Category: BUSINESS

Bodycam footage in Gene Hackman death investigation released

New police bodycam footage from the death investigation of actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa has been released.

The footage, obtained by USA TODAY on Tuesday, offers additional insights into the shocking deaths of Hackman and Arakawa, who were found deceased in their Santa Fe, New Mexico, home on Feb. 26.

In one clip, authorities can be seen in an emotional conversation with a maintenance worker after the couple’s bodies were discovered.

“He was just a normal person, and to see that… Sorry,” said the worker of Hackman, later getting choked up. “I get attached to all these people. They treat me really well. And like her (Arakawa), she was a sweetheart.”

A week after Hackman and Arakawa were found dead, the couple’s causes of death were revealed during a press conference held by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office. New Mexico’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Heather Jarrell, said the office’s investigation found that Hackman, who was 95, died of natural causes. The Oscar-winning actor also had heart disease and complications caused by Alzheimer’s disease

Meanwhile, Arakawa, 64, died from Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare disease that is contracted by contact with mouse droppings.

The release of bodycam footage comes after a New Mexico court blocked the release of some records in the investigation earlier this month.

The First Judicial District Court in New Mexico issued a temporary restraining order against the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office and the Office of the Medical Investigator on March 17. The order temporarily prevents the disclosure of photographs or videos showing Hackman or Arakawa’s bodies, the interior of their home and any lapel footage that includes their bodies or images of deceased animals at the home.

Gene Hackman, Betsy Arakawa associates talk carbon monoxide leak, Arakawa’s health

The unclear circumstances of Hackman and Arakawa’s deaths were a point of discussion for authorities, newly released bodycam footage shows.

A clip from the footage, which consists of over 20 videos, shows police speaking with witnesses about the state of Hackman and Arakawa’s home and its potential role in their deaths. At one point, the group brings up the possibility of a carbon monoxide leak.

“Something is not right,” a witness reflected, while neither confirming nor denying the leak.

According to a search warrant affidavit, authorities found Hackman in a mudroom near his cane, appearing to have fallen, while his wife was found in an open bathroom near a space heater, with an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on the nearby countertop. A deputy observed Arakawa with “body decomposition, bloating in her face” and mummification of her hands and feet.

Gene Hackman death: Actor’s dog likely died of starvation and dehydration

At a Feb. 28 press conference, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed that carbon monoxide poisoning had been ruled out as a potential cause of death for the couple after Hackman and Arakawa both tested negative for carbon monoxide.

In another clip, an individual identified as Hackman and Arakawa’s dog trainer remarked on Arakawa’s good health. “She’s a health freak,” the individual said. “She always dealt with Gene. Anything that he needed, she took care of him.”

One of the couple’s German shepherds was also found dead less than 15 feet from Arakawa in a closet, while their other two dogs were found alive in the bathroom near Arakawa and outside. The dog, Zinfandel (nicknamed Zinna), likely died from dehydration and starvation, according to a necropsy report issued by the New Mexico Department of Agriculture’s Veterinary Diagnostic Services.

Contractor recalls discovering Betsy Arakawa

A contractor who worked for Hackman and Arakawa recalled entering Hackman and Arakawa’s Santa Fe residence after suspicions grew over the couple’s whereabouts, bodycam footage shows.

In a conversation with Santa Fe County Sheriff Detective Joel Cano, the contractor said they hadn’t heard from Hackman and Arakawa in about three weeks, which they initially attributed to Arakawa possibly being upset with the individual for disclosing their work with the famously private pair.

However, conversations with other associates of Hackman and his wife, who also hadn’t been in contact with the couple, led the contractor to contact Arakawa’s mother to request a wellness check with police.

“The whole time I’m thinking at work, ‘… Am I wrong about all this?’” the contractor said. “Am I going to show up there with two investigators and a state cop, and (Hackman and Arakawa) are going to come out and tell me, ‘What the hell are you doing here? … We’re sick, we got the flu, or something like that.’”

