President Trump on Friday evening reacted to the arrest of former senior FBI agents involved in the Hunter Biden investigation.
Two former senior FBI officials were arrested and charged with lying to Congress about their involvement in the Hunter Biden investigation.
Nikki Cole Floris, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, and Bradley Benavides, 56, of Aiken, South Carolina, were taken into custody and charged with making false statements about the Hunter Biden laptop investigation.
Floris also privately boasted about “running a shadow government” during the 2020 election.
“Evidence shows that Floris discussed the FBI’s investigations into Hunter Biden routinely for more than a year both within the FITF and with others in the FBI. Contrary to his assertion that he learned of the Hunter Biden laptop from Wikipedia, Benavides regularly discussed the laptop with FBI officials in the leadup to the 2020 election,” the DOJ said.
Floris and Benavides both falsely testified that the FBI Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) was not involved in the Hunter Biden laptop investigation.
Two former senior FBI officials, Nikki Cole Floris and Bradley Benavides, were taken into custody today on charges of allegedly lying to Congress about their involvement in the FBI’s investigations into Hunter Biden.
The charges stem from an ongoing investigation into the since-dissolved FBI Foreign Influence Task Force.
Floris led the FITF as a Deputy Assistant Director from mid-2019 through mid-2022. Benavides was the FITF Section Chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election. Both testified that the FITF was not involved in the Hunter Biden investigations. Documentary evidence, contemporaneous communications, and witness accounts contradict their testimony.
Floris is also on record privately claiming to be “running a shadow government” during the 2020 election in her role on the FITF.
Lying to Congress by senior FBI officials strikes at the heart of our system. No one is above the law.
The FBI has already dismantled the corrupt CR-15 squad that engaged in political weaponization targeting their opponents, including President Trump.
Thanks to @TheJusticeDept @FBIKansasCity and @USAttyPirro.
Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Attorneys for Tyler Robinson, the man accused of assassinatins Charlie Kirk, are seeking to delay his murder trial until 2029.
Robinson’s defense team have proposed starting the capital murder trial in the third quarter of 2029, nearly four years after his murder.
They claim they will need several years to prepare for the extraordinarily high-profile death penalty case.
Prosecutors, however, say they could be ready to proceed by October 2027 and have proposed January 31, 2028, as a trial date to avoid proceedings running through Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Kirk’s widow, Erika, is now urging the court to reject the defense request and bring the case to trial at the earliest possible opportunity.
“Under the Defendants’ proposed schedule, Mr. Kirk’s two children, who were one and three at the time he was murdered, will be six and eight years old by the time the trial concludes,” her attorney Jeffrey Neiman wrote.
“They will face the uncertainty of this criminal proceeding longer than they had their father in their lives.”
JUST IN: A truck believed to be carrying Tyler Robinson arrives at a Utah courthouse ahead of a high-stakes hearing over the timeline of his trial in the killing of Charlie Kirk.
The arrival comes after Robinson’s defense team requested a 2029 trial date, a proposed delay that… pic.twitter.com/bTA7jq1Vt5
Kirk’s attorneys criticised the proposed delay as “grossly out of line.”
They cited Utah law providing crime victims with the right to a speedy disposition of criminal charges without unwarranted delays caused by defendants.
Robinson’s lawyers argue that the case will require extensive preparation, including reviewing tens of thousands of files, investigating potential mitigating evidence, conducting a study into whether the trial should be moved elsewhere and undertaking the complicated process of selecting an impartial jury.
They estimate the eventual trial could itself last between six and seven months.
Prosecutors expect proceedings to take approximately 17 weeks.
The 23-year-old has pleaded not guilty to seven charges, including aggravated murder, over the fatal shooting of Kirk during a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University in September last year.
A judge ruled last month that prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence for Robinson to stand trial on all charges and allowed them to continue seeking the death penalty.
Erika Kirk is asking Judge Tony Graf to schedule the trial no later than October 2027, arguing that further delays would unnecessarily prolong an already devastating ordeal for the bereaved family.
The court is expected to consider the competing timelines at a hearing Friday.
The Justice Department is investigating allegations of ‘pay-to-play’ against Corey Lewandowski, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The investigation stems from a referral from the DHS’s Inspector General claiming that Corey Lewandowski profited from his position at the Department of Homeland Security.
