By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A grand jury declined for a second time to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday, refusing to resurrect a mortgage fraud prosecution encouraged by President Donald Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter.

It’s another major blow to the Justice Department after the dismissal of earlier charges against James and another longtime Trump foe, former FBI Director James Comey, in a stunning rebuke of the Trump administration’s efforts to prosecute the president’s political opponents.

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A judge threw out the original indictments against James and Comey in November, ruling that the prosecutor who presented to the grand jury, Lindsey Halligan, was illegally appointed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The Justice Department asked a grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, to return an indictment Thursday after a different grand jury in Norfolk last week refused to do so. The person who confirmed the failure to secure an indictment was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The allegations related to James’ purchase of modest house in Norfolk, where she has family.

James says the case is politically motivated and has denied any wrongdoing.

James, a Democrat who infuriated Trump after his first term with a lawsuit alleging that he built his business empire on lies about his wealth, was initially charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a home purchase in 2020.

During the sale, she signed a standard document called a “second home rider” in which she agreed to keep the property primarily for her “personal use and enjoyment for at least one year,” unless the lender agreed otherwise. Rather than using the home as a second residence, prosecutors say James rented it out to a family of three, allowing her to obtain favorable loan terms not available for investment properties.

The cases against James and a separate prosecution of Comey have heightened concerns that the Trump administration is using its law enforcement powers to pursue the president’s enemies.

Both cases were brought shortly after the administration installed Halligan, a former Trump lawyer with no prior prosecutorial experience, as U.S. attorney amid public calls from the president to take action against his political opponents.

But U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie threw out the cases last month over the unconventional mechanism that the Trump administration employed to appoint Halligan. The judge dismissed them without prejudice, allowing the Justice Department to try to file the charges again.

Halligan had been named as a replacement for Erik Siebert, a veteran prosecutor in the office and interim U.S. attorney who resigned in September amid Trump administration pressure to file charges against both Comey and James. He stepped aside after Trump told reporters he wanted Siebert “out.”

James’ lawyers separately argued the case was a vindictive prosecution brought to punish the Trump critic who spent years investigating and suing the Republican president and won a staggering judgment in a lawsuit alleging he defrauded banks by overstating the value of his real estate holdings on financial statements. The fine was later tossed out by a higher court, but both sides are appealing.

After the Norfolk grand jury rejected a new indictment last week, James’ lawyer said, “This should be the end of the case.”

“If they continue, undeterred by a court ruling and a grand jury’s rejection of the charges, it will be a shocking assault on the rule of law and a devastating blow to the integrity of our justice system,” defense attorney Abbe Lowell said at the time.

Comey was separately charged with lying to Congress in 2020. Another federal judge has complicated the Justice Department’s efforts to seek a new indictment against Comey, temporarily barring prosecutors from accessing computer files belonging to Daniel Richman, a close Comey friend and Columbia University law professor whom prosecutors see as a central player in any potential case against the former FBI director.

Prosecutors moved Tuesday to quash that order, calling Richman’s request for the return of his files a “strategic tool to obstruct the investigation and potential prosecution.” They said the judge had overstepped her bounds by ordering Richman’s property returned to him and said the ruling had impeded their ability to proceed with a case against Comey.

Richer reported from Washington.

By PHILIP MARCELO, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch faces a March court hearing to determine whether he’s competent to stand trial on sex trafficking charges after being hospitalized in recent months for dementia and Alzheimer’s symptoms.

If he’s found mentally fit, Michael Jeffries could have his day in court by late October, U.S. District Court Judge Nusrat Choudhury said Thursday.

“We are aiming for a trial this fall,” she said on a phone conference that included Jeffries, two other defendants in the case and their lawyers.

Jeffries pleaded not guilty last year to federal charges of sex trafficking and interstate prostitution that echoed sexual misconduct accusations made in a civil case and in the media in recent years.

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Prosecutors say Jeffries, his romantic partner and a third man used the promise of modeling jobs to lure men to drug-fueled sex parties in New York City, the Hamptons and other locations.

Federal prison officials said in a letter to the court filed Wednesday that Jeffries is mentally fit after spending about four months at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina.

The 81-year-old is “able to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him and to assist properly in his own defense,” the prison’s acting warden wrote in a document titled a “Certificate of Restoration of Competency.”

But Jeffries’ lawyers on Thursday disputed the assessment and requested Choudhury hold a hearing to hear from other medical experts.

Brian Bieber, an attorney for Jeffries, said defense lawyers expect to call at least three experts to testify on his mental condition. Prosecutors said they expect to call two of their own.

Defense lawyers have previously said Jeffries requires around-the-clock care as he’s dealing with Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia and a traumatic brain injury.

At least four medical professionals concluded that Jeffries’ cognitive issues were “progressive and incurable” and that he would not “regain his competency and cannot be restored to competency in the future,” the lawyers previously wrote to the court.

Bieber didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday. He previously said he and his client “look forward to the Judge hearing the medical evidence, and deciding on the appropriate course of action moving forward.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York declined to comment.

Jeffries left Abercrombie in 2014 after more than two decades at the helm. His partner, Matthew Smith, has also been charged and has pleaded not guilty, as has their co-defendant, James Jacobson.