More Gene Hackman, Betsy Arakawa news: Photos of deaths to be restricted with temporary restraining order

However, after searching the couple’s home with a security guard, the contractor discovered Arakawa’s body in the bathroom.

“I was close to them both, and they treated me like gold for 16 years,” the contractor said. “I’m major heartbroken over this.”

Contributing: Brendan Morrow, Anna Kaufman, Taijuan Moorman, Jay Stahl and Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY

March 26, 2025
Garbage tour 2025: How to get tickets
It’s called Happy Endings, but the first headlining tour from Garbage in nearly a decade also brings something new.
The band will unveil its eighth studio album, “Let All That We Imagine Be The Light,” May 30 and embark on the 31-city Happy Endings tour across North America this fall.

The original quartet of Shirley Manson, Duke Erikson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig will kick off the nearly three-month run Sept. 3 in Orlando, with stops in Brooklyn, Washington DC, San Francisco and Boston on the docket until the Nov. 2 end in Phoenix.

Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. local time April 4 at garbage.com and ticketmaster.com.

Garbage’s new album is its first since 2021’s “No Gods No Masters,” which the alt-rock band brought to life onstage while opening for Tears For Fears during their North American leg of The Tipping Point World Tour in 2022.

The 10-track album includes the songs “There’s No Future in Optimism,” “Love to Give” and “The Day That I Met God.”

In 2024, Garbage was forced to cancel the remainder of their U.S. dates after Manson suffered an injury during their European shows.

While she never disclosed specifics about the injury that landed her in the hospital, Manson posted photos of her recovery on Instagram and said she returned from the European tour “a hot mess,” adding her husband “had to push me through Heathrow and LAX airports in a wheelchair. I also had a dose of laryngitis and a massive cold sore on my lip.”

Garbage is currently touring South America.

Garbage Happy Endings Tour 2025 dates

Sept. 3: Orlando — Hard Rock Café

Sept. 5: Pompano Beach, Florida — Pompano Beach Amphitheatre

Sept. 6: St Petersburg, Florida — Jannus Live

Sept. 8: Atlanta — The Eastern

Sept. 10: Nashville — The Pinnacle

Sept. 12: Cleveland — Agora Theatre

Sept. 13: Detroit — Masonic Cathedral Theatre

Sept. 16: Philadelphia — Franklin Music Hall

Sept. 17: Washington, DC — The Anthem

Sept. 18: Boston — Roadrunner

Sept. 20: Brooklyn — Brooklyn Paramount

Sept. 23: Pittsburgh — Stage AE

Sept. 24: Toronto — History

Sept. 29: Chicago — The Salt Shed

Sept. 30: Newport, Kentucky — MegaCorp Pavilion

Oct. 1: Columbus, Ohio — KEMBA Live!

Oct. 3: Madison, Wisconsin —The Sylvee

Oct. 4: Minneapolis — First Avenue

Oct. 6: Kansas City, Missouri — Midland Theatre

Oct. 7: Dallas — The Bomb Factory

Oct. 12: Denver — The Mission Ballroom

Oct. 15: Seattle — Paramount Theatre

Oct. 18: Spokane, Washington — Knitting Factory Spokane

Oct. 20: Vancouver — Orpheum

Oct. 21: Portland, Oregon — McMenamins Crystal Ballroom

Oct. 23: Saratoga, California — The Mountain Winery

Oct. 24: San Francisco — The Warfield

Oct. 26: Reno, Nevada — Silver Legacy Resort Casino

Oct. 29: Salt Lake City — Rockwell at The Complex

Oct. 31: Las Vegas — The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas – The Chelsea

Nov. 2: Phoenix — The Van Buren
March 26, 2025
Andre Braugher remembered by ‘The Residence’ cast, creator

NEW YORK – Andre Braugher was a giant.

The two-time Emmy winner, who died of lung cancer in 2023 at age 61, was a beloved stage and screen fixture for nearly four decades. He appeared in almost a dozen Shakespeare productions in New York and starred in popular crime procedurals including CBS’ “Hack” and NBC’s “Homicide: Life on the Street.” To younger generations, he was perhaps best known as the wry yet tender Captain Raymond Holt on police sitcom “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” which ended its eight-season run on Fox and NBC in 2021.

