriam Haley, who also goes by Mimi Haley, was the first accuser to take the stand. She also testified in Weinstein's first trial. Born in Finland and raised in Sweden, Ms Haley, 48, is a former entertainment producer now working in advertising. She met Weinstein through a mutual connection. She alleges Weinstein assaulted her after inviting her to stop by his apartment. She had worked briefly as a production assistant on the Weinstein-produced TV show Project Runway, and his company had booked her a flight to Los Angeles the next day to attend a movie premiere. She testified Weinstein backed her into a bedroom and pushed her onto a bed, holding her down as she tried to get up and pleaded: "No, no — it's not going to happen." Ms Haley and two of her friends testified she told them soon after that Weinstein had sexually assaulted her. She maintains she was never interested in any sexual or romantic relationship with Weinstein but still wanted his help professionally. Weinstein's lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, questioned why Ms Haley would agree to go to Weinstein's apartment after being put off by some of his prior behaviour, including what she described as him barging into her home as he sought to persuade her to go to Paris with him. Ms Haley said she thought it would be "weird" to refuse the invitation to his Manhattan loft, since his company had paid for the LA flight she was taking the next day. Ms Haley stayed in continued, sporadic contact with Weinstein for about three years afterward, according to testimony and documents. At times, she asked him for work, premiere tickets and financial backing for an online TV show she was trying to launch. "The other stuff is neither here nor there. It doesn't mean that I wasn't sexually assaulted," Haley said. Ms Bonjean also queried her about her continued interactions with Weinstein and his assistants, about her frequent travels and famous acquaintances at the time, and her 2020 lawsuit against Weinstein. It ended in a $US475,000 ($730,000) settlement. Kaja Sokola Kaja Sokola arrives at Manhattan Criminal Court before Harvey Weinstein's trial on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. ( AP: John Angelillo/Pool ) Former model Kaja Sokola was the second accuser to testify in the retrial. Prosecutors spoke to her privately in 2020, but her claim was never told to the jury in the original trial. The Polish-born 39-year-old is a psychotherapist and author who recently launched a film production company. She sued Weinstein after industry whispers about his behaviour toward women became a chorus of public accusations in 2017. Ms Sokola eventually received $US3.5 million ($5.4 million) in compensation. The criminal charge stems from one instance when Ms Sokola maintains Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in a Manhattan hotel in May 2006. Ms Sokola began modelling at 14 but told jurors she was always more interested in acting, so she was hopeful when she was introduced to Weinstein at a New York nightclub in 2002 and he invited her to lunch to talk about acting. Instead, he steered her to his Manhattan apartment and told her to take her clothes off, saying that actors had to be comfortable disrobing in films, she testified. Ms Sokola took off her blouse and followed him into a bathroom because, she said, "I was 16 years old, and I was alone with a man for the first time, and I didn't know what else to do." She said she told Weinstein she objected to what was happening, but that he put his hand inside her underwear and made her touch his genitals. Ms Sokola said she saw Weinstein's eyes — "black and scary" — staring at her in a bathroom mirror as it happened. Afterward, she said, he told her to keep quiet, saying he had made Hollywood careers and could help her acting dreams come true. In 2006, Weinstein arranged for her to be an extra for a day in the film The Nanny Diaries, and he separately agreed to meet Ms Sokola and her visiting elder sister. After the three chatted, Ms Sokola said, Weinstein told her he had a script to show her in his hotel room, and she went up with him. There, she said, Weinstein pushed her onto a bed and stripped off her boots, her stockings, her underwear, and something indelible. "My soul was removed from me," she testified. She said he held her down while ignoring her pleas of "please don't, please stop, I don't want this." Ms Sokola said she tried to push him away but was no match against Weinstein's physical heft. She rejoined her sister but said nothing about being assaulted. Ms Sokola said she didn't want to tell her sister that Weinstein had treated her with such disrespect, she testified. Throughout a day of questioning, Weinstein's lawyer Mike Cibella suggested Ms Sokola hadn't told the full story of her interactions with Weinstein. He repeatedly asked whether she invited Weinstein up to a New York apartment — and into the bedroom — where she was staying in 2005. She denied it. Mr Cibella also presented Ms Sokola's journal, which she had kept for an alcohol