By PATRICK WHITTLE

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A network of medical clinics that serves low-income residents in Maine said it will shut down its primary care operations on Friday because of Trump administration cuts to abortion providers.

Related Articles

Trump hosts White House Halloween bash with superheroes and presidential lookalikes amid shutdown

Lawyers for Comey seek grand jury transcript, bringing fresh challenge to a case pushed by Trump

Federal judge in Hawaii rules FDA violated the law by restricting access to abortion medication

Justice Department investigating fraud allegations in Black Lives Matter movement, AP sources say

Secret sex video is part of federal conspiracy case against Maryland state senator, indictment says

Maine Family Planning operates 18 clinics in the state and says abortions are a relatively small percentage of its overall services, which also include cancer screenings, sexually transmitted disease testing and contraception. The network said it had to cut primary care because of the administration’s move to block Medicaid money from abortion providers including the much larger Planned Parenthood.

The move to defund abortion providers is driving patients away from their doctors in Maine, said George Hill, president of Maine Family Planning. The network saw more than 600 patients in its primary care practices last year, Hill said.

“Telling those patients we can’t see them anymore has been devastating, especially knowing that some of them will find it too difficult to get a new provider and may just forego care,” Hill said.

Maine Family Planning serves many of the poor and rural areas of the state and typically receives about $1.9 million in Medicaid reimbursements per year, the network said in a statement. The network said it notified its patients of the coming primary care closures about a month ago. The network has about 8,000 patients in total.

FILE – Vanessa Shields-Haas, a nurse practitioner, walks from the lobby toward the examination rooms at the Maine Family Planning healthcare facility, July 15, 2025, in Thomaston, Maine. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Maine Family Planning fought the halting of Medicaid dollars in federal court, but it suffered a setback in August when a federal judge ruled against restoring funding during the network’s ongoing lawsuit against the Trump administration. The network appealed to a higher court, and that legal fight is still ongoing.

The Center for Reproductive Rights filed the case in federal court on behalf of the network, and said Friday it will continue to fight to restore the funding. Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, called the loss of funding for Maine Family Planning “part of a larger strategy to shut down clinics even in states like Maine that protect the right to abortion.”

By WILL WEISSERT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump hosted hundreds of costumed guests — from superheroes to dinosaurs and even a few children dressed as the first couple — as part of Thursday night’s Halloween celebration at the White House.

Related Articles

Lawyers for Comey seek grand jury transcript, bringing fresh challenge to a case pushed by Trump

Federal judge in Hawaii rules FDA violated the law by restricting access to abortion medication

Justice Department investigating fraud allegations in Black Lives Matter movement, AP sources say

Secret sex video is part of federal conspiracy case against Maryland state senator, indictment says

Hegseth orders the military to detail dozens of attorneys to the Justice Department, AP learns

He and first lady Melania Trump emerged on the South Lawn as evening was starting to fall to an orchestral version of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” Neither was in costume. Trump wore a blue suit and red tie with a red “USA” cap; his wife was in a brown coat over an orange dress.

The couple handed out full-sized Hershey bars and Twizzlers in boxes with the presidential seal to a line of children and their parents that stretched down the driveway. Temporary walls obscured the view of the construction of Trump’s new White House ballroom — which has led to the demolition of the East Wing — though a parked bulldozer could still be seen hulking on the other side.

“It’s a long line,” Trump said. “It’s almost as big as the ballroom.”

The White House tradition went ahead despite Trump returning mere hours earlier from a six-day Asia trip that took him to Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and amid a government shutdown in its 30th day.

Trump has called for the government to reopen, but congressional Democrats are demanding an extension of expiring tax credits that have helped millions of people afford health insurance. Their Republican colleagues say they won’t negotiate until the government is reopened.

Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports have reduced inventory and raised prices for Halloween costumes for American importers, retailers and shoppers. Still, the White House exterior featured dozens of decorations resembling large autumn leaves and fall flowers like orange and red mums. The stairs leading to its balcony were crowded with carved pumpkins.

Among the children attending the Halloween party were those of members of the military and White House staffers. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, came with her young son dressed as a pumpkin. Katie Miller, a former Trump administration aide, was dressed as a skeleton, while her husband, Stephen, Trump’s deputy White House chief of staff, wore only a business suit.