In Netflix’s knotty new mystery series “The Residence” (now streaming), Braugher was originally cast in the key role of White House chief usher A.B. Wynter, whose murder prompts a sweeping investigation by the eccentric Detective Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba).

The actor shot four episodes of the whodunit before production was shut down in summer 2023 amid the Hollywood actors’ and writers’ strikes. Braugher died in December of that year, and was recast in early 2024 with Giancarlo Esposito (AMC’s “Breaking Bad”). The series ends with a title card dedicated to the Golden Globe nominee, who made his film debut in 1989’s “Glory.”

Given that A.B. is dead for nearly all of Detective Cupp’s scenes, “my time with him filming was mostly just him laying on the floor – and being wonderful doing it,” Aduba recalls with a grin. But they sat near each other many days during read-throughs, and in the hair and makeup chairs, where they’d have long conversations about “anything and everything.”

“My favorite memory is that he’d always say ‘Hey, queen!’ when he came in,” Aduba says. “I asked, ‘Why do you say that?’ And Andre was like, ‘Because you’re the queen.’ He was a class act, and an actor I’d admired since I was a kid. One time I told him I used to watch ‘Homicide’ at a wildly inappropriate age. So anything I would say after that, he would say, ‘Were you doing that at a wildly inappropriate age?’”

Molly Griggs, who butts heads with A.B. as social secretary Lilly Schumacher, recalls getting the opportunity to improvise with Braugher and feeling like she was “going to pass out.”

“I genuinely made him laugh a couple times, and that is something I will treasure for the rest of my life,” Griggs says. “I never really got the courage to tell him this, and I really wish I had, but his performance in ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ truly got me through the pandemic in particular. He was such a funny, smart, brilliant actor and a warm human being.”

On set, she remembers Braugher would constantly talk about his wife of more than 30 years, actress Ami Brabson, as well as their three sons Michael, Isaiah, and John Wesley.

“He would refer to his wife as ‘my bride,’” Griggs recalls. He got the chance to see his son, Michael, play Hamlet onstage in Minneapolis the spring before he died, and “he came back to work so proud. What really got me was that he talked about his son as a colleague. He really respected his work as an actor, but there was that underlying warmth of a father. His family was so lucky to have him.”

Paul William Davies, who created “The Residence,” remembers the first day he met Braugher, when they spent an hour and a half just discussing A.B.

“He was so thoughtful,” Davies says. “He had read everything so carefully, and had all these insightful questions about who A.B. was and what his relationships were with the other characters.” Before that discussion, “I really felt like I knew A.B., yet he was asking me these things where I was like, ‘Oh, I hadn’t really thought about that before.’ He was a genius.”

March 26, 2025
Garcelle Beauvais leaving ‘RHOBH’ after 5 seasons

Garcelle Beauvais is turning the page on her time on “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”

The actress announced Tuesday she’d be leaving after five years on the franchise. Season 14 of the series wraps Tuesday.

“Cheers to the next chapter,” Beauvais, 58, captioned an Instagram video. In it, she said, “It’s been a wild ride. Some amazing things have happened, and some hard things have also happened. But it’s been a ride nevertheless.”

The former “The Jamie Foxx Show” star and “The Real” co-host said she was leaving to focus on her family, including her two younger twin sons, who are heading into their senior year of high school. She said she also has “the most exciting projects” in store. “I am developing, producing and acting. And I can’t tell you anything right now, but you’ll know soon,” she added.

Crystal Kung Minkoff announces departure from ‘The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’

In the clip, she also thanked “The Real Housewives” host and executive producer Andy Cohen, Bravo, NBCUniversal, and the “RHOBH” cast and crew. “Andy Cohen says I can come back anytime, the door will always be open,” she said. “So you never know – I might pop back in sometime.”

