Month: July 2020

Dozens of previously sealed court documents from a now-settled civil lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell are expected to be publicly released in the coming days, igniting a fresh round of speculation about what details the records might contain about Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged child sex-trafficking operation and about Maxwell’s alleged role in the conspiracy.

Interest in the court records has only intensified in the aftermath of Maxwell’s indictment earlier this month on charges accusing her of enabling and, in some instances, participating in the sexual abuse of three minor girls in the mid-1990s. Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being held without bond while she awaits a trial next year.

Maxwell’s lawyers are still fighting to halt the release of some documents, asking Senior U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska to reconsider her ruling or — alternatively — to delay the release of the documents pending an appeal.

In a letter to the court on Wednesday, Maxwell’s attorneys contended that she was set up in a “perjury trap” by federal prosecutors and lawyers for an alleged victim of Epstein and Maxwell.

The letter suggested — without direct evidence — that sealed portions from Maxwell’s depositions in the case were leaked to the government, who then charged her with two counts of perjury for alleged false statements in her testimony. Prosecutors declined to comment on the allegation.

Preska denied Maxwell’s motion but agreed to a two-day reprieve for Maxwell to appeal the unsealing decision. As a result, some documents will be unsealed Thursday and others as soon as Monday, unless the appeals court acts before then.

The court papers — potentially running into the thousands of pages — come from a defamation lawsuit filed in 2015 against Maxwell by Virginia Giuffre, who alleged that Maxwell recruited her as a 16-year-old into a life of sexual servitude to Epstein. She also accused Maxwell and Epstein of directing her, between 2000 to 2002, to have sex with a number of their prominent associates, most famously Britain’s Prince Andrew.

Maxwell and all the men accused by Giuffre, including the prince, have denied the allegations.

The sealed court filings contain the names of hundreds of people — some famous and some not — who socialized, traveled or worked with Epstein over the span of more than a decade. Epstein, a registered sex-offender, was found dead last August in an apparent suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. The late financier has previously been linked to a host of high-profile business leaders, scientists, royals and politicians.

Giuffre and Maxwell reached a confidential settlement just days before a scheduled trial in 2017, leaving behind a court docket littered with sealed and redacted records inaccessible to the public and the press. A substantial majority of the non-public court records were kept private by both sides of the dispute under a court-approved confidentiality order.

The non-public records also include the identities of people who provided information in the case under an expectation of confidentiality, plus the names of alleged victims and individuals accused of enabling Epstein or participating in the abuse, according to public portions of the court record.

A fight for transparency

In April 2018, the Miami Herald intervened in the closed case, filing a motion to unseal the court records. Giuffre and her attorneys then joined the Herald in arguing for near-total disclosure, while Maxwell’s lawyers advocated for keeping the vast majority of the documents sealed.

Last year, a federal appeals court in New York granted the Herald’s motion in part, releasing about 2,000 pages of previously-sealed documents, including limited excerpts from sworn testimony of Maxwell and Giuffre, who each sat for multiple depositions prior to the settlement. The appellate court then sent the case back to the trial court to decide what to do about the rest of the sealed documents.

The sheer volume of the remaining sealed and redacted filings in the case, and the hundreds of individuals whose names appear in the court record, resulted in months of disputes over a protocol for reviewing the documents and notifying non-parties whose names would become public as documents are unsealed.

Preska, who inherited the case following the death of the original trial court judge Robert Sweet, eventually settled on initiating the process to review the documents in stages.

The unsealing of the first cache of documents comes with exceptions for medical records, personally identifying information such as addresses and social security numbers, and for the identities of alleged minor victims. That information will remain redacted.

And, for the time being, records will be unsealed only as they relate to the first two of the hundreds of non-party “John Does” whose names appear in the records. (“John Doe” is the generic name given to all the non-parties. It does not mean that all the people are men.)

Those two people, referred to as John Does 1 and 2 in the record, received notice in May that their names could become public. Neither responded. The unsealing of the remainder of the names won’t happen until each is notified and given an opportunity to object — a process that could take many more months.

