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Category: Associated Press

Putin says there are points he can’t agree to in the U.S. proposal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin says some proposals in a U.S. plan to end the war in Ukraine are unacceptable to the Kremlin, indicating in comments published Thursday that any deal is still some ways off.

President Donald Trump has set in motion the most intense diplomatic push to stop the fighting since Russia launched the full-scale invasion of its neighbor nearly four years ago. But the effort has once again run into demands that are hard to reconcile, especially over whether Ukraine must give up land to Russia and how it can be kept safe from any future aggression by Moscow.

Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, are set to meet with Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, later Thursday in Miami for further talks, according to a senior Trump administration official who wasn’t authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Putin said his five-hour talks Tuesday in the Kremlin with Witkoff and Kushner were “necessary” and “useful,” but also “difficult work,” and some proposals were unacceptable.

Putin spoke to the India Today TV channel before he landed Thursday in New Delhi for a state visit. Ahead of the broadcast of the full interview, Russian state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti quoted some of his remarks in it.

Tass quoted Putin as saying that in Tuesday’s talks, the sides “had to go through each point” of the U.S. peace proposal, “which is why it took so long.”

“This was a necessary conversation, a very concrete one,” he said, with provisions that Moscow was ready to discuss, while others “we can’t agree to.”

Trump said Wednesday that Witkoff and Kushner came away from their marathon session confident that he wants to find an end to the war. “Their impression was very strongly that he’d like to make a deal,” he added.

Putin refused to elaborate on what Russia could accept or reject, and none of the other officials involved offered details of the talks.

“I think it is premature. Because it could simply disrupt the working regime” of the peace effort, Tass quoted Putin as saying.

European leaders, left on the sidelines by Washington as U.S. officials engage directly with Moscow and Kyiv, have accused Putin of feigning interest in Trump’s peace drive.

French President Emmanuel Macron met in Beijing with China’s leader Xi Jinping, seeking to involve him in pressuring Russia toward a ceasefire. Xi, whose country has provided strong diplomatic support for Putin, did not say respond to France’s call, but said that “China supports all efforts that work towards peace.”

Russian barrages of civilian areas of Ukraine continued overnight into Thursday. A missile struck Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday night, wounding six people, including a 3-year-old girl, according to city administration head Oleksandr Vilkul.

The attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown damaged more than 40 residential buildings, a school and domestic gas pipes, Vilkul said.

A 6-year-old girl died in the southern city of Kherson after Russian artillery shelling wounded her the previous day, regional military administration chief Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.

The Kherson Thermal Power Plant, which provides heat for over 40,000 residents, shut down Thursday after Russia pounded it with drones and artillery for several days, he said.

Authorities planned emergency meetings to find alternate sources of heating, he said. Until then, tents were erected across the city where residents could warm up and charge electronic devices.

Russia also struck Odesa with drones, wounding six people, while civilian and energy infrastructure was damaged, said Oleh Kiper, head of the regional military administration.

Overall, Russia fired two ballistic missiles and 138 drones at Ukraine overnight, officials said.

Meanwhile, in the Russia-occupied part of the Kherson region, two men were killed by a Ukrainian drone strike on their vehicle Thursday, Moscow-installed regional leader Vladimir Saldo said. A 68-year-old woman was also wounded in the attack, he said.

December 4, 2025
FBI makes arrest in investigation into pipe bombs placed in D.C. on eve of Jan. 6 riot, AP source says

The FBI on Thursday arrested a man accused of placing two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of the U.S. Capitol attack, an abrupt breakthrough in an investigation that for years flummoxed law enforcement and spawned conspiracy theories about Jan. 6, 2021.

The arrest marks the first time investigators have publicly identified a suspect in an act that has been an enduring mystery for nearly five years in the shadow of the violent Capitol insurrection.

The suspect was identified as Brian J. Cole Jr., 30, of Woodbridge, Va., but key questions remain unanswered after his arrest on explosives charges, including a possible motive and what connection if any the act had to the assault on the Capitol the following day by supporters of President Donald Trump.

Law enforcement officials used credit purchases of bomb-making materials, cellphone tower data and a license plate reader to zero in on Cole, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case. The FBI and Justice Department declined to elaborate on what led them to the suspect, but characterized his arrest as the result of a reinvigorated investigation and a fresh analysis of already collected evidence and data.

