RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Republican challenger for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat conceded last November’s election to Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs on Wednesday, two days after a federal judge ruled that potentially thousands of disputed ballots challenged by Jefferson Griffin must remain in the final tally.

In a statement provided by his campaign to The Associated Press, Griffin said he would not appeal Monday’s decision by U.S. District Judge Richard Myers, who also ordered that the State Board of Elections certify results that show Riggs is the winner by 734 votes from over 5.5 million ballots cast in the race.

Griffin’s decision sets the stage for Riggs to be officially elected to an eight-year term as an associate justice.

“While I do not fully agree with the District Court’s analysis, I respect the court’s holding — just as I have respected every judicial tribunal that has heard this case,” Griffin said. “I will not appeal the court’s decision.”

Myers delayed carrying out his order for seven days in case Griffin wanted to ask the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review his decision. Democrats, meanwhile, had called on Griffin to accept defeat.

Riggs is one of two Democrats on the seven-member state Supreme Court, and winning improved the party’s efforts to retake a majority on the court later in the decade. Griffin is a state Court of Appeals judge whose term ends in 2028.

“I wish my opponent the best and will continue to pray for her and all the members of our court system here in North Carolina. I look forward to continuing to serve the people of North Carolina,” Griffin said.

While the Associated Press declared over 4,400 winners in the 2024 general election, the North Carolina Supreme Court election was the last race nationally that was undecided.

Myers ruled that Griffin’s efforts after the Nov. 5 election to remove from the election total ballots that state appeals courts agreed were ineligible under state law would have damaged federal due process or equal protection rights of affected voters had they been implemented.

Griffin filed formal protests that initially appeared to cover more than 65,000 ballots. Ensuing state court rulings whittled the total to votes from two categories, covering from as few as 1,675 ballots to as many as 7,000, according to court filings. Griffin hoped that removing ballots he said were unlawfully cast would flip the outcome to him.

Democrats and voting rights groups had raised alarm about Griffin’s efforts, which in one category of ballots had only targeted six Democratic-leaning counties. They called it an attack on democracy that would serve as a road map for the GOP to reverse election results in other states. Griffin said Wednesday that his legal efforts were always “about upholding the rule of law and making sure that every legal vote in an election is counted.”

Most of the ballots that state appeals courts found ineligible came from military or overseas voters who didn’t provide copies of photo identification or an ID exception form with their absentee ballots. The appeals courts had permitted a 30-day “cure” process for those voters so their ballots could still count if they provided ID information.

Myers, who was nominated to the bench by President Donald Trump, agreed with Riggs and her allied litigants that the “retroactive invalidation” of those ballots violated the rights of service members, missionaries, or others working or studying abroad who cast their ballots under the rules for the 2024 election.

“You establish the rules before the game. You don’t change them after the game is done,” Myers wrote in his order.

The other category of ballots was cast by overseas voters who have never lived in the U.S. but whose parents were declared North Carolina residents. A state law had authorized those people to vote in state elections, but state appeals courts said it violated the state Constitution. Myers wrote that there was no process for people mistakenly on the list to contest their ineligibility, representing “an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote.”

Griffin said Wednesday the rulings of state appeals judges still recognized that the state election board failed to follow laws and the state constitution.

“These holdings are very significant for securing our state’s elections,” he said.

Gary D. Robertson, The Associated Press

President Donald Trump plans to announce in Saudi Arabia next week that the United States will now refer to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia, according to two U.S. officials. This weekend’s meeting between

U.S. and Chinese delegations in Switzerland will be their first major talks since Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese imports. Trump said only 21 hostages held by Hamas are believed to be still alive. He spoke as Israel approved plans to seize the Gaza Strip and to stay in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time.

And a newly declassified intelligence assessment confirms that American spy agencies found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government, undercutting Trump’s justification for invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan immigrants.

The Latest:

Columbia University lays off nearly 180 after Trump pulled $400M over his antisemitism concerns

Columbia University said Tuesday that it will be laying off nearly 180 staffers in response to Trump’s decision to cancel $400 million in funding over the Manhattan college’s handling of student protests against the war in Gaza.

Those receiving non-renewal or termination notices Tuesday represent about 20% of the employees funded in some manner by the terminated federal grants, the university said in a statement Tuesday.

