OMAHA, Neb. (AP) ' Berkshire Hathaway is buying back shares for the first time in nearly two years, and new CEO Greg Abel said he has no immediate plans to sell off Kraft Heinz shares now that the packaged food giant has shelved its plan to split the company into two.

Abel appeared on CNBC Thursday ' less than a week after releasing his first letter to shareholders after taking over the top job at Berkshire from legendary investor Warren Buffett in January. Berkshire also took the unusual step of filing a formal notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had begun repurchasing its shares Wednesday for the first time since May 2024.

When Kraft first announced its plan to split the company in two last fall, Abel and Buffett expressed concerns about that because of the costs involved and the current struggles for some of the brands. So Abel said he agreed with new Kraft CEO Steve Cahillanes decision to pause the split.

'For Steve to come in and say were pausing it, theres opportunities within Kraft Heinz to fix things and get the business back on track and then hell evaluate things. We thought that was absolutely the right approach,' Abel said.

Berkshire has long been Krafts biggest shareholder with 325 million shares ever since Buffett and the Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital orchestrated the merger of Kraft and Heinz in 2015 because they already owned Heinz and believed in the power of their brands.

Over the years since Buffett had made comments about how Krafts competitive moat around its brands wasnt as strong as he thought and Berkshire likely overpaid for the investment. Berkshire even took a $3.76 billion write-down on its Kraft-Heinz stake last summer. But until January there had been no hint that Berkshire might sell off its Kraft shares.

Abel also told CNBC that he felt it was important for Berkshire to let shareholders know that its approach to buybacks hasnt changed. The Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate will continue to use some of its $373.3 billion cash to repurchase shares whenever Abel and Buffett conclude that the stock is worth more than what it is selling for. Its Class A shares gained more than 2% to sell for $745,451.75 apiece Thursday.

Abel also disclosed Thursday that this week he used all $15.3 million of his take-home pay for 2026 to buy Berkshire stock, and he told CNBC that he plans to continue doing that as long as he remains CEO so that his interests will be aligned with shareholders.

'As CEO, I absolutely obviously believe in Berkshire with ' with the transition from Warren. And I inherited a company that has an incredible foundation. I believe in its ' you know, future, the opportunities that exist there,' Abel said.

In his letter that was released last Saturday, Abel promised not to make any significant changes in the way Buffett has run Berkshire for the past six decades. The two men talk regularly because Buffett remains chairman and continues to come into the office every day to hunt for new investments.

Abel said that includes not paying a dividend because he and Buffett believe that they can generate better returns for shareholders by keeping Berkshires cash and reinvesting it instead or returning it in a dividend.

Berkshire owns dozens of companies, including major insurers like Geico, the BNSF railroad, well known brands like Dairy Queen, several major utilities and an assortment of manufacturing, retail and service businesses like fractional private jet company NetJets.

Meet Gomez, a beautiful orange tabby who is very affectionate and often headbutts people in exchange for pets. He loves to take long naps in the sun, talk to staff and eat wet food. He has had positive experiences living with both cats and dogs, so he may do well living with pets you have. Come in today to see if he could be the right fit for your family.

Information: The spcaLA P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village and Education Center, 7700 E. Spring St., Long Beach. 562-216-2542 or spcaLA.com. Gomez’s identification number is LACA-A-21632.

Ginger

This gorgeous red-colored, mixed-breed girl is Ginger. She loves body rubs, playing in the yard and soaking up attention from her favorite humans. Shes highly treat-motivated, making training extra rewarding. Ginger can be a little shy around loud noises, so she would thrive in a home thats patient, understanding, and ready to give her lots of love and reassurance. But once she feels safe, her playful and affectionate personality shines through.

Information: The spcaLA South Bay Pet Adoption Center, 12910 Yukon Ave., Hawthorne. 310-676-1149 or spcaLA.com. Ginger’s identification number is LACA-A-21588.

WASHINGTON (AP) ' The FBI said this week that it is investigating 'suspicious activities' on an internal system that contains sensitive information related to surveillance operations and investigations.

The bureau is working to determine the scope and impact of the problem, according to a notification sent to members of Congress that says the unnamed culprit is using sophisticated techniques to exploit FBI network security controls.