In a statement shared Tuesday with USA TODAY, Beauvais echoed her sentiments from her video message: “I have made the decision to leave RHOBH. My primary reason for stepping away is to focus on my sons and my upcoming producing and acting projects. Thank you to everyone at NBCU, Andy Cohen, the producers, and especially the fans. I have deeply appreciated all of your support, this isn’t goodbye—it’s a see you later.”

The remaining “RHOBH” cast members include Erika Jayne, Dorit Kemsley, Kyle Richards, Sutton Stracke and Bozoma Saint John. Kathy Hilton and Jennifer Tilly have appeared as friends of the cast.

USA TODAY has reached out to Bravo for comment.

‘RHOBH’ newbie Bozoma Saint John talks ‘quiet hour,’ life while filming a reality show

The “Love Me as I Am” author, who also starred in “NYPD Blue” and the Eddie Murphy comedy “Coming to America” and its sequel, joined the “RHOBH” main cast in 2020.

“I’ve done amazing things throughout my career and worked with some incredible people, but I’ve never got more attention than the announcement of me joining ‘Beverly Hills,’” Beauvais told USA TODAY in 2022 while promoting her memoir. “I’ve never done reality TV before. It was surreal.”

March 26, 2025
‘Wicked’ author on watching Cynthia Erivo cry on set: ‘Devastating’

Gregory Maguire says publishing a “Wicked” prequel on the heels of the wildly successful movie adaptation may seem like “leaping after low hanging fruit,” but it’s a story he’s been waiting to tell for 30 years.

“Elphie: A Wicked Childhood,” out now from HarperCollins, is Maguire’s eighth book in the “Wicked” universe, and this one tells the story of the titular green witch’s youngest years. Many scenes of Elphaba’s childhood were among the cuts in Maguire’s “hefty brick of manuscript pages” when the book was first published in 1995, he tells USA TODAY.

This prequel fills in gaps in Elphaba’s story for fans who have supported “Wicked” for three decades.

“Those two little scenes fell on the cutting room floor, as it were, of my office, and I never forgot them. I just put them in a glass of warm water and tended them for 30 years,” Maguire says. “I was never going to do anything with them, but in the last 30 years – that’s almost half my life – I have seen my little aberration, my little fan fiction attempt to go to Oz and see what it looks like to me, turned into an enterprise and a mythology that is long going to outlast my lifetime.”

‘Elphie’ gives a closer look at iconic ‘Wicked’ character

“Elphie” follows the young witch from birth until enrolling in Shiz University, with a special emphasis on events that happen during ages 7 and 12. Maguire borrows from his own Catholic upbringing here – age 7 is considered “the age of reason,” believed to be when a child can distinguish between right and wrong. And 12, on the cusp of puberty, is a ripe time for developing a sense of identity.

Most of the book is set in Quadling Country, where Elphaba’s father is a missionary. “Elphie” gives a clearer look at the dynamics between Elphaba and her sister Nessarose, as well as her parents, Frex and Melena. Readers will also get a glimpse of Nanny, Shell (Elphaba’s brother) and Turtle Heart, the Quadling glassblower who Melena and Frex come to know intimately. Most striking are the early hints at magic for the Thropp sisters, plus Elphaba’s discovery of the speaking animal populations of Oz.

The prequel also gives a more direct glimpse into Elphie’s mind than the original book. Much of “Wicked” is told from the perspective of Glinda, Boq, Fiyero and others, an intentional decision by Maguire to give an outsider’s look at Elphaba and how the world treats her. Now, he’s flipping that on its head.

“I don’t want to go to my happy grave without having put my stamp on what I think might have helped make Elphaba the person she is when she arrives at university,” Maguire says.

Holding space for Cynthia Erivo, Idina Menzel and all the Elphabas

Maguire’s dedication in “Elphie” couldn’t be more fitting, reading: “For Idina Menzel and for Cynthia Erivo and for all the Elphabas, past and to come.”

He’s met Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth (the original Elphaba and Glinda, respectively, on Broadway) as well as Erivo and Ariana Grande, saying they treat him like “a beloved cousin” and always make time to chat with his kids.

