Trump abortion restrictions effective immediately
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Taxpayer-funded family planning clinics must stop referring women for abortions immediately, the Trump administration said Monday, declaring it will begin enforcing a new regulation hailed by religious conservatives and denounced by medical organizations and women’s rights groups.
The head of a national umbrella group representing the clinics said the administration is following “an ideological agenda” that could disrupt basic health care for many low-income women.
Ahead of a planned conference Tuesday with the clinics, the Health and Human Services Department formally notified them that it will begin enforcing the ban on abortion referrals, along with a requirement that clinics maintain separate finances from facilities that provide abortions. Another requirement that both kinds of facilities cannot be under the same roof would take effect next year.
The rule is widely seen as a blow against Planned Parenthood, which provides taxpayer-funded family planning and basic health care to low-income women, as well as abortions that must be paid for separately. The organization is a mainstay of the federally funded family planning program and it has threatened to quit over the issue.
Planned Parenthood President Leana Wen said in a statement that “our doors are still open” as her organization and other groups seek to overturn the regulations in federal court. “We will not stop fighting for all those across the country in need of essential care,” Wen said.
HHS said no judicial orders currently prevent it from enforcing the rule while the litigation proceeds.
Clare Coleman, president of the umbrella group National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, said “the administration’s actions show its intent is to further an ideological agenda.”
Abortion opponents welcomed the administration’s move. “Ending the connection between abortion and family planning is a victory for common-sense health care,” Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, said in a statement.
Known as Title X, the family-planning program serves about 4 million women annually through independent clinics, many operated by Planned Parenthood affiliates, which serve about 40 percent of all clients. The program provides about $260 million a year in grants to clinics.
The family planning rule is part of a series of Trump administration efforts to remake government policy on reproductive health. Other regulations tangled up in court would allow employers to opt out of offering free birth control to women workers on the basis of religious or moral objections, and grant health care professionals wider leeway to opt out of procedures that offend their religious or moral scruples.
Abortion is a legal medical procedure, but federal laws prohibit the use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the woman.
Under the administration’s rule, clinic staff would still be permitted to discuss abortion with clients, along with other options. However, that would no longer be required.
The American Medical Association is among the professional groups opposed to the administration’s policy, saying it could affect low-income women’s access to basic medical care, including birth control, cancer screenings and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. By law, the family planning program does not pay for abortions.
Religious conservatives see the regulation as a means to end what they call an indirect taxpayer subsidy of abortion providers.
Although abortion remains politically divisive, the U.S. abortion rate has dropped significantly, from about 29 per 1,000 women of reproductive age in 1980 to about 15 in 2014. Better contraception, fewer unintended pregnancies and state restrictions may have played a role, according to a recent scientific report. Polls show most Americans do not want the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion.
The Trump administration’s policy echoes a Reagan-era regulation that barred clinics from even discussing abortion with women. It never went into effect as written, although the Supreme Court ruled it was appropriate.
The policy was rescinded under President Bill Clinton, and a new rule took effect requiring “nondirective” counseling to include a full range of options for women. The Trump administration is now rolling back the Clinton requirement.