abuse program, where she names at least two people who had sexually assaulted her, neither one of them Weinstein. She testified she didn't write about him because she couldn't come to terms with it at the time, and her sponsor was in the film business and knew who Weinstein was. Jessica Mann Jessica Mann arrives at state court in Manhattan for before the start of Harvey Weinstein's trial on Thursday, May 22, 2025. ( AP: Spencer Platt/Pool ) Jessica Mann was the last of the three accusers to testify in the retrial. She also spoke at the 2020 trial. Ms Mann, a cosmetologist and hairstylist, said she met Weinstein at a party in late 2012 or early 2013, when she was 27 and had recently moved to LA to try to launch an acting career. She said he took an interest in her ambitions, and they had a few follow-up meetings that alternated between professional talk and boundary-pushing, particularly a request for a massage that Ms Mann said she reluctantly gave him. Weinstein invited her to an Oscars bash that Ms Mann, new to Hollywood glitz, attended in her high-school prom dress. She said she wasn't attracted to Weinstein and initially refused his first sexual advance, but eventually succumbed to him performing oral sex because Weinstein said he would not let her leave until she let him "do something." Although she felt confused and "defiled," she then agreed to consensual encounters with the then-married man, she said. Partly, she worried about the professional consequences of alienating a powerful producer who had just dangled the prospect of movie roles. She also recalled thinking that "if I was in a relationship, maybe it would feel different," and that "maybe he did like me." In March 2013, she travelled to New York with a friend. After they made plans for breakfast with Weinstein, he showed up early and got a room at Ms Mann's hotel, over her protests, she said. Weeping on the witness stand, she said she went upstairs with Weinstein to try to avoid a public argument and told him, "I don't want to do this," but he shoved the door shut as she tried to leave. After Weinstein demanded she undress and grabbed her arms, she said, she "just gave up." Ms Mann said he then had sex with her — after, she believes, injecting himself with an erection-promoting drug that she later found in the bathroom trash. Ms Mann described Weinstein grabbing, dragging, forcefully undressing and raping her in a Beverly Hills, California, hotel room around the beginning of 2014, after she told him she was dating someone else. After leaving he defence table Ms Mann aimed a finger at her eyes and then at him. It prompted lawyer Arthur Aidala to request a mistrial, also complaining she shouldn't have been asked about the LA rape as Weinstein wasn't charged with it. During questioning, Weinstein's lawyer Arthur Aidala noted she accepted party invitations, dinners and rides from Weinstein and underscored the fact that she continued to see the producer after he allegedly raped her. Mr Aidala also zeroed in on her testimony that she tried to reject Weinstein's first sexual advance but ultimately pretended to enjoy it. Ewa Sokola Ewa Sokola arrives to Harvey Weinstein's court case in New York, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. ( AP: Seth Wenig ) Kaja's Sokola sister Ewa Sokola met with Kaja and Weinstein the day of the alleged assault, she told jurors. Prosecutors have said it happened after Weinstein arranged for Ms Sokola to be an extra in the film The Nanny Diaries and met her visiting older sister, whom she was trying to impress. "She was proud of knowing him," her sister, cardiologist Dr Ewa Sokola, told jurors. She said the three of them met in a hotel lobby, chatted about Italian movies and the heavy-set Weinstein's heart health, and then he and the model left the table together. Kaja Sokola was tense when she returned about a half-hour later — "like somebody waiting for the result of an exam" or the Oscars — but didn't say anything about the alleged sexual assault, Dr Sokola told jurors. She said she was shocked to learn about the claim over a decade later, when she read about it in a magazine article. Christine Pressman Christine Pressman, a friend of Miriam Haley, testified she was told long ago about the sexual assault. "She had zero interest in dating him or sleeping with him," Ms Pressman said, describing Ms Haley as "distraught" when she later disclosed the alleged sexual assault. Ms Pressman said she advised against turning to police. "I said, 'Harvey Weinstein is the king of New York. He's extremely powerful. You are not. You're here on a tourist visa. Just let it go,'" the former model, musician and actor recalled. She teared up as she added that she now knows her guidance "was wrong." Under questioning from Ms Bonjean, Ms Pressman acknowledged that at some point before the alleged assault, she suggested Ms Haley date Weinstein. Ms Pressman later explained that she had been frustrated by her friend's taste in men — guys who were lanky, cerebral "and broke," as Ms Pressman put it. Elizabeth