‘Extremely personal, confidential’ testimony

Included in the first batch of court documents reviewed by Preska are filings and exhibits associated with Maxwell’s first seven-hour deposition in April of 2016. Giuffre’s lawyers subsequently went to the judge in May 2016 seeking a court order to compel Maxwell to respond to questions she declined to answer.

Maxwell’s attorneys have described these documents, which include multiple excerpts of her testimony, as containing “intrusive questions about her sex life,” and contended that Giuffre’s lawyers “extensively, selectively, and misleadingly” quote from Maxwell’s deposition.

“The subject matter of these [documents] is extremely personal, confidential, and subject to considerable abuse by the media,” wrote Maxwell’s attorney, Jeffrey Pagliuca, in June.

Giuffre’s lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, argued that public interest in the case “weighs in favor of unsealing Maxwell’s deposition, not against it.”

“Maxwell’s objection is a blatant attempt to stall the unsealing process by creating unjustified obstacles and inducing this Court into a pattern of delay that will ensure the documents in this case, which are clearly subject to a presumption of public access, never see the light of day,” McCawley wrote.

Other exhibits to these filings include summaries of flight logs kept by Epstein’s pilots, portions of police reports and other documents concerning the person identified as “John Doe 1.”

Though Maxwell argued that release of these records would cause her undue embarrassment and annoyance, Preska ordered the documents partially unsealed, with names of non-parties other than John Does 1 and 2 remaining sealed, pending notification.

“In her first deposition … Ms. Maxwell refused to testify as to any consensual adult behavior and generally disclaimed any knowledge of underage activity,” Preska said during a hearing on July 23. “In the context of this case, especially its allegations of sex trafficking of young girls, the Court finds that any minor embarrassment or annoyance resulting from disclosure of Ms. Maxwell’s mostly non-testimony about behavior that has been widely reported in the press is far outweighed by the presumption of public access.”

Emails between Maxwell and Epstein in 2015

Another group of documents set to be partially unsealed concern an effort by Giuffre’s lawyers to get court approval to take additional witness depositions and an extension of time in order to complete them.

Maxwell sought to keep these records sealed, too. Her lawyers argued that Giuffre’s team had used this routine court filing to gratuitously attach as exhibits the entire transcript of a witness deposition and the full text of Maxwell’s 418-page testimony of April 2016.

“These pleadings concern what should have been a straightforward request by [Giuffre] to exceed the presumptive 10 deposition limit set by the Court,” Maxwell’s lawyers argued. “It was not. Instead of simply asking to exceed the presumptive limit, [Giuffre] felt the urge to pack the record with deposition testimony subject to the protective order and references to multiple non-party Does,” Pagliuca wrote.

But Preska was unpersuaded and ordered the filings unsealed, subject to the continued redactions of non-party names.

The judge also ruled that an exhibit containing communications between Maxwell and Epstein from January 2015 would be unsealed. Based on previous court records in the case, Maxwell and Epstein exchanged at least seven emails in the weeks following a court filing by Giuffre containing the allegations that she had been directed to have sex with several of their prominent associates.

“The economy continues to set records for all the wrong reasons.”

The U.S. economy, as measured by real GDP, contracted at a record-shattering 32.9% pace last quarter, according to government data released Thursday.

The figure reflects how the coronavirus pandemic has clobbered the U.S. economy with unprecedented speed and furor as it shut down large swaths of businesses over the past few months. For comparison, the previous worst quarterly GDP plunge was a decline of 10% in 1958.

“We’ve never done this before. We’ve never shut down the economy before for crises,” Laura Veldkamp, a professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School told ABC News. “They’ve always unfolded quite a bit more gradually than this. Even the financial crisis, it felt very sudden, but we didn’t suddenly tell everybody, ‘Hey, it’s, it’s not safe to do in person transactions.'”

The 32.9% figure represents the annualized rate of contraction, which differs from the 9.5% actual contraction that occurred between April and June.

“It was an epically bad second quarter and we got our first look at just how bad — down 32.9 percent on an annualized basis, the worst 3-month U.S. economic contraction ever recorded,” Greg McBride, the chief financial analyst at Bankrate, said in a commentary Thursday morning. “The economy continues to set records for all the wrong reasons.”

