4 dead, 1 in critical condition after Illinois stabbing spree; suspect in custody, officials say

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(ROCKFORD, Ill.) — An adult male allegedly stabbed multiple victims in the Rockford, Illinois area on Wednesday, leaving four people dead, one in critical condition and four others in stable condition, authorities said in a press conference Wednesday.

Rockford police say the suspect is in custody and there is no known motive at this time.

“Words can’t even express my thoughts right now; this a pretty painstaking event,” the Rockford police chief said, adding, “This was a heinous crime.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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Fani Willis, responding to House Judiciary subpoena, vows to bring Trump's election case to trial

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(ATLANTA) — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis vowed to bring former President Donald Trump’s Georgia election interference case to trial in a letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, arguing that her office has fully complied with a congressional subpoena related to a federal funding probe.

“[N]othing that you do will derail the efforts of my staff and I to bring the election interference prosecution to trial so that a jury of Fulton County citizens can determine the guilt or innocence of the defendants,” Willis wrote in the letter, which was sent on Monday.

The GOP-led House Judiciary Committee in February issued a subpoena to Willis for documents related to her office’s use of federal funds intended to support at-risk youth, according to a copy of the subpoena obtained by ABC News.

Earlier this month, Jordan warned that if Willis’ office failed to turn over related documents by March 28, he would consider “taking further action, such as the invocation of contempt of Congress proceedings.”

In her letter responding to Jordan, Willis wrote “I categorically reject” the assertion that her office is deficient in complying with the subpoena.

Willis said that her office was turning over additional information but pushed back on the idea that all the requested materials could reasonably be turned over by the following day.

“That demand is unreasonable and uncustomary and would require this government office to divert resources from our primary purpose of prosecuting crime,” she said.

Willis added that her office plans to turn over an additional production of records in the coming weeks.

“Let me be clear, while we are abiding by your subpoena in good faith and with due diligence, we will not divert resources that undermine our duty to the people of Fulton County to prosecute felonies committed in this jurisdiction,” Willis said. “We will not shut down this office’s efforts to prosecute crime — including gang activity, acts of violence and public corruption — to meet unreasonable deadlines in your politically motivated ‘investigation’ of this office.”

“My family, my staff and I have been threatened repeatedly by people making violent, often racist, attacks,” she wrote. “Neither those threats, nor anything your colleagues and you say or do, will deter us from fulfilling our duty to bring this case to trial.”

“My family, my staff and I have been threatened repeatedly by people making violent, often racist, attacks,” she wrote. “Neither those threats, nor anything your colleagues and you say or do, will deter us from fulfilling our duty to bring this case to trial.”

Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty last August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Four defendants subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.

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What states could vote on abortion access, reproductive rights in November?

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(WASHINGTON) — Advocates in as many as 14 states hope to get measures related to reproductive rights and abortion access on the 2024 general election ballot during a presidential election year, and as abortion access remains a major flash point in the United States, including at the Supreme Court.

It’s not the first time abortion has been on the ballot. A ballot measure that supported abortion access passed in Ohio in 2023, while initiatives in Kansas and Kentucky saying the state constitutions don’t protect abortion were defeated, respectively, by voters in 2022. Observers have speculated that the issue of reproductive rights is galvanizing voters across the political spectrum.

Here’s a look at where reproductive rights might be on the ballot in November.

Where are initiatives confirmed on the ballot?

In two states, Maryland and New York, a measure that relates to reproductive rights is confirmed to be on the November ballot. Abortion is already broadly allowed in both states, and in New York until fetal viability, according to research by the Guttmacher Institute.

In Maryland, voters will decide on an act that would enshrine the right to get an abortion in the Maryland Constitution.

In New York, voters will see the Equal Rights Amendment constitutional amendment on the ballot, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of various characteristics, including “reproductive health care and autonomy,” according to the bill’s text.

Where are initiatives gathering signatures?

In Arizona, advocates are gathering signatures for the Arizona Abortion Access Act ballot initiative, which would amend the state’s constitution to prohibit the state from legislating against abortion up until fetal viability, and it would enshrine other abortion protections into law. Currently, according to the Guttmacher Institute, abortion is banned after 15 weeks in Arizona and under a variety of restrictions.

Arizona will also feature a high-profile Senate race on the ballot in November, likely between Republican candidate Kari Lake and Democratic candidate Rep. Ruben Gallego.

In Arkansas, groups are collecting signatures to get the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the ballot. The initiative would amend the state constitution to prohibit the government from banning abortion further than 18 weeks and includes exceptions for rape, incest and the mother’s health. Abortion is currently fully banned in Arkansas, with few exceptions.

In Colorado, where abortion is not restricted but where state Medicaid coverage for abortion is usually prohibited, dueling initiatives are currently gathering signatures.

