Graham Kates

Tucked away inside an enormous gated mansion on the outskirts of Los Angeles, a couple was raising nearly two dozen children, most under the age of 3, when their shrouded lives were thrust into public view. Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang drew national interest in July after authorities raided their Arcadia home and took 21 kids, mostly surrogate-born, into custody. The raid came after their 2-month-old son was rushed to the hospital with injuries that medical staff suspected were due to child abu...

The federal investigation into the death of convicted sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was marred by significant lapses, experts told CBS News, including the failure by investigators to interview potential witnesses, properly preserve certain evidence and run basic forensic tests. Nearly two years passed before investigators interviewed the two key corrections officers on duty the night Epstein died in his cell in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown New York City, in what was later r...

Jeffrey Epstein lay in the fetal position on the floor of his jail cell, unresponsive, with an orange fabric noose tied around his neck. The post-midnight quiet of the Metropolitan Correctional Center's secure housing unit was punctured as a corrections officer called for help. It was 1:27 a.m. on July 23, 2019, 18 days before Epstein's death. He was breathing, his eyes opening and shutting occasionally, but he wouldn't, or couldn't, respond to officers' questions and commands, according to a c...

This CBS News investigation provides the most comprehensive portrait yet published of the insular young student. It draws from interviews with more than two dozen friends, professors, law enforcement officials and others, as well as open records requests to half a dozen agencies and a review of thousands of documents.

Thomas Matthew Crooks had a lot on his mind in January 2024. The 20-year-old who, six months later, would open fire at President Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally — striking his ear and killing an audience member — was busy polishing his applications to transfer from community college to a four-year engineering program. Crooks was gathering transcripts and asking friends to review his personal statement. He was also designing a bomb. He ordered more than two gallons of nitromethane from...

As universities around the country race to assess new federal policies geared toward ending programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion, known as DEI, one college administrator is in a potentially tricky position. Lakshmi Chilukuri is the provost of the University of California San Diego's Sixth College. She is also Vice President JD Vance's mother-in-law. Chilukuri helped create a pilot course on race, ethnicity and gender in biology and medicine, served on the university's biological...

President-elect Donald Trump's transition team is grappling with internal strife over the alleged conduct of a senior and longtime adviser, Boris Epshteyn, who has been accused by at least one Republican politician of trying to profit personally from his ability to influence Trump's Cabinet picks. Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens submitted a sworn declaration to the transition team alleging that "Mr. Epshteyn's overall tone and behavior gave me the impression of an implicit expectation to eng...

At 4:36, the judge came in. "I apologize for the delay," Merchan said. "We received a note. It was signed by the jury foreperson at 4:20. It's marked as Court Exhibit Number 7." The note included an announcement, followed by a very polite request: 'We, the jury, have a verdict. We would like an extra 30 minutes to fill out the forms. Will that be possible?" Imagine the sound of dozens of people losing, and quickly catching, their breaths. Courtroom decorum demands quiet. So a muted frenzy ensued.

Nicholas Cù was on the fence about buying a ticket to see his beloved San Francisco 49ers play in the 2024 Super Bowl. The lifelong fan has attended every 49ers playoff game for the last two years, but ticket prices this year were unrivaled by any football game in history, going for an average of more than $12,000 on some resale sites last week. Cù asked a Facebook group of other 49ers faithful in January for "tips on the best and most affordable way to buy Super Bowl tickets." The more than 100 replies that flooded in were emblematic of a well-known truth about the big game: It's almost impossible for an average fan — or even a well-heeled one — to make it to the Super Bowl.

Combative, angry and prone to grandiose claims — newly unveiled footage of an April 2023 deposition gives a glimpse into how former President Donald Trump behaves when testifying under oath. The video, released to CBS News on Friday in response to a freedom of information request, shows Trump claiming to have averted a "nuclear holocaust" and "saving millions of lives" as president.

Not long after a lawyer for New York Attorney General Letitia James began his opening statement on Oct. 2, he was interrupted. "Your Honor, objection," said Clifford Robert, who represents Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump in the civil fraud case in which they're defendants alongside their father, former President Donald Trump and their company. It was the first of nearly 600 objections voiced by the two sides during the first 25 days of trial, according to a review of transcripts. Objections ha

After a New York judge ruled on Tuesday that Donald Trump and his company had for years used fraudulent methods to value his properties, Trump zeroed in on the ruling's section about his home: Mar-a-Lago.

When an outside firm hired by then-congressional hopeful George Santos in 2021 delivered a secret internal report detailing aspects of the candidate's checkered background, several of his aides found it too much to stomach. They urged Santos to drop out, and when he refused, they quit.

As Donald Trump's New York legal troubles began to mount this spring, his lawyers and political action committee sought the help of Sean Crowley, a local private eye. Save America, a PAC founded by the former president, paid $152,285.50 to Crowley's firm in April and May, according to federal campaign filings. He was paid for work related to Trump's Manhattan court cases. It is unclear what that work entailed. Crowley, a former New York police captain, declined to discuss his work when contac

Waving his glasses in front of his face while recording his YouTube show on Tuesday, Rudy Giuliani taunted the prosecutor who had just charged him with racketeering. "You're screwed, Fani. Giuliani got new glasses. Ha! And he's like five times the lawyer … five times the lawyer you are? How can you? No. Well, you can't multiply by zero," Giuliani said.

Before either former President Donald Trump or special counsel Jack Smith had entered the courtroom Thursday, several federal judges walked in and sat in the back row of the gallery. The presence of judges sitting among the public underscored the extraordinary nature of the arraignment they were there to watch, a former president charged with federal felonies related to his efforts to overturn an election.

A former business partner of Hunter and James Biden, who worked directly with them on a 2017 energy deal, was never asked to testify to a Delaware grand jury investigating Hunter Biden, two sources familiar with the discussions tell CBS News.

Just seven members of the general public, as well as a couple dozen reporters, were allowed into the courtroom during former President Donald Trump's arraignment on 37 federal felony charges. They waited for hours, unsure if they'd be able to witness the proceeding in person. Several said they were drawn by the history of the moment.

Live from Mar-a-Lago, former president Donald Trump was televised for an audience of one: the judge in his criminal case. The television-star-turned-president appeared Tuesday afternoon for an unusual criminal court appearance. The setup, in which a defendant appears via live video feed instead of in person, is extraordinarily rare, and typically used for those who are hospitalized.

Donald Trump has had many titles in his 76 years: CEO, reality television host, casino magnate, beauty pageant owner and President of the United States, among others. When he silently walked into a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday afternoon, staring straight ahead with pursed lips, it was with a title neither Trump nor any former president in American history has had: criminal defendant.