Separately, the Labor Department also said Thursday that another 1.4 million workers filed jobless claims last week, another indicator of the ongoing anguish that the pandemic has caused to the economy as a whole.

The fresh unemployment data marks the 19th straight week that weekly jobless claims have been over 1 million. While the new unemployment filings have trickled down some since peaking at 6.9 million in late March, they remain at historically high levels. Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, the record for weekly unemployment filings was 695,000 in 1982.

The data also reflects the pain for many workers as some businesses are being forced to re-close or roll back on reopening plans as coronavirus cases surge across the U.S. After nearly three months of decline, the new unemployment data figures began to rise slightly last week.

“The virus spread and economic rollbacks in the weeks since do not bode well for the labor market in the weeks and months ahead,” McBride said.

Moreover, the latest release from the DOL shows that some 17 million Americans are still receiving unemployment benefits, and are likely bracing for the looming expiration of the extra $600 a week in pandemic jobless aid.

McBride noted that the expiring federal unemployment benefits, currently without a replacement, “threatens a chunk of consumer spending power that has sustained households and made its way back into the economy.”

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropolous contributed to this report.

An experiment will also try to create oxygen from the gasses on the planet.

Despite a global pandemic here on Earth, NASA is persevering with its mission to Mars — launching its most advanced “Perseverance” rover to discover more about our neighboring red planet.

“We are in extraordinary times right now with the coronavirus pandemic and yet we have in fact persevered, and we have protected this mission because it is so important,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a news conference Tuesday.

He added that he thinks the name of the rover — chosen by a seventh grader from Virginia — is “perfectly appropriate” for the times.

The launch took place Thursday at 7:50 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. It will be broadcast live on NASA’s website and YouTube channel.

On Tuesday, Perseverance made its way onto the launch pad, and the U.S. Air Force 45th Weather Squadron predicted an 80% chance of favorable weather conditions for Thursday’s launch.

The rover’s main job is to seek out signs of ancient life and collect rock and soil samples for a possible return to Earth, according to NASA. It will also test out new technology to pave the way for future robot or human exploration of our neighboring planet.

“This is the first time in history when NASA has dedicated a mission to what we call astrobiology, the search for life, maybe now or ancient life, on another world,” Bridenstine said.

The mission will also feature “a bunch of other neat things,” according to John Logsdon, a professor emeritus at George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute.

“There is an attached little helicopter that is going to fly like a drone over the Martian surface and give us images,” Logsdon told ABC News.

“There is an experiment called ‘MOXIE’ that will see whether it is possible to manufacture oxygen out of the methane in the Mars atmosphere, which would be important for eventual human missions,” he added.

The launch also comes on the heels of two other nations — the United Arab Emirates and China — sending missions to Mars over the summer.

The six-wheeled rover is expected to land on Mars on February 18, 2021. Perseverance is then expected to stay on the Red Planet for at least one Martian year, or 687 Earth days.

Colorado health officials have opened an investigation into the use of ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, in the wake of the death of Elijah McClain, which occurred after he was detained by police and administered the drug, officials said Wednesday.

The investigation was opened after the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment received “numerous” complaints regarding “a ketamine administration in August 2019,” according to a statement from the department.

Though McClain’s death was not explicitly mentioned, it was on Aug. 24, 2019, when he was administered ketamine.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment did not offer any specifics about the investigation, except to say it was ongoing.

McClain was walking home from buying iced tea at a corner store that evening when he was stopped by police, McClain’s family attorney, Mari Newman, previously told ABC News.

Police received a call about him being “sketchy” because he was wearing a ski mask, though the caller noted that no weapons were involved and no one was in danger, according to a transcript of the call.

When police stopped McClain, he continued to walk despite being told to stop and a struggle ensued.

Officers placed him in a carotid control hold, which involves an officer placing his arm around a person’s neck, restricting the flow of blood to the brain from the carotid arteries, police said.

Paramedics with the Aurora Fire Department also gave McClain ketamine, as per their department protocol used for “rapid tranquilization in order to minimize time struggling,” according to officials. Paramedics also said that McClain possibly suffered from a condition called excited delirium.