The New York Times and CNN also reported that Corey Lewandowski is under investigation.
“Mr. Lewandowski has not been contacted by the Justice Department regarding any investigation, and he denies any wrongdoing when he was proudly serving his country in a voluntary capacity,” Lewandowski’s attorney Adam Trigg told CNN.
President Trump earlier this year fired Kristi Noem as DHS Chief and immediately announced that then-Senator Markwayne Mullin (OK) will become the next Secretary of Homeland Security.
Noem reportedly approved a limited-bid contract and then lied to Congress when she claimed Trump approved the $200 million ads contract.
One of the three firms that was approved was linked to Lewandowski, who is long-rumored to be in a romantic relationship with Noem.
“Noem and Lewandowski were quite aware that the president was not happy with something that Noem said in her testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where she was grilled about this $220 million ad campaign featuring her,” CBS reported.
President Trump was asked about the DOJ’s probe of Corey Lewandowski as he departed the White House.
“All I know is I want my people to be honest. If they’re not gonna be honest, they have to be prosecuted…if people are not honest, they’re stealing from me, as president,” Trump told reporters on the helipad.
“I want the people that work for this administration to be 100% honest,” Trump said.
WATCH:
Corey Lewandowski attacked the DHS Inspector General who referred him to the DOJ.
“This guys is a total fraud,” Lewandowski said of Joseph Cuffari.
“Cuffari was found in October 2024 by an independent panel of watchdogs to have committed misconduct during his tenure as inspector general of the DHS, including misleading the Senate during his nomination process,” Lewandowski said.
This guy is a total fraud.
https://t.co/Q2ypoLFLwV
Cuffari was found in October 2024 by an independent panel of watchdogs to have committed misconduct during his tenure as inspector general of the DHS, including misleading the Senate during his nomination process.
President Trump with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Paxton stands for safe, secure borders. His Democrat foe thinks funding border security is a waste of money.
The great Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued OPenAI and Sam Altman on Friday for lying to and misleading Texans on safety concerns.
The suit was filed on Friday October 23, 2026, in Collin County district court. The suit alleges OpenAI misled consumers about ChatGPT’s safety and failed to protect Texans — including children — from harmful AI outputs
Here is the press release on today’s lawsuit.
And here is Ken Paxton’s announcement on X.
BREAKING: I sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman for lying to users and harming Texans. https://t.co/hFFiZBTDCZ
Aftermath of a Russian ballistic missile strike on Kyiv on October 22, 2026. Photo courtesy of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine/DSNS Kyiv.
Russian forces struck Kyiv with three waves of ballistic missiles overnight into October 22, killing one person and injuring 24, including four children, according to city authorities.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched Iskander-M, S-400, Zircon, and Onyx missiles, along with 210 drones, 110 of them jet-powered. Air defenses shot down 181 drones. Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia fired 21 missiles at the capital and struck targets across 12 regions.
The State Emergency Service reported damage in six Kyiv districts. In Dniprovskyi, one person was killed and six were injured, including a child, as fires engulfed homes and cars. In Pechersk, strikes damaged buildings, ambulances, and a monastery, injuring eight people, including three children.
A missile hit a non-residential building in Holosiivskyi, injuring six people, while two others were injured in Obolonskyi. A restaurant complex burned in Sviatoshynskyi, and transport infrastructure was damaged in Darnytskyi.
In the Bucha district, a drone struck near a store, damaging homes as well as cars on the highway and wounding a 59-year-old. Kyiv was also hit last month.
In the north, Russia struck an enterprise in Chernihiv twice with Banderol munitions, killing a 61-year-old man and injuring a 54-year-old man, regional head Viacheslav Chaus said. A Shahed-type drone also set fire to a warehouse at an agricultural enterprise in Semenivka.
In Sumy Oblast, nearly 60 Russian attacks hit 26 settlements across 14 communities, killing a 74-year-old man and injuring five people.
Elsewhere, a drone struck a private home in Zhytomyr Oblast, injuring nine people, including two children, Governor Vitalii Bunechko reported.
In Poltava Oblast, Russian strikes hit a private television and radio company and an energy facility in Kremenchuk district. No casualties were reported.