“Let me be clear: There was no new tip. There was no new witness. Just good, diligent police work and prosecutorial work,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said at a news conference.

Calls to relatives of Cole listed in public records were not immediately returned Thursday. Hours after Cole was taken into custody, unmarked law enforcement vehicles lined the cul-de-sac where Cole’s home is while FBI agents helped shoo away onlookers. Authorities were seen entering the house and examining the trunk of a car nearby.

FBI says the bombs could have killed people

The pipe bombs were placed on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, near the offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees. Nobody was hurt before the bombs were rendered safe, but the FBI has said both devices could have been lethal.

In the years since, investigators have sought the public’s help in identifying a shadowy subject seen on surveillance camera even as they struggled to determine answers to basic questions, including the person’s gender and motive and whether the act had a clear connection to the riot at the Capitol a day later, when supporters of Trump stormed the building in a bid to halt the certification of the Republican’s 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Seeking a breakthrough, the FBI last January publicized additional information about the investigation, including an estimate that the suspect was about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, as well as previously unreleased video of the suspect placing one of the bombs.

The bureau had for years struggled to pinpoint a suspect despite hundreds of tips, a review of tens of thousands of video files and a significant number of interviews.

Investigative clues

An FBI affidavit filed in connection with Cole’s arrest lays out a series of circumstantial clues that investigators pieced together.

Using information from his bank account and credit cards, authorities discovered he purchased materials in 2019 and 2020 consistent with those used to make the pipe bombs, according to court papers. That included galvanized pipes and white kitchen-style timers, according to the affidavit. The purchases continued even after the devices were placed.

Cole owns a 2017 Nissan Sentra with a Virginia license plate, the affidavit says. About 7:10 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2021, Cole’s vehicle drove past a license plate reader less than a half mile from where the person who placed the devices was first spotted on foot at 7:34 p.m. that night, the document says.

Lack of evidence spawns conspiracy theories

In the absence of harder evidence, Republican lawmakers and right-wing media outlets promoted conspiracy theories about the pipe bombs. House Republicans also criticized security lapses, questioning how law enforcement failed to detect the bombs for 17 hours. Dan Bongino, the current FBI deputy director, floated the possibility last year — before being tapped for his job — that the act was an “inside job” and involved a “massive cover-up.”

The FBI’s top two leaders, Bongino and Director Kash Patel, sought to breathe new life into the investigation despite having openly disparaged the bureau’s broader approach to the Jan. 6 siege and despite Trump’s pardons on his first day back in office of the rioters who stormed the Capitol, including those who violently attacked police with poles and other makeshift weapons.

In a long Nov. 13 post on X, Bongino wrote that the FBI had brought in new personnel to examine the case and “dramatically increased investigative resources” along with the public reward for information “to utilize crowd-sourcing leads.” He said in the same post, addressed to Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., that “a week of near 24-hour work on RECENT open source leads in the case has yet to produce a break through.”

Investigators hunt for clues

Public attention over the years had centered in part on surveillance video, taken the night before the riot, showing the suspect spending close to an hour moving through the surrounding blocks, pausing on a park bench, cutting through an alley and stopping again as a dog walker passed.

The person wore a light sweatshirt, dark pants and sneakers, with a dark backpack slung over one shoulder. Investigators have long said the gait suggested the person was a man, but a surgical mask and hood rendered the face all but impossible to see.

Agents paired their video review with a broad sweep of digital records. They gathered cell tower data showing which phones were active in the neighborhood at the time and issued subpoenas to several tech companies, including Google, for location information.

Investigators also analyzed credit card transactions from hobby shops and major retailers to identify customers who had purchased components resembling those used in the two explosive devices — each roughly 1 foot long and packed with gunpowder and metal, according to two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation.

Another avenue of the investigation centered on the suspect’s shoes, believed to be Nike Air Max Speed Turfs. After learning from Nike that thousands of pairs had been distributed through more than two dozen retailers, agents filed subpoenas for credit card records from Foot Locker and other chains as they worked to narrow down potential buyers. Still, for years, they had no solid breakthroughs.