He even visited the “Wicked” movie set for a day, watching Erivo and Grande film the touching Ozdust Ballroom dance scene.

“I’m living testimony to anybody who wants to know that there is no glycerin drops in Cynthia Erivo’s eyes to propel those tears down her cheeks,” Maguire says. “There were at least five times over the course of several days where I just wanted to break through the set and grab both women by the elbows and rush them to safety. I was devastated to see them perform such excruciating and tender moments of agony, it was devastating to watch. I felt so bad that I’d written anything that brought them to have to do this for a week.”

It has to be said that the “Wicked” novels are very different from the stage and movie adaptations, green protagonist included. But Maguire didn’t feel any pressure as he stepped back into Elphaba’s cape to write “Elphie.”

“I hold Elphaba as portrayed by Idina Menzel and Elphaba as portrayed by Cynthia Erivo, and Elphaba as portrayed by any other actress I’ve seen play her or any high school audition tape that’s been sent, they’re all Elphaba to me,” Maguire says. “I can embrace them all and I can hold them all because … Elphaba is still in my head and cannot be upgraded by the success of popular entertainment.”

‘Wicked’ movie prompts fans to revisit Maguire novels

Since the Jon M. Chu adaptation catapulted the green- and pink-hued story back into pop culture stardom, many readers have revisited Maguire’s novel. Some of them read the novel as kids (an ill-advised read, considering the novel’s mature elements) and now are surprised by the story’s political undertones. The novel takes place in an Oz that’s rife with political turmoil – populism and propaganda help the Wizard control and target speaking animals and Elphaba after she refuses to work for him.

Maguire’s motivation was to explore how calling someone wicked or evil is “a tool used by oppressors.” When he was writing, he says he was reflecting backward at World War II and the Vietnam War. He expected critics to say his plot was too “retro.” But in recent years, reviews have called the story “prophetic” and remarked on the continued relevance of its political themes, especially polarization. Maguire says he would prefer it remain retro.

“I’m bloody grateful that ‘Wicked’ exists and that it can talk to people,” Maguire says. “It’s not a polemical argument. It’s not an op-ed piece. It’s a novel about characters living as well as they can in difficult times. And really, that’s what art is for is to give us something in which we can find ourselves and for which we can draw strength.”

‘Wicked’ movie’s biggest changes: From the Broadway musical and book

Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY’s Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you’re reading at [email protected].

March 26, 2025
Ben Affleck breaks silence on Jennifer Lopez divorceCelebrities

Ben Affleck breaks silence on Jennifer Lopez divorceCelebrities

March 26, 2025
Sean Combs scores small victory in in Lil Rod lawsuit

Sean “Diddy” Combs scored a partial legal win Monday when a New York judge agreed to dismiss racketeering and breach of contract charges brought against him by music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones.

The order, filed by Judge J. Paul Oetken, dismissed only part of Jones’ larger lawsuit, ruling that the bulk of it could proceed, but trimming off RICO, breach of contract and infliction of emotional distress charges.

Jones, who worked as the producer on Combs’ 2023 “The Love Album: Off the Grid,” brought the sprawling suit in February 2024. In it, he alleges Combs coerced him into various sex acts, dangling money and high-power industry connections to keep him quiet and ensnare him in a web of misconduct. Then, Jones alleges, he was never paid.

Diddy pleads not guilty again, shocks with new look in court

Oetken allowed for Jones’ sex trafficking claims − brought against Combs, his business enterprise and his chief of staff, Kristina Khorram − to continue but issued a stark warning to the producer’s lawyer Tyrone Blackburn, calling his conduct “unsettling.”

Blackburn said he respects the judge’s “order and opinion” in a statement to USA TODAY Tuesday. “We view this as a win,” Blackburn said. “Defendants wanted a total dismissal and they failed to get it.” Blackburn claimed Combs and Khorram do “not want me to do discovery,” because “I know where all of the bodies are buried and I have a HUGE shovel. Time to start digging!”

USA TODAY has reached out to Combs’ and Khorram’s lawyers for comment.

