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MIKE BALSAMO

U.S. law enforcement editor

Balsamo is the national law enforcement editor for The Associated Press. He oversees coverage of the Justice Department, federal courts and criminal justice.
FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2021 file photo, people try out iPhone products at an Apple Store in Beijing. The Supreme Court on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024 allowed a court order to take effect that could loosen Apple's grip on its lucrative iPhone app store, potentially siphoning billions of dollars away from one of the world's most profitable companies. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, file)
Justice Department sues Apple, alleging it illegally monopolized the smartphone market
The Justice Department on Thursday announced a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Apple, accusing the tech giant of engineering an illegal monopoly in smartphones that boxes out competitors, stifles innovation and keeps prices artificially high.
 
FILE - Theodore "Ted" Kaczynski is flanked by federal agents as he is led to a car from the federal courthouse in Helena, Mont., April 4, 1996. Kaczynski, known as the “Unabomber,” who carried out a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died by suicide, four people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press, Sunday, June 11, 2023. (AP Photo/John Youngbear, File)
‘Unabomber’ Ted Kaczynski died by suicide in prison medical center, AP sources say
Ted Kaczynski, the man known as the Unabomber who carried out a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died by suicide.
 
FILE - Boise State University students, along with people who knew the four University of Idaho students who were found killed in Moscow, Idaho, days earlier, pay their respects at a vigil held in front of a statue on the Boise State campus, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, in Boise, Idaho. The arrest of Bryan Christopher Kohberger in the Nov. 13, 2022 fatal stabbings of four University of Idaho students has brought relief to the small college town of Moscow, Idaho.(Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman via AP, File)
Suspect in Idaho killings plans to waive extradition hearing
A suspect arrested in connection with the slayings of four University of Idaho students plans to waive his extradition hearing so he can be quickly brought to Idaho to face murder charges.
 
This photo provided by Monroe County (Pa.) Correctional Facility shows Bryan Kohberger. Arrest paperwork filed by Pennsylvania State Police in Monroe County Court, Friday, Dec. 30, 2022, said Kohberger, 28, was being held for extradition in a criminal homicide investigation in the killings of four University of Idaho students, based on an active arrest warrant for first degree murder issued by the Moscow Police Department and Latah County Prosecutor’s Office. (Monroe County (Pa.) Correctional Facility via AP)
Idaho college killings suspect is criminology PhD student
Authorities in Pennsylvania have arrested a suspect in the stabbing deaths of four Idaho students. The chief of police in Moscow, Idaho, said Friday that 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger is a PhD student in the criminology department at Washington State University.
 
In this image taken from El Paso County District Court video, Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, center, sits during a court appearance in Colorado Springs, Colo., Tuesday, Dec. Nov. 6, 2022. Aldrich, the suspect accused of entering a Colorado gay nightclub clad in body armor and opening fire with an AR-15-style rifle, killing five people and wounding 17 others, was charged by prosecutors Tuesday with 305 criminal counts including hate crimes and murder. (El Paso County District Court via AP)
Details in 2021 case with Colorado shooter suggest missteps
Documents released in the 2021 dropped prosecution of the Colorado gay nightclub shooter paint a picture of potential missteps by prosecutors.
 
In this image taken from El Paso County District Court video, Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, center, sits during a court appearance in Colorado Springs, Colo., Tuesday, Dec. Nov. 6, 2022. Aldrich, the suspect accused of entering a Colorado gay nightclub clad in body armor and opening fire with an AR-15-style rifle, killing five people and wounding 17 others, was charged by prosecutors Tuesday with 305 criminal counts including hate crimes and murder. (El Paso County District Court via AP)
Club shooter’s 2021 bomb case dropped, family uncooperative
The Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooter had charges dropped in a 2021 bomb threat case after family members who were terrorized in the incident refused to cooperate.
 
FILE - U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus poses for a photograph during an interview in his office with The Associated Press, Feb. 8, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
US border agency leader resigns amid wave of migrants
The head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection has resigned from his job leading the nation’s largest law enforcement agency as agents encounter record numbers of migrants entering the U.S. from Mexico.
 
FILE - U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus poses for a photograph during an interview in his office with The Associated Press, Feb. 8, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
AP sources: US border agency leader is being forced out
The head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection is being forced out of his job leading the nation’s largest law enforcement agency, according to two people familiar with the matter.
 
In this image taken from FOX19 Cincinnati video, FBI officials gather outside the FBI building in Cincinnati, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022. An armed man decked out in body armor tried to breach a security screening area at the FBI field office in Ohio on Thursday, then fled and exchanged gunfire in a standoff with law enforcement, authorities said. (FOX19 Cincinnati via AP)
Ohio gunman appeared to threaten FBI after Trump home search
A law enforcement official says a gunman who died in a shootout after trying to get inside the FBI’s Cincinnati office appeared to have posted calls on social media for FBI agents to be killed and for people to take up arms in the wake of the search at Donald Trump’s home.
 
Juneau County Circuit Judge John Roemer is seen in this 2007 photo, in Wisconsin. Roemer was found killed in his home in New Lisbon, Wis., on Friday, June 3, 2022. (Tom Loucks/Wisconsin Rapids Tribune via AP)
Source: Whitmer, McConnell, Evers on Wisconsin gunman’s list
A gunman suspected of fatally shooting a retired county judge at a Wisconsin home had a list that included Michigan Gov.
 
