Key events that led to the grand jury vote to indict Donald Trump

• March 31, 2023

The investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office into Donald Trump’s hush-money payments to a porn star, which led to the vote to indict the former president, has spanned nearly five years.

Here are some key moments:

Aug. 21, 2018

Michael Cohen says he arranged hush-money payments for the president, and the investigation begins.

Cohen, previously a personal lawyer and fixer for Trump, pleaded guilty to federal crimes and told a court that Trump had directed him to arrange hush-money payments to two women. The payments were made during the 2016 campaign to keep the women from speaking publicly about affairs they said they had conducted with Trump.

Soon after Cohen’s admission, the Manhattan district attorney’s office opened an investigation to examine if the payments broke New York state laws. The office soon paused the inquiry at the request of federal prosecutors, who were still looking into the same conduct.

August 2019

The district attorney’s office subpoenas the Trump Organization.

After federal prosecutors said they had “effectively concluded” their investigation, Cyrus Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney at the time, revived his own inquiry. Late in the month, prosecutors in his office issued a subpoena to the Trump Organization and another subpoena to Trump’s accounting firm, demanding eight years of Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns.

Sept. 19, 2019

Trump’s lawyers sue to protect his tax returns.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, argued that a sitting president cannot be criminally investigated. It led to a lengthy delay.

July 9, 2020

Vance wins his first key victory at the U.S. Supreme Court.

After appellate judges ruled against Trump, the lawsuit found its way to the Supreme Court, where the justices ruled that the presidency did not shield Trump from criminal inquiries and that he had no absolute right to block the release of his tax returns.

The ruling left Trump with the opportunity to raise different objections to Vance’s subpoena.

Fall of 2020

The investigation intensifies.

Prosecutors interviewed employees of the main bank and insurance company that serve Trump and issued several new subpoenas.

The district attorney’s office also signaled in another court filing that it had grounds to investigate the president for tax fraud.

Feb. 22, 2021

The Supreme Court denies Trump’s final bid to block the release of his returns.

The brief unsigned order was a decisive defeat for Trump and a turning point in Vance’s investigation.

Just hours later, eight years of financial records were handed over to Vance’s office.

March 1, 2021

The investigation’s focus turns to a top executive.

In the spring, Vance’s prosecutors set their sights on Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s long-serving chief financial officer, whom they hoped to pressure into cooperating with their investigation.

The prosecutors were particularly interested in whether the Trump Organization handed out valuable benefits to Weisselberg as a form of untaxed compensation.

July 1, 2021

The Trump Organization is charged with running a 15-year tax scheme.

When Weisselberg refused to testify against his boss, prosecutors announced charges against him and Trump’s company, saying that the company helped its executives evade taxes by compensating them with benefits such as free cars and apartments that were hidden from the authorities.

Jan. 1, 2022

A new Manhattan district attorney takes office.

Vance left office, and his successor, Alvin Bragg, took over the case. Both are Democrats.

Bragg, a former federal prosecutor, retained two of the investigation’s leaders, Mark Pomerantz, an experienced former federal prosecutor and white-collar defense lawyer, and Carey Dunne, Vance’s general counsel.

Feb. 23, 2022

Two prosecutors resign, leaving the investigation’s future in doubt.

After Bragg expressed reservations about the case, Pomerantz and Dunne suspended the presentation of evidence about Trump to a grand jury. A month later, they resigned, prompting a public uproar over Bragg’s decision not to proceed with an indictment.

In his resignation letter, which was later obtained by The New York Times, Pomerantz said Trump had been guilty of numerous felonies.

Aug. 18

Bragg’s investigation continues.

After staying mostly silent through weeks of criticism, the district attorney publicly discussed his office’s investigation of Trump for the first time. His fundamental message: The inquiry would continue.

Aug. 18

Weisselberg pleads guilty and agrees to testify against the Trump Organization.

Although the chief financial officer declined to turn on Trump himself, he agreed to testify at the October trial against the company that he had served for nearly a half-century.

Late summer

The prosecutors turn back to hush money.

After several months, Bragg’s prosecutors returned to the long-running investigation’s original focus: a hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels, the porn star, who said she had a sexual relationship with Trump.