The Right to Abortion initiative would “ensure the right to abortion” in the state constitution, according to the text of the initiative, while the Equal Protection of Every Living Child in Colorado initiative would add to state statutes language banning abortion fully in the state, framed around protecting children beginning at conception.

In Florida, the Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion is a ballot initiative that would amend the state’s constitution to prohibit the government from legislating about abortion “before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health,” according to the initiative.

In January, the petition surpassed the required number of signatures but is currently held up due to a challenge from Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, which the Florida Supreme Court is supposed to rule on by April 1.

In Missouri, the Right to Reproductive Freedom ballot initiative would enshrine the right to reproductive freedom relating to reproductive health care, according to the petition text. Abortion is currently fully banned in the state with few exceptions.

In Montana, which allows abortion until fetal viability, a proposed ballot initiative would affirm in the state’s constitution “the right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion” and would prohibit the government from “denying or burdening the right to abortion before fetal viability,” according to the group Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights.

Montanans voted down in 2022 a measure that would have restricted abortion access. In November 2024, the state will also have a high-profile Senate race on the ballot, likely between Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Tester and Republican candidate Tim Sheehy.

In Nebraska, the Protect the Right to Abortion initiative by the Protect Our Rights coalition would amend the state constitution to allow abortion up until fetal viability. Abortion is currently banned after 12 weeks in Nebraska.

Separate initiatives that would restrict abortion access or procedures have also been introduced in Nebraska, including a Protect Women and Children initiative that would ban most abortions after the first trimester. The initiative was launched in early March, according to Omaha ABC affiliate KETV. That initiative is not yet listed by the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office.

In Nevada, the Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom Political Action Committee is currently collecting signatures to put an initial vote to add a section enshrining the “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” into the state’s constitution. Under the proposed section, according to the petition’s text, the state would be allowed to legislate about abortion after fetal viability unless a health care provider says abortion is necessary. Abortion is currently banned after 24 weeks in Nevada.

If the initiative makes the ballot and passes in 2024, it would still need to pass another vote in 2026 to amend the state’s constitution.

In South Dakota, which almost fully bans abortion, a proposed constitutional amendment would guarantee abortion access to preserve the life and health of pregnant women, would prohibit an abortion ban before the end of the first trimester, and would allow the state to regulate abortion through the end of the second trimester, according to the proposed amendment. A ban would be allowed at the beginning of the third trimester under the proposed amendment.

Where are initiatives undergoing state legislative action?

In Maine and Pennsylvania, proposed constitutional amendments to enshrine reproductive rights are currently in progress in the respective state legislatures.

In Iowa and also in Pennsylvania, amendments that would say there is no constitutional right to abortion in those states are in progress in those respective legislatures, as well.

The initiatives in those respective states need to go through various votes by the state legislatures before they can potentially be on the general election ballot.

ABC News’ Libby Cathey, Hannah Demissie, Nicholas Kerr, Kendall Ross, and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.

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Baltimore's Key Bridge may have lacked collision protective measures for modern cargo ships: Experts

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(BALTIMORE) — In the wake of the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, engineering and infrastructure policy experts explained the critical need for bridge reform in the United States and an international standard for large cargo ships.

The Key Bridge partially collapsed early Tuesday morning after a massive cargo ship collided with one of the bridge’s support columns, sending vehicles into the Patapsco River below and leaving six people unaccounted for, according to officials.

The investigation into the cause of both the collision and the bridge collapse is ongoing, officials said.

Rick Geddes, infrastructure policy expert and director of the Cornell University Infrastructure Policy Program, weighed in on the infrastructure and safety of the Key Bridge.

“This disaster reveals how exposed America’s critical infrastructure is to sudden and devastating accidents as well as intentional destruction,” Geddes said in a statement to ABC News. “I think the bridge was not designed to take the force and the mass of an enormous cargo ship directly hitting one of the pylons,” Geddes said in an interview with ABC News.

Pylons, or piers, are the critical load-bearing components of cable-supported bridges, such as Baltimore’s Key Bridge, a 1.6-mile-long, continuous truss-style bridge, according to Geddes.

Modern protective measures for bridge piers include adding “fenders,” which are protection systems designed to protect the bridge from vessels transiting under or in the vicinity of the bridge, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Fenders on modern bridges include “dolphins,” which are large circular walls filled with material such as sand or concrete and “artificial islands,” armored artificial islands around the piers made of a sand core that is protected against wave and current action by armored slope protection, according to the Coast Guard.

However, it is not yet known whether or not the Baltimore Key Bridge had fenders at the time of the crash.

The Maryland Transportation Authority did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for a comment.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also weighed in on the bridge’s ability to withstand a massive cargo ship collision Wednesday, “What we do know is a bridge like this one completed in the 1970s was simply not made to withstand a direct impact on a critical support pier from a vessel that weighs about 200 million pounds,” he said during a press briefing.