The condition is typically associated with the use of drugs that alter dopamine processing, but is also notably brought up when a person dies in the custody of law enforcement, according to a public health report published in 2011.

The Adams County coroner said in McClain’s autopsy report that there was a “therapeutic level” of ketamine in his system, though Newman called it an “excessive” dose.

“He weighed 140 pounds and the dosage he got was for somebody who was at least twice that weight,” Newman said.

McClain, who had been throwing up, was put in an ambulance where he suffered cardiac arrest, according to police.

Though police said he regained consciousness and was being treated at a local hospital, he died several days later. His death received renewed national attention in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man killed by Minneapolis police in May.

Newman told ABC News on Wednesday that McClain should not have been given any ketamine in the first place.

Newman said McClain was not presenting any signs of excited delirium, noting that he “was handcuffed and on the ground under the weight of multiple officers all bigger than him.”

She also described the diagnosis of excited delirium as “suspect.”

“The only time you even hear about excited delirium is in the context of law enforcement agents defending the amount of force they used against a person,” Newman said. “You’ll never hear of a person who is sitting in their living room and then experiences excited delirium.”

She added that while the family is glad an investigation is now taking place, “it should have happened long ago.”

Ketamine is most commonly used by medical practitioners and veterinarians as an anesthetic. However, between August 2017 and July 2018, 427 patients in Colorado received ketamine for agitation, according to state data obtained by The Denver Post. About 20% of those patients were later intubated in the hospital. No deaths have ever been reported to the state health department as a result of ketamine use, according to the the Post.

District Attorney Dave Young, who serves Adams and Broomfield counties, and has not pressed charges against the officers, said in an interview with ABC News’ Linsey Davis in late June that he believes “a serious heart condition … led to his death.”

“My initial impression was that it was the ketamine that perhaps caused Mr. McClain’s death,” Young said. “And it wasn’t until I received the forensic autopsy report that I learned that that in fact was not the cause of death.”

After unrest and public outcry over clashes between individuals and law enforcement, there will be a “phased withdrawal” of federal officers from Portland, the Oregon governor announced Wednesday, although there is uncertainty about how quickly that will happen.

“These federal officers have acted as an occupying force, refused accountability, and brought violence and strife to our community. Beginning Thursday, all Customs and Border Protection and ICE officers will leave downtown Portland, and shortly thereafter will begin going home,” Gov. Kate Brown said in a statement, adding that the withdrawal agreement came after “my repeated requests.”

Federal agents from Customs and Border Protection, typically tasked with customs and immigration assignments, were deployed to the Hatfield Federal Courthouse in Portland, along with the Federal Protective Service, where people have been protesting police violence since the May death of George Floyd, a Black man who was in police custody in Minnesota.

While there is now an agreement to eventually remove federal officers, the Department of Homeland Security will keep federal law enforcement personnel present in the city “until we are assured that the Hatfield Federal Courthouse and other federal properties will no longer be attacked and that the seat of justice in Portland will remain secure,” Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf said in a statement.

“State and local law enforcement will begin securing properties and streets, especially those surrounding federal properties, that have been under nightly attack for the past two months,” Wolf said, adding that the plan “includes a robust presence of Oregon State Police in downtown Portland.”

In a call with reporters, Wolf said the department will not be moving out “that quickly” and will wait to see “how criminals adjust.” He said federal officers at the courthouse “have faced assaults with Molotov cocktails, mortar style commercial grade fireworks accelerants, IEDs and other violent weapons since July 4.”

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler told reporters on a conference call that multiple constituents have been injured by the federal agents, including one person who was shot in the head and almost died.

“We’ve collectively called for the removal of these officers, investigation of their tactics and legislation restricting their authority to operate in our cities. We’ve been forced to take these extreme actions in the face of unwarranted, and we believe unconstitutional, abuse of federal power,” he said.

“I appreciate the partnership and leadership of my governor in getting to that outcome. While I’m pleased that we’ve reclaimed Portland or will soon, I’m going to continue to stand with other mayors and we will continue to fight this occupation until these forces are gone from every city,” he added.