The notification, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, says that the FBI on Feb. 17 began investigating abnormal log information related to a system on its network.

'The affected system is unclassified and contains law enforcement sensitive information, including returns from legal process, such as pen register and trap and trace surveillance returns, and personally identifiable information pertaining to subjects of FBI investigations,' said the notification reviewed by The Associated Press.

A pen register is a common surveillance tool that enables law enforcement to log phone numbers dialed by a particular line.

The FBI confirmed the cyber incident in a statement but did not provide additional details.

'The FBI identified and addressed suspicious activities on FBI networks, and we have leveraged all technical capabilities to respond,' the FBI said. 'We have nothing additional to respond.'

Neither the FBI statement nor the notification identified who might be responsible for the incident, but the bureau and other federal agencies have long been targets of foreign hackers seeking to spy on sensitive operations and decision-making.

In this instance, the FBI said, the techniques being used were 'sophisticated' and included leveraging a commercial internet service provider vendors infrastructure to exploit FBI network security controls.

Katie Jackson desperately wants a new treatment for Huntingtons disease. Her husband died from the devastating brain disorder. And because the disease runs in families, her three children have a 50% chance of inheriting the condition. Shes pinned her hopes on a cutting-edge gene therapy from UniQure NV.

But Jackson says Huntingtons patients have no desire to meet a new demand from the US Food and Drug Administration: to enroll in a new clinical trial where some people will undergo fake brain surgery without getting UniQures treatment. The FDAs request, intended to conclusively determine the therapys potency, has raised concerns the trial would be both unethical and impractical.

'It is inconceivable to us,' said Jackson, chief executive officer of Help 4 HD International, a Huntingtons advocacy organization. 'Subjecting participants to invasive procedures without the prospect of therapeutic benefit is unjustifiable.'

With little support from patients for a new trial, UniQure may have reached an impasse with the FDA over its gene therapy for the fatal neurological condition that leaves people unable to think, walk or talk. The companys one-time treatment aims to silence a gene thats linked to the disease. Its infused into a patients brain through burr holes drilled through their skulls.

After showing promising trial results in September, the company announced plans to file for US approval in early 2026, sending the stock soaring. But regulators arent convinced that the gene therapy and the arduous procedure to deliver it will make a meaningful difference for patients. They now want a study that compares those who got the treatment to those in a placebo group who undergo a sham surgery, the company said this week.

That request has set off fireworks, with UniQure and the agency openly feuding over what such a study would entail. In order to ensure that patients dont know if they received the gene therapy, the critical element for such a blinded comparison trial, even those who dont get it would need to go under anesthesia for about 10 hours, the company said. The agency denies this.

UniQures shares rose as much as 7.1% in New York, after falling 42% after the company disclosed the new FDA request through Wednesdays close.

Placebo effect

Placebos have long been a fixture of clinical trials, used to ensure that the psychological benefits of getting care arent mistaken for drug potency. But companies and patient advocates have been pushing the FDA for flexibility with rare diseases because it can be hard to recruit enough people and unethical to withhold treatment from dying patients.

And a placebo comparison for UniQures gene therapy is far more complicated than giving someone a sugar pill.

Performing a fake surgery would involve patients undergoing anesthesia for about 10 hours, a UniQure executive said Monday on an earnings call. Doctors would 'superficially drill a hole on the skull' without going through the bone, the company said.

The FDA disputes that patients getting the fake surgery would need to be under anesthesia for anywhere near that long, estimating it would be less than 30 minutes.

'The companys description of what the control arm participants are going through is completely distorted,' Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Health and Human Services Department, said in a phone interview Wednesday.

UniQure disagreed. The sham surgery 'requires a lengthy anesthesia period,' comparable to that of the actual brain surgery, to prevent patients from knowing if they are in the control arm, a spokesperson said in response to the agency. That has consequences.

Complications

In an early part of UniQures testing, doctors performed fake surgeries on 10 patients at the request of the FDA.

On average, those patients were under general anesthesia for 10.3 hours, the company spokesperson said. One participant developed dangerous blood clots from lying on an operating table for too long, according to people familiar with the study who asked not to be identified discussing the private information.