“Right now, I think there’s a lot of debate taking place in the engineering community about whether or not any of those features could have had any role in a situation like this,” Buttigieg added.

The 984-feet-long and 157-feet-wide cargo ship — operated by Synergy Marine Group and named Dali — was moving at a speed of 8 knots, or about 9 mph, when it struck the bridge, according to officials.

“So it’s a tremendous force, that the bridge would have to be designed to absorb,” Geddes said, adding, “It clearly was not designed to take that.”

Construction of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge began in 1972 and finished in March 1977, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA).

Maria Lehman, former president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, told ABC News that older bridges are not designed with the post Panama Canal expansion ship allowances in mind.

In 2016, the Panama Canal expansion project constructed pathways — on both the Atlantic and Pacific ends of the canal — that are 70 feet wider and 18 feet deeper, to accommodate larger cargo ships.

Lehman said because Baltimore’s Key Bridge was created with smaller cargo ships in mind, it was “inadequate for what we see with ships today.”

“Pier protection on long-span bridges that have been built within the last decade are in line with what you’re gonna need based on how heavy these new ships are,” Lehman said.

Lehman said the news of the Key Bridge collapse Tuesday reminded her of the 1980 Sunshine Skyway Bridge collapse in Tampa, Florida, which she said was a “very similar” bridge and spurred a “base standard for pier protection” in the United States.

In May 1980, the M/V Summit Venture freighter struck a support beam on the Skyway Bridge causing a major collapse that left 35 people dead. The now 44-year-old tragedy spurred changes to the engineering of bridges that have been built since, according to Lehman.

Three years after the Skyway Bridge incident, the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration released a technical advisory titled “Pier Protection and Warning Systems for Bridges Subject to Ship Collisions”

In the 1983 advisory, the agency noted, “It may be extremely difficult to retrofit some existing bridge piers with protective systems. For this reason, it becomes particularly important to recognize the potential hazards from ship collisions and to locate and design piers on new bridges in such a way that the risks of collision are reduced to an acceptable level.”

Baltimore’s Key Bridge was constructed in 1977 and did not have the protected pier measures that bridges built in the decades since this advisory.

“Unless you’re doing a major retrofit of any piece of infrastructure, you don’t have to bring it up to code,” Lehman said, adding that the Key Bridge collapse is a “wake-up” call for better bridge infrastructure and reform.

“I think just like Sunshine Skyway was a wake-up call, I think this is the next wake-up call,” Lehman said, adding, “We’re going to have to take a look closely at the results of what happened, and then work on the plan. So it never happens again.”

In June 2023, Delaware River and Bay Authority (DRBA) officials announced the construction of the Delaware Memorial Bridge Protection System.

“Our goal is to take preemptive measures to prevent a commercial vessel from striking one of the bridge towers, which could cause significant damage to the bridge infrastructure and disruptions to interstate travel,” Thomas J. Cook, executive director of the DRBA said in a press release.

The cost of the project is nearly $93 million, according to the release.

Rick Geddes hopes the devastation from the Key Bridge collapse will spur great reform in America’s bridge infrastructure safety.

“The real possibility of a massive container ship of this size, running into a bridge pylon, and causing the bridge collapse is no longer theoretical,” Geddes said. “I think a renewed effort to inspect and assess the state of a whole bunch of U.S. bridges will be the result of this accident.”

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Music notes: Mariah Carey, Zayn Malik and more

Mariah Carey is celebrating her 55th birthday — or, anniversary, as she calls it — in a new photo posted to Instagram. “Anniversary adventures commence,” Mariah captioned the photo of her smiling while relaxing on a boat. Friends Jennifer Hudson and Paris Hilton sent Mariah well wishes on her special day. “Happy anniversary, @mariahcarey! ‘Anytime you need a friend, I will be here!!! Love u!!!” Jennifer wrote on her IG Story, while Paris wrote, “Happy Birthday to an absolute icon @MariahCarey.” 

Shawn Mendes is teasing something new in the works. In an Instagram post shared Wednesday, Shawn posted a Polaroid picture of himself on top of a sound board in a recording studio. “nobody knows,” he captioned the post. This comes after a post he made on March 7, where he confirmed he’s “been working on a new album.” 

Zayn Malik says his daughter, Khai, already shares his musical talent. “Khai has a lot of natural ability herself already,” Zayn told L’Officiel magazine. “I know, it sounds ridiculous because she’s three, but her retention for language, especially when it’s formatted in a musical sense to her, has been amazing.” He also says she remembers every lyric of every song she likes. “She remembers chord progressions and notes. She can do runs that have, like, three, four notes already. I look forward to seeing what she’s going to be capable of doing as she gets older,” Zayn said.