Entin Elizabeth Entin, pictured at the 2020 trial. ( AP: Craig Ruttle ) Elizabeth Entin, Ms Haley's former roommate, said a shaken Ms Haley told her that month that Weinstein had forcibly performed oral sex on her. Echoing her testimony at the first trial, Ms Entin said she suggested Haley call a lawyer, but her friend seemed disinclined. Elizabeth Perz Elizabeth Perz, an ex-aide for Weinstein, told the jury she kept a list of female "friends of Harvey" to invite to events and sometimes considered them a special category for guest lists. "A 'friend of Harvey' was a woman that he'd meet at events or parties or festivals or — somewhere," she said. The then-married Weinstein asked his assistants to invite these women to events, Ms Perz said. Jurors were shown a roster of well over a dozen names, which Ms Perz said was kept in the office at Weinstein's company. The names were broken down by geography, such as "LA Friends" or "Cannes/Etc/all invites." One "LA Friends" entry was Jessica Mann. Helga Samuelsen Helga Samuelsen shared a New York apartment with Kaja Sokola. Ms Samuelsen testified one evening the doorbell rang, Ms Sokola answered it and there was Weinstein. Ms Sokola previously said Weinstein had not spent time at their apartment. Ms Samuelsen recalled Weinstein and Ms Sokola went into a bedroom, closed the door and emerged about a half-hour later, when Ms Sokola saw Weinstein out. Ms Samuelsen said she never spoke to Ms Sokola about the visit. Having met Weinstein briefly in summer 2005, she later sought his help as she tried to launch a music career. He made some introductions and invited her to write a never-used movie score, Ms Samuelsen said, and she formed a New York-area cabaret act around 2019 with a woman close to him. Ms Samuelsen now works in insurance in her native Denmark. Talita Maia Talita Maia pictured at the 2020 trial. ( AP: Seth Wenig ) Talita Maia gave testimony via transcript read by court employees. Ms Maia and Ms Mann were roommates and friends in 2013 but later fell out. According to Ms Maia, Ms Mann never mentioned in those days that Weinstein had hurt her in any way. Both Ms Maia and another witness, Thomas Richards, met up with Ms Mann and Weinstein shortly after Ms Mann has said she was raped. Both witnesses testified that they saw nothing amiss. The two sides took very different tones in their closing arguments. Weinstein's lawyer, Arthur Aidala, veered into folksy jokes and theatricality — sometimes re-enacting witnesses' behaviour — as he contended that his client engaged in a "courting game," not crimes. Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg, as direct as Mr Aidala was discursive, urged jurors to focus on Weinstein's accusers and their days of gruelling testimony. "This was not a 'courting game,' as Mr Aidala wants you to believe. This was not a 'transaction,'" she told jurors. Mr Aidala argued everything that happened between the ex-producer and his accusers was a consensual, if "transactional," exchange of favours. The attorney accused prosecutors of "trying to police the bedroom" and zeroing in on the man seen as "the poster boy, the original sinner, for the #MeToo movement." Mr Aidala depicted the former studio boss as a self-made New Yorker, while painting Weinstein's accusers as troubled and canny "women with broken dreams" who plied him for movie opportunities and other perks, kept engaging with him for years and then turned on him to cash in on his #MeToo undoing. All three received compensation through legal processes separate from the criminal trial. Ms Blumberg countered that Weinstein interpreted a sexual "no" as a cue to "push a little bit more, and if they still say no, just take it anyway." She argued that his accusers stayed in friendly contact with Weinstein because they were trying to work in entertainment, and they feared their careers would be squashed if they crossed him. "He chose people who he thought would be the perfect victims, who he could rape and keep silent," the prosecutor said. "He underestimated them." Although Weinstein did not take the stand, he spoke out in an interview aired by FOX5 television on Friday as the jury considered six weeks of testimony. "But never illegal, never criminal, never anything." Weinstein pointed to comments from Mr Aidala, who suggested the three women who testified against him at trial "had four million reasons to testify, as in dollars." The jury is made of seven women and five men who began deliberating on Thursday. After two days they are yet to reach a verdict. One juror has been replaced with an alternate after they fell ill. Another juror asked to be removed because he felt his fellow jurors were treating a member of their panel in an "unfair and unjust" way, but the judge told him he had to keep deliberating. Judge Curtis Farber later denied a defence request for a mistrial, saying he believed the juror was simply expressing discomfort in the deliberation process, noting that he was the youngest on the 12-person panel. Deliberations will continue on Monday.