December 4, 2025
Chargers preparing as if QB Justin Herbert will play vs. Eagles

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert did not practice Wednesday, two days after undergoing surgery to repair a broken bone in his nonthrowing hand.

Coach Jim Harbaugh said the Chargers (8-4) are preparing as if Herbert will start against the Eagles on Monday, though he repeatedly stressed a formal determination on Herbert’s status would be made later in the week.

“Not gonna practice, but he hasn’t missed a beat,” Harbaugh said. “Already back today in meetings and out on the field for walk-through.”

What we know (and don’t) about the Eagles entering Week 14 vs. the Chargers

Herbert said he had a plate and screws placed in his left hand Monday afternoon. He kept his hand out of sight in the pocket of his sweatshirt during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

“The doctors were happy with how they performed, so I guess that’s always a good thing,” Herbert said. “It’s just the next couple days of seeing how the swelling handles and what goes on from there.”

Herbert, who was injured in the first quarter of a 31-14 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, is treating this week as if he will play. He has only missed four games because of injury in six seasons with the Chargers, having been sidelined for the last four games in 2023 because of a broken finger on his right hand.

“It’s obviously a situation where you’ll see how it goes throughout the week, and you’d love as much time as possible,” Herbert said. “I think having an extra day doesn’t hurt, so see how it goes and adjust from there, I guess.”

Backup Trey Lance worked with the starting offense in practice. Harbaugh had previously said Lance, who was drafted third overall by the San Francisco 49ers in 2021, would see additional snaps in case he needed to play in situations where the Chargers might need to operate from under center, such as at the goal line or in short yardage.

“Better to be prepared and not have your opportunity come than have your opportunity come and not be prepared,” Harbaugh said.

The Chargers played exclusively out of the shotgun and pistol for the final three quarters after Herbert returned to the game with his hand in a hard cast and wearing a glove for additional protection.

Numbers and trends that could impact Monday’s Eagles-Chargers game in Los Angeles

“We’ll be preparing the same exact game plan for both quarterbacks,” Harbaugh said.

Herbert does expect to be able to try taking snaps from under center later this week. Herbert also believes he would be able to start even if he cannot practice, while admitting it would not be an ideal situation.

“It’s definitely difficult in this league, but if that’s the case and Coach (Harbaugh) feels like I’ll give the best shot for the team, you know that I trust his decision,” Herbert said.

December 4, 2025
Trump proposal would weaken vehicle mileage rules that limit air pollution

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a proposal to weaken vehicle mileage rules for the auto industry, loosening regulatory pressure on automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and trucks.

The plan, if finalized next year, would significantly reduce fuel economy requirements, which set rules on how far new vehicles need to travel on a gallon of gasoline, through the 2031 model year. The rules will increase Americans’ access to the full range of gasoline vehicles they need and can afford, officials said. The administration projects that the new standards would set the industry fleetwide average for light-duty vehicles at roughly 34.5 miles per gallon in the 2031 model year.

The move is the latest action by the Trump administration to reverse Biden-era policies that encouraged cleaner-running cars and trucks, including electric vehicles. Burning gasoline for vehicles is a major contributor to planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

“From Day One I’ve been taking action to make buying a car more affordable.” Trump said at a White House event that included top executives from the three largest U.S. automakers.

The rule reverses a Biden-era policy that “forced automakers to build cars using expensive technologies that drove up costs, drove up prices, and made the car much worse,” Trump said.

Rule change will save money, Trump says

The action is expected to save consumers about $1,000 off the price of a new car, Trump said. New cars sold for an average of $49,766 on average in October, according to Kelley Blue Book.

Automakers applauded the planned changes. They had complained that the Biden-era rules were difficult to meet.

Ford CEO Jim Farley said the planned rollback was “a win for customers and common sense.”

“As America’s largest auto producer, we appreciate President Trump’s leadership in aligning fuel economy standards with market realities. We can make real progress on carbon emissions and energy efficiency while still giving customers choice and affordability,” Farley said.

Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa said the automaker appreciates the administration’s actions to “realign” the standards “with real world market conditions.”

Since taking office in January, Trump has relaxed auto tailpipe emissions rules, repealed fines for automakers that do not meet federal mileage standards, and terminated consumer credits of up to $7,500 for EV purchases.

Environmentalists decried the rollback in mileage standards.