“We have had to make deliberate, considered decisions about the allocation of our financial resources,” the university said. “Those decisions also impact our greatest resource, our people. We understand this news will be hard.”

University spokesperson Jessica Murphy declined to say whether more layoffs were expected, but said Columbia is taking a range of steps to create financial flexibility, including maintaining current salary levels and offering voluntary retirement incentives.

▶ Read more about the layoffs at Columbia

Declassified intelligence memo contradicts Trump’s claims linking gang to Venezuelan government

A newly declassified U.S. intelligence assessment confirms that analysts at American spy agencies found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government, contradicting statements the Trump administration used to justify invoking the Alien Enemies Act and deporting Venezuelan immigrants.

The relatives of Venezuelan migrants in the U.S. who were flown to a prison in El Salvador by the U.S. government who alleged they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, protest outside of the United Nations building in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

The redacted memo from the National Intelligence Council said there was no indication that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro or other senior government officials are directing the actions of Tren de Aragua, a gang that originated in a prison in Venezuela. That is even as some mid- to low-level Venezuelan officials may have ties to the gang for financial gain, the document says.

Trump has invoked the Alien Enemies Act to speed the deportations of people his administration has labeled members of the gang. The 18th century wartime law was created to give the president the power to imprison or deport noncitizens in a time of war. It has been used three times, most recently when Japanese Americans were detained during World War II.

▶ Read more about the declassified document

Trump says only 21 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza now believed to be alive

Trump said Tuesday that three hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have died, leaving only 21 believed to be still living.

One American, Edan Alexander, had been among the 24 hostages believed to be alive, with the bodies of several other Americans also held by Hamas after its Oct. 7, 2023, assault on Israel.

The president’s comments came as Israel approved plans Monday to seize the Gaza Strip and to stay in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time, in a bid to recover the hostages and try to fulfill its war aims of destroying Hamas. If implemented, the move would vastly expand Israel’s operations there and likely draw fierce international opposition.

▶ Read more about Trump’s comments on the hostages

Top US officials will meet with Chinese delegation in Switzerland in first major talks of trade war

Top U.S. officials are set to meet with a high-level Chinese delegation this weekend in Switzerland in the first major talks between the two nations since Trump sparked a trade war with stiff tariffs on imports.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their counterparts in Geneva in the most-senior known conversations between the two countries in months, the Trump administration announced Tuesday. It comes amid growing U.S. market worry over the impact of the tariffs on the prices and supply of consumer goods.

After plans for the talks had been announced, Bessent said on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that as the U.S. has engaged in negotiations with various trading partners, “China has been the missing piece.”

Trump had claimed previously that the U.S. and China were holding negotiations on lowering tariffs, which Beijing has denied, saying Trump must first lower his stiff tariffs.

▶ Read more about the upcoming meeting

Trump plans to announce that the US will call the Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf, officials say

Trump plans to announce while on his trip to Saudi Arabia next week that the United States will now refer to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia, according to two U.S. officials.

Arab nations have pushed for a change to the geographic name of the body of water off the southern coast of Iran, while Iran has maintained its historic ties to the Gulf.

The Persian Gulf has been widely known by that name since the 16th century, although usage of “Gulf of Arabia” and “Arabian Gulf” is dominant in many countries in the Middle East. The government of Iran — formerly Persia — threatened to sue Google in 2012 over the company’s decision not to label the body of water at all on its maps.

The U.S. military for years has unilaterally referred to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf in statements and images it releases.

▶ Read more about Trump’s expected announcement

The Associated Press

Citizen activists supporting a public vote on important issues could have to brush up on their reading, writing and arithmetic if they want to get their initiatives on next year’s ballot in some states.

A new Arkansas law will bar initiative ballot titles written above an eighth-grade reading level. And canvassers will have to verify that petition signers have either read the ballot title or had it read aloud to them.

In South Dakota, sponsors will need to make sure their petition titles appears in 14-point type on the front page and 16-point font on the back, where people typically sign.

And in Florida, volunteers will have to register with the state if they gather more than 25 petition signatures from outside their family or risk facing felony charges punishable by up to five years in prison.

Across about dozen states, roughly 40 bills restricting or revamping the citizen initiative process have passed at least one legislative chamber this year, according to a review by The Associated Press. Many already have been signed into law.

Some advocates for the initiative process are alarmed by the trend.