Fake surgeries are unusual but not unprecedented in clinical trials. Researchers drilled holes in patients foreheads about two decades ago as part of a sham procedure to study whether fetal tissue transplants are effective for Parkinsons disease. Some sham surgery studies have proven that treatments are ineffective.

If UniQure were to agree to the new trial, depending on how long it goes, patients in the placebo group may not be eligible to get treated because their disease might have progressed. It could be difficult to recruit trial participants who are willing to accept that risk.

A sham surgery isnt necessarily unethical, though the potential scientific benefits must justify the risks, said Amy L. McGuire, a professor of biomedical ethics at Baylor College of Medicine.

The FDA should hold an advisory committee meeting to decide whether UniQures existing data justifies approval, said Steven Joffe, who chairs the department of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

The FDA 'has sent mixed or changing messages,' Joffe said. 'I believe they have a responsibility to patients and families to air the data publicly and get expert input.'

Benefits questioned

UniQures study was far from ideal. It was small, with only 17 people getting a high dose of the gene therapy. The company has three-year follow-up data for only 12 patients. By comparison, some other trials for Huntingtons drugs have involved hundreds of patients, though they didnt involve brain surgery.

The initial results from UniQures study, released in 2023, werent clear cut. After one year, there was no obvious difference between the people who got high doses and those who underwent a fake surgery on a common scale of Huntingtons symptoms. The sham group didnt decline at all on a rating scale of disease symptoms.

The data has raised questions at the FDA, according to people familiar with the matter. It was a negative study, and staff-level reviewers made the decision that a new trial was needed, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing deliberations within the agency.

Company researchers concluded that Huntingtons disease progresses too slowly to notice a difference after one year. They needed to look longer to see if the treatment was working. But they couldnt track the patients who got the fake surgery. They had either quit the trial or gotten the actual treatment.

So the company compared patients who got its therapy to a different control group: a database showing how the disease normally progresses. While thats a common approach for rare diseases, it isnt considered as reliable as studies where patients are randomly assigned to get treatment or a placebo.

Changing goals

The studys original main goal was to determine if the treatment was safe. The company approached the FDA much later, after it was well underway, for permission to compare the fate of patients getting the gene therapy to the expected progression of the disease based on the external data.

After two years, patients given a high dose were doing 80% better than expected based on the external control arm, the company announced in 2024. Later that year, UniQure approached the FDA for guidance. While the agency didnt make any promises, the company said it reached an agreement that the revamped design could be used as the basis for a fast-track approval without the need for a new study.

UniQure conducted another year of analysis and announced the final results in September 2025.

But by then, the FDA leadership had changed. The division that oversees gene therapies is now led by Vinay Prasad, a well-known critic of companies that dont test their treatments against placebo controls.

During his watch, the agency has announced multiple new initiatives to speed rare disease drugs. But biotech companies and agency critics have said that behind the scenes the goalposts are shifting and the agency is taking a harder line on some new therapies.

UniQure says it plans to request another meeting with the agency in the second quarter to discuss potential study designs. On a call with investors Monday, Chief Executive Officer Matthew Kapusta said the company 'has a moral obligation, given the strength of our data, to continue to pursue this.'

Tanh Thien Tran, 81, is charged with killing his stepdaughter, Anh Yen Nguyen Duong, and attempting to kill his wife, the girl’s mother, San Nguyen, during a bloody attack on Aug. 29, 2018, at the family’s home in the 8900 block of Blossom Avenue in Garden Grove.

The mother’s screams for help as she escaped their home in blood-splattered clothing drew an immediate response from neighbors in the normally quiet neighborhood.

Police were able to get the injured girl — as well as her 3- and 6-year-old brothers — out of the home while Tran remained inside.

The girl’s final words came with her on a lawn while paramedics attended to her. A knife had gone three and a half inches into her body, prosecutors said, striking the left side of her abdomen.

'She literally gave her life trying to save her mother’s life,” Deputy District Attorney Devin Campbell said during opening statements to an Orange County Superior Court jury. “She literally died because she tried and succeeded in saving her moms life.'

Tran also got into a standoff with police and made failed attempts to take his own life before being taken into custody, prosecutors say.

Tran’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Eugene Sun, told jurors that evidence will lead them to a different conclusion than the one alleged by the prosecution. But the defense attorney did not describe that other conclusion yet.