After teen is slain, photos of her corpse circulate online
By RYAN TARINELLI Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A 17-year-old girl with a small social media following in upstate New York was killed by a man she’d met recently on Instagram, who then posted photos of her corpse online, police said Monday.
The gory pictures were redistributed widely, including by online posters who made light of or celebrated the teen’s death.
Others urged people to stop circulating the images, which had appeared in online chat sites including 4chan and Discord.
Police identified the slain girl Monday as Bianca Devins, of Utica, New York.
Discord users who saw the photos Sunday morning alerted police. Officers were trying to find the teen when the suspect, Brandon Clark, 21, called 9-1-1 himself to report what he’d done, Utica’s public safety department said in a statement.
Officers who tracked the call found Clark stabbing himself in the neck.
Devins’ body was beneath a tarp nearby, police said.
Clark had emergency surgery but is expected to survive, police said. Charges would be filed later, authorities said.
In was unclear when Clark, who lived in Bridgewater, New York, would get a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.
Devins and Clark met on Instagram about two months ago, police said.
Initially, they were online acquaintances only, but the “relationship progressed into a personally intimate one,” police said. “They had spent time together, and were acquainted with each other’s families.”
The two attended a concert together Saturday night in New York City, where they got into an argument. They arrived back in Utica early Sunday and went to a spot on a dead-end street, according to the police statement.
There, they argued until Clark used a large knife to kill the teenager, police said. Authorities began receiving calls around 7:20 a.m. Sunday, reporting that a man posted on a social media site that he had killed a person.
After police encountered Clark stabbing himself, he laid down on a green tarp and took selfies lying across the dead teenager before officers took him into custody, police said. The case is being investigated as a murder and attempted suicide, Utica police Lt. Bryan Coromato said.
Devins’ family said in a written statement that the teen was “a talented artist” and “a wonderful young girl, taken from us all too soon.”
“Bianca’s smile brightened our lives,” the family wrote. “She will always be remembered as our Princess.”
The family statement said Devins graduated from high school last month and looked forward to attending a community college in the fall.
Utica police said they are working to address the sharing of the images with various social media platforms.
The Utica City School District issued a statement saying they “share our deepest heartfelt condolences with her family and loved ones.”
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Ryan Tarinelli is a corps member for Report for America , a nonprofit organization that supports local news coverage in a partnership with The Associated Press for New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Police: 2 dead, officer hurt at Baltimore methadone clinic
By REGINA GARCIA CANO Associated Press
BALTIMORE (AP) — A man demanding methadone opened fire at a Baltimore addiction clinic Monday, killing one person and wounding a police sergeant before he was fatally shot by police, authorities said.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said at a news conference that the gunman had gone into the clinic seeking the drug that helps control opioid cravings and withdrawal symptoms. It can be given only at government-regulated clinics.
The shooting was reported shortly after 7 a.m. and was captured on video by the body cameras of the officers who responded to the clinic, Harrison said. The man was buzzed into the clinic, and then the situation escalated.
“When our officers arrived, they were met by civilians outside who told them there was a man inside with a gun who had recently fired shots inside the building,” Harrison said.
The commissioner said responding officers “attempted to de-escalate the situation many times. However, the suspect began firing at them. As the suspect fired upon our officer, he returned gunfire but was struck by the suspect’s rounds.”
The injured sergeant was identified as Billy Shiflett, 48, a 25-year veteran of the force. He was wearing a bulletproof vest but the bullet struck his lower abdomen. Harrison said the sergeant underwent surgery and is in serious but stable condition.
Shiflett was pulled to safety by a fellow police officer. News outlets identified him as Christopher Miller, who has been on the force for about 2½ years.
The gunman was pronounced dead at the hospital.
A female employee at the clinic also was injured and expected to survive, Harrison said. It’s unclear if a man found fatally shot inside the clinic was a patient.
Police did not immediately identify the employee, the slain victim or the gunman. Harrison said police recovered from the scene a gun believed to be the gunman’s weapon. An internal investigation will look at the shooting because police were involved.
George Dowler, 61, told The Baltimore Sun that he was waiting for his daily methadone treatment when he heard gunshots inside a counselor’s office. Dowler said he saw another patient emerge from the office holding a counselor at gunpoint and demanding that he be led into an area where the drug is kept.
Pippy Scott, 65, told the newspaper a man with a silver gun walked by her counselor’s office inside the treatment center. She said she watched through the office window as the man banged on the door of an office and yelled for methadone. Scott said the man then held a gun to the head of an employee.
The counselor whom Scott was talking to tried to intervene.
“He was saying, ‘Come on man, let’s talk about it,'” Scott recalled.
Scott said a nurse then yelled for everyone to leave the clinic.
The clinic, Man Alive Treatment Center, also offers mental health assessments and services. Clinic representatives did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the shooting.

Trump signs order to make American-made goods more American
By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday requiring federal agencies to purchase products using more American components.
The order strengthens the standards that federal agencies must follow under the Buy American Act, which creates a preference for American-made goods.
Trump said his order will gradually boost the percentage of U.S. components for qualifying American-made products from 50 percent to 75 percent. He said the threshold would increase to 95 percent for iron and steel products.
“The philosophy of my administration is simple. If we can build it, grow it or make it in the United States, we will,” Trump said.
The president signed the order during an annual White House “Made in America” showcase. Manufacturers from all 50 states were represented.
Trump has made it a priority to boost U.S. manufacturing. Even so, the nation’s trade deficit has continued to grow under his watch, widening to a decade-long high of $621 billion in 2018.
Trump said foreign countries have been allowed to “steal our jobs and plunder our wealth” in previous administrations. He also used the event to highlight tariffs he’s imposed on China, saying China has paid a big price economically as a result of the tariffs.
It’s unclear though how the trade dispute will be resolved. He also acknowledged that it’s unclear how a new trade agreement he negotiated with Canada and Mexico will fare in the Democratic-controlled House. Democrats want to strengthen enforcement of the agreement’s labor and environmental obligations.
“We have to get the Democrats to pass it. They may or may not depending upon how they feel politically,” Trump said. “It’s all politics, unfortunately.”