Dec. 24

The Trump Organization is convicted, securing a significant victory for the district attorney.

Bragg’s prosecutors won a conviction of Trump’s family business, convincing a jury that the company was guilty of tax fraud and other crimes.

January

The district attorney impanels a new grand jury.

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The grand jury met throughout the next three months and heard testimony about the hush-money payment from at least nine witnesses.

Midwinter

Prosecutors signal that an indictment is likely, offering Trump a chance to testify before the grand jury.

Such offers almost always indicate an indictment is close; it would be unusual to notify a potential defendant without ultimately seeking charges against him.

March 18

Trump predicts his arrest and calls for protests.

Without any direct knowledge, the former president posted on his Truth Social account that he would be arrested three days later and sought to rally supporters to his side. His prediction was soon walked back, and he was not arrested at that time.

Thursday

Grand jury votes to indict Trump.

The charges, which are still unknown, will be the first against any U.S. president.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

​ Orange County Register 

Donald Trump’s legal worries extend far beyond charges in New York

• March 31, 2023

The hush money case in New York that has led to criminal charges against Donald Trump is just one of a number of investigations that could pose legal problems for the former president.

Joe Tacopina, a lawyer for Trump, confirmed Thursday that he had been informed that the former president had been indicted on charges involving payments made during the 2016 campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter. The specific charges were not immediately made public.

Related: Trump indicted; 1st ex-president charged with crime

Trump faces a string of other inquiries as he campaigns for another term in 2024, including a criminal investigation over top secret documents found at his Florida estate, a probe in Washington into his efforts to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election, and an investigation in Georgia looking into whether he and his allies illegally interfered in the state’s 2020 election.

Trump, a Republican, has denied any wrongdoing and says he is being targeted by Democrats trying to keep him from reclaiming the White House.

Here’s a look at the probes underway in various states and venues:

MAR-A-LAGO

Of all the inquiries Trump faces, a Justice Department probe into the retention of top secret government documents at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, could present the most significant legal jeopardy, with investigators saying in court filings last year that they were examining potential violations of multiple felony statutes.

As part of that inquiry, agents and prosecutors have spent months interviewing multiple people close to Trump, including an aide who was seen on surveillance video moving boxes of documents at the property, as they examine whether Trump or his representatives sought to obstruct the classified documents probe.

Federal officials obtained a search warrant last year to search his home, convincing a Florida judge there was probable cause of criminal activity there, including the willful retention of national defense information – a statute that by itself carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

A grand jury in Washington has been hearing evidence in the investigation. Prosecutors last year granted limited immunity to one close Trump ally to secure his testimony and more recently were able to compel the testimony of a Trump lawyer said to have drafted a document stating that a diligent search for classified records had been conducted.

Attorney General Merrick Garland in November named Jack Smith, a veteran war crimes prosecutor who previously led the Justice Department’s public integrity section, to serve as special counsel for the Mar-a-Lago investigation and key aspects of a separate probe into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Related: This is what will happen when Trump is arrested in the coming days 

2020 ELECTION AND CAPITOL RIOT

Smith has also been leading a team investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the election that Trump falsely claimed was stolen.

Federal prosecutors have been especially focused on a scheme by Trump allies to put forth a slate of fake presidential electors in key battleground states who falsely declared that Trump, not Democrat Joe Biden, had won the 2020 election. They have issued subpoenas to a number of state Republican Party chairs.

Federal prosecutors have brought multiple Trump administration officials before that grand jury for questioning, including the former Trump White House counsel and a top aide to Vice President Mike Pence. A federal judge recently ruled that Pence would have to testify before the grand jury, though his team was still deciding Thursday whether to appeal.

In a sign of the expanding nature of the investigation, election officials in multiple states whose results were disputed by Trump have received subpoenas asking for past communications with or involving Trump and his campaign aides.

A House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has recommended that the Justice Department bring criminal charges against Trump and associates who helped him launch a wide-ranging pressure campaign to try to overturn his 2020 election loss.

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GEORGIA

After his 2020 election loss, Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and urged him to “find 11,780 votes” — just enough to overtake Biden and overturn Trump’s narrow loss in the state.