“Globally, as there’s movements to expand direct democracy. In the United States it’s contracting,” said Dane Waters, chair of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California, who has advised ballot campaigns in over 20 nations.

Most of the new restrictions come from Republican lawmakers in states where petitions have been used to place abortion rights, marijuana legalization and other progressive initiatives on the ballot. GOP lawmakers contend their measures are shielding state constitutions from outside interests.

“This is not a bill to restrict. It is a bill to protect — to make sure that our constitutional system is one of integrity, and that it’s free of fraud,” said state Sen. Jennifer Bradley of Florida, where the new initiative requirements already have been challenged in court.

A right in some states, but not others

About half the U.S. states allow people to bypass their legislatures by gathering signatures to place proposed laws or constitutional amendments on the ballot.

Since Oregon voters first used the process in 1904, a total of 2,744 citizen initiatives have appeared on statewide ballots, with 42% wining approval, according to the Initiative and Referendum Institute.

But the process has long caused tension between voters and their elected representatives.

Lawmakers often perceive the initiative process as “an assault on their power and authority, and they want to limit it,” Waters said. “They view it, in my opinion, as a nuisance – a gnat that keeps bothering them.”

Restrictions on petition canvassers

Because initiative petitions require thousands of signatures to qualify for the ballot, groups sponsoring them often pay people to solicit signatures outside shopping centers and public places. Some states now prohibit payments based on the number of signatures gathered.

States also are trying to restrict who can circulate petitions. A new Arkansas law requires paid petition canvassers to live in the state. And a new Montana law will make petition circulators wear badges displaying their name and home state.

The new Florida law expanding registration requirements for petition circulators also requires them to undergo state training and bars canvassers who are noncitizens, nonresidents or felons without their voting rights restored.

More requirements for petition signers

In addition to providing their name, address and birth date, people signing initiative petitions in Florida also will have to provide either their Florida driver’s license, state identification card or the last four digits of their Social Security number.

That information is not required in other states, said Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, a progressive group that has backed dozens of ballot initiatives in states. Hall said people concerned about privacy might hesitate to sign petitions.

“I work in ballot measures, and I deeply support many of the things that folks have tried to put on the ballot in Florida, ” Hall said, “and I don’t know if I could bring myself to do that – that’s a very prohibitive requirement.”

Making the fine print larger

Many states already prescribe a particular format for initiative petitions. South Dakota’s new mandate for specific font sizes was prompted by allegations that some people got duped into signing a petition for abortion rights last year, said sponsoring state Sen. Amber Hulse, a Republican.

Printing the ballot title in large type “might make it harder for some issues to get on the ballot if people know what they’re signing. But that’s actually a good thing,” Hulse said.

More power for elected officials

Before they can collect signatures, petition sponsors must get approval from state officials. New measures in several states give those officials greater authority.

New Arkansas laws allow the attorney general to reject initiatives written above an eighth-grade reading level or which conflict with the U.S. Constitution or federal law. Utah’s lieutenant governor, who already can reject unconstitutional petitions, now also will be able to turn away petitions that are unlikely to provide adequate funding for their proposed laws.

A new Missouri law gives greater power to the secretary of state, instead of judges, to rewrite ballot summaries struck down as being insufficient or unfair.

A higher threshold for voter approval

Most states require only a majority vote to amend their constitutions, though Colorado requires 55% approval and Florida 60%.

Republican-led legislatures in North Dakota and South Dakota approved measures this year proposing a 60% public vote to approve future constitutional amendments, and Utah lawmakers backed a 60% threshold for tax measures. All three propositions still must go before voters, where they will need only a majority to pass.

Voters rejected similar proposals in Ohio, Arkansas and South Dakota in recent years, but they approved a 60% threshold for tax measures in Arizona.

Lawmakers contend the move has merit.

“Raising the threshold can help protect the constitution from being manipulated by special interest groups or out-of-state activists,” North Dakota House Majority Leader Mike Lefor said earlier this year.

___

Associated Press writers Jack Dura and Kate Payne contributed to this report.

___ Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

David A. Lieb, The Associated Press

It may feel like you have to attend law school to understand the American legal system. However, that is not the case. We broke down some of the most common legal terms used in the lawsuits surrounding the Trump administration.

What’s the general process for a lawsuit?

Lawsuits are sometimes called “ complaints ” for good reason: They tell a judge about something that allegedly caused you harm, and why you think someone else is to blame. Lawsuits also include a request for the kind of “relief” sought, like money or an order stopping the harmful actions.