“In one stroke Trump is worsening three of our nation’s most vexing problems: the thirst for oil, high gas pump costs, and global warming,” said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign for the Center for Biological Diversity.

“Gutting the [gas-mileage] program will make cars burn more gas and American families burn more cash,’’ said Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All program.

Polluting cars to stay on road

“This rollback would move the auto industry backwards, keeping polluting cars on our roads for years to come and threatening the health of millions of Americans, particularly children and the elderly,” she said.

Trump has repeatedly pledged to end what he falsely calls an EV “mandate,” referring incorrectly to Democratic President Joe Biden’s target that half of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030. EVs accounted for about 8% of new vehicle sales in the United States in 2024, according to Cox Automotive.

No federal policy has required auto companies to sell EVs, although California and other states have imposed rules requiring that all new passenger vehicles sold in the state be zero-emission by 2035. Trump and congressional Republicans blocked the California law earlier this year.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urged his agency to reverse existing fuel economy requirements, known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy, soon after taking office. In June, he said that standards set under Biden were illegal because they included use of electric vehicles in their calculation. EVs do not run on gasoline. After the June rule revision, the traffic safety agency was empowered to update the requirements.

Under Biden, automakers were required to average about 50 miles (81 kilometers) per gallon of gas for passenger cars by 2031, compared with about 39 miles (63 kilometers) per gallon today. The Biden administration also increased fuel-economy requirements by 2% each year for light-duty vehicles in every model year from 2027 to 2031, and 2% per year for SUVs and other light trucks from 2029 to 2031. At the same time, it called for stringent tailpipe rules meant to encourage EV adoption.

The 2024 standards would have saved 14 billion gallons of gasoline from being burned by 2050, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s 2024 calculations. Abandoning them means that in 2035, cars could produce 22,111 more tons of carbon dioxide per year than under the Biden-era rules. It also means an extra 90 tons a year of deadly soot particles and more than 4,870 tons a year of smog components nitrogen oxide and volatile organic carbons going into the air in coming years.

Mileage rules have been implemented since the 1970s energy crisis, and over time, automakers have gradually increased their vehicles’ average efficiency.

December 4, 2025
Trump targets Minnesota’s Somali community with harsh words and policies

MINNEAPOLIS — Recent statements by President Donald Trump and top administration officials disparaging Minnesota’s large Somali community have focused renewed attention on the immigrants from the war-torn east African country and their descendants.

Trump on Tuesday said he did not want Somalis in the U.S. because “they contribute nothing.” The president spoke soon after a person familiar with the planning said federal authorities are preparing a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota that would primarily focus on Somali immigrants living unlawfully in the U.S.

Here are some things to know about Somalis in Minnesota:

Largest Somali American population in the U.S.

An estimated 260,000 people of Somali descent were living in the U.S. in 2024, according to the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey. The largest population is in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, home to about 84,000 residents, most of whom are American citizens. Ohio, Washington and California also have significant populations.

Almost 58% of the Somalis in Minnesota were born in the U.S. Of the foreign-born Somalis in Minnesota, an overwhelming majority — 87% — are naturalized U.S. citizens. Of the foreign-born population, almost half entered the U.S. in 2010 or later, according to the Census Bureau.

They include many who fled the long civil war in their east African country and were drawn to the state’s welcoming social programs.

Trump targets the community

Trump has become increasingly focused in recent weeks on Somalis living in the U.S., saying they “have caused a lot of trouble.”

Trump and other administration officials stepped up their criticism after a conservative news outlet, City Journal, claimed that taxpayer dollars from defrauded government programs have flowed to the militant group al-Shabab, an affiliate of al-Qaida that controls parts of rural Somalia and often has targeted the capital, Mogadishu.

While Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a social media post Monday that his agency is investigating whether “hardworking Minnesotans’ tax dollars may have been diverted to the terrorist organization,” little evidence has emerged so far to prove a link. Federal prosecutors have not charged any of the dozens of defendants in recent public program fraud cases in Minnesota with providing material support to foreign terrorist organizations.

Last month, Trump said he was terminating Temporary Protected Status for Somali migrants in Minnesota, a legal safeguard against deportation. A report produced for Congress in August put the number of Somalis covered by the program at just 705 nationwide.