Despite a joint plan, there remains apparent tension and disagreement between the state leaders and the Department of Homeland Security.

While Gov. Brown wrote on Twitter the agreement was for Customs and Border Protection and ICE officers to leave downtown Portland starting Thursday, Wolf insisted on the call with reporters, “the entire DHS law enforcement presence in Portland will remain in Portland, whether they’re staged inside the courthouse next door or a different location.”

The federal officers’ presence in Portland has been a point of criticism for the DHS and Trump administration, especially as a video circulated widely online in recent days showing agents in military-style uniforms using an unmarked car to make an arrest off the court’s property.

Billy J. Williams, the U.S. attorney in the District of Oregon, asked for an inspector general investigation, and both the Department of Justice and DHS inspector generals have opened investigations into the federal agents in Portland.

At a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr defended the federal presence in Portland and use of force against protesters, claiming agents are needed to prevent “violent attacks on federal courts” from “metastasizing around the country.”

Last week, Homeland Security officials defended their use of riot-control tactics as part of the department’s response to the unrest, which has been occurring in the city for almost 60 days.

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan said last Tuesday that agents were acting in line with their investigation into alleged violent instigators and defended the lack of agency insignias.

“I’ve been in law enforcement for almost three decades, the use of unmarked vehicles is a standard procedure, standard practice among every local, state and federal law enforcement agency in this country — actually in the world,” Morgan said. “It’s nothing new.”

Fellow protesters said the arrest looked similar to tactics used in Portland.

New York political leaders, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Human Rights Campaign are demanding answers after an 18-year-old protestor was arrested by plainclothes officers and thrown into an unmarked van on Tuesday night.

That protestor, Nikki Stone, was arrested at a demonstration near 2nd Avenue and East 25th Street in Manhattan. Other protesters said they were fighting for Black liberation.

The New York City Police Department said Stone was wanted for damaging police cameras in five separate vandalism incidents in and around City Hall Park. A police official also told ABC News Stone’s arrest was conducted in a manner consistent with NYPD warrant squad deployments.

Fellow protesters said the arrest looked more like a kidnapping, reminiscent of a tactic used by federal officers in Portland, Oregon.

After video of the arrest hit social media, the response from politicians and nonprofit organizations was swift.

“Our civil liberties are on brink. This is not a drill,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., wrote on Twitter. “To not protect our rights is to give them away. It is our responsibility to resist authoritarianism.”

Carlina Rivera, the councilwoman for the 2nd District of the New York City, where the arrest took place, tweeted that there needs to be an independent review and “an immediate explanation for why an unmarked van full of officers was anywhere near a peaceful protest.”

“It’s clear that using an unmarked van and plainclothes officers to make an arrest for vandalism (in the middle of a peaceful protest) is a massive overstep. I’m exploring legislation,” Rivera later tweeted.

The ACLU called the actions of police “dangerous, abusive, and indefensible,” while the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) said the incident was “deeply troubling.”

HRC President Alphonso David said in a statement to ABC News that Stone is transgender and this arrest shows how people of color and transgender people face greater risks.

“We know that people of color and transgender people are at greater risk of police brutality, with transgender people at particular risk of harassment and abuse while detained,” David said. “We must transform policing and the criminal justice system in this country so that marginalized populations are free from police brutality and a militarized police force.”

Stone, held for five hours before being released, was charged with five counts of criminal mischief, four counts of making graffiti and three counts of possession of a graffiti instrument.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison wrote on Twitter that while police welcome peaceful protesters “damage to NYPD technology that helps keep this city safe will never be tolerated.” The cameras, he wrote, are “vital resources which help prevent and solve crimes throughout the city.”

Harrison also released video that appears to show Stone vandalizing a police camera overlooking City Hall.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed the arrest in a daily briefing on Wednesday, saying it was “the wrong time and wrong place.”

De Blasio said it’s been painful to see what is going on in Portland and “anything that even slightly suggests” something similar is happening in New York City is “troubling.”

“This,” the mayor said, “is not Portland.”

ABC News’ Mark Crudele contributed to this report.