Scientists close in on blood test for Alzheimer’s
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE AP Chief Medical Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Scientists are closing in on a long-sought goal — a blood test to screen people for possible signs of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
On Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, half a dozen research groups gave new results on various experimental tests, including one that seems 88% accurate at indicating Alzheimer’s risk.
Doctors are hoping for something to use during routine exams, where most dementia symptoms are evaluated, to gauge who needs more extensive testing. Current tools such as brain scans and spinal fluid tests are too expensive or impractical for regular check-ups.
“We need something quicker and dirtier. It doesn’t have to be perfect” to be useful for screening, said Maria Carrillo, the Alzheimer’s Association’s chief science officer.
Dr. Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging, called the new results “very promising” and said blood tests soon will be used to choose and monitor people for federally funded studies, though it will take a little longer to establish their value in routine medical care.
“In the past year we’ve seen a dramatic acceleration in progress” on these tests, he said. “This has happened at a pace that is far faster than any of us would have expected.”
It can’t come too soon for patients like Tom Doyle, a 66-year-old former university professor from Chicago who has had two spinal fluid tests since developing memory problems four years ago. First he was told he didn’t have Alzheimer’s, then that he did. He ultimately was diagnosed with different problems — Lewy body dementia with Parkinson’s.
“They probably could have diagnosed me years ago accurately if they had had a blood test,” said Doyle, who represents patients on the Alzheimer’s Association’s board.
About 50 million people worldwide have dementia, and Alzheimer’s is the most common form. There is no cure; current medicines just temporarily ease symptoms. Dozens of hoped-for treatments have failed. Doctors think studies may have enrolled people after too much brain damage had occurred and included too many people with problems other than Alzheimer’s.
A blood test — rather than subjective estimates of thinking skills — could get the right people into studies sooner.
One of the experimental blood tests measures abnormal versions of the protein that forms the plaques in the brain that are the hallmark of Alzheimer’s. Last year, Japanese researchers published a study of it and on Monday they gave results from validation testing on 201 people with Alzheimer’s, other types of dementia, mild impairment or no symptoms.
The blood test results closely matched those from the top tests used now — three types of brain scans and a mental assessment exam, said Dr. Akinori Nakamura of the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology in Obu, Japan. The test correctly identified 92% of people who had Alzheimer’s and correctly ruled out 85% who did not have it, for an overall accuracy of 88%.
Shimadzu Corp. has rights to the test and is working to commercialize it, Nakamura said.
Another experimental test looks at neurofilament light, a protein that’s a marker of nerve damage. Abdul Hye of King’s College London gave results of a study comparing blood levels of it in 2,300 people with various neurological conditions — Alzheimer’s, other dementias, Parkinson’s, depression, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease — plus healthy folks for comparison.
Levels were significantly higher in eight conditions, and only 2% of healthy folks were above a threshold they set for raising concern. The test doesn’t reveal which disorder someone has, but it may help rule one out when symptoms may be psychological or due to other problems.
Later at the conference, Dr. Randall Bateman of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis will give new results on a blood test he helped develop that the university has patented and licensed to C2N Diagnostics, a company he co-founded. Like the Japanese test, it measures the abnormal Alzheimer protein, and the new results will show how well the test reflects what brain scans show on nearly 500 people.
“Everyone’s finding the same thing … the results are remarkably similar across countries, across techniques,” said Bateman, whose work is supported by the U.S. government and the Alzheimer’s Association. He estimates a screening test could be as close as three years away.
What good will that do without a cure?
An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll last year found that most Americans would want to know if they carried a gene tied to a disease even if it was incurable.
“What people want most of all is a diagnosis” if they’re having symptoms, said Jonathan Schott of University College London. “What we don’t like is not knowing what’s going on.”
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Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Husband of Pittsburgh official acquitted in Detroit
DETROIT (AP) — The husband of an elected official from Pittsburgh has been acquitted of misdemeanor charges related to a trip to Detroit.
The prosecutor’s office says a jury on Monday cleared Khari Mosley of disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace at a hotel. Mosley is the husband of Chelsa Wagner, the controller in Alleghany County, Pennsylvania.
Wagner, a Democrat, faces a felony charge of resisting police and a misdemeanor . Her trial starts Nov. 12 in Wayne County court.
Wagner and Mosley traveled to Detroit in March to attend a concert. After the show, she went to their room while Mosley went to the bar at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel. The dispute with staff and police began when Mosley didn’t have a room key.