In the east, Russian attacks on Kharkiv and 11 other settlements killed one person and injured 15, including three children, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. The region has been repeatedly targeted this month.
In Donetsk Oblast, Russian strikes killed two people—one in Druzhkivka and one in Kramatorsk—and injured nine, Governor Vadym Filashkin said. Kramatorsk was also hit earlier this month, when a glide bomb struck buses. An airstrike on Sloviansk damaged six apartment buildings, a hotel, a shop, and cars, injuring five people, including children aged 8 and 13.
In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Russian forces attacked five districts more than 50 times. In the Nikopol area, one person was killed and another injured, while homes, an administrative building, a sports school, and cars were damaged.
In the south, Russia struck 48 settlements in Zaporizhzhia Oblast 862 times, with 28 airstrikes, 633 drone attacks, mostly using FPV drones, four multiple-rocket-launcher attacks, and 197 artillery strikes. Three people were killed and three injured in Zaporizhzhia and the surrounding district. Officials received 90 reports of damage, Governor Ivan Fedorov said.
A drone damaged a food producer’s two-story administrative building in southern Odesa Oblast. In central Ukraine, a strike in the Kropyvnytskyi district of Kirovohrad Oblast set warehouses ablaze. Neither region reported casualties.
Nationwide, Russian attacks killed at least nine people and injured 57, according to regional authorities.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry reported Russian losses of 2,250 personnel, 1,750 drones, and 44 artillery systems on October 21, bringing Russia’s cumulative personnel losses to approximately 1,572,790. Ukrainian losses were not disclosed.
Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces struck an electronic warfare station near Hulevka in Russia’s Bryansk Oblast, a command post near Vyshneve and a drone control point near Lankove in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and a supply depot near Zolotarivka in Luhansk Oblast.
In Germany, Federal Criminal Police officers arrested Ukrainian citizen Vadym Y. in Brandenburg’s Oder-Spree district on October 22 on suspicion of working for a Russian intelligence service, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office said.
Prosecutors allege he had been in contact with Russian intelligence through a middleman since at least July 2025. He allegedly collected information on the production of armored vehicles, ammunition, and explosives, as well as on personnel and military facilities at sites securing NATO’s eastern flank. Some information was publicly available; he allegedly obtained the rest from people in the European defense industry. The investigation began with information from Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.
In Kyiv, Zelensky and Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo signed seven agreements worth a combined 300 million euros, or about $336 million. The deals expand Ukraine’s use of Finnish satellite capabilities through Nokia and ICEYE and provide locomotives, energy equipment, and funding to protect energy infrastructure.
Ukraine will also be able to purchase military equipment through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) for the first time, the Defense Ministry announced. Defense Minister Evgeniy Khmara signed the agreement on October 14. NSPA can combine Ukraine’s orders with those of other countries to secure better prices, and Ukrainian defense manufacturers will be eligible to bid on agency tenders.
A Christian murdered in his home by Fulani Muslims. Photo courtesy of Paul.
Attacks in Plateau and Kaduna states between October 19 and 22 left two people dead, a third ambushed and six others abducted. The victims included members of Christian farming communities and an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
Local reporters identified the Plateau attackers as Fulani herdsmen, while a Kajuru community leader described the Kaduna attackers as Fulani terrorists.
The first attack occurred at about 9:30 p.m. on Monday, October 19, in Pushit community, Mangu Local Government Area (LGA), Plateau State. Gunmen abducted a businessman who deals in fuel, cement and fertiliser.
As they fled with him, the headlight of a motorcycle ridden by an NSCDC deputy superintendent exposed their position. The gunmen shot and killed the officer near his residence. Local reporter Voice of Walshak identified him as Distu Garba Audu.
Community member Lawrence Tabitha said the businessman’s trade made him a target. Tabitha also named Vodni, Sabon Gari and Nchiya among the communities in Pushit District that have been repeated targeted for violence.
“We are really worried about these repeated attacks in Pushit District,” he said.
The Pushit attack occurred despite a dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed in Mangu and two other LGAs following repeated attacks.
Six days earlier, on October 13, Plateau State Commissioner of Police Ayodeji Faniyan addressed the Inspector-General of Police’s conference in Abuja. He said Plateau State would be “too hot” for attackers to operate.