That Jan. 2 phone call was part of a monthslong effort by a special grand jury in Atlanta investigating whether crimes were committed as part of the pressure campaign to overturn Trump’s defeat.

Among those questioned by the special grand jury were Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and Trump lawyer; Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

Key events that led to the grand jury vote to indict Donald Trump

Prosecutors have advised Giuliani and Georgia Republicans who served as fake electors that they are at risk of being indicted. The fake electors signed a certificate asserting Trump had won the election and declaring themselves the state’s electors, even though Biden had won the state and Democratic electors had already been certified.

Trump and his allies have denied wrongdoing, and he has repeatedly described his phone call to Raffensperger as “perfect.”

It’s up to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat, to decide whether to convene a regular grand jury and pursue criminal charges in the case. The foreperson on the special grand jury that investigated the case at Willis’ request indicated publicly in February that the panel had recommended multiple indictments.

NEW YORK

New York Attorney General Letitia James has sued Trump and the Trump Organization, alleging they misled banks and tax authorities about the value of assets including golf courses and skyscrapers to get loans and tax benefits.

That lawsuit could lead to civil penalties against the company if James, a Democrat, prevails. She is seeking a $250 million fine and a ban on Trump doing business in New York. Manhattan prosecutors investigated the same alleged conduct but did not pursue criminal charges.

A civil trial is scheduled in state court for October.

In a separate civil case in federal court in New York, Trump has been accused of raping a former magazine columnist in a dressing room in the mid-1990s. That case is scheduled to go to trial on April 25.

Trump has repeatedly insisted he never met the columnist, E. Jean Carroll, at the store and has dismissed her rape claims, saying, “Physically she’s not my type.” During an October deposition, he misidentified a decades-old photograph of her as one of his ex-wives.

​ Orange County Register 

This is what will happen when Trump is arrested in the coming days

• March 31, 2023

He will be fingerprinted. He will be photographed. He may even be handcuffed.

In the days ahead, Donald Trump is expected to walk through the routine steps of felony arrest processing in New York, now that a grand jury has voted to indict him in connection with his role in a hush-money payment to a porn star. But the unprecedented arrest of a former commander in chief will be anything but routine.

Related: Trump indicted; 1st ex-president charged with crime

Accommodations may be made for Trump. While it is standard for defendants arrested on felony charges to be handcuffed, it is unclear whether an exception will be made for the former president because of his status. Most defendants have their hands cuffed behind their backs, but some white-collar defendants who are deemed to pose less of a danger have their hands secured in front of them.

Trump will almost certainly be accompanied at every step of the process — from the moment he is taken into custody until his appearance before a judge in lower Manhattan’s imposing Criminal Courts Building — by armed agents of the Secret Service, who are required by law to protect him at all times.

Security in the courthouse is provided by state court officers, with whom the Secret Service has worked in the past. But the chief spokesperson for the agency, Anthony J. Guglielmi, said he could not comment on any specific measures that would be put in place for Trump.

It may take several days for Trump to appear at the courthouse. Now that the grand jury has voted to indict him, the indictment must be handed up. Then prosecutors would typically contact his defense lawyers to negotiate the terms of his surrender, a common practice in white-collar investigations when the district attorney’s office has been in touch with defense attorneys.

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Lawyers for Trump, who is running for president a third time, have said he will surrender to face the charges and fly from his Florida estate to New York for the arraignment.

After he is arraigned, he is almost certain to be released on his own recognizance because the indictment will likely contain only nonviolent felony charges; under New York law, prosecutors cannot request bail in such cases.

The former president plans to use the charges as part of a campaign strategy to rile up his base.

Surrender, some might argue, is not in the confrontational former president’s DNA, and he often seems to relish antagonizing and attacking the prosecutors who have investigated him. He has called Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who secured the hush money indictment and who is Black, “a racist,” and said that his investigation was politically motivated.

In the unlikely event that the former president refuses to surrender, he would put Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, his leading but undeclared rival for the Republican nomination, in an awkward political position. Under law, DeSantis’ role would be essentially ministerial and he would have few legal options other than approving an extradition request from New York.

Still, if New York prosecutors sought Trump’s extradition, DeSantis would face an unenviable dilemma. He would be compelled to choose between authorizing an arrest warrant for Trump and inflaming his base, or attempting in some way to aid his Republican rival, and possibly face legal action as a result.