Hundreds of children, tiny toddlers up to kids in their early teens, came dressed as Spider-Man and Captain America, ballerinas, princesses and leprechauns. Two boys wore suits, Trump hats and grins like the president, though they didn’t try to pull off his signature hairdo, while a girl with them wore a white coat over a dress like one the first lady might favor.

Several parents had “USA” caps like Trump.

Some children were shy or skittish about talking with the Trumps, but the president said something inaudible to a child whose costume consisted of sitting with his pants down on an inflatable toilet stenciled with “Wide Load” on the back.

A former special agent with Homeland Security Investigations admitted Thursday in federal court to taking at least 10 photos and videos of himself and a 17-year-old girl engaged in sex acts on several occasions and then sending them to her.

Timothy Ryan Gregg, 52, of Eagan, who was also an FBI task force member, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis to the sole count of transportation of visual depictions of a minor engaging in sexual conduct after images and videos were found on her cellphone on May 29.

Timothy Ryan Gregg (Courtesy of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office)

Under questioning by U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen, Gregg said the girl told him that she was 19 years old after meeting her through the dating/meet-up app Tinder. He admitted that he later learned she was 17 by looking her up through a law enforcement database and that he still met with her and sent her sexually explicit photos and videos afterward.

During the hearing, Gregg struggled several times upon questioning by Ericksen and stopped to gain his composure before responding.

He became emotional when Ericksen asked him why he mostly met up with the girl on Sundays. After a long pause, he replied: “Because I was lying to my wife.”

When Ericksen asked about his law enforcement career, which stretched three decades, he replied, while fighting back tears: “Ever since I was 5, I knew I wanted to be in law enforcement.”

On the day he was arrested, June 3, Gregg was supposed to assist fellow FBI task force agents in a raid in Minneapolis. Instead, he was called in to the FBI field office in St. Paul.

“I felt like in a blink of an eye, my career was over,” Gregg said in court. “So it was a moment of panic.”

Gregg’s attorney Ryan Pacyga then told the judge his arrest came after he drove around for several hours with his service weapon and threatening to take his own life while FBI agents followed his car.

Gregg waived his right to have a grand jury consider an indictment. He remains in custody at the Sherburne County jail ahead of his sentencing, which has yet to be scheduled.

Sentencing guidelines call for between 14 and 17½ years in prison, although Pacyga said after the hearing that he will request a five-year term, the mandatory minimum.

Father found cellphone videos

According to the criminal complaint, the girl’s father told police that he found on her cellphone, which she had left behind in a car, multiple sexually explicit images and videos, including some of her and a man engaged in sex acts. The man was identified by law enforcement as Gregg.

The cellphone showed that Gregg and the teen had sent text messages to each other and naked photos. Gregg also sent her photos and videos of the two engaged in sex in a hotel room.

The girl told law enforcement that she had met Gregg through Tinder. She said he picked her up multiple times, mostly on Sundays, and that they went to a hotel, where he took photos and videos of them engaged in sex.

A check of hotel records by law enforcement showed that Gregg rented a room four times in March and twice in both April and in May, all on Sundays. Hotel employees said that Gregg would rent the rooms by himself and then bring a guest inside the hotel through the parking ramp.

Gregg used his “official ICE/HS email address to make the hotel reservations,” the complaint states.

Other officers charged

Related Articles

Ex-Lakeville dance teacher gets 2-month jail term for sexually assaulting teen student

Judge dismisses Macalester alum’s lawsuit over college’s animal testing in psychology labs

Self-described ‘right wing libertarian’ vandalized Pride flags, anti-Trump signs in St. Paul, charges say

St. Paul man, 65, sentenced for fatally stabbing apartment neighbor, 70, in fight over money

Feds: St. Paul man put $45K hit on Pam Bondi in TikTok post

Gregg was among three Minnesota law enforcement officers charged federally for alleged sex crimes in just over a month’s time.

Minnesota state trooper Jeremy Francis Plonski, 30, of Shakopee was charged with production of child pornography. He pleaded guilty to the charge Oct. 8, admitting to repeatedly sexually assaulting a toddler girl while recording the abuse and then sharing the videos with someone he met through the Telegram app. Under a plea agreement, Plonski faces between 23 and 28 years in prison. He remains jailed ahead of sentencing, which has not been scheduled.