The 87-year-old justice underwent a “minimally invasive” procedure in New York.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who recently announced that she is battling a recurrence of liver cancer, has been hospitalized in New York City after undergoing a “minimally invasive non-surgical procedure,” according to a Supreme Court spokeswoman.

Doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center “revised a bile duct stent” that was originally placed in Ginsburg last summer, court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said in a statement.

“According to her doctors, stent revisions are common occurrences and the procedure, performed using endoscopy and medical imaging guidance, was done to minimize the risk of future infection,” Arberg said.

Ginsburg, 87, is the court’s oldest member and leader of its liberal bloc. She is a four-time cancer survivor.

She said earlier this month that she intends to continue serving on the court despite the health challenges.

“I have often said I would remain a member of the court as long as I can do the job full steam. I remain fully able to do that,” she said.

Shortly after the court recessed for the summer in mid-July, Ginsburg was hospitalized overnight in Baltimore to treat a possible infection that she later said was unrelated to the cancer. In May 2020, she was also treated for several days for an infection caused by a “benign gallbladder condition.”

Her hospitalizations and treatments to date have not impacted her ability to participate in official business, the court has said. During the May hospitalization, Ginsburg joined oral arguments by phone.

The court convenes its fall term in October.

Ginsburg, who has been the most transparent member of the court when it comes to matters of health, said she began cancer treatment in May after a scan in February discovered new lesions on her liver.

“The chemotherapy course, however, is yielding positive results,” Ginsburg said in a statement July 17. “Satisfied that my treatment course is now clear, I am providing this information.”

Arberg said Ginsburg is “resting comfortably” and expects to be released from the New York hospital by the end of the week.

Luis Orlando Santos Santiago, 54, acted as a “vigilante,” prosecutors said.

A former Florida theme park security guard has been arrested for allegedly acting like a “vigilante” when he “racially profiled” and falsely detained a Black teen who was on his way to basketball practice, prosecutors said.

The 18-year-old was riding his bicycle during the early morning hours of June 8 when Luis Santos drove his car alongside the teenager.

“You work here? You live here?” asked Santos, 54, as he recorded with a cellphone, according to excerpts released by prosecutors.

The teenager stopped and answered Santos’ questions before the situation quickly escalated.

“You’re not going anywhere,” said Santos, stepping out of his vehicle. “You’re being detained. You’re not going anywhere.”

Before the 30-second video stopped, the young man said he was “sorry.”

Santos called 911 claiming that the unidentified teenager was seen on video “breaking into cars” and that he thought the teen had stolen a bike. Prosecutors with the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office said there was no evidence of any crimes.

Santos identified himself to the 911 operator as an off-duty officer, according to the call recording. Santos had left his job as a theme park security guard six months prior to the incident, but because his required security officer certifications were still valid at the time he confronted the teenager, he isn’t being accused of impersonating an officer, prosecutors said.

Still, prosecutors said, Santos had no legal authority to detain the 18-year-old.

The case also is not being classified as a hate crime, prosecutors confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday.

“What happened that morning should upset everyone in our community. We have skilled police officers — we don’t need vigilantes confronting people on the street,” State Attorney Andrew Warren said in a statement concerning what “appears to be a case of racial profiling.”

Santos classified himself as a white Hispanic and listed his employment as a shop assistant in Tampa, according to jail records.

It took local sheriff’s deputies about eight minutes to arrive after Santos’ call, during which the teen, who kept his hands in the air, was terrified as Santos allegedly placed his right hand over his pants pocket in a “manner that made the victim feel as if the defendant may have a weapon, even though none was seen,” according to the criminal affidavit.

When deputies arrived, they “calmed the situation down and comforted the victim. Then they took this vigilante to task for what he’d done and referred the case to our office for potential charges,” Warren added. One officer then took the 18-year-old to his basketball practice.

“There have been recent examples of confrontations like this across the country that have ended tragically. The fact that this didn’t end with a loss of life doesn’t make it any less of a crime. What Mr. Santos did is unacceptable and illegal — now he’ll face consequences for his actions,” Warren said.