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Man sentenced to 11 months in prison for voicemail threats to Nancy Pelosi, Alejandro Mayorkas: DOJ

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(WASHINGTON) — A California man was sentenced to 11 months in prison for making threatening calls to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

David Carrier, 44, of Concord, had pleaded guilty to two counts of making threats against public officials in December 2023.

Federal prosecutors had only sought a sentence of four years of probation for Carrier, noting he quickly accepted guilt and acknowledged his “lapse of judgment” in making the threats, according to a sentencing memorandum filed last week.

The judge overseeing his case ultimately disagreed. In addition to the 11-month prison sentence, Judge William Alsup ordered Carrier to three years of probation as well as requiring him to seek mental and substance abuse treatment upon his release during a sentencing hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors said.

Carrier left a voicemail with Pelosi’s San Francisco office on Jan. 21, 2021, the day after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, according to federal prosecutors.

“You better resign, you piece of f—— s—,” Carrier said in his voicemail to Pelosi’s office, according to the sentencing memorandum. “Cause we got a bullet and a rope with your f—— name on it. We’re gonna f—— get you b—-.”

An intern who initially heard the message perceived it as a threat and forwarded it to her bosses, who subsequently forwarded the voicemail to law enforcement for investigation, according to prosecutors.

More than a year later, he made threatening calls to Mayorkas, prosecutors said. According to the sentencing memorandum, on June 30, 2022, he told an operator with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General to relay the following message: “If [Mayorkas] does not close the border someone is going to be shot. And it will be illegal immigrants.”

Later that day, he left a voicemail with the DHS general hotline stating, according to the sentencing memorandum, “Tell that f— Mayorkas to close the border before we citizens start killing those f—— illegal immigrants or we come looking for him and feed him to the dogs.”

The voicemail message was perceived as a threat and forwarded to law enforcement for investigation, prosecutors said.

“Participating in the public political conversation is an important right for all citizens. Nevertheless, threatening our public servants is not protected by the First Amendment and corrodes our ability to engage in peaceful and important public discourse,” U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey, whose office prosecuted the case, said in a statement. “This Office will not tolerate behavior that crosses the line to criminal threats.”

ABC News has reached out to Carrier’s attorney for comment on the sentencing.

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Nicole Kidman thanks Olivia Rodrigo for helping her score points with her kids

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Even if your mom is an Oscar-winning actress and your dad’s a Grammy-winning country star, sometimes it takes a pop girlie to impress you. That’s what Nicole Kidman found out when it came to her daughters and Olivia Rodrigo.

Olivia posted a TikTok of her walking around the Bell Centre in Montreal ahead of her concert there on March 27. As she sat in the stands and walked in the aisles of the empty arena, she lip-synced to one of Kidman’s much-memed ads for AMC Theaters, which features the Australian actress saying things like, “We come to this place for magic.”

In fact, Olivia wore a tank top with that very line during the video.

A delighted Kidman posted a screenshot of the video on her own Instagram Story and captioned it, “You just won me some major points with my girls! Adore you, @oliviarodrigo xx.”

Kidman and her husband, Keith Urban, share daughters Sunday, 16, and Faith, 13.

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Why is Trump’s Truth Social stock soaring if the company is losing money?

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(NEW YORK) — Shares of former President Donald Trump’s social media platform Truth Social have soared in its first couple days of public trading.

Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, climbed 16% on Tuesday, its first day on the market. By afternoon trading on Wednesday, the stock had jumped another 14%.

The rally grants Truth Social a valuation of more than $8 billion, even though the company has yet to turn a profit and generates quarterly revenue of barely $1 million.

The stock performance also holds significant financial implications for Trump, whose 60% stake in the company could ultimately deliver a multi-billion dollar windfall.

Experts who spoke to ABC News said the stock boom stands divorced from the financial condition of the company, instead reflecting a buying spree among Trump supporters as well as opportunistic traders capitalizing on the momentum.

“This is people voicing their political opinions through the markets,” Tom Essaye, president of financial data firm Sevens Report Research, told ABC News. “There’s nothing going on here that has anything to do with the financial fundamentals.”

A representative for Truth Social did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment. “Truth Social is doing very well. It’s hot as a pistol and doing great,” Trump told reporters in New York on Monday.

Analysts drew parallels to the emergence in recent years of so-called meme stocks such as GameStop and AMC.

In 2021, the price of GameStop climbed nearly 700%, driven in part by traders discussing the company on a Reddit chatroom called Wall Street Bets. The rally did not coincide with a major strategy shift or executive shakeup for the ailing chain of video game stores.

The success of Truth Social similarly reflects an upswell of sentiment rather than a demonstration of company performance, Kristi Marvin, chief executive of SPACInsider.com, told ABC News.

“This has all the DNA of a meme stock,” Marvin added.