​ Orange County Register 

Biden calls to revive bank regulations that Trump weakened

• March 31, 2023

Weeks after the failure of two banks, President Joe Biden called Thursday for independent regulatory agencies to impose tighter rules on the financial system, telling them that they can act under current law without additional steps taken by Congress.

The recommended changes outlined by the White House try to put a clear blame on the Trump administration for weakening supervision of regional banks, issuing a fact sheet that said Biden’s predecessor “weakened many important common-sense requirements and supervision.”

“The president is urging the banking regulators to consider reforms that will reduce the risk of future banking crises,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

Rattling the financial markets and U.S. voters alike, the California-based Silicon Valley Bank and New York-based Signature Bank failed over the course of a weekend and required government intervention. Then another financial institution, First Republic Bank, received an emergency $30 billion infusion of funds from 11 large private banks.

Biden wants to revive and expand rules for mid-size banks that face less scrutiny than the industry’s behemoths, with administration officials saying that U.S. banks have stabilized since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on March 10 as it rolls out its recommended changes.

Once banks hold assets of more than $100 billion, the administration is asking them to hold more capital to absorb losses and face enhanced stress testing to ensure they could withstand a possible crisis. They would also need to provide the government with “living wills” to help them be unwound in case of failure.

In addition, Biden wants regulators to provide more aggressive supervision of banks and have them ensure that community banks are not responsible for replenishing the federal insurance fund for bank deposits.

Greg Baer, CEO of the Bank Policy Institute, criticized the administration’s proposals, saying it would impose costs on the economy as the bank failures are still being reviewed.

“This has a strong feeling of ready, fire, aim,” said Baer, whose advocacy group represents the financial sector.

Rob Nichols, president and CEO of the American Bankers Association, called the move “premature.”

The Biden administration’s public push is part of a larger effort by the Biden to ensure that individual bank failures can be contained without triggering a chain reaction across the wider financial system.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a Thursday speech that regulations have been weakened in recent years as the shocks of the 2008 financial crisis wore off, but that the recent failures required swift government intervention in order to preserve public confidence.

“The failures of two regional banks this month demonstrate that our business is unfinished,” Yellen said at the National Association for Business Economics conference in Washington. “Regulation imposes costs on firms, just like fire codes do for property owners. But the costs of proper regulation pale in comparison to the tragic costs of financial crises.”

What seemed unique in the two recent bank failures was how quickly bank runs started in a digital era, putting at risk accounts that exceeded the $250,000 limit on deposit insurance. The banks’ holdings were also hurt by the Federal Reserve raising interest rates in order to tame inflation.

Yellen is focused not just on banks, but also rules for money market funds, hedge funds and cryptocurrency.

“If there is any place where the vulnerabilities of the system to runs and fire sales have been clear-cut, it is money market funds,” she said. In February, money market funds contained net assets worth $5.3 trillion, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

​ Orange County Register 

Biden’s new border policies are unjustifiably onerous and restrictive

• March 30, 2023

I’ve been a Placentia-based immigration attorney for the past decade, but I’ve never forgotten the story of a young Salvadoran man I met several years ago. When Enrique (a pseudonym to protect his privacy), a married father with two school-age children, witnessed a police murder in his village, his world turned upside down. Soon after his friend who was with him that night was killed, Enrique started receiving death threats. The family made the impossible decision to send him north in search of safety.

After Enrique made his way across the border, he turned himself into officials and asked to apply for asylum. This is a well-worn path; In 1980, the United States passed a law allowing a person with a “well-founded fear of persecution” to apply for asylum in accordance with United Nations conventions. Enrique was let into the country and connected with his brother. While he waited for an immigration judge to hear his case, he was given the right to work. The judge who heard his case granted him asylum. Later, when his wife found a dead dog on her doorstep, Enrique was allowed to petition his family to join him in America.

Six years later, Enrique now works as a mechanic for a semitruck company. His kids, 15 and 17, are thriving in school, and he and his wife perform in the worship band at their local church. They are in the process of applying for citizenship. It’s clear to me that our asylum process saved Enrique’s life—and his family’s lives.