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and DORANY PINEDA, Associated Press

The Trump administration is expanding its crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion by ordering national parks to purge their gift shops of items it deems objectionable.

The Interior Department said in a memo last month that gift shops, bookstores and concession stands have until Dec. 19 to empty their shelves of retail items that run afoul of President Donald Trump’s agenda.

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The agency said its goal is to create “neutral spaces that serve all visitors.” It’s part of a broader initiative the Trump administration has pursued over the last year to root out policies and programs it says discriminate against people based on race, gender and sexual orientation — an effort that has led some major corporations and prominent universities to roll back diversity programs.

Conservation groups say the gift shop initiative amounts to censorship and undermines the National Park Service’s educational mission. But conservative think tanks say taxpayer-funded spaces shouldn’t be allowed to advance ideologies they say are divisive.

Employees of the park service and groups that manage national park gift shops say it’s not clear what items will be banned. They didn’t want to speak on the record for fear of retribution.

Items for sale are on display at the museum store at Independence National Historical Park, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

A debate over what’s acceptable for park gift shops

“Our goal is to keep National Parks focused on their core mission: preserving natural and cultural resources for the benefit of all Americans,” the Interior Department said in a statement. The agency said it wants to ensure parks’ gift shops “do not promote specific viewpoints.”

Alan Spears, the senior director for cultural resources at the National Parks Conservation Association, said removing history books and other merchandise from gift shops amounts to “silencing science and hiding history,” and does not serve the interests of park visitors.

Other groups called the review of gift shops a waste of resources at a time of staffing shortages, maintenance backlogs and budget issues.

Stefan Padfield, a former law professor who now works with a conservative think tank in Washington, said there is no way to defend the government’s promotion of “radical and divisive” ideologies through the sale of books and other items, though he said the challenge for the Trump administration will be in deciding what is acceptable and what isn’t.

“Now, are there going to be instances of the correction overshooting? Are there going to be difficult line-drawing exercises in gray areas? Absolutely,” said Padfield, the executive director of the Free Enterprise Project at the National Center for Public Policy Research.

Keisha Burse looks at items for sale at Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Megan Varner)

The order is open to interpretation

All items for sale at parks and online are supposed to be reviewed for neutrality. That includes books, T-shirts, keychains, magnets, patches and even pens.

But the memo issued by a senior Interior Department official didn’t give any examples of items that could no longer be sold, leaving the order open to interpretation. No training sessions have been offered to park service employees.

Some parks had already completed their reviews, finding nothing to add to the list.

On display this week at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia were items featuring Frederick Douglass. At the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park store in Atlanta, there were various books on the Civil Rights Movement and a book for children about important Black women in U.S. history. For sale online was a metal token for the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument.

There already is a thorough process for vendors to get merchandise into national park stores. Items are vetted for their educational value and to ensure they align with the themes of the park or historical site.

Items for sale are displayed at Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Megan Varner)

National parks in the spotlight

The park service in recent weeks faced criticism when it stopped offering free admission to visitors on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, while extending the benefit to U.S. residents on Flag Day, which also happens to be Trump’s birthday next year.

Earlier this year, the Interior Department’s ordered parks to flag signs, exhibits and other materials it said disparaged Americans. That order sparked debate about books related to Native American history and a photograph at a Georgia park that showed the scars of a formerly enslaved man.

In one of his executive orders, Trump said the nation’s history was being unfairly recast through a negative lens. Instead, he wants to focus on the positive aspects of America’s achievements, along with the beauty and grandeur of its landscape.

Mikah Meyer knows that beauty well after a three-year road trip to visit all 419 national park sites. He said part of the mission of his travels, which he shared on social media and in a documentary, was to illustrate that parks are welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community.

That message aligns with his business, Outside Safe Space, which at its peak was selling stickers and pins featuring a tree with triangle-shaped, rainbow-colored branches to more than 20 associations that operated multiple park stores. His items started to be pulled from some stores after the executive orders were issued earlier this year.

“How is banning these items supporting freedom of speech?” Meyer said.

Keisha Burse looks at items for sale at Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Megan Varner)

By FATIMA HUSSEIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. imposed sanctions on three nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, among others, on Thursday as President Donald Trump looks to inflict further pressure on the South American nation.

The new sanctions on Franqui Flores, Carlos Flores and Efrain Campo come a day after Trump announced that the U.S. had seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. Also included in the sanctions are six firms accused of transporting Venezuelan oil.

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A Treasury official confirmed the sanctions on condition of anonymity ahead of the official announcement later Thursday.

The sanctions are meant to deny them access to any property or financial assets held in the U.S., and the penalties are intended to prevent U.S. companies and citizens from doing business with them. Banks and financial institutions that violate that restriction expose themselves to sanctions or enforcement actions.

This is not the first time Maduro’s family has been involved in a political tit-for-tat.

In October 2022, Venezuela freed seven imprisoned Americans in exchange for the United States releasing Flores and Campo, who had been jailed for years on narcotics convictions.

The U.S.’s latest actions against Venezuela follow a series of deadly strikes the U.S. has conducted on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, which have killed at least 87 people since early September.

Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.