Santos was released on $2,000 bond on July 25, according to online jail records. If convicted on felony third-degree false imprisonment charges, he could see up to five years in prison. Michelle Borton, an attorney for Santos, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

The case is reminiscent of what led to the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in his Florida community. Zimmerman was acquitted of Martin’s murder after a jury trial in which he claimed to have acted in self defense.

Rep. Louie Gohmert was scheduled to fly with Trump to Texas on Wednesday.

Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, who has dismissed calls to wear a mask while working on Capitol Hill, tested positive for the coronavirus.

Gohmert, 66, tested positive in a pre-screening procedure at the White House before he was scheduled to fly with President Donald Trump to Texas on Wednesday. Following his positive diagnosis, the representative returned to his Capitol Hill office to inform his staff. He was wearing a face covering when he delivered the message.

Republican sources on Capitol Hill told ABC News that Gohmert’s full staff has been in the office in recent days and that at times, staffers in his office were chastised for wearing masks.

The congressman posted a video to Twitter Wednesday afternoon confirming he had tested positive twice at the White House — once with a quick test and again with a swab test.

“The reports of my demise are a great deal premature,” he said in the video. “I’m asymptomatic. I don’t have any of the symptoms that are listed as part of COVID-19, but apparently I have the Wuhan virus.”

Gohmert went on to say that he has worn a mask “more in the last week or two than I have in the whole last four months” and suggest he may have touched his face more because of it.

“I don’t know about everybody, but when I have a mask on I’m moving it to make it comfortable, and I can’t help but wonder if that puts some germs in the mask, if, keep hands off your mask, but anyway, who knows,” Gohmert continued. “But now that I apparently have it, I will be very, very careful to make sure I don’t give it to anybody else, and we’ll see how it goes.”

The CDC continues to recommend Americans wear masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The announcement comes one day after Gohmert attended a House Judiciary Committee hearing with Attorney General William Barr and other top lawmakers.

Though social distancing precautions were in place, video circulating on social media from a reporter at The Hill apparently shows Barr and Gohmert, both unmasked, walking into the hearing room in close proximity Tuesday.

Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec says the attorney general will get tested for COVID-19 on Wednesday.

Democratic lawmakers have already expressed anger at the news. In a call with reporters, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Gohmert’s actions “put others at risk.”

“Too many Republicans have continued to act extraordinarily irresponsibly, including Louie Gohmert,” he said.

Hoyer added that House leaders may need to reconsider widespread testing for House members.

After Gohmert returned to his office Wednesday morning to share the results, Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., said in a pointed tweet that members of Congress who refuse to wear masks are endangering both their colleagues and Capitol Hill staff.

Republican Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, who is 77, is entering quarantine after coming into close contact with Gohmert on Sunday.

“Ranking Member Granger was seated next to Representative Gohmert on a flight from Texas Sunday evening. At the direction of the Attending Physician, and out of an abundance of caution, she is self-quarantining,” Granger’s spokeswoman said in a statement.

Last month, Gohmert said he was choosing to not wear a mask because he was being tested regularly, a reasoning Trump has also used.

“I don’t have the coronavirus, turns out as of yesterday I’ve never had it. But if I get it, you’ll never see me without a mask,” he told CNN in June.

When warned about asymptomatic transmission of the virus, Gohmert replied, “But I keep being tested and I don’t have it. So I’m not afraid of you, but if I get it, I’ll wear a mask.”

Gohmert is one of a number of members of Congress who lives in his office and uses the shared facilities to bathe. The eight-term congressman is the 10th lawmaker in Congress to test positive for the novel virus, sources say.

ABC News’ Alexander Mallin, John Parkinson and Mariam Khan contributed to this report.

The United States is removing nearly 12,000 American troops from Germany and will move the headquarters of U.S. European Command from Germany to Belgium in a major repositioning of forces that the Pentagon says is intended to increase the deterrence of Russia but that President Donald Trump said on Wednesday was tied to Germany not spending enough on its defense budget.

Of the U.S. troops stationed in Germany, 6,400 will return to the United States. Another 5,400 will be moved to other locations in Europe that already house American troops, and troops from the U.S. will rotate into locations in southeastern Europe — strengthening NATO’s presence in that part of the region.