The announcement drew immediate pushback from some state leaders and immigration experts, who characterized Trump’s declaration as a legally dubious effort to sow fear and suspicion.

Fraud allegations lead to pushback

Local Somali community leaders, as well as allies like Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, have also pushed back against those who might blame the broader Somali community for some recent cases of massive fraud in public programs.

Those include what is known as the Feeding Our Future scandal, which federal prosecutors say was the country’s largest COVID-19-related fraud case. It involved a program meant to feed children during the pandemic. The defendants were accused of fraudulently claiming to be feeding millions of meals to children. While the alleged ringleader was white, many of the defendants were Somalis, and most of them were U.S. citizens.

Prosecutors in recent months have raised their estimate of the thefts to $300 million from an original $250 million, and the number of defendants last month grew to 78. The cases are still working their way through the court system.

Republican candidates for governor and other offices in 2026 are staking their hopes on voters blaming Walz for failing to prevent the losses to taxpayers. Trump has blasted Walz for allowing the fraud to unfold on his watch.

Earlier terrorism cases still echo

Authorities in Minnesota struggled for years to stem the recruiting of young Somali men by the Islamic State group and the Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab.

The problem first surfaced in 2007, when more than 20 young men went to Somalia, where Ethiopian troops propping up a weak U.N.-backed government were seen by many as foreign invaders.

While most of those cases were resolved years ago, another came to light earlier this year. A 23-year-old defendant pleaded guilty in September to attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Mostly in the 2010s, the Islamic State group also found recruits in Minnesota’s Somali community, with authorities saying roughly a dozen left to join militants in Syria.

Somalis have become a force in Minnesota politics

The best-known Somali American is arguably Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a fiery progressive whose district includes Minneapolis and is a frequent target of Trump.

Several other Somali Americans have served in the Minnesota Legislature and the Minneapolis and St. Paul city councils. State Sen. Omar Fateh, a democratic socialist, finished second in the Minneapolis mayoral election in November to incumbent Mayor Frey.

December 4, 2025
Shredded cheese sold in dozens of states recalled due to potential for metal fragment contamination

There is a recall for more than 260,000 cases of shredded cheese sold in 31 states and Puerto Rico because of the potential for metal fragment contamination, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA said that the various shredded cheeses were recalled by Great Lakes Cheese Co. The cheese products are sold under private store-brand labels at several retailers, including Target, Walmart and Aldi.

The recall includes various cheeses such as mozzarella, Italian style, pizza style, mozzarella and provolone and mozzarella and parmesan.

The recall has a Class II classification, because the product “may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote,” according to the FDA’s website.

An FDA says ingesting metal fragments may cause injuries such as dental damage, laceration of the mouth or throat, or laceration or perforation of the intestine.

December 4, 2025
Pentagon knew boat attack left survivors but still launched a follow-on strike, AP sources say

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon knew there were survivors after a September attack on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea and the U.S. military still carried out a follow-up strike, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The rationale for the second strike was that it was needed to sink the vessel, according to the people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly. The Trump administration says all 11 people aboard were killed.

What remains unclear was who ordered the strikes and whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was involved, one of the people said. That will be part of a classified congressional briefing Thursday with the commander that the Trump administration says ordered the second strike, Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley.

Hegseth has defended the second strike as emerging in the “fog of war,” saying he didn’t see any survivors but also “didn’t stick around” for the rest of the mission.

Hegseth is under growing scrutiny over the military strikes on alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Legal experts and some lawmakers say a strike that killed survivors would have violated the laws of armed conflict.

December 3, 2025
Americans gave $4B on Giving Tuesday 2025 as donations and volunteering gain big over last year

Americans gave $4 billion to nonprofits on Giving Tuesday in 2025, an increase from the $3.6 billion they gave in 2024, according to estimates from the nonprofit Giving Tuesday.

More people also volunteered their time on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving this year, which fell on Dec. 2 and has become a major fundraising day for nonprofits. This year, 11.1 million people in the U.S. volunteered, up from, 9.2 million last year.

Giving Tuesday started in 2012 as a hashtag and a project of the 92nd St Y in New York and has since become an independent nonprofit. The organization estimates how much was given and how many people volunteer using data from a wide variety of sources, including giving platforms, payment processors and software applications that nonprofits use.