Harris blasts, and takes money from, Epstein’s law firm
By BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Kamala Harris bemoaned the influence of the powerful and connected elite last Tuesday when she called on top Justice Department officials to recuse themselves from any matter related to Jeffrey Epstein. She said their former law firm’s work on behalf of the financier accused of sexual abuse “calls into question the integrity of our legal system.”
Yet the same day, Harris’ husband headlined a Chicago fundraiser for her presidential campaign that was hosted by six partners of that firm — Kirkland and Ellis, according to an invitation obtained by The Associated Press.
Harris, a California senator and Democratic presidential candidate, was one of several White House hopefuls to blast the handling of Epstein’s case in Florida a decade ago, when his lawyers negotiated a deal with federal prosecutors that allowed him to avoid the possibility of years in prison. But her decision to move ahead with the fundraiser hosted by Kirkland and Ellis partners while criticizing the firm underscores the tension that can arise when a politician’s rhetoric collides with their need to raise money to sustain a presidential campaign.
“If any connection with Kirkland and Ellis is a stain on (senior Justice Department officials), why isn’t a connection with the law firm for the receipt of campaign contributions a stain on her own campaign?” said Paul S. Ryan, an attorney for the good government group Common Cause.
Ian Sams, a Harris spokesman, said there wasn’t a problem with accepting the campaign contributions because the firm is big and the partners who hosted the fundraiser didn’t work on Epstein’s plea agreement.
“The people involved in that case have not supported her campaign, and she wouldn’t want that support anyway,” Sams said.
The firm and the six partners named on the event invitation did not respond to requests for comment.
The Epstein case has roiled Washington this month after federal prosecutors announced fresh charges against the financier, who is accused of paying underage girls for massages and then molesting them at his homes in Palm Beach, Florida, and New York during the 2000s. President Donald Trump’s labor secretary, Alex Acosta, resigned on Friday over his handling of the case. As a U.S. attorney in Miami, Acosta met with Kirkland and Ellis lawyers and agreed to a deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal trial by pleading guilty to state charges and serving 13 months in jail.
The new attention being paid to the case has also drawn attention to Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who both worked for Kirkland and Ellis. Harris, who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said it’s necessary that they recuse themselves from involvement in the matter to avoid even the “appearance of impropriety.”
“In our democracy, no one — no matter how powerful or well-connected — is above the law. Yet Epstein’s deal, secured by his lawyers at Kirkland and Ellis, calls into question the integrity of our legal system and undermines the public’s confidence that justice will be served,” Harris said in a statement released hours after the Chicago fundraiser.
Barr is recused from any review of a 2008 plea deal, but has said that he doesn’t need to do so with the current case.
Before her election to the Senate, Harris was the attorney general of California and was elected to two terms as San Francisco’s district attorney. Her husband Doug Emhoff is also a high powered attorney who works in corporate law. So it is perhaps little surprise that law firms have been one of the top industries that have donated to her presidential bid, with Kirkland and Ellis being no exception.
Her campaign declined to say how much was raised at last week’s event and the sum won’t have to be reported to the Federal Election Commission until October. Records show that a handful of employees and partners of the firm donated about $6,000 to Harris during the first quarter of the year — a drop when compared to the $12 million she raised during that time.
“It’s an international law firm with thousands of employees, many of whom probably support Kamala Harris because she’s a tough prosecutor who actually knows how to put away predators, unlike the Trump lackeys who protect them,” Sams said.
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Follow Slodysko on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianSlodysko

Pennsylvania Initiates Law to Help Protect Children left in Hot Cars

State Law Goes into Effect Today Protecting Good Samaritans

Thanks to a new law that goes into effect today, those who take certain steps to rescue children locked inside hot cars will be provided some legal immunity in Pennsylvania.  On May 16^th, Governor Tom Wolf signed a bill protecting Good Samaritans from liability for damages if they believe a child is in imminent danger, providing that they have made a good faith effort to contact the vehicle owner and emergency responders, and they use no more force than necessary.