“The alliance will be all the better and stronger,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in announcing the changes at a Pentagon news conference on Wednesday.

Esper announced that 11,900 U.S. military personnel will leave Germany, reducing the American troop presence there from 36,000 to 24,000. The U.S. has had maintained mostly Army and Air Forces in Germany since the end of World War II and continues to use its facilities as a major hub for troops stationed in other locations overseas.

“Nearly 5,600 service members will be repositioned within NATO countries and approximately 6,400 will return to the United States, though many of these or similar units will begin conducting rotational deployments,” Esper said.

The troop moves will include moving the headquarters of U.S. European Command from Stuttgart, Germany, to Mons, Belgium, where it will be co-located with NATO’s military headquarters.

“This will strengthen NATO and improve the operational efficiency and readiness of over 2,000 service members in these headquarters,” Esper said.

General Tod Wolters, the head of U.S. European Command and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, said a proposal was also being considered to move the headquarters of U.S. Africa Command to another location in Europe.

The troop adjustments in Germany are the largest in almost a decade and while the Pentagon is framing the troop reduction in the context of improving the deterrence against Russia in Europe, Esper acknowledged that the move was “accelerated” by new guidance from Trump in June calling for a troop reduction.

That guidance surprised European allies and seemed tied to Trump’s displeasure that Germany does not contribute 2% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) toward its defense, a goal of NATO countries.

On Wednesday, before departing for a trip to Texas, Trump directly linked the move of troops out of Germany to Germany’s defense spending.

“We’re reducing the force, because they’re not paying their bills. It’s very simple. They’re delinquent. Very simple,” Trump said.

“We spend a lot of money on Germany,” he added. “They take advantage of us on trade and they take advantage of the military so we’re reducing the troops.”

Asked about Trump’s comments, Esper reiterated his belief that Germany should put 2% or more of its spending toward defense needs to meet the NATO standard.

“I think Germany is the wealthiest country in Europe, Germany can and should pay more to its defense,” said Esper, reiterating his previous stance on the subject of Germany’s defense spending levels. “It should certainly meet the 2% standard and I would argue go above and beyond that.”

“I’ve said that very publicly. I’ve said that very privately to my counterparts, as well about the importance of NATO, and the alliance, sharing the burden, so we can all deter Russia,” said Esper.

Last week, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that he had been briefed on the plans and was satisfied with the intentions, but not all Republicans are on board.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, called the planned move “a grave error” and a “gift to Russia.”

“It is a slap in the face at a friend and ally when we should instead be drawing closer in our mutual commitment to deter Russian and Chinese aggression,” he added.

Wolters said the movement of troops out of Germany will afford NATO greater flexibility and reach in northeastern and southeastern Europe.

“The flexibility it affords us certainly complicates a potential enemy against us, and it dramatically improves our operational capability,” Wolters said.

Soldiers numbering 4,500 from the Army’s Second Cavalry Regiment, an armored Stryker unit, will return to the United States, but other Stryker units will rotate to the Black Sea region of Eastern Europe.

Esper said the move would give the United States “a more enduring presence to enhance deterrence and reassure allies along NATO’s southeastern flank.”

An F-16 squadron is also being moved from Germany to Italy, most likely to Aviano Air Base which is home to other F-16 units, to also boost the presence in southern Europe.

Esper said the Army’s newly established Fifth Corps headquarters will also be moved to Poland.

There is no total price tag associated yet with the planned moves, though Esper estimated that the costs could be less than $10 billion.

While some of the moves could begin quickly, a senior Defense official told reporters that the whole process could take years as some construction will have to be undertaken both stateside and overseas to accommodate the movement of forces.

“The plan to remove our troops from Germany will be at the detriment of our national security interests,” said Mick Mulroy, an ABC News contributor and a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East. “It will cost billions, it will drive a wedge in NATO, and it will be a gift to Russia.”

Mulroy said that at a time when Russian intelligence is alleged to have run a bounty program to target American troops in Afghanistan, the U.S. “should be looking at ways to sanction them.”