I’ve thought about this a lot since the Biden administration proposed a restrictive new asylum rule late last month. If Enrique were seeking asylum here today, he would likely be found ineligible before he even had the chance to apply. I’m calling on President Biden to reconsider this policy that unfairly penalizes many asylum seekers.

It may seem that the White House’s proposed plan looks to create “law and order” at the border. And I understand that we’ve got plenty of problems in our own backyard; however, if we turn a blind eye to this injustice, then we’re opening the door to worse ones. Word that Biden has considered reinstating family detention prompted more than a hundred House Democrats this week to call such a policy “cruel” and explain that even short periods of detention can cause “psychological trauma” and long-term mental health risks for children. It wasn’t long ago that the Trump administration separated children from their parents—a moral catastrophe that few Californians of any political background could stomach. While Biden’s family detention idea stops short of ripping children from their parents’ arms, even imprisoning young children with their parents feels like we’re heading down a similar dangerous path.

We have a well-established system that allows people who have a reasonable fear of persecution to make a case why they should be allowed to seek safe haven here. The problem with Biden’s latest asylum rule is that it doesn’t offer a fair “right way” for migrants to seek asylum. In fact, it represents a stunning disconnect between what’s happening in Washington and the situation at the border. There, desperate people are trying to understand our ever-changing rules amid a sea of misinformation and a lack of access to fancy (and poorly functioning) technology.

Here are just a few of the problems with the proposed rule: Migrants are now expected to apply for asylum using a new mobile app called CBP One. Not only is the app far from being user-friendly, it’s riddled with technological flaws (including frequent “error messages”). Plus, its existence assumes that vulnerable and often poor people who are fleeing for their lives have access to newer-model smart phones—never mind access to a good wi-fi connection.

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An alternative to using the CBP One app is showing you have applied for—and been denied—asylum in every country a person passes through on their way to the U.S. border. For Salvadorans, that likely would mean Mexico. Yet with gangs crossing borders with relative ease, many Central Americans will not be safe in Mexico. Not surprisingly, there is significant confusion around border policy, especially given long-standing American and international law. It’s likely that many migrants will continue to believe they are acting in good faith by quickly turning themselves in to American border patrol agents, only to be told they cannot apply for asylum.

We need to remember that people who are seeking asylum are part of a humanitarian crisis and are doing their best to survive. That is why international law allows anyone who reaches our shores, no matter how they get here, the opportunity to apply for protection. Congress needs to continue to pressure President Biden to find better solutions—and why we need to continue to push our elected officials to create solutions. Making it more difficult for individuals to find safety goes against our commitment to uphold international law and everything the United States stands for as a humane and just nation.

Kristy White is an immigration attorney at Camino Immigration Services serving Orange County.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Thursday, March 30

• March 30, 2023

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Scores and stats from Orange County games on Thursday, March 30

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

THURSDAY’S SCORES

BASEBALL

NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL INVITATIONAL (NC)

Santa Margarita 2, St. Xavier (KY) 1

Huntington Beach 8, Calvary Christian (FL) 3

​ Orange County Register 

Gwyneth Paltrow’s ski collision trial ends, jury deliberates

• March 30, 2023

By SAM METZ

PARK CITY, Utah — A jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon in Gwyneth Paltrow’s trial over a 2016 ski collision at a Utah resort.

Attorneys for Paltrow and the 76-year-old man suing her described their clients in closing arguments as aggrieved victims participating in a yearslong legal battle to take a stand for truth. The eight-person jury is tasked with weighing dueling versions of who was the downhill skier, making the other side culpable according to a skier responsibility code.

During closing arguments, Paltrow’s attorneys asked jurors to disregard the opposing side’s emotional pleas for sympathy of Terry Sanderson over the state of his relationships. The retired optometrist has said the collision left him with a concussion and four broken ribs. Paltrow’s legal team said that for their client, it would’ve been easier to simply write a check, settle the lawsuit and put the crash behind her.

“But what would that teach her children?” attorney Steve Owens asked jurors Thursday.

Accompanying his remarks were high-resolution animations depicting Paltrow’s version of events, which have been shown throughout the trial in the Park City courtroom.

“It’s not about the money. It’s about ruining a very delicate time in a relationship where they were trying to get their kids together,” Owens said.