Two more ambushes followed in Plateau State. On October 21, attackers identified as Fulani herdsmen ambushed Ezra Godsave in Marit village, Barkin Ladi LGA, according to the Christian reporting group Persecuted Hope.
The group described the ambushes as part of a siege of Christian farming and trading communities, where residents risk being killed while traveling to their farms or markets.
On October 22, armed Fulani herdsmen ambushed and killed one person in Kwatas village, Bokkos LGA.
The Kwatas killing followed other attacks in Bokkos LGA this month. On October 4, Fulani herdsmen killed two Christians and injured three in Mangor village, area youth leader Bwefang Sunday told Christian Daily.
On the night of October 12, gunmen shot Da Jatau Yohanna Samkwar, the Mishkaham Bokkos, at his residence in Daffo. He died of his wounds in hospital. The Mwaghavul Traditional Council, Bokkos branch, identified the attackers as Fulani militias. Kidnappers had released his son the day before the attack.
Bulus Dabit, national president of the Mwaghavul Development Association, said, “We demand an immediate stoppage of the selective killing of our people.”
Kefas Mallai, chairman of the Community Peace Observers in Bokkos, said, “Almost every day, somebody is killed or something happens.”
On October 21, the Coalition of Indigenous Youth Nationalities, Plateau State, held a press conference at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) FCT Council in Abuja. The coalition comprises Afizere, Anaguta, Atakar, Atten, Bache, Berom, Gamai, Irigwe, Kunlere, Mushere, Mwaghavul, Ron, Pan, Tarok and other ethnic youth bodies.
Coalition spokesperson Dalyop Solomon Mwantiri said the group had documented at least 152 hamlets, villages and communities affected by attacks and occupation, as well as displacement.
The coalition described cattle grazing accompanied by attacks by armed militants as a strategy of war and forceful occupation.
The press conference was held in response to an October 5 petition filed on behalf of the Plateau chapters of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), the Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria (GAFDAN) and the Fulbe Youth Development Association (FUYODA).
The petition accused the Department of State Services (DSS), the Mobile Police Force and Operation Rainbow of bias. The coalition credited their joint operations with the arrest of suspected leaders of armed groups and fewer attacks on communities.
It also called for an investigation into alleged collusion between some military personnel and armed groups.
The coalition alleged that sponsors of armed militants were raising ₦20 million to fund media campaigns, court cases and petitions against the security operations. It said Mobile Police officers had been killed in Dares and Kwi villages, in Bokkos and Riyom LGAs, about two weeks earlier.
In Kaduna State, attackers raided Mararaban Kajuru in Kufana Ward, Kajuru LGA, at about 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 20, and abducted five people. Leadership newspaper described the attackers as suspected bandits.
Alipiri Ado, chairman of the camp for internally displaced persons in Kajuru County, told TruthNigeria that Fulani terrorists had raided Mission Maraban Kajuru.
He identified the victims as Samuel Danladi, 30; Ashlee Dogo, 25; a one-month-old baby girl; Yakubu Ishaku, 76; and Rebecca Yakubu, 37.
A community security update confirming the abductions closed with a request for prayer: “Let’s pray for their safe return in Jesus name.”
At the time of Leadership’s report, neither the Kaduna State Police Command nor the state Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs had commented on the abductions.
TruthNigeria reported that 18 people had been abducted and one killed in Kajuru in a single week. In an earlier report published in October, it had counted at least 29 people abducted in Kajuru since September 19, including two four-month-old babies.
Ado contrasted the state’s response to Christian victims with its response to Muslim victims. “One Muslim family is kidnapped — Governor Uba Sani visits them with cameras and promises,” he said.
On October 22, First Daily reported that eight of 11 residents abducted from Awon village, Kachia LGA, on April 20 had died in captivity.
The reported deaths included Joy Samuel, who died on August 28 after giving birth in the kidnappers’ camp, her newborn, her 14-year-old daughter and her three-year-old daughter, Silvia.
A bandit leader identified as Yellow One Million reportedly confirmed the deaths to a woman who escaped. The kidnappers had demanded ₦300 million and 23 motorcycles. One captive escaped, and two remain in captivity.