Truth Social, listed as DJT, remains far smaller and less financially robust than its rivals in the crowded social media sector.

Research firm SimilarWeb estimates the company drew 5 million website visitors in February, which puts it well below the roughly 2 billion monthly active users reported by Instagram. TikTok boasts at least 1 billion monthly active users, the company said in 2021.

Truth Social generated roughly $3 million over the first 9 months of 2023, government filings show. Meanwhile, the company reported $49 million in net losses over that period. By comparison, Instagram-parent Meta delivered nearly $135 billion in revenue last year, company earnings showed.

“This is a tough business to become profitable in,” Marvin said.

The stock rally arrives as Trump weathers financial challenges. A New York appeals court said on Monday that Trump must secure a $175 million bond, albeit a smaller figure than the $454 million he was asked to provide by a lower court.

Trump can’t sell or leverage his stake in Truth Social for at least six months due to a lockup provision intended to prevent a rapid selloff that could shake investor confidence, but the company has already bolstered Trump’s net worth.

On the heels of Friday’s merger vote, Trump joined the Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the first time with a reported net worth of $6.5 billion. On Wednesday, it ticked up to more than $7 billion.

Essaye, of Sevens Report Research, cautioned that the price of Truth Social would ultimately fall, when the company’s financial reality overtakes Trump supporters’ fervor.

“At some point, this will return back to earth. The financial reality always wins,” Essaye said. “When? That is very hard to say.”

However, the company still retains a possible avenue for financial success, he added.

Truth Social faces steep odds in the social media business, but the company may function as a vehicle for additional Trump-led media ventures.

“If you think about DJT as a way to buy equity in Donald Trump’s brand, then I would never say it can’t work out,” Essaye added. “He’s very good at promoting his brand.”

ABC News’ Peter Charalambous contributed reporting.

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Democrats sound alarm on RFK Jr. and new running mate, Shanahan

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(WASHINGTON) — Democrats are leaving no room for doubt on how they view former party colleague turned independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his freshly minted vice presidential pick, deep-pocketed lawyer Nicole Shanahan: the pair are a danger to voters and present as a “spoiler” ticket, destined to siphon votes from President Joe Biden and deliver the White House to former President Donald Trump.

In a Democratic National Committee press call on Tuesday night, several party surrogates called Kennedy’s presidential bid “disgusting” and a ploy to reelect Trump.

“All he can do is take away votes from President Biden and make it easier for Donald Trump to win. And we simply can’t afford to let that happen,” said Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis.

Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow said the Kennedy ticket is “disgusting and an abuse of our democracy.”

“There is absolutely no path for Kennedy to become president and he knows that,” McMurrow said. “That is why he picked a VP who can fund — who can buy his way onto the ballot in a number of state,” McMurrow said. “First of all, that’s disgusting and an abuse of our democracy. Second, that means that him being in the race means that there is a greater likelihood that Donald Trump will become president again.”

Kennedy is working to gain access to each state’s ballot, a painstaking and expensive process that requires dispatching volunteers to gather thousands of signatures. Initial news of Kennedy’s consideration of Shanahan as his running mate prompted speculation that he simply wanted to tap her financial resources to help him cover the high cost of ballot access in each state.

Shanahan, who has donated millions of dollars to a pro-Kennedy Super PAC, partly bankrolled half of the $7 million used to create an ad that ran during this year’s Super Bowl and displeased several members of Kennedy’s extended family for its riffing on a John F. Kennedy Jr. campaign ad.

Several high-profile Democrats on the call pointed to praise of Kennedy’s ticket from Republican hard-liners as justifications to their concerns — one of the freshest examples as recent Wednesday morning, with Trump himself saying on his social media platform that Kennedy’s candidacy is “great for MAGA.”

“I love that he is running!” Trump wrote.

The DNC has sharpened its messaging significantly, assembling a team to combat third-party and independent challengers led by veteran strategist and firebrand Lis Smith — with much of that ammo pointed directly at Kennedy, and now, Shanahan.

This tactic to combat Kennedy and other potential challenges by the official arm of the Democratic party is a marked change from past cycles, when concerns about third-party challengers such as Green Party’s Jill Stein and Libertarian Gary Johnson were met with much less public consternation.

The DNC also tapped Smith’s former deputy, Matt Corridoni, to be the spokesperson for the effort to thwart third-party and independent challengers.

“We’re facing an unprecedented election and we know the GOP is already working to prop up third-party candidates like Robert Kennedy Jr. to make them stalking horses for Donald Trump,” Corridoni said in a statement to ABC News earlier this month. “With so much on the line, we’re not taking anything for granted. We’re going to make sure voters are educated and we’re going to make sure all candidates are playing by the rules.”

ABC News’ Will McDuffie contributed to this story.

