By GABRIELA AOUN ANGUEIRA, Associated Press

A meeting by a council appointed by President Donald Trump that was meant to announce recommended reforms to the Federal Emergency Management Agency was abruptly canceled Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The FEMA Review Council, which has been meeting for months to try to overhaul FEMA and was set to make its final report public at the meeting, was scheduled to gather Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. EST. Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem, the council’s co-chair, left a Congressional hearing early because she said she needed to attend it.

Related Articles

House squashes second attempt to impeach Trump from Rep. Al Green

Justice Department again fails to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, AP source says

US national park gift shops ordered to purge merchandise promoting DEI

US sanctions Venezuelan President Maduro’s 3 nephews as pressure campaign ratchets up

The Senate voted down dueling health proposals. Here’s what’s at stake for Americans

The Department of Homeland Security referred questions about the meeting’s cancellation to the White House, which did not respond to requests for comment. The person familiar with the development, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly, did not give a reason for the cancellation.

Two hours after the meeting’s planned start time, a council administrator notified people who had signed up to watch that it was postponed. The administrator gave no reason for the change, and said a new date would be announced “as soon as possible.”

Trump created the FEMA Review Council by executive order in late January, the same day he proposed eliminating FEMA after touring destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. He has threatened to dismantle the agency and has repeatedly said he wants to push more responsibility for disaster preparedness, response and recovery to the states.

Council members were to present and vote on a recommendations report at the Thursday meeting. The public was invited to attend virtually and would have until Dec. 31 to submit comment on the report.

Former officials and experts told The Associated Press they were impressed by the level of care taken by the council to solicit input from experts and community members and craft meaningful reforms, but the process grew more contentious as it reached its end.

An initial draft of the much-anticipated report was slashed by Noem’s office from over 160 pages to around 20, people familiar with the developments told the AP in November, leading some council members to worry that some recommendations would be removed while others not endorsed by the council could be added.

The council is co-chaired by Noem and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Its 12 members include emergency managers and elected officials almost exclusively from Republican-led states, including the emergency management directors of Texas and Florida, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant.

If he embraces the reforms, Trump has the authority to implement some changes himself, while others would require an act of Congress.

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.

Related Articles

US national park gift shops ordered to purge merchandise promoting DEI

US sanctions Venezuelan President Maduro’s 3 nephews as pressure campaign ratchets up

The Senate voted down dueling health proposals. Here’s what’s at stake for Americans

Treasury Secretary Bessent calls for looser regulations for the US financial system

Noem links the seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela to US antidrug efforts

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.

Related Articles

Noem links the seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela to US antidrug efforts

Hiker mired in quicksand in Utah’s Arches National Park is rescued unharmed

Without affirmative action, elite colleges are prioritizing economic diversity in admissions

Accused Charlie Kirk killer makes 1st in-person court appearance as judge weighs media access

Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be immediately released from immigration detention

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.