Woodrow Rosenbaum, the chief data officer for Giving Tuesday, said both the number of people giving and the overall donation amount may have increased this year as people seek a sense of belonging and connection.

“Generosity is a really powerful way to get that,” Rosenbaum said in an interview with The Associated Press. ”But I think mostly it’s just that when people see need, they want to do something about it and Giving Tuesday is an opportunity to do that in a moment of celebration as opposed to crisis.”

Overall donations increased 8.1% from last year when adjusted for inflation. Giving Tuesday has also seen the average donation increase in size over time and Rosenbaum said people may be seeking additional ways to give as well.

“Volunteering is a way that you can add to your impact without it costing you money,” he said.

Not everyone who volunteers their time does so through a nonprofit. They may volunteer with mutual aid groups or by helping out family members or neighbors, he said.

Giving Tuesday does not include donations from corporations or foundations in their estimate, Rosenbaum said, as they are focused on the everyday generosity of individuals. That means they did not include the gift from billionaires Michael and Susan Dell of $6.25 billion to encourage families to claim new investment accounts created by the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump hosted the Dells at the White House Tuesday, calling their commitment “one of the most generous acts in the history of our country.” The Dells will offer $250 to 25 million children 10 years old and younger to invest in accounts that the U.S. Department of Treasury will create next year. The ” Trump accounts ” were part of the administration’s tax and spending legislation passed in the summer.

A significant portion of charitable giving to nonprofits happens at the end of the calendar year and Giving Tuesday is an informal kick off to what nonprofits think of as the giving season. A combination of economic and political uncertainty has meant it is hard to predict how generous donors will be this year. Rosenbaum said that the generosity demonstrated on GivingTuesday is an extremely encouraging bellwether for how the rest of the giving season will go.

“What we really hope is that nonprofits and community groups see this as an opportunity that we are in a moment of abundance and that people are ready and willing to help,” Rosenbaum said.

December 3, 2025
A vocal Jeffrey Epstein accuser is urging judges to unseal his court records

NEW YORK — One of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell‘s most vocal accusers urged judges on Wednesday to grant the Justice Department’s request to unseal records from their federal sex trafficking cases, saying “only transparency is likely to lead to justice.”

Annie Farmer weighed in through her lawyer, Sigrid S. McCawley, after the judges asked for input from victims before ruling on whether the records should be made public under a new law requiring the government to open its files on the late financier and his longtime confidante, who sexually abused young women and girls for decades.

Farmer and other victims fought for the passage of the law, known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Signed last month by President Donald Trump, it compels the Justice Department, FBI and federal prosecutors to release by Dec. 19 the vast troves of material they’ve amassed during investigations into Epstein.

The Justice Department last week asked Manhattan federal Judges Richard Berman and Paul Engelmayer to lift secrecy orders on grand jury transcripts and other material from Epstein’s 2019 sex-trafficking case and a wide range of records from Maxwell’s 2021 case, including search warrants, financial records, and notes from interviews with victims.

“Nothing in these proceedings should stand in the way of their victory or provide a backdoor avenue to continue to cover up history’s most notorious sex-trafficking operation,” McCawley wrote in a letter to the judges.

The attorney was critical of the government for failing to prosecute anyone else in Epstein and Maxwell’s orbit. She asked the judges to ensure that any orders they issue do not preclude the Justice Department from releasing other Epstein-related materials.

Farmer “is wary of the possibility that any denial of the motions may be used by others as a pretext or excuse for continuing to withhold crucial information concerning Epstein’s crimes,” McCawley wrote.

Epstein, a millionaire money manager known for socializing with celebrities, politicians, billionaires, and the academic elite, killed himself in jail a month after his 2019 arrest.

Maxwell was convicted in 2021 by a federal jury of sex trafficking for helping recruit some of Epstein’s underage victims and participating in some of the abuse. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

In a court filing Wednesday, Maxwell’s lawyer again said that she is preparing a habeas petition in a bid to overturn her conviction. The lawyer, David Markus, first mentioned the habeas petition in court papers in August as she fought the Justice Department’s initial bid to have her case records unsealed. The Supreme Court in October declined to hear Maxwell’s appeal.