FILE - Minneapolis police stand outside the department's 3rd Precinct on May 27, 2020, in Minneapolis. President Joe Biden plans to sign an executive order on policing on Wednesday, the second anniversary of George Floyd's death. That's according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the matter. The executive order includes changes to policies on use of force and restrictions on the flow of surplus military hardware to local police. (Carlos Gonzalez/Star Tribune via AP, File)
Biden to sign policing order on anniversary of Floyd’s death
President Joe Biden plans to sign an executive order on policing Wednesday, the second anniversary of George Floyd’s death.
 
FILE - This combination of photos provided by the U.S. Marshals Service and Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office in April 2022 shows inmate Casey White, left, and Assistant Director of Corrections Vicky White. The former Alabama jail official on the run with the murder suspect she was accused of helping escape shot and killed herself Monday, May 9, as authorities caught up with the pair after more than a week of searching, officials said. The man she fled with surrendered. (U.S. Marshals Service, Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
Fugitive inmate captured after manhunt, ex-jail officer dead
Authorities say a former Alabama jail official has died and the murder suspect she is accused of helping escape from custody has been apprehended in Indiana after more than a week on the run.
 
President Joe Biden announces a ban on Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia's economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, Tuesday, March 8, 2022, in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
US strikes harder at Putin, banning all Russian oil imports
President Joe Biden has announced that the U.S. will ban all Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia’s economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine.
 
FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2019 file photo, David Chipman, a former federal agent and adviser at the gun control group Giffords, speaks at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on assault weapons on Capitol Hill in Washington. The White House will withdraw the nomination of Chipman, a gun-control advocate to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after he ran into bipartisan opposition in the Senate, a person familiar with the decision said Thursday. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Senate opposition leads White House to withdraw ATF nominee
The White House will withdraw the nomination of a gun-control advocate to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after David Chipman ran into bipartisan opposition in the Senate.
 
FILE - New York State Senator Brian Benjamin, right, and State Senator John Liu, second from left, attend the "Voting is Justice Rally," on June 20, 2021, in New York. Gov. Kathy Hochul has chosen Benjamin, a Democrat from Harlem, to be her lieutenant governor. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File)
AP source: Hochul selects Sen. Brian Benjamin as lieutenant
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has selected Brian Benjamin, a state senator from New York City, as her choice for lieutenant governor, according to a person familiar with the administration’s internal discussions.
 
President Joe Biden walks to Marine One upon departure from the Ellipse at the White House, Saturday, May 22, 2021, in Washington. Biden is en route to Camp David. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
AP Source: Biden to name Tom Nides ambassador to Israel
President Joe Biden is expected to name former senior State Department official Tom Nides to serve as ambassador to Israel, according to a person familiar with the matter.
 
AP source: Mueller probe to go on, Whitaker tells Graham
Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has met with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and indicated to him that the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller will continue.
 
Porn star’s lawyer promises sketch of man who threatened her
The attorney for a porn actress who says she had sex with President Donald Trump says he may delay releasing a composite sketch of the person he says threatened Stormy Daniels to stay quiet.
 
AP source: Ammo dealer wasn’t involved in Las Vegas attack
The lawyer for an Arizona man who sold ammunition to the gunman in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history says his client was disturbed that he didn’t spot any suspicious signs about his one-time customer.
 
3 shot to death in car in high-crime New York neighborhood
WYANDANCH, N.Y. (AP) — A gunman opened fire on four people inside an SUV parked outside a home in a crime-riddled suburban neighborhood, killing three of them, including a gang member, police said Thursday.
 
Noel DiGerolamo, left, President of the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association, and Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone, speak with reporters at a news conference at Stony Brook University Hospital, Thursday, March 12, 2015 in Stony Brook, N.Y. A Suffolk County police officer was shot and wounded while confronting a suspect who fled a traffic stop, police officials said. Officer Mark Collins, who is expected to survive, was in plain-clothes and driving an unmarked vehicle when he stopped a car for a vehicle and traffic violation on Route 25 in Huntington Station. A suspect is in custody. (AP Photo/Mike Balsamo)
Suspect held in shooting of Long Island, NY, police officer
HUNTINGTON STATION, N.Y. (AP) — A suspect accused of shooting a suburban New York police officer while fleeing a traffic stop was ordered held without bail Thursday.
 
Thousands of police turn their backs on NYC mayor
NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of police turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio at the second funeral for an officer gunned down in his squad car, repeating a stinging display of scorn for a mayor who many officers say is anti-police.
 
Cuomo attends cop’s wake 2 days after his dad died
NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of police officers from across the country streamed into the wake of a slain New York City officer on Saturday, and Gov.
 
Officers salute police boss, mayor at cop’s wake
NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (dih BLAH'-zee-oh) and Police Commissioner William Bratton have been saluted as they entered a funeral home for an officer’s wake.
 
Commissioner urges respect at NYC officer’s wake
NEW YORK (AP) — As thousands of mourners prepare to attend the wake and funeral of a second New York City police officer killed in an ambush shooting, police Commissioner William Bratton is urging the rank-and-file to refrain from making political statements.
 
NYC officer mourned at funeral as tensions linger
NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of police officers from across the nation packed a church and spilled onto streets Saturday to honor Officer Rafael Ramos as a devoted family man, aspiring chaplain and hero, though an air of unrest surrounding his ambush shooting was not completely pushed aside.