The person being sued is always given a chance to respond. They might tell the judge the lawsuit is wrong, argue that someone else is to blame, or say the conduct wasn’t actually harmful. Often, the person being sued will file a “ motion to dismiss,” asking the judge to reject the lawsuit entirely.

What’s a plaintiff?

The people who file a lawsuit are the “plaintiffs,” and the people being sued are the “defendants.” If a lawsuit is brought on behalf of a big group of people, it might become a “class action” lawsuit.

What’s a TRO? And what’s a PI?

Resolving a lawsuit can take months, so plaintiffs often ask the judge to temporarily stop the defendants from doing whatever allegedly caused the harm while the case is decided.

A “ temporary restraining order ” or “TRO” is a short-term emergency order designed to stop immediate, irreparable harm.

A “ preliminary injunction ” or “PI” lasts until the lawsuit is resolved. A PI typically isn’t granted unless the plaintiff shows they are likely to “succeed on the merits,” or win the case.

What’s the difference between an appeal and a stay?

If one side thinks the judge made the wrong call, they can ” appeal ” by asking a higher court to decide if the ruling was correct.

They can also ask for a “ stay,” which puts a judge’s order on pause while a dispute or appeal is worked out.

What does contempt of court mean?

If someone disobeys a court order or disrespects the judicial process, the judge might hold them in “ contempt of court.”

Contempt of court convictions can carry big penalties, including fines or imprisonment. The punishments are designed to pressure the troublesome party to comply, so they typically end once the disobedience stops.

What’s ‘discovery,’ and why is some ‘privileged?’

“ Discovery ” happens when both sides request information from each other as they search for facts supporting their side of the case. Discovery can include witness names, documents, or sworn statements from people.

If one side thinks something should be kept confidential, they might claim “privilege.” Attorney-client communications are generally privileged. “ State secrets ” privilege is invoked if the government thinks sharing the information would put national security at risk.

Why all the jargon?

Legal terms carry very specific definitions. The jargon can feel fussy, but it’s all meant to help lawyers and judges avoid any ambiguity.

For instance, the term “jurisdiction” refers to whether a court has the authority to decide a case. It might seem simpler to just use the word “venue,” but there are many different types of legal jurisdiction, and the word venue just doesn’t cover it all.

Jurisdiction can be based on a geographic area or on the subject matter of the lawsuit. It can even be based on timing, or which court gets first dibs on a case.

Rebecca Boone, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Negina Khalili’s family sold their house and possessions in Afghanistan and flew to a U.S. base in Qatar in January, preparing for the last step in emigrating to America. Thirteen days later, the Trump administration took office — and suspended the refugee program that would have let them in.

Now they are among a small group of Afghans who advocates say are waiting at a camp in Qatar for permission to one day come to America.

“If they send them back to Afghanistan,” Khalili said, “that will be a huge risk for my family.”

When President Donald Trump returned to the White House, among the numerous immigration-related executive orders he signed was one suspending the country’s refugee program. Thousands of people around the world suddenly found their path cut off — people who had been hoping to emigrate to America through a program that over decades has helped people fleeing war, persecution and strife to come to the United States.

Now they wait and hope.

For those waiting in Qatar, clarity fades

For a small group of Afghans in Qatar, it was especially jarring. They had traveled there before Trump took office, then found themselves stuck with little clarity on what would happen to them in the future, advocates and sources familiar with the situation say.

Shawn VanDiver, the head of #AfghanEvac, an advocacy group that works to help Afghans who offered assistance during America’s two-decade-long war in Afghanistan emigrate to America, said about 1,200 Afghan refugees are at the base in Qatar. That figure was confirmed by a State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

“We brought them there. And it’s on us to figure out what to do with them next. The only right answer is to follow through on what was promised,” VanDiver said.

When the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan in August 2021, the U.S. airlifted out tens of thousands of Afghans who’d supported the American efforts. It was a chaotic withdrawal: Desperate Afghans thronged Kabul’s airport hoping for a way out. In the years that followed, as the issue fell from the headlines, the Biden administration continued to relocate tens of thousands of Afghans right up until Biden left office.