Tran met Nguyen while he was in Vietnam, his attorney told jurors. Despite the 40-year-age difference, Tran and Nguyen began dating and married in 2016, after he brought Nguyen and the three children to Orange County.

He had his retirement benefits and watched the children, the defense attorney said, while she worked to bring in extra money.

Campbell, the prosecutor, told jurors that Tran came to believe that Nguyen was cheating on him, adding that there were what appeared to be “flirty” or “romantic” texts with another man on her phone. Tran’s anger began “percolating, boiling up over time,” the prosecutor added.

The night before the attack, Nguyen told Tran that while she didn’t plan to divorce him, she was looking for another place to live with the three children.

The next morning, as Nguyen was getting ready for work, Tran shot her in the arm with a BB gun, forced her into a closet and then began stabbing her repeatedly with a knife, Campbell said.

Apparently hearing her mother’s cries, 11-year-old Duong came into the bedroom, the prosecutor added.

Tran initially shut the closet door, the prosecutor said, keeping the girl from her mother.

The prosecutor alleged he grabbed the girl, threw her to the ground and straddled her body as he kept trying to stab her mother.

The mother was able to escape from the closet and the home, Campbell said. Her two other children were apparently uninjured.

The prosecutor said Tran tried to take his own life by slitting a wrist, cutting his neck and poking a blade into his stomach. But all the wounds were superficial.

Tran — who listened to the court proceedings through Vietnamese-language interpreters — appeared overcome with emotion by the end of opening statements, leading Orange County Superior Court Judge Lewis W. Clapp to call a temporary court break before moving to testimony.

As Texas waits on President Donald Trumps promised endorsement, Sen. John Cornyn isnt holding back on his runoff opponent in the Republican primary.

His campaign is releasing a new video Thursday with a litany of ethical and personal accusations against state Attorney General Ken Paxton. Its an initial salvo in a second round of campaigning that could be even more bitter and expensive than the first.

The video revisits issues like Paxtons impeachment trial on corruption charges, which ended in an acquittal but exposed an extramarital affair, and a state fraud indictment for securities fraud, which Paxton resolved with a plea deal without admitting guilt.

Cornyns team said its spending tens of thousands of dollars to keep the video in front of voters eyes. Its pocket change in a race where spending surpassed $110 million before Tuesday, but a possible foreshadowing of a future deluge if the six-minute clip is edited into television spots.

Trump did not endorse a candidate in the primary, frustrating Republicans who fear that theyre wasting time and resources in Texas that could be devoted to more competitive battleground states. The president said Wednesday that he would weigh in on the May 26 runoff and expect the candidate without his endorsement to drop out, but he hasnt announced a decision.

Cornyn narrowly finished first in the primary that ended on Tuesday, but he did not cross the 50%-plus threshold necessary to avoid a runoff. U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt finished third and was disqualified.

Party leaders are pushing for Cornyn, a stalwart incumbent seeking his fifth term, and warn that Paxton has too much baggage to be successful in a November general election against James Talarico, the Democratic nominee.

But Paxton has proven resilient to attacks over the years, and hes fashioned himself as a political warrior for Trumps 'Make America Great Again' movement. He told conservative influencer Benny Johnson that he wouldnt drop out, no matter what happens with the endorsement.

'Im going to give people in Texas a choice,' Paxton said. 'The people in Washington can have their own opinion. The president can have his own opinion.'

Paxton made a different offer on social media. There, he said he would consider dropping out if Senate Republican leaders lifted the filibuster to pass legislation supported by Trump to create strict new proof-of-citizenship requirements for voting. The proposal has stalled in the Senate.

Trump appeared frustrated by Paxtons intransigence.

'That is bad for him,' he told Politico. 'So maybe, maybe that leads me to go the other direction.'

The president previously wrote on social media that he would endorse a Texas candidate because the divisive contest cannot 'be allowed to go on any longer.'

U.S. homebuyers had to act fast last week to nab the first sub-6% mortgage rates in more than three years. Now theyre up, and the new conflict in the Middle East threatens to nudge them higher.

The average for 30-year, fixed loans climbed to 6% from 5.98% last week, which was the lowest point since September 2022, data from Freddie Mac showed Thursday. A year ago, it was 6.63%.