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There's a long road ahead to cleaning up Baltimore's Key Bridge collapse: Not 'quick or easy or cheap'

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(WASHINGTON) — In the wake of the Francis Scott Key Bridge’s partial collapse in Baltimore on Tuesday, “Rebuilding will not be quick or easy or cheap,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said.

“But we will get it done,” he told reporters at a White House press briefing on Wednesday.

Buttigieg reiterated the federal government’s support for recovery, cleanup and construction efforts in the months — and perhaps years — to come but also acknowledged there will be logistic obstacles.

“It’s not going to be simple,” the transportation secretary said.

The original bridge took some five years to complete, he noted.

“That does not necessarily mean it will take five years to replace, but that tells you what went into that original structure going up,” he said, adding, “We need to get a sense of the conditions, of the parts that look OK to the naked eye, but we just don’t know yet, especially in terms of their foundational infrastructure.”

“This will be a long and difficult path,” he said, “but we will come together and rebuild.”

Buttigieg said that he didn’t yet have a precise price tag for the rebuild but stressed that there are ways for the federal government to begin providing emergency funding right away to aid the recovery.

“We don’t have dollar estimates yet, but we actually have provisions that allow us to begin releasing funding even while that is being determined,” he said. “My understanding is as we speak this afternoon, an emergency relief funding request has come in from the Maryland state [transportation department]. We’ll be processing that immediately to start getting them what they need.”

Buttigieg said that he expects the White House will need lawmakers to authorize additional money beyond the approximately $1 billion allocated by the 2021 infrastructure law for potential emergency relief.

“It is certainly possible — I would go so far as to say likely — that we may be turning to Congress in order to help top up those funds,” he said, “but that shouldn’t be a barrier to the immediate next few days beginning to get the ball rolling.”

A cargo ship crashed into the bridge early on Tuesday, causing a near-total collapse of the span and halting vessel traffic into and out of the Port of Baltimore.

Buttigieg said at Wednesday’s briefing that he’s concerned about the local economic impact of the port’s ongoing closure.

“No matter how quickly the channel can be reopened, we know that it can’t happen overnight, and so we’re going to have to manage the impacts in the meantime,” he said. “We’re working to mitigate some of those impacts.”

He said he’ll be meeting Thursday with shippers and other supply chain partners to “understand their needs” during this disruption.

“That said, the Port of Baltimore is an important port, so for our supply chains and for all the workers who depend on it for their income, we’re going to help to get it open as soon as safely possible,” he added.

President Joe Biden has likewise pledged his administration’s muscle to the rebuilding efforts, saying in remarks from the White House on Tuesday afternoon that “it’s my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstruction in that bridge. I expect the Congress to support my effort.”

“This is going to take some time,” the president said then. Nonetheless: “We’re not leaving until this job gets done.”

The crash appeared to be accidental, not intentional, officials have said.

Two people were rescued from the Patapsco River and at least six people remain missing, according to officials. The search-and-rescue mission for the missing construction workers was suspended Tuesday evening; operations then shifted to a recovery phase.

ABC News’ Sam Sweeney contributed to this report.

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Win Brooke’s Bucks (03/27/24)

Have a knack for trivia? Well, so does Brooke… Try to answer as many questions right as you can in 30 seconds. If you answer more correctly than Brooke, you win 100 bucks! Good luck!

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RNC won't pay Trump's legal bills, daughter-in-law Lara says, insisting 2020 election is 'in the past'

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(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, recently elected Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump, said in a new interview that the national party doesn’t plan to pay his ongoing legal bills and maintained that donors could opt-out of contributing funds for that if they want to.

Lara Trump also differed with her father-in-law on the importance of early and mail voting while insisting that Republicans are moving past 2020 election — though, like Donald Trump, she continued to raise doubts about the results without offering any evidence of widespread fraud.

Appearing on NBC News on Wednesday, Lara Trump discussed a new joint fundraising committee linking the party and the Trump campaign.

The fine print on how that new joint committee is arranged suggests a priority is funneling money into the Trump campaign as well as a political action committee, Save America, that has paid a significant portion of Donald Trump’s ongoing legal bills. One upcoming fundraiser for the new joint committee shows that Save America is ahead of groups like the RNC and 40 state party committees when it comes to the order for how donations are disbursed.

Lara Trump said on NBC, however, that donors don’t have to give money that way.

“Anyone who does not want to contribute to that very small amount of money is able to opt out of that … [If you] don’t want that specific amount to go to Donald Trump’s legal bills, then you are very — you can very easily opt out of that,” she said.

She was referencing how the Trump campaign and the RNC are now raising money together through the joint fundraising committee — where a small part of that money goes to Trump’s Save America leadership PAC, which is able to pay the former president’s legal bills. But donors could also choose to donate directly to the RNC or to a different fundraising vehicle that doesn’t include Save America, according to an RNC spokesperson.