There are two main ways Afghans can emigrate to America. The classic example is the military translator who worked directly for the U.S. government and qualifies for the special immigrant visa. Afghans who don’t meet those guidelines but who assisted America’s efforts in Afghanistan and are at risk for it can be referred to refugee programs.

They usually come to the United States through a network of “lilypads” set up under the Biden administration in a few countries around the world. Afghans who passed key steps in a lengthy process to emigrate would travel to these “lilypads” to finish their processing and eventually journey onward to the United States.

In Qatar, they’re housed in a former U.S. military base now run by the State Department. They can’t go off the base unless escorted by a U.S. official.

Many refugees are now shut out

Since Trump returned to office, Afghans can still come through the special immigrant visa process, although they have to pay their own way or get help. But Afghan refugees have been shut out after Trump suspended the program. In Qatar, that has meant waiting and worrying. Similar concerns are playing out in Pakistan, where the Pakistani government has been aggressively pushing Afghan refugees to return home.

One of those in Qatar is Saliha. She’s an Afghan lawyer and part of a generation of women who grew up after the U.S. invasion. These women could go to school and college, and get jobs that took them out into the world.

She opened her own law firm and helped abused women get divorces. After the Taliban retook control, she and her family went into hiding, and she was referred to the refugee program two years ago. Around that time, the Taliban had been going around to her father’s house, trying to find her and saying: “Your daughter helped our wives leave us.” Saliha gave only her first name out of concern for her safety if she and her family were to return to Afghanistan.

She and her family arrived in the Qatar camp in January, hopeful they’d soon be in America. Then came the refugee program suspension.

Saliha said there are classes for the Afghan children, and a park where the kids can play. The men go to the gym together and play soccer; the women often gather to socialize.

She tries to be positive, although she’s heard about other Afghans whose resettlement applications were denied and were given a month to leave the base. That hasn’t happened to her and her family, and she says they’re well-treated. But as they wait for progress, she’s worried.

“We worked hard and sacrificed a lot. We did nothing wrong,” Saliha said. “Our only sin is helping the women of Afghanistan, defend women who had been abused and raped.”

The program is suspended indefinitely, for now

It’s not clear if the Trump administration will resume the refugee program. Right now, it’s suspended indefinitely. Trump requested a report looking at whether to resume it, but those results haven’t been made public.

Advocates for the Afghan refugees stress how much vetting they go through before actually getting to America, and what they did to contribute to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. VanDiver said within that group of 1,200 in Qatar are 200 relatives of U.S. service members.

Groups that help to resettle refugees have sued to restart the refugee program. An appeals court said the government was within its authority to suspend it, but that a small subset of already-approved refugees should be allowed in.

The administration argued that the already-approved number amounted to only about 160 people worldwide. But Monday, a judge put the number at roughly 12,000 and ordered the government to admit them. It’s not clear how many Afghans are included in this group or how quickly the government will move to comply.

In a statement, the State Department said it was “actively considering the future of our Afghan relocation program” as well as the office specifically tasked with coordinating Afghan relocation efforts.

“No final decisions have been made,” the department said. It also said it continues to provide support to “Afghan allies and partners” overseas.

In the meantime, Afghans trying to get to the United States — and those waiting for them here — wait and worry.

Khalili, a former prosecutor in Afghanistan, fled in the 2021 withdrawal. She worries about what will happen to her father, brother and stepmother and whether they’ll be forced back to Afghanistan. They message back and forth daily.

“They are facing a lot of depression and they don’t know what will happen,” she said. “Every day, I am thinking about my family.”

Rebecca Santana And Farnoush Amiri, The Associated Press

The vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board has been abruptly removed from his position, the White House confirmed Tuesday, a rare move that comes as the agency investigates more than 1,000 cases.

The Trump administration removed ​​Alvin Brown a little more than a year after he was sworn in. The White House didn’t say why he was removed.

The decision comes as NTSB investigates nearly 1,250 active cases across the U.S., while supporting more than 160 foreign investigations, according to March testimony by NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy.

The investigations include the deadly midair collision between a passenger jet and Army helicopter in Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people in January and the medical transport plane that plummeted into a Philadelphia neighborhood in January, killing eight people.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former National Transportation Safety Board and FAA accident investigator, said he has never seen an administration remove a member of the board.

Board members have been known to stay on after their term is over if the administration hasn’t appointed anyone yet and then they leave once the next administration selects someone, he said.