Also see: A ‘last resort HELOC allows borrowers to qualify for more home equity

Last weeks decline offered a psychological boost for Americans who may have been holding off on housing decisions for years. While this new increase may be jarring for some, rates are still down significantly from a year ago, giving house hunters more purchasing power and sparking optimism across the industry for a better spring sales season this time around.

The war with Iran throws a variable into the mix. As long as theres a quick resolution, economists say borrowing costs arent likely to rise enough to spoil the momentum. A lengthy conflict, however, would push up oil prices and generate higher inflation, keeping upward pressure on the Treasury yields that guide home loans.

'I dont think what were seeing in Iran is nearly enough to kill the spring buying season,' said Brad Case, chief economist for Homes.com. 'But it is enough to push mortgage rates up a little bit.'

Its a precarious time for a housing market that remains unaffordable for many Americans, even as price growth has flattened. The spring is traditionally a busy period for sales as the weather warms and families look to land a deal before the new school year starts.

'The most likely scenario' points to a quick resolution in the Middle East, said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moodys Analytics. But if the war drags on for more than a few weeks, 'oil prices and interest rates will be higher, weighing heavily on the psyche of American households who are already on high alert over the cost of living.'

That, Zandi said, would 'do significant damage to the economy and housing market.'

Christopher Maloney, mortgage strategist for BOK Financial Securities, said if the war gets bad enough, it could also damage buyer confidence.

'Forget about your rate ' how are people going to feel about the economy?' Maloney said. 'Once you kick the football in a war, you never know where its going to go. People will ask should we be taking on buying a house now?'

Over the weekend in Crofton, Maryland, four sales contracts dropped on the desk of Ryan Paquin, branch manager with First Home Mortgage. Three came from buyers with closing dates scheduled for next month and they chose to lock in their rates for 30 days. The fourth decided to wait a couple days and see if loan costs came down.

'One gentleman is a risk taker,' Paquin said. 'He eventually locked in.'

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ' Newly released police body camera footage shows bargoers and pedestrians fleeing and ducking for cover in the moments after a gunman began firing outside a Texas bar, leaving three dead in what is being investigated as potential terrorism.

'Everybody down!' one officer yells. 'Where is he?'

The terrifying moments captured on video by officers and surveillance cameras that were released Thursday show how the shooting that wounded more than a dozen others unfolded quickly early Sunday in downtown Austins entertainment district.

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said officers arrived within 56 seconds of the first 911 call, shooting and killing the suspect after he fired at police.

Davis said the investigation is ongoing and would not discuss a possible motive for the shooting that erupted a day after the U.S. and Israel launched an attack on Iran.

The FBI has said its investigating the shooting as a potential act of terrorism and a law enforcement official told The Associated Press that the gunman was wearing clothes with an Iranian flag design and bearing the words 'Property of Allah.'

Police have identified the gunman as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne and say he legally bought the pistol and rifle that he used in the attack outside Bufords Backyard Beer Garden. The venue is on Sixth Street, a nightlife destination filled with bars and music clubs close to the University of Texas at Austin..

Authorities now know 19 people were hit by gunfire, including the three who died, Davis said Thursday. One person remains in critical condition.

Most of those who were shot were outside the bar, including one victim who was waiting for a ride, she said.

Screaming and shouts of 'get down' can be heard on a 911 call released Thursday. 'There has been a shooting at Bufords,' one caller said. 'There are people dead over here. We need help right now.'

Diagne was not on the radar of authorities before he opened fire early Sunday. Davis said investigators have found he was the subject of a mental health-related welfare check, possibly in 2022, by an agency elsewhere.

He fired the first shots from his SUV then parked his vehicle and emerged with a rifle, police said. He shot another person before officers rushed to the intersection and shot and killed him, Davis said.

Jorge Pederson, 30, an aspiring mixed martial arts fighter, died from his gunshot wounds Monday. He had just moved to Texas from Minnesota. His former gym, the Academy Martial Arts Gym, said in a Facebook post that he brought 'light and joy into the grueling work of training.'

Also killed were 21-year-old Savitha Shan and 19-year-old Ryder Harrington.