“Sunshine streaming through car windows turns the vehicle into an oven, and lower the windows slightly is ineffective at keeping the temperature low,” says Theresa Podguski, director of legislative affairs for AAA East Central.  “This law, and last year’s law for pets trapped in hot cars, will go a long way towards reversing the alarming upward trend of hot car fatalities.”

The National Safety Council reports 51 children died last year of pediatric vehicular heatstroke, which is more than any other year on record.  Heat rapidly overwhelms the body’s ability to regulate temperature, and children under the age of four are especially vulnerable because their bodies do not have the same internal temperature control as an adult’s and can warm three times to five times faster.  Heatstroke can occur when the outside temperature is as low as 57 degrees, and even with the windows slightly lower, temperatures inside a car can reach 125 degrees in minutes.

While carmakers continue developing new safety features to assist parents, AAA offers the following safety tips:

• Never leave children or animals unattended in a car, not even for a short period of time.
• Create reminders and habits, such as leaving an item needed at your next stop in the back seat.
• Make sure all child passengers have left the vehicle after it is parked.
• Keep vehicles locked at all times, even in the garage or driveway, to prevent children from climbing into vehicles and becoming trapped.
• Never leave keys and/or remote openers within reach of children.

For Pet’s Trapped in Hot Cars:

According to PennDOT, Governor Wolf signed House Bill 1216 into effect last fall, which gives police officers and first responders the authority to enter a vehicle and retrieve a cat or dog that is in immediate distress.  While it is similar to the child rescue law in that officers or emergency responders must have a good-faith and reasonable belief that imminent danger is at hand, House Bill 1216 is different in that it does not give civilians the authority to enter a vehicle by force.  PennDOT advises those who see a dog or cat in a vehicle that appears to be in distress to contact local authorities, and to not enter the vehicle themselves.

AAA East Central is a not-for-profit association with 79 local offices in Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia serving 2.7 million members.  Past news releases are available at news.eastcentral.aaa.com.  Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Western Pennsylvania Gas Average Moves Closer to Three-Dollar Mark
The average price of gasoline across Western Pennsylvania is six cents higher this week at $2.983 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

States in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast region are experiencing some of the lowest volatility in gas prices in the country, despite low refinery utilization rates and gasoline stock levels.  On the week, most states saw gas price increases of three cents or less (Pennsylvania, +3 cents).

Regional refinery utilization is now down to 69%.  However, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports the region saw a build of 714,000 barrels in gasoline inventory to total levels at 59.2 million barrels.  The build was a surprise, but good news for the region and will help to keep gas price volatility in check.

This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average               $2.983
Average price during the week of July 8, 2019                                       $2.920
Average price during the week of July 16, 2018                                     $3.107

The average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in various areas:      

$2.843      Altoona
$2.963      Beaver
$2.996      Bradford
$3.091      Brookville
$2.988      Butler
$2.983      Clarion
$2.956      Du Bois
$3.031      Erie
$2.987      Greensburg
$2.992      Indiana
$2.999      Jeannette
$2.995      Kittanning
$2.984      Latrobe
$2.982      Meadville
$3.006      Mercer
$2.928      New Castle
$2.995      New Kensington
$2.992      Pittsburgh
$2.953      Sharon
$2.990      Uniontown
$2.999      Warren
$2.983      Washington

On the National Front
Since last Monday, 18 states have seen their gas price averages increase by at least a nickel.  The national gas price average is $2.79, which is an eight-cent increase since the beginning of July.  Gas prices have increased amid more expensive crude oil prices, robust demand and decreasing gasoline stocks.  Today’s average is four cents more than last week and a dime more expensive compared to a month ago.

Hurricane Barry, which made landfall in Louisiana this past weekend, seems to have had little impact on the national average thus far.  The storm temporarily halted 60 percent of all crude production in the Gulf of Mexico last week.  As it subsides and floodwaters diminish, crude production will resume.  Until then, crude stocks may tighten in the region and could cause prices to increase modestly.