In another attack earlier this month, on October 14, Magaji Simon Fedelis was clubbed and hacked to death while crossing the River Kaduna with his wife, Patricia, in Bondong District, Kaura LGA, Southern Kaduna. The couple were walking home from Ganawuri Market.
Patricia Magaji told TruthNigeria that four armed men, whom she identified as Fulani, blocked their path. After the killing, she said, the attackers told her they had come “to deal with Christians.” His family has petitioned police, and no arrests have been announced.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani tells illegal aliens in Spanish how to evade ICE. Credit: @NYCMayor X
Marxist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani showcased his latest bit of treachery with a twist that is sparking online anger.
On Friday, the ardent opponent of basic immigration enforcement went online and decided to coach the Big Apple’s illegal alien residents in SPANISH on how they can avoid being detained by ICE.
In the video, Mamdani outlines these three steps illegals can undertake to sabotage immigration enforcement: demand a judicial order from ICE before they can enter one of your ‘private’ spaces, remain silent if asked about your immigration status, and call the city’s immigration legal support line.
Mandani closes the video by telling illegals they have a ‘right to protest’ and vowing to protect their ‘right’ to do so.
WATCH:
If you encounter ICE, here’s what every New Yorker should know. https://t.co/hrjL8JPLyr
MAMDANI: If you encounter ICE, these are your rights:
First, ICE cannot legally enter private spaces without a judicial order. These spaces include your home, hospitals, churches, and private areas of your workplace.
In a document, look for the words “United States District Court” and a judge’s signature.
You can ask the officers to pass the order under the door. If they don’t have a judicial order, you can leave the door closed and say, “I do not consent to your entry.”
Second, you have the right to remain silent. If ICE stops you on the street, ask, “Am I free to go?”
If the agent says yes, walk away calmly. Speak with a lawyer before signing any documents or making any decisions about your immigration status or case.
Third, you are not alone. Anyone can call the city’s immigration legal support line at 1-800-354-0365 regardless of their immigration status.
The call is free and confidential, and available in your native language.
You can also call 311 and say “Immigration legal.” The city, including local police, do not assist in the enforcement of civil immigration law.
One last thing: the Constitution grants you the right to protest, and we will protect that right.
These are very frightening times for people. But as your mayor, I will fight every day to protect, support, and celebrate our communities.
American X users exploded on Mamdani after hearing his disgusting advice to immigration lawbreakers, with many slamming him for committing a crime himself.
@NYCMayor @FBI @DHSgov @ICEgov
Giving foreign invaders instructions on how to avoid law enforcement is a federal crime. https://t.co/XD1Trflc8v
@NYCMayor Fuck you, asshole. ILLEGAL immigrants have no right to be here and our taxes shouldn’t be supporting them. Your job is to look out for AMERICAN CITIZENS. You need to step down.
I personally find it utterly in incomprehensible that in 2026 the Mayor of New York City is, in no unclear terms, literally publicly counseling folks who are here ILLEGALLY on how to sneak away and avoid the men and women of our law enforcement who are trying to do nothing more than constitutionally remove them.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has authorized the temporary use of the U.S. military’s Active Denial System, a vehicle-mounted directed-energy weapon long nicknamed the heat ray, for potential use along the southern border.
A memo Hegseth signed in September grants DHS a single unit for seven months beginning that month, on the condition that no Department of War personnel operate it, according to a CNN report.
CNN reports:
It also states that DHS is solely responsible for “system employment, use and development of tactics, techniques and procedures.” At the end of the seven-month loan period, DHS can submit an additional request for further use of the Pentagon system in border operations based on need, a defense official told CNN.
“CBP is continually evaluating new technologies, especially those that enhance operational effectiveness and strengthen mission capabilities,” a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.
The Active Denial System fires an invisible, focused beam of 95-gigahertz millimeter-wave energy that travels at the speed of light and can reach targets a little more than half a mile away.
The energy penetrates only about 1/64th of an inch into the skin (roughly the thickness of three sheets of paper), rapidly heating water and fat molecules near the surface.
Military fact sheets and testing summaries describe the result as an intense, intolerable heating sensation comparable to opening a hot oven, which produces an instinctive and irresistible urge to move away.