Markus said in Wednesday’s filing that while Maxwell now “does not take a position” in the wake of the transparency act’s passage, doing so “would create undue prejudice so severe that it would foreclose the possibility of a fair retrial” if her habeas petition succeeds.

The records, Markus said, “contain untested and unproven allegations.”

Engelmayer, who’s weighing whether to release records from Maxwell’s case, gave her and victims until Wednesday to respond to the Justice Department’s unsealing request. The government must respond to their filings by Dec. 10. The judge said he will rule “promptly thereafter.”

Berman, who presided over the Epstein case, ordered victims and Epstein’s estate to respond by Wednesday and gave the government until Dec. 8 to reply to those submissions. Berman said he would make his “best efforts to resolve this motion promptly.”

Lawyers for Epstein’s estate said in a letter to Berman on Wednesday that the estate takes no position on the Justice Department’s unsealing request. The lawyers noted that the government had committed to making appropriate redactions of personal identifying information for victims.

Last week, a lawyer for some victims complained that the House Oversight Committee had failed to redact, or black out, some of their names from tens of thousands pages of Epstein-related documents it has released in recent months.

Transparency “CANNOT come at the expense of the privacy, safety, and protection of sexual abuse and sex trafficking victims, especially these survivors who have already suffered repeatedly,” lawyer Brad Edwards wrote.

December 3, 2025
Doctor who sold ketamine to ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry gets 2 1/2 years in prison

LOS ANGELES — A doctor who pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks before the Friends star’s overdose death was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison on Wednesday.

Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence plus two years of probation to 44-year-old Dr. Salvador Plasencia in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles.

The judge emphasized that Plasencia didn’t provide the ketamine that killed Perry, but told him, “You and others helped Mr. Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction.”

“You exploited Mr. Perry’s addiction for your own profit,” she said.

Plasencia was led from the courtroom in handcuffs as his mother cried loudly in the audience. He might have arranged a date to surrender, but his lawyers said he was prepared to do it today.

Perry’s mother and two half sisters gave tearful victim impact statements before the sentencing.

“The world mourns my brother,” Madeleine Morrison said. “He was everyone’s favorite friend.”

“My brother’s death turned my world upside down,” Morrison said, crying. “It punched a crater in my life. His absence is everywhere.”

Plasencia was the first to be sentenced of the five defendants who have pleaded guilty in connection with Perry’s death at age 54 in 2023.

The doctor admitted to taking advantage of Perry, knowing he was a struggling addict. Plasencia texted another doctor that Perry was a “moron” who could be exploited for money, according to court filings.

Prosecutors had asked for three years in prison, while the defense sought just a day in prison plus probation.

Perry’s mother talked about the things he overcame in life and the strength he showed.

“I used to think he couldn’t die,” Suzanne Perry said as her husband, Dateline journalist Keith Morrison, stood at the podium with her.

“You called him a ‘moron,’” she said. “There is nothing moronic about that man. He was even a successful drug addict.”

She spoke eloquently and apologized for rambling before getting tearful at the end, saying, “this was a bad thing you did!” as she cried.

Plasencia also spoke before the sentencing, breaking into tears as he imagined the day he would have to tell his now 2-year-old son “about the time I didn’t protect another mother’s son. It hurts me so much. I can’t believe I’m here.”

He apologized directly to Perry’s family. “I should have protected him,” he said.

Perry had been taking the surgical anesthetic ketamine legally as a treatment for depression. But when his regular doctor wouldn’t provide it in the amounts he wanted, he turned to Plasencia, who admitted to illegally selling to Perry and knowing he was a struggling addict.

Plasencia’s lawyers tried to give a sympathetic portrait of him as a man who rose out of poverty to become a doctor beloved by his patients, some of whom provided testimonials about him for the court.

The attorneys called his selling to Perry “reckless” and “the biggest mistake of his life.”

Plasencia pleaded guilty in July to four counts of distribution of ketamine. Prosecutors agreed to drop five different counts. The agreement came with no sentencing guarantees, and legally Garnett can give him up to 40 years.

The other four defendants who reached deals to plead guilty will be sentenced at their own hearings in the coming months.

Perry died at age 54 in 2023 after struggling with addiction for years, dating back to his time on Friends, when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC’s megahit.

December 3, 2025