The judge criticized Blackburn’s use of separate legal claims filed against Combs as evidence of his presumed guilt. Though Combs faces an increasingly apocalyptic set of legal challenges, including a federal racketeering and sex trafficking case and a torrent of civil suits, none of that can be used as evidence of his presumed guilt, Oetken warned.

“That any licensed member of the bar would espouse such an absurd understanding of the law is not just disturbing, but shocking,” he wrote. The judge also chided Blackburn for unnecessarily insulting Combs’ legal team in his filings and hurling “schoolyard taunts.”

The racketeering or RICO charges − designed to target organized criminal organizations with a pattern of breaking the law − were dropped by Oetken because they did not demonstrate a clear enough connection between the “criminal enterprise” and the failure of Combs to pay Jones for his work.

Diddy is ‘fighting for his life’ amid sex trafficking charges. What does this mean for him?

Additionally, Jones’ breach of contract claim lacked standing, the judge wrote, because the contract took longer than a year and was not in writing, a requirement under New York law.

While the judge accepted Jones’ portrayal of Combs as a sexual predator who issued various threats throughout their working relationship, he dismissed charges of emotional distress, arguing that they lacked specific details.

March 25, 2025
Maren Morris announces new album ‘Dreamsicle’

Maren Morris is gearing up to release her most Maren Morris album yet.

“Dreamsicle,” out May 9, is the country crossover singer’s fourth full-length release and her first since 2022’s “Humble Quest.” Morris said in a release her new songs take place in the “aftermath of loosening my grip on my personal and professional life” and finding the joy in being herself.

“No monster in the mirror, no shame-laden decade or unraveling ‘what happened’ – just acceptance, release and the reclaiming of how strong I’ve always been,” she said.

The 14 tracks on the album include the five pop-leaning songs she released in August 2024 on her “Intermission” EP, including the sexually exploratory “Push Me Over” and the fizzy “Cut” featuring Julia Michaels.

Last June, several months after her divorce to country singer Ryan Hurd was finalized, Morris celebrated Pride Month by coming out as bisexual with an Instagram post that read, “”happy to be the B in LGBTQ+.”

Morris’ progressive views have often differed from conservative stalwarts in the country music industry and in 2023 she announced she was leaving behind the “toxic parts” of country music. “I want to take the good parts with me,” she said on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.”

In an interview with USA TODAY last summer, Morris said she was challenging herself to “move the goalposts” with her new music. “I don’t want to make the same record over and over,” she said.

Morris has several tour dates slated starting in July.

Earlier this year, Morris nabbed nominations for a Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Award with her song “Kiss the Sky” from the soundtrack of the animated film, “The Wild Robot.”

March 25, 2025
Who is Jeffrey Goldberg? Editor added to Pete Hegseth’s group chat

Top Trump administration officials are under fire after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth inadvertently leaked secret plans for a U.S. strike on Iran-backed militants in Yemen to a magazine editor.

The Atlantic’s top editor Jeffrey Goldberg was added to a group chat on the encrypted Signal app, where users whose names matched Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard discussed operations for the strikes, including their targets and the weapons used, in the run-up to the series of airstrikes on Houthi rebels March 15.

Here’s what you need to know about Goldberg, the journalist and author added to the Signal group chat.

Who is Jeffrey Goldberg?

Goldberg is the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. The magazine and online news organization has reported on politics, foreign affairs, business, culture, technology and more since it was founded in 1857.

Goldberg attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he was an editor at the college paper, The Daily Pennsylvanian. Goldberg started his journalism career as a police reporter for The Washington Post, eventually writing over 15 cover stories for The New York Times Magazine and then serving as a Middle East correspondent and then a Washington correspondent for The New Yorker.

He joined The Atlantic in 2007 as a national correspondent and became editor-in-chief in 2016. He also moderates its “Washington Week With The Atlantic,” a primetime TV program on major news events.

“The miracle of The Atlantic,” he told The New York Times after being named editor, “is this is literally a 19th-century brand that is firing on all pistons in a really ruthless 21st-century media environment.”