The 2016 family trip to Deer Valley Resort was the first time Paltrow and her then-boyfriend Brad Falchuk brought their kids together in an effort to join families.

During the second week of trial, Paltrow, Sanderson and members of the jury all nodded along as attorneys repeated familiar narratives, denounced some witnesses’ claims and elevated others.

Sanderson is suing Paltrow over the events of that trip, claiming she skied out of control and crashed into him, leaving him with four broken ribs and a concussion with symptoms that have lasted years beyond the collision.

After a judge dismissed his initial $3.1 million complaint, Sanderson amended and refiled the lawsuit seeking “more than $300,000” — a threshold that that provides the opportunity to introduce the most evidence and depose the most witnesses allowed in civil court. In closing arguments, his attorneys estimated damages as more than $3.2 million.

Paltrow has countersued for a symbolic $1 and attorney fees, though her attorneys said in closing arguments that the crash had caused her far more damage.

Sanderson’s attorneys have cast doubt on Paltrow’s testimony and underscored the injuries that their client, Sanderson, has said changed the course of his life.

“He never returned home that night as the same man. Terry has tried to get off that mountain but he’s really still there,” attorney Robert Sykes said in his closing argument. “Part of Terry will forever be on that Bandana run.”

In a courtroom more packed Thursday than any other day of the trial, Sanderson’s attorneys delivered their arguments first. They argued it was unlikely that someone could ski between another skier’s two legs as Paltrow said. They also noted that she didn’t deny watching her kids skiing the moment of the crash.

Paltrow’s attorneys took a two-pronged approach, both arguing that the actor-turned-lifestyle influencer didn’t cause the accident and that its effects aren’t as bad as Sanderson claims. They’ve painted him as an “obsessed” man pushing “utter B.S.” claims against someone whose fame makes them vulnerable to unfair, frivolous lawsuits.

In their closing arguments, Sanderson’s team also noted how the man claiming to be the sole eyewitness testified to seeing Paltrow hit their client. Though they’ve tapped into themes including the power of fame throughout the trial, they said that the case ultimately wasn’t about celebrity, but simply damages.

Sanderson testified that he had continued to pursue damages seven years after the accident because the cascading events that followed — his post-concussion symptoms and the accusation that he sued to exploit Paltrow’s celebrity — added insult to injury.

“That’s the purpose: to make me regret this lawsuit. It’s the pain of trying to sue a celebrity,” he said on Wednesday in response to a question from his attorney about Paltrow’s team probing his personal life, medical records and extensive post-crash international travel itinerary.

Though both sides have marshaled significant resources to emerge victorious, the verdict could end up being remembered as an afterthought dwarfed by the worldwide attention the trial has attracted. The amount of money at stake pales in comparison to the typical legal costs of a multiyear lawsuit, private security detail and expert witness-heavy trial.

Among the most bombshell testimony has been from Paltrow and Sanderson. On Friday members of the jury were riveted when Paltrow said on the stand that she initially thought she was being “violated” when the collision began. Three days later Sanderson gave an entirely different account, saying she ran into him and sent him “absolutely flying.”

The trial has also shone a spotlight on Park City, known primarily as a ski resort that welcomes celebrities like Paltrow for each year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Local residents have increasingly filled the courtroom gallery throughout the trial. They’ve nodded along as lawyers and witnesses have referenced local landmarks like Montage Deer Valley, the ski-side hotel-spa where Paltrow got a massage after the collision. At times they have appeared captivated by Paltrow’s reactions to the proceedings, while at others they have mirrored the jury, whose endurance has been tested by hours of jargon-dense medical testimony.

AP writer Anna Furman contributed from Los Angeles.

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​ Orange County Register 

9 killed in Army Black Hawk helicopter crash in Kentucky

• March 30, 2023

By SHARON JOHNSON, REBECCA REYNOLDS and DYLAN LOVAN

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Nine people were killed in a crash involving two Army Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopters conducting a nighttime training exercise in Kentucky, Army officials said Thursday.

Nondice Thurman, a spokesperson for Fort Campbell, said the deaths happened Wednesday night in southwestern Kentucky during a routine training mission.