Anthony John Crowley, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer from Minnetonka, was charged June 6 with uploading child pornography to the Kik app in 2022. Crowley, 52, pleaded guilty Sept. 26 to one count of possessing child pornography and remains ahead of sentencing, which has not been scheduled.

By ERIC TUCKER and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey want to review a transcript and audio recording of grand jury proceedings in his criminal case, citing what they say were “irregularities” in the process that should result in the dismissal of an indictment pushed by President Donald Trump.

Related Articles

Trump hosts White House Halloween bash with superheroes and presidential lookalikes amid shutdown

Federal judge in Hawaii rules FDA violated the law by restricting access to abortion medication

Justice Department investigating fraud allegations in Black Lives Matter movement, AP sources say

Secret sex video is part of federal conspiracy case against Maryland state senator, indictment says

Hegseth orders the military to detail dozens of attorneys to the Justice Department, AP learns

The request is one in a series of challenges that defense lawyers have waged against a criminal case charging Comey with making a false statement to Congress five years ago.

Defense lawyers last week asked for the case to be thrown out before trial on the grounds that it constituted a vindictive prosecution and because they say the hastily appointed U.S. attorney who filed the indictment was illegally appointed to the job.

Comey’s lawyers leveled new arguments against that prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, saying in a filing Thursday that her inexperience had tainted the process, created confusion and raised the prospect that legal and factual errors were presented to the grand jury that returned the indictment.

As examples, they cite the fact that the indictment was secured after hours with only 14 grand juror votes and that Halligan erroneously signed two separate indictments — including one containing a charge that the grand jury rejected.

“All available information regarding Ms. Halligan’s first-ever grand jury presentation smacks of irregularity,” Comey’s lawyers wrote. “It is virtually unheard of for a brand-new prosecutor to make her first grand jury presentation alone, without the supervision and guidance of an experienced prosecutor to ensure the absence of factual and legal errors.”

Trump had announced his plan to nominate Halligan as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia just one day after the prosecutor who had held the job, Erik Siebert, resigned under Trump administration pressure. In declaring his support for Halligan, Trump complained in a Truth Social post directed to Attorney General Pam Bondi that “nothing is being done” on investigations into some of his foes and called for action, specifically referencing inquiries into Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California.

“Although such inexperience alone would not ordinarily satisfy the defense’s burden for unsealing grand jury materials, that inexperience must be viewed alongside Ms. Halligan’s likely motive to obtain an indictment to satisfy the President’s demands, the inaccuracies in the indictment, and the determination of every career prosecutor to consider the case that charges were not warranted,” Comey’s lawyers wrote.

In separate filings Thursday, Comey’s legal team also requested specific details about the conduct at the center of the criminal case, saying the terse indictment is not even clear as to what Comey is alleged to have done wrong. They also asserted that the answers he gave to “fundamentally ambiguous questions” at the Senate hearing at which he is alleged to have lied were “literally true” and that, therefore, the case must be dismissed.

The indictment accuses Comey of having misled the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 30, 2020, in response to questions from Republican Sen. Ted Cruz about whether Comey had authorized a news media leak. But Comey’s lawyers say the indictment misstates his exchange with Cruz, attributing to Comey statements he did not make.

The defense team says the indictment omits context from Cruz’s question that made clear he was asking Comey if he had authorized his deputy director, Andrew McCabe, to serve as an anonymous source to the news media. The lawyers say the indictment misleadingly suggests the questioning from Cruz concerned another person, a Columbia University law professor and Comey friend named Daniel Richman. An earlier FBI investigation into whether Comey had disclosed classified information through Richman concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge either man.

“Senator Cruz’s questions are fundamentally ambiguous because people of ordinary intellect would not be expected to understand that he meant to ask a broad question about Mr. Comey’s interactions with anyone at the FBI — including Daniel Richman — during a colloquy focused on Mr. McCabe,” Comey’s lawyers wrote. “On the contrary, a reasonable person readily would have understood Senator Cruz to be asking only whether Mr. Comey had specifically authorized Mr. McCabe to be an anonymous source in news reports.”