“That happens a lot over the years, but that’s normal and expected because you served your term and now it’s time for someone else to serve in there,” he said. “But this wasn’t that. This was just more abrupt and directly from the administration,n and I don’t know what the impetus is.”

By Tuesday evening, Brown’s photo and biography had already been removed from NTSB’s website.

The agency includes five board members who serve five year terms, according to the NTSB website. They are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The chairman and vice chairman are both designated by the president and serve for three years. By Tuesday evening, the website only showed four members of the board.

Brown was sworn in as a member of the board in April 2024 after being nominated by then-President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate to fill one of two vacancies. His term was expected to run through 2026, according to an NTSB press release at the time. He was the only Black member of the board.

He was the mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, from 2011 to 2015 and joined the board after serving as senior adviser for community infrastructure opportunities for the U.S. Department of Transportation, according to the release.

NTSB typically works on about 2,200 domestic and 450 foreign cases each year, according to Homendy. She said she expects “the number of cases annually to remain high and continue to increase in complexity.”

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Associated Press writer Josh Funk contributed to this report.

Hallie Golden, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A newly declassified U.S. intelligence assessment confirms that analysts at American spy agencies found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government, contradicting statements the Trump administration used to justify invoking the Alien Enemies Act and deporting Venezuelan immigrants.

The redacted memo from the National Intelligence Council said there was no indication that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro or other senior government officials are directing the actions of Tren de Aragua, a gang that originated in a prison in Venezuela. That is even as some mid- to low-level Venezuelan officials may have ties to the gang for financial gain, the document says.

“While Venezuela’s permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States,” the memo reads. “Furthermore, most of the IC judges that intelligence indicating that regime leaders are directing or enabling TDA migration to the United States is not credible.”

Trump has invoked the Alien Enemies Act to speed the deportations of people his administration has labeled members of the gang. The 18th century wartime law was created to give the president the power to imprison or deport noncitizens in a time of war. It has been used three times, most recently when Japanese Americans were detained during World War II.

Tren de Aragua has been linked to a series of kidnappings, extortion and other crimes throughout the Western Hemisphere. Those activities are tied to a mass exodus of millions of Venezuelans as their country’s economy unraveled over the past decade.

The National Intelligence Council helps to coordinate the work of the nation’s intelligence services and its conclusions reflect the findings of individual agencies.

While the assessment found no evidence of significant coordination between Maduro and the gang, it noted that FBI analysts had reason to believe some Venezuelan officials may have helped some gang members move to the U.S. and other countries “to advance what they see as the Maduro regime’s goal of destabilizing governments and undermining public safety,” according to the assessment.

A spokesperson for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard rejected claims that the assessment contradicted the White House and noted that it did find some ties between mid- and low-level officials in Maduro’s government and the gang.

Gabbard’s office, which oversees and coordinates the work of the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies, “fully supports the assessment that the foreign terrorist organization, Tren De Aragua, is acting with the support of the Maduro Regime, and thus subject to arrest, detention, and removal as alien enemies of the United States,” the spokesperson, Alexa Henning, wrote in response to The AP, echoing a social media post from Gabbard last month.

The assessment, which includes significant redactions, was released after the Freedom of the Press Foundation filed an open records request. Lauren Harper, who holds the Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy at the foundation, said it is critical to push for government transparency, especially as the Trump administration signals it may subpoena reporters to investigate government leakers.

“The public deserves to read this document,” Harper said of the assessment.

Two federal judges have found that Trump is improperly using the Alien Enemies Act and barred the administration from removing immigrants under it.

District Court Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in New York said Tuesday that the 1798 law cannot be used against Tren de Aragua because it is not attacking the United States. “TdA may well be engaged in narcotics trafficking, but that is a criminal matter, not an invasion or predatory incursion,” Hellerstein wrote.

Democrats in Congress welcomed the assessment’s release and questioned why Gabbard has supported Trump’s justification for deportations, given her knowledge of the assessment.

In a statement, Reps. Jim Himes of Connecticut and Joaquin Castro of Texas said Gabbard needs to explain why her public comments don’t match the assessment of her own agencies.

“The most basic responsibility of the director of national intelligence is to speak truth to power and, where possible, the American people,” said the lawmakers, who both serve on the House Intelligence Committee. “Misrepresenting intelligence in public causes grave damage.”

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Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.

David Klepper, The Associated Press