Though legal bills make up nearly 80% of Save America’s total expenditures so far this year, according to financial filings, a Trump spokesman said in a statement that Save America also “covers a very active and robust post-Presidency office and other various expenses.”

Lara Trump said on NBC that the RNC “does not support paying his legal bills, no.” A previous effort to pass a formal resolution preventing that failed within the party, however.

Having said before becoming co-chair that “every penny” of the party’s funds should be prioritized toward Donald Trump’s reelection, Lara Trump has since modified that stance. On Wednesday, she appeared to take an expanded view of the party’s responsibilities, noting that they’d also prioritize down-ballot races: “I will ensure that every penny of every dollar is going to causes that Republican voters care about.”

Views on 2020 election

Lara Trump again voiced support for early voting and vote-by-mail efforts.

Donald Trump has occasionally spoken positively on in-person early voting, especially during the South Carolina primary last month when he repeatedly told his supporters at campaign rallies to go vote as early voting was underway.

Mail-in voting, however, is something he continues to publicly rail against, baselessly suggesting they allow illegitimate ballots.

“Anytime the mail is involved, you’re going to have cheating,” Donald Trump falsely claimed during an interview with GB News’ Nigel Farage last week.

However, Lara Trump claimed on NBC that the former president would change his tune due to what she called the election security initiatives that the RNC is working on.

“We have to start encouraging Republican voters to do things like voting early, trust mail-in voting. These are ways that we actually can have a big lead as we head into Election Day,” she said. “And these are things that traditionally Republicans have sort of shied away from. You look at things like legal ballot harvesting — we’ve never embraced that as a party. We’re embracing it this election cycle.”

Of her father-in-law, she said, “I actually think if you talk to him right now, you will see that he is very much embracing early voting.”

And though she claimed that “we’re past that” when talking about the 2020 election, which Donald Trump continues to falsely claim was marred by fraud, Lara Trump also pushed unfounded claims about the security of that race.

“I think that’s in the past. We learned a lot. Certainly we took a lot of notes,” she initially said on NBC, referring to 2020.

When asked how Republican voters would trust the results of the 2024 election if Donald Trump loses and continues to doubt the results, she added, “I think that we’re putting a lot of things in play right now at the RNC that are going to ensure that people have more trust.”

She contrasted that with 2020, alleging that “there were so many issues in that election,” drawing pushback from NBC about the multiple audits and lawsuits that ultimately found that the results of the election were legitimate.

Numerous local elections officials, from both political parties, certified the 2020 election results across the country and found there wasn’t widespread fraud. No major legal challenge to the election was successful either.

ABC News has confirmed the RNC has been asking those seeking employment within the organization if they believe the 2020 election was stolen, according to a source familiar with the matter.

As first reported by The Washington Post, over the past few weeks, advisers to former President Trump have asked current and potential RNC staffers about their views on the 2020 presidential election — serving as an apparent litmus test for hiring.

In a statement, RNC spokesperson Danielle Alvarez told ABC News: “Potential staffers who worked on the front line in battleground states or are currently in states where fraud allegations have been prevalent were asked about their work experience. We want experienced staff with meaningful views on how elections are won and lost and real experience-based opinions about what happens in the trenches.”

‘The reason that I’m here’

In her NBC interview, Lara Trump also seemed to split with the former president on abortion, though she claimed they were on the same page. She said that he “agrees with allowing the states to decide,” though he has not publicly taken a position on backing a nationwide ban, as some Republicans have proposed.

He has said the issue is “probably better” to leave to the states. In private, he has expressed support for a 16-week national abortion ban with exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother, ABC News reported in February, citing two sources.

At the time, the Trump campaign did not deny the reporting but issued a statement that said he would work to find middle ground on abortion.

Lara Trump on NBC on Wednesday also dismissed criticisms of nepotism in her new role.

“I think the reason that I’m here is to assure people who ever had any question as to how their money is being spent — can they trust the RNC? Can they donate to this entity?” she said. “Trust me, I am the daughter-in-law of Donald Trump.”

ABC News’ Hannah Demissie, Katherine Faulders and Rachel Scott contributed to this report.

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After HBCU administrator's suicide, alumni have 'no confidence' in leadership

Lincoln University

(OXFORD, Pa.) — Lincoln University’s alumni association has issued a statement of “no confidence” in the HBCU’s Board of Curators after it reinstated President John Moseley, who was on paid, administrative leave while under investigation following the suicide of a school administrator.

University alum and vice president of student affairs Antoinette “Bonnie” Candia-Bailey died by suicide on Jan. 8. Candia-Bailey had accused Moseley of bullying, harassment and discrimination in a letter obtained by ABC News following her death. She was terminated shortly before her death.