At the close of Friday’s formal trading session on the NYMEX, West Texas Intermediate increased by one cent to settle at $60.21.  In addition to Hurricane Barry’s impact on crude production, prices increased last week as the market continues to worry about tensions in the Middle East, which could restrict global oil supply.  If those concerns continue into this week, crude prices will likely continue to increase.

Motorists can find current gas prices nationwide, statewide, and countywide at GasPrices.AAA.com.

AAA East Central is a not-for-profit association with 79 local offices in Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia serving 2.7 million members.  News releases are available at news.eastcentral.aaa.com.  Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Women urge jail until trial for Epstein as judge weighs bail
By LARRY NEUMEISTER and JIM MUSTIAN Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Two Jeffrey Epstein accusers urged a judge Monday to keep the wealthy financier behind bars until he goes on trial on federal charges that he sexually abused underage girls.
The women stood just feet from where Epstein was seated in his blue jail outfit as they asked a federal judge to reject a request by Epstein’s lawyers that he remain under house arrest in his $77 million Manhattan mansion until trial on conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.
Courtney Wild, an unnamed victim in the 2008 lawsuit against the Department of Justice for the secret plea deal that allowed Epstein to avoid similar charges, spoke for the first time in court with a fellow accuser.
Wild said she was sexually abused by Epstein in Palm Beach, Florida, when she was 14.
“He’s a scary person,” she said.
Annie Farmer said she was 16 when she met Epstein in New York.
“He was inappropriate with me,” she said, not elaborating.
The Associated Press doesn’t name alleged victims of sexual abuse without their consent. Through their lawyers, both Farmer and Wild said they were willing to be publicly identified.
Judge Richard M. Berman said he’ll rule Thursday whether Epstein can be freed with a strict bail package, but he noted at the outset of two-hour hearing there was a presumption in cases involving sexual abuse of children that a defendant will remain locked up.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Rossmiller said the government’s case is “getting stronger every single day” since Epstein was arrested July 6 as he arrived at a New Jersey airport from Paris on his private plane.
During a raid at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion following his arrest, Rossmiller said, investigators found “piles of cash,” ”dozens of diamonds” and an expired passport with Epstein’s picture and a fake name in a locked safe.
“How many safes are there in so many other locations like these?” Rossmiller asked.
He labeled the well-connected Epstein, 66, a flight risk and danger to the community, saying he should remain incarcerated until he is tried on charges that he recruited and abused dozens of underage girls in New York and Florida in the early 2000s.
Epstein’s lawyer, Martin Weinberg, said that his client has not committed crimes since pleading guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution charges in Florida in 2008 and that the federal government is reneging on a 12-year-old plea deal not to prosecute him.
Epstein had demonstrated that he “disciplined himself,” Weinberg said, by not engaging in any crimes since the Florida deal, in which he agreed to submit himself to sex offender registration procedures in multiple states.
The “14-year gap is an elegant rebuttal” to expectations that he would re-offend, Weinberg said.
But the judge later noted he had read literature related to sex offenders that indicated the chance of a sex offender committing a new crime grew over time.
In addition to the charges in the indictment, prosecutors are also reviewing dozens of electronic files seized during the raid on Epstein’s New York residence, finding even more photos than the trove of pictures of nude and seminude young women and girls they had reported prior to a court hearing a week ago.
Prior to the hearing, prosecutors said in court papers that additional women in multiple jurisdictions had identified themselves to the government since Epstein’s arrest, saying they were abused as minors. Also, dozens of individuals have called the government to report information about Epstein and the charges he faces, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they believe Epstein might have tried to influence witnesses after discovering that he had paid a total of $350,000 to two individuals, including a former employee, in the last year. That came after the Miami Herald reported the circumstances of his state court conviction in 2008, which led to a 13-month jail term and his deal to avoid federal prosecution.
Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta resigned last week following renewed criticism over the 2008 plea deal with Epstein he oversaw as the U.S. attorney in Miami.
Epstein’s lawyers said the accusations against him are “outside the margins of federal criminal law” and don’t constitute sex trafficking since there were no allegations that he “trafficked anybody for commercial profit; that he forced, coerced, defrauded, or enslaved anybody.”
But prosecutors said efforts by defense lawyers to characterize Epstein’s crimes as “simple prostitution” were “not only offensive but also utterly irrelevant given that federal law does not recognize the concept of a child prostitute — there are only trafficking victims — because a child cannot legally consent to being exploited.”