Goldberg’s reporting has won numerous awards, including the National Magazine Award, the Daniel Pearl Award, the Overseas Press Club Award and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists Prize.

Goldberg is also an author. His book “Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror,” also published as “Prisoners: A Muslim and Jew Across the Middle East Divide,” came out in 2006 and in paperback in 2008.

Jeffrey Goldberg included in group chat with top Trump officials

In a Monday article, titled “The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans,” Goldberg outlined the message exchange with timestamps and screenshots, excluding sensitive information that “could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel.”

Goldberg was invited to the chat by a user with the same name as Michael Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser. Goldberg told a podcast at The Atlantic that he’d been in regular contact with Waltz for “all the obvious journalistic reasons.”

“I didn’t think it could be real,” The Atlantic article’s headline said. “Then the bombs started falling.”

Appearing on CNN Monday, Goldberg shared his reaction to being accidentally added to the group chat.

“There were things texted that you viewed as so sensitive you did not even publish them in your report today?” CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked Goldberg, who responded that what was in the public interest, instead, was knowing that top officials were “running a war plan on a messaging app.”

The chat “appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” said Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for the White House national security council.

“I have never seen a breach quite like this,” Goldberg wrote in The Atlantic. “It is not uncommon for national-security officials to communicate on Signal. But the app is used primarily for meeting planning and other logistical matters — not for detailed and highly confidential discussions of a pending military action. And, of course, I’ve never heard of an instance in which a journalist has been invited to such a discussion.”

Who is Pete Hegseth?

Hegseth is the current Secretary of Defense. Before that, he was a co-host of “Fox & Friends,” working with the network for 10 years. His appointment broke the tradition of filling the position with longtime government employees and Pentagon chiefs. In his role as defense secretary, Hegseth has followed Trump’s agenda of targeting diversity, equity and inclusion in the military.

Throughout his nomination, Hegseth faced prior allegations of sexual assault, public drinking and abusive treatment towards women.

Contributing: Cybele Mayes-Osterman, Josh Meyer, Tom Vanden Brook, Kinsey Crowley

March 25, 2025
Meghan Markle posts adorable photo with kids Lilibet, Archie

Duchess Meghan continues to offer glimpses into her life with husband Prince Harry and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

The duchess, 43, who just wrapped the first season of her Netflix cooking and hosting show “With Love, Meghan,” and upcoming new lifestyle brand As Ever, took to her brand’s Instagram on Monday to share a moment captured in a garden with her children.

“Every day is a love story,” said the caption of the post, a collaboration with Meghan’s newly resurfaced Instagram account. In the filtered photo, Meghan carries Lilibet, 3, who is carrying a basket, with both in matching sun hats. Archie, 5, meanwhile, clings to Meghan’s leg as she appears ready to pick fruit from a tree.

Duchess Meghan talks As Ever criticism, California life with Prince Harry, new TV show

Meghan has shared a few rare photos of the children in the last few weeks, including a sweet snap of Lilibet showing her mom strawberries in a basket with Archie making a small appearance to celebrate spring, and of Harry, 40, cradling Lilibet in a post for International Women’s Day.

‘With Love, Meghan’ to return for second season as Duchess Meghan dominates Netflix

As Ever, previously dubbed American Riviera Orchard before trademark issues, is the duchess’ lifestyle brand featuring home goods and food products such as teas, spreads and baking mixes.

The brand (like her show) has faced criticism for a perceived lack of authenticity. Meghan responded to the backlash in a People magazine interview earlier this month, saying there are “tons of twists and turns” in the process of making something of your own.

“I appreciate everyone who gave me the grace to make mistakes and figure it out and also to be forgiving with myself through that,” she said. “It’s a learning curve.”

“With Love, Meghan,” her Netflix series featuring the duchess cooking, gardening and hosting with friends, offers a look at Meghan as she settles into family life. The duke and duchess infamously stepped back from their royal titles five years ago, taking residence in Canada and, later, California in June 2020. The couple and their two children currently reside in Montecito, California.

Contributing: Jay Stahl

March 25, 2025