The effect stops as soon as the person leaves the beam or the operator shuts it off, but residual tingling can linger for 10 to 15 minutes.
Official Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program materials emphasize that the system is designed as a non-lethal intermediate force capability to create distance and decision space without resorting to kinetic or lethal measures.
Extensive volunteer testing has shown an extremely low injury rate of about one-tenth of one percent.
The technology originated in Air Force Research Laboratory work dating to the late 1980s and matured as an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration under the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate in the 2000s.
In 2018, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen rejected earlier internal discussions at Customs and Border Protection about using it for crowd dispersal near high-crossing areas, including river sections.
One former official later told CNN the objection centered on treating immigrants and citizens like enemy combatants.
“The issue was treating immigrants and citizens like enemy combatants,” an unnamed former DHS official told CNN. “Thematically, inhumane treatments typically get rejected.”
Customs and Border Protection has confirmed it is reviewing the technology.
In statements to multiple outlets, the agency said it “is continually evaluating new technology, especially technology that can save lives while simultaneously enhancing national security effectiveness.”
The Pentagon has referred questions to DHS.
Patrick Weaver, deputy chief of staff to the Secretary of War, posted on X that “The border is now a military installation and a battle lab for testing new systems, to include directed energy weapons. The border is locked down!”
The border is now a military installation and a battle lab for testing new systems, to include directed energy weapons. The border is locked down! @DoWCTO https://t.co/d3FeOSxEun
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham that the department is always evaluating border technology and that “deterrence is the best option we have,” adding that officials will use whatever tools are available to prevent illegal entry while preferring non-lethal or less-lethal options where possible.
WATCH:
Ingraham: The Pentagon has reportedly approved DHS to test a military grade heat ray weapon at the southern border
Mullin: Any technology we can use to deter people from using country illegally we are doing.
Ingraham: Is it lethal?
Mullin: No. I can’t comment on this but can I tell you that the technology we are looking at is less lethal or nonlethal
Billy Adams III, a Tampa rapper known as Ace NH, has sent a handwritten letter asking a Florida judge to sentence him to death for the 2023 killing of his pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child.
The 28-year-old was convicted last month of first-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Alana Sims and of killing an unborn baby by injury to the mother.
A jury recommended life without parole for Sims’ murder but voted 8-4 in favor of the death penalty for the unborn baby’s death.
Sims was found dead on January 30, 2023, in an unfinished section of the Easton Park subdivision in New Tampa.
She had been shot in the back of the head from roughly three feet away.
Sims’ approximately 18-month-old son, Yazan, was asleep in a car seat inside her Ford EcoSport next to where she was killed and was unharmed. She was five months pregnant, with a baby she planned to name Leilani.
Prosecutors argued Adams lured her to the secluded spot under the pretense of a party celebrating his acquittal on double murder charges.
Three days earlier, on January 27, a jury had acquitted him of two first-degree murder charges in the 2020 shooting deaths of Trevon Albury and Daniel Thompson at a Lutz recording studio. Adams had claimed self-defense.
Instead, Adams murdered her because he was not ready to be a father and wanted to continue a relationship with another woman.
Text messages showed him telling the other woman the day before the killing that “Tomorrow this s— done” and that their future would not include Sims.
It was later determined Adams was not the biological father of the unborn child.
On October 12, Adams sent a letter to Tampa Circuit Judge Mark Wolfe ahead of a December 1 Spencer hearing.
In the letter, Adams stated he does not want his lawyers to present any further mitigation or arguments.
“[W]hen we go to court on December 1st, I want to be sentenced to what the jury already recommended during the penalty phase of the trial. I have already discussed everything with my lawyers and I told them I don’t want any more mitigation or arguments being presented. I want to waive mitigation at this hearing and I want to be sentenced to what the jury voted to give me. … It is my decision to waive mitigation at this hearing and I’m writing to put this on the record.”
Adams continued, according to a report from Court TV, “I don’t have an issue with the death penalty, and have asked my lawyers to respect my wishes when we go to court.”
He asked the court to sentence him to the jury’s recommendation and said he had discussed the consequences of waiving mitigation with his attorneys.
Adams’ request does not automatically impose a death sentence, and it will still be up to the judge to make the final determination.
Prosecutors have not publicly responded to the letter.