Shan, a business student at the University of Texas at Austin, had a job waiting for her at a consulting firm, her family said in a statement released through the university. It said she was an only child and described her death as 'profoundly unfair.'

Harrington had attended Texas Tech University through last fall, and his former fraternity brothers at Beta Theta Pi recalled in an Instagram post his ability to 'make ordinary days unforgettable.'

Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno in Austin, Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed.

Concern is rising that the first major storm outbreak in the run-up to spring could strike the nation’s heartland, putting millions of Americans from Texas to Iowa at risk of potentially strong tornadoes.

Some scattered severe thunderstorms were expected to begin firing up late Thursday in the Texas Panhandle and across western Oklahoma and parts of Kansas, the National Weather Service said. Large hail, damaging winds and possibly a few tornadoes were also expected, according to the forecasters.

But the strongest storms were expected Friday in a zone that includes much of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri and extends into some nearby states, according to weather service projections.

More than 6 million Americans are at the highest risk of severe weather Friday in an area that includes the metropolitan areas of Kansas City and Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to the national Storm Prediction Center. Another 22 million people are at a slightly lesser risk in a zone that includes Oklahoma City; St. Louis; Omaha, Nebraska; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The general setup for the strong storms is a clash between warm air streaming north from the Gulf coast and cooler Canadian air behind cold fronts, according to meteorologists with the private forecasting service AccuWeather.

In parts of the eastern U.S., this weather pattern is also expected to usher in extremely warm temperatures for this time of year by the weekend.

'Temperatures will be 20-30 degrees above average, with 80s reaching as far north as parts of the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic,' federal forecasters wrote in their long-range forecast discussion. 'Daily records could become widespread.'

The high temperature in Louisville, Kentucky, for instance, is expected to reach 81 degrees (27.2 Celsius) by Friday, the weather service predicts. Atlanta’s high temperature is expected to hit 82 degrees (27.8 Celsius) by Saturday. The forecast for Washington, D.C., calls for a high temperature of 74 degrees (23.3 Celsius) on Saturday.

The spring storms in the forecast come near the start of what many call tornado season, which generally begins at different times in different parts of the United States.

In what has historically been known as Tornado Alley ' a designation that typically includes Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas ' the peak of tornado season is May into early June. But the season starts earlier in whats often called Dixie Alley made up of southern states such as Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

Experts recommend a few simple safety steps to take before tornadoes hit.

WASHINGTON (AP) ' A Florida handyman who was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison for molesting two children had been convicted of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but was pardoned by President Donald Trump.

Andrew Paul Johnson, 45, is among several Jan. 6 defendants who have been charged with new crimes since Trump’s sweeping act of clemency for Capitol rioters. On his first day back in the White House last year, Trump pardoned, commuted prison sentences or ordered the dismissal of cases for all 1,500-plus people charged in the attack.

Johnson was convicted last month of two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child and one count of electronically transmitting material harmful to a minor, according to prosecutors in Hernando County, Florida. County Circuit Judge Judge Stephen Toner handed down Johnson’s life sentence.

Sheriffs deputies began investigating the child molestation allegations against Johnson in July 2025. One of his victims told investigators that the abuse started around April 2024, several months before Johnson was sentenced for his Capitol riot conviction.

Johnson told one of his victims that he expected to be compensated for being a pardoned Jan. 6 defendant and would be putting the child in his will to inherit any leftover money, according a sheriff’s office report.

'This tactic was believed to be used to keep (the child) from exposing what Andrew had done,' the report said.

Investigators found sexually explicit messages that Johnson exchanged with one of his victims on the Discord messaging app, according to Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bill Gladsons office.

“In the messages, Johnson attempted to have the victim download another application for a more private conversation and encouraged the victim to delete their messages afterwards,” Gladson’s office said in a news release.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg in Washington sentenced Johnson in August 2024 to one year behind bars after he pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor charges stemming from the riot. Johnson had asked to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming that he was pressured into it, but the judge rejected his request before sentencing.

Johnson, of Seffner, Florida, was carrying a bullhorn as he marched to the Capitol after attending Trump’s 'Stop the Steal' rally near the White House. He entered the building through an office window that other rioters had smashed, according to federal prosecutors. Johnson cursed and yelled at police officers after they used tear gas to disperse the mob of Trump supporters, prosecutors said.