“This decision implodes the very fabric of healing an institution’s dire need for recovery and wellness,” the statement from the Lincoln University Alumni Association (LUAA) reads. “This decision will continue to fester an open wound of hopelessness and despondency. No individual is above the health and well-being of the University.”

An investigation — led by attorney Ron Norwood at Lewis Rice LLC, who is a member of the governing board and was the past board president of an HBCU — found “no claims of bullying by the University President can be substantiated” and reinstated Moseley to the position.

“No witnesses reported that they had ever witnessed President Moseley engage in bullying – and all denied having ever personally felt bullied by President Moseley,” the investigation summary from the Board of Curators read.

According to the Associated Press, the Board admitted that Moseley’s communication style is “direct” and that stress under his leadership has increased office tensions but they’re working to address these issues.

The Board of Curators also called the administrator’s death “tragic,” but did not comment further on the circumstances of her death.

“As a board, we are committed to make certain the mental health of Lincoln University employees is a priority and that every employee is always treated with dignity and respect,” said Board of Curators President Victor Pasley.

Some students and alumni have protested the decision to reinstate the president and are calling for a separate investigation.

The LUAA is also calling for the Board of Curators to vacate their seats, claiming they have “brought forward irrevocable harm, shame, hopelessness and mortification” to the campus.

The Board has not yet returned ABC News’ request for comment on the statement of no confidence.

ABC News has reached out to Moseley for comment as well. He told the AP that “he’s grateful for the board’s vote of confidence in him and that he’s looking forward to returning to work at the mid-Missouri school.”

“We were given a president with minimal athletic leadership abilities, and placed in a role requiring even stronger critical thinking skills,” read the letter from the alumni association. “For the Board of Curators to reassert this flawed decision and to act without change in this administration is further evidence of their inadequacies to care for and protect the interest of the University’s mission, and its sovereignty as a [HBCU].”

Moseley has a doctorate in educational leadership and policy analysis, according to a university website profile. He was previously the director of athletics at the university and the head men’s basketball coach before taking over the position as president, according to Moseley’s LinkedIn profile. Previously, he was associate head coach at North Carolina Central University, another HBCU, according to the profile.

Candia-Bailey, 49, had previously worked as vice president of student affairs and chief diversity officer and Title IX coordinator at Elms College in Chicopee, Massachusetts, according to Lincoln University’s announcement of Candia-Bailey’s hiring. She also served in administrative positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Towson University, North Carolina A&T State University and North Carolina State University.

Candia-Bailey began working at Lincoln University, a historically Black university in Jefferson City, Missouri, in May 2023. She received a termination letter on Jan. 3. The letter stated that she was terminated for cause, including allegations of insubordination in allowing an ineligible student to work, allowing ineligible students to obtain a discounted housing rate and failing to adhere to confidentiality requirements in a grievance matter filed by two of her subordinates.

In a letter to Moseley, Candia-Bailey detailed an apparent meeting between the two: “I couldn’t even finish the meeting because you didn’t hear me. I left in tears. You intentionally harassed and bullied me and got satisfaction from sitting back to determine how you would ensure I failed as an employee and proud alumna.”

Candia-Bailey also alleged in the letter that she was never made aware of concerns about her performance until a November 2023 performance review and was never given an action plan to address the concerns afterward.

In the board statement on the investigation, Pasley added, “this tragedy has forced us to grapple more fully with issues facing Lincoln and our individual students and employees – ranging from mental health support to employee work and relationships.”

If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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Steven Spielberg puts 'Dune' franchise director up with filmmaking's greats

Monica Schipper/Getty Images

In the latest installment of the Director’s Guild of America’s Director’s Cut podcast, Steven Spielberg put Dune franchise director Denis Villeneuve up with some of the most famous filmmakers of all time.

Spielberg called it “an honor” to sit and talk with the director and showed that by immediately heaping historic praise on him. “Let me start by saying there are filmmakers who are the builders of worlds. It’s not a long list and we know who a lot of them are. Starting with [Georges] Méliès and [Walt] Disney and [Stanley] Kubrick, George Lucas,” Spielberg began.

He continued, “Ray Harryhausen I include in that list. [Federico] Fellini built his own worlds. Tim Burton. Obviously, Wes Anderson, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Guillermo del Toro. The list goes on but it’s not that long of a list, and I deeply, fervently believe that you are one of its newest members.”

Oscar winner Spielberg, who knows a little something about the genre, with the classics E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, went on to call the second Dune “one of the most brilliant science fiction films I’ve ever seen.”

He also called the scene with Timothée Chalamet‘s Paul Atreides riding a massive sandworm in the sequel “one of the greatest things I have ever seen. Ever!”

Later in the conversation, Spielberg asked Villeneuve if he could see any of his Dune cast members directing one day. Denis immediately answered that the “brilliant” Zendaya was “always listening” behind the camera and said he “would not be surprised” if she becomes a director.

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