Cops, protesters face off in LA after immigration raids
Cops, protesters face off in LA after immigration raids

The Advertiser

time4 hours ago

  • The Advertiser

Cops, protesters face off in LA after immigration raids

Helmeted police in riot gear have turned out in a tense confrontation with protesters in downtown Los Angeles, after a day of federal immigration raids in which dozens of people across the city were taken into custody. Live Reuters video showed Los Angeles Police Department officers lined up on Friday evening on a downtown street wielding batons and what appeared to be tear gas rifles, facing off with demonstrators after authorities had ordered crowds of protesters to disperse around nightfall. Early in the standoff, some protesters hurled chunks of broken concrete toward officers, and police responded by firing volleys of tear gas and pepper spray. Police also fired "flash-bang" concussion rounds. It was not clear whether there were any immediate arrests. LAPD spokesman Drake Madison told Reuters that police on the scene had declared an unlawful assembly, meaning that those who failed to leave the area were subject to arrest. Television news footage earlier in the day showed caravans of unmarked military-style vehicles and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents targeted several locations, including a Home Depot in the city's Wetlake District, an apparel store in the Fashion District and a clothing warehouse in South Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles City News Service (CNS). CNS and other local media reported dozens of people were taken into custody during the raids, the latest in a series of such sweeps conducted in a number of cities as part of President Donald Trump's extensive crackdown on illegal immigration. The Republican president has vowed to arrest and deport undocumented migrants in record numbers. The LAPD did not take part in the immigration enforcement action. It was deployed to quell civil unrest after crowds protesting the deportation raids spray-painted anti-ICE slogans on the walls of a federal court building and massed outside a nearby jail where some of the detainees were believed to be held. Impromptu demonstrations had also erupted at some of the raid locations earlier in the day. ICE did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for information about its enforcement actions or Huerta's detention. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement condemning the immigration raids, saying, "these tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city". Helmeted police in riot gear have turned out in a tense confrontation with protesters in downtown Los Angeles, after a day of federal immigration raids in which dozens of people across the city were taken into custody. Live Reuters video showed Los Angeles Police Department officers lined up on Friday evening on a downtown street wielding batons and what appeared to be tear gas rifles, facing off with demonstrators after authorities had ordered crowds of protesters to disperse around nightfall. Early in the standoff, some protesters hurled chunks of broken concrete toward officers, and police responded by firing volleys of tear gas and pepper spray. Police also fired "flash-bang" concussion rounds. It was not clear whether there were any immediate arrests. LAPD spokesman Drake Madison told Reuters that police on the scene had declared an unlawful assembly, meaning that those who failed to leave the area were subject to arrest. Television news footage earlier in the day showed caravans of unmarked military-style vehicles and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents targeted several locations, including a Home Depot in the city's Wetlake District, an apparel store in the Fashion District and a clothing warehouse in South Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles City News Service (CNS). CNS and other local media reported dozens of people were taken into custody during the raids, the latest in a series of such sweeps conducted in a number of cities as part of President Donald Trump's extensive crackdown on illegal immigration. The Republican president has vowed to arrest and deport undocumented migrants in record numbers. The LAPD did not take part in the immigration enforcement action. It was deployed to quell civil unrest after crowds protesting the deportation raids spray-painted anti-ICE slogans on the walls of a federal court building and massed outside a nearby jail where some of the detainees were believed to be held. Impromptu demonstrations had also erupted at some of the raid locations earlier in the day. ICE did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for information about its enforcement actions or Huerta's detention. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement condemning the immigration raids, saying, "these tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city". Helmeted police in riot gear have turned out in a tense confrontation with protesters in downtown Los Angeles, after a day of federal immigration raids in which dozens of people across the city were taken into custody. Live Reuters video showed Los Angeles Police Department officers lined up on Friday evening on a downtown street wielding batons and what appeared to be tear gas rifles, facing off with demonstrators after authorities had ordered crowds of protesters to disperse around nightfall. Early in the standoff, some protesters hurled chunks of broken concrete toward officers, and police responded by firing volleys of tear gas and pepper spray. Police also fired "flash-bang" concussion rounds. It was not clear whether there were any immediate arrests. LAPD spokesman Drake Madison told Reuters that police on the scene had declared an unlawful assembly, meaning that those who failed to leave the area were subject to arrest. Television news footage earlier in the day showed caravans of unmarked military-style vehicles and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents targeted several locations, including a Home Depot in the city's Wetlake District, an apparel store in the Fashion District and a clothing warehouse in South Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles City News Service (CNS). CNS and other local media reported dozens of people were taken into custody during the raids, the latest in a series of such sweeps conducted in a number of cities as part of President Donald Trump's extensive crackdown on illegal immigration. The Republican president has vowed to arrest and deport undocumented migrants in record numbers. The LAPD did not take part in the immigration enforcement action. It was deployed to quell civil unrest after crowds protesting the deportation raids spray-painted anti-ICE slogans on the walls of a federal court building and massed outside a nearby jail where some of the detainees were believed to be held. Impromptu demonstrations had also erupted at some of the raid locations earlier in the day. ICE did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for information about its enforcement actions or Huerta's detention. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement condemning the immigration raids, saying, "these tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city". Helmeted police in riot gear have turned out in a tense confrontation with protesters in downtown Los Angeles, after a day of federal immigration raids in which dozens of people across the city were taken into custody. Live Reuters video showed Los Angeles Police Department officers lined up on Friday evening on a downtown street wielding batons and what appeared to be tear gas rifles, facing off with demonstrators after authorities had ordered crowds of protesters to disperse around nightfall. Early in the standoff, some protesters hurled chunks of broken concrete toward officers, and police responded by firing volleys of tear gas and pepper spray. Police also fired "flash-bang" concussion rounds. It was not clear whether there were any immediate arrests. LAPD spokesman Drake Madison told Reuters that police on the scene had declared an unlawful assembly, meaning that those who failed to leave the area were subject to arrest. Television news footage earlier in the day showed caravans of unmarked military-style vehicles and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents targeted several locations, including a Home Depot in the city's Wetlake District, an apparel store in the Fashion District and a clothing warehouse in South Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles City News Service (CNS). CNS and other local media reported dozens of people were taken into custody during the raids, the latest in a series of such sweeps conducted in a number of cities as part of President Donald Trump's extensive crackdown on illegal immigration. The Republican president has vowed to arrest and deport undocumented migrants in record numbers. The LAPD did not take part in the immigration enforcement action. It was deployed to quell civil unrest after crowds protesting the deportation raids spray-painted anti-ICE slogans on the walls of a federal court building and massed outside a nearby jail where some of the detainees were believed to be held. Impromptu demonstrations had also erupted at some of the raid locations earlier in the day. ICE did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for information about its enforcement actions or Huerta's detention. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement condemning the immigration raids, saying, "these tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city".

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