A statement from Fort Campbell said the two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, part of the 101st Airborne Division, crashed around 10 p.m. Wednesday in Trigg County, Kentucky. The 101st Airborne confirmed the crash about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of Fort Campbell. The crash is under investigation.

The helicopters crashed in a field near a residential area with no injuries on the ground, Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the 101st Airborne deputy commander, said. One helicopter had five people aboard and the other had four, Lubas said.

An Army spokesperson declined to comment on whether the helicopters collided in the air.

“At this time, there is no determination on the specifics regarding the accident,” Daniel Matthews, a public affairs officer for the 101st Airborne Division, said in an emailed statement Thursday afternoon. Matthews said an aviation safety team from Fort Rucker, Alabama, will investigate the accident.

Speaking a news conference Thursday morning, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said the state would do everything it can to support the families of those killed.

“We’re going to do what we always do. We’re going to wrap our arms around these families, and we’re going to be there with them, not just for the days, but the weeks and the months and the years to come,” Beshear said.

Lubas said it is unclear what caused the crash.

“This was a training progression, and specifically they were flying a multi-ship formation, two ships, under night vision goggles at night,” Lubas said. He said officials believe the accident occurred when “they were doing flying, not deliberate medical evacuation drills.”

The helicopters have something similar to the black boxes on passenger planes, which records the performance of aircrafts in flight and are used by investigators to analyze crashes.

“We’re hopeful that will provide quite a bit of information of what occurred,” Lubas said.

The Black Hawk helicopter is a critical workhorse for the U.S. Army and is used in security, transport, medical evacuations, search and rescue and other missions. The helicopters are known to many people from the 2001 movie “Black Hawk Down,” which is about a violent battle in Somalia eight years earlier.

Black Hawks were a frequent sight in the skies over Iraq and Afghanistan during the wars conducting combat missions and are also used by the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. They were also often used to ferry visiting senior leaders to headquarters locations in the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones.

Fort Campbell is located near the Tennessee border, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northwest of Nashville, and the crash occurred in the Trigg County, Kentucky, community of Cadiz.

Nick Tomaszewski, who lives about a mile from where the crash occurred, said he saw two helicopters flying over his house moments before the crash.

“For whatever reason last night my wife and I were sitting there looking out on the back deck and I said ‘Wow, those two helicopters look low and they look kind of close to one another tonight,’” he said.

The helicopters flew over and looped back around and moments later “we saw what looked like a firework went off in the sky.”

“All of the lights in their helicopter went out. It was like they just poofed … and then we saw a huge glow like a fireball,” Tomaszewski said.

Flyovers for training exercises happen almost daily and the helicopters typically fly low but not so close together, he said.

“There were two back to back. We typically see one and then see another one a few minutes later, and we just saw two of them flying together last night,” he said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin offered his condolences to the families of those killed.

“My heart goes out to the families of these servicemembers and to the members of the 101st Airborne Division who bravely and proudly serve our country each and every day,” Lloyd said in a statement.

In the Kentucky House and in the Senate, members stood for a moment of silence Thursday morning in honor of the crash victims. Kentucky state Rep. Walker Thomas said the crash occurred about 15 to 20 minutes from his home.

“They’re there to protect us,” Thomas said. “And we’re constantly seeing these helicopters flying over our communities.”

Thomas spoke about how connected Fort Campbell soldiers and their families are to the communities near the Army post.

“The Fort Campbell soldiers that live in our communities, go to our churches … they go to our schools, their kids do,” he added. “And this really hurts.”

By Thursday morning, word of the crash was spreading through the community of Clarksville, Tennessee, just outside Fort Campbell.

Chaterra Watts, a former Army soldier who was stationed at Fort Campbell from about 2015 to 2019, said once she heard about the crash, she jumped on social media to try to find out more and if she knew any of the victims.

“I pray for their friends and their families and just hope that we can all come together as a community and that something positive will come out of something so tragic,” Watts said.

Last month, two Tennessee National Guard pilots were killed when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed along an Alabama highway during a training exercise.

Lovan and Reynolds reported from Louisville, Kentucky. Associated Press writers Bruce Schreiner in Frankfort, Kentucky; Lolita Baldor in Washington and Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia; contributed to this report. AP researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York also contributed.

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​ Orange County Register