ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

World

    • DA's last big decision: Whether to charge Trump

    U.S. President Donald Trump listens during an event on Operation Warp Speed in the Rose Garden of the White House, Friday, Nov. 13, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) U.S. President Donald Trump listens during an event on Operation Warp Speed in the Rose Garden of the White House, Friday, Nov. 13, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
    Share
    NEW YORK -

    After a dozen years in office, one piece of unfinished business remains for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. before he retires at the end of the month: Will the prosecutor known for his caution go out with a bang by bringing criminal charges against Donald Trump?

    Vance, who has spent more than two years investigating the former president, has been coy about whether he'll seek Trump's indictment or leave the decision to the next district attorney, Alvin Bragg, a fellow Democrat who takes over Jan. 1.

    "I really can't talk about the Trump case, so I'm not going to talk about the Trump case," Vance said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "But I think it's pretty clear that our investigation is active and ongoing."

    Vance, 67, has continued to pursue Trump over his business practices even as he's packing up to leave the job he's held since 2010.

    After charging the Trump Organization and one of its executives with tax fraud last June, Vance convened a new grand jury that could potentially bring a fresh indictment in what could be a legacy-cementing moment. No former president has ever been charged with a crime.

    But a rush to get the case done before Jan. 1 might also be out of character for a prosecutor who holds few news conferences, does few interviews and is known for a methodical approach.

    While Vance is perhaps best known for overseeing Harvey Weinstein's landmark .MeToo rape conviction last year, he's also been criticized for hesitating to bring potentially risky cases involving the powerful.

    In any event, Vance said he has no future political aspirations and little to gain by grabbing the spotlight.

    "I'm not running for office again, so politically it's meaningless to me," he told The AP. "I have had no sense that politics has been involved in my mind or the mind of anyone in this office."

    Vance, the son of the late former U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance Sr., presided over sizable change in the district attorney's office, where he oversaw a staff of 500 lawyers with an annual budget of about $125 million.

    Like other Democratic prosecutors in the city, he eased off of the iron-fisted approach to quality-of-life crimes that was once a hallmark of criminal justice in the city.

    Vance ended most prosecutions for possessing and smoking marijuana and for jumping subway turnstiles, slashing the cases handled by his office by nearly 60% -- though some activists said he didn't go far enough.

    He also re-examined cases involving wrongful convictions. Last month, Vance went to court to overturn the convictions of Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam, who he said had wrongfully spent years in prison for the 1965 assassination of civil rights leader Malcolm X.

    Vance also made good on pledges to tackle cold cases, sending a man to prison in what had been one of the city's most notorious unsolved crimes, the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz.

    Yet Vance has also battled criticisms that he had a two-tiered system of justice -- one for everyday New Yorkers, another for the rich and famous.

    His career-defining win last year in the Weinstein case came only after he declined a chance to pursue similar charges in 2015 after a model accused the movie mogul of groping her breast. Vance said there wasn't enough proof of a sexual assault.

    In 2011, Vance dropped rape charges against the French financier Dominique Strauss-Kahn, then the head of the International Monetary Fund, because of concerns about the credibility of the accuser.

    Vance investigated Trump's two eldest children over potential fraud in a hotel project a decade ago, but declined to bring charges.

    In 2016, his office struck a deal that let a prominent gynecologist accused of sexually abusing patients avoid prison -- a case that has since been reopened in the face of public outcry.

    Vance, speaking to the AP, said his office has prosecuted many people of "power and authority," that his office has taken on thousands of sex crimes cases, and that he often defers to the expertise of his career sex crimes prosecutors on charging decisions.

    Still, he acknowledged the criticism and outlined steps his office has taken, including bringing in an outside consultant to take a hard look at how its sex crimes bureau operates.

    "To those folks who, who criticize our decisions, I would say that we I think we have learned a great deal from the .MeToo movement," Vance said. "Of course we haven't done perfectly and you're going to make people unhappy in this job, just by the nature of the job and the decisions you make. That happens from time to time and it has happened to me from time to time. What I can simply commit to is that the efforts of our lawyers have always been to try to get the right result."

    Trump's view on Vance is that he's just another Democrat out to get him in a partisan "witch hunt."

    "New York is dying before our very eyes, and all the Democrat Prosecutors are focused on is how we can get and punish Donald Trump," the former president said in his latest missive Wednesday.

    The district attorney's investigation, which initially began as an examination of hush-money payments paid to women on Trump's behalf, has expanded into an inquiry into whether the president's company misled lenders or tax authorities about the value of its properties.

    The June indictments allege the Trump Organization and its CFO, Allen Weisselberg, evaded taxes on lucrative fringe benefits paid to executives. Prosecutors didn't charge Trump, but they did note that he signed some checks at the center of the case.

    Vance sought Trump's personal tax records as part of the investigation, eventually winning them through a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

    Shortly after the court decision, he announced he wouldn't seek reelection.

    Vance told the AP he only ever planned on serving two or three four-year terms -- a relative cup of coffee compared with his predecessors Robert Morgenthau, who was in office for 34 years, until he was 90, and Frank Hogan, who stuck around for 31 years.

    "I did not want to be D.A. forever and I wanted to have another chapter or two after I left this job," Vance said.

    In the process, he also avoided a potential primary fight with progressive Democrats who said his criminal justice reforms didn't go far enough.

    "In many ways, he's sort of old school and to his credit, methodical," New York Law School professor Rebecca Roiphe said. "He may not have been the best at managing public relations, and I don't think he was the best at managing his office -- making sure that his principles and policies and commitments made their way to every courtroom and to every D.A. -- but I do think he's a decent prosecutor who was trying to do the right thing in most of these situations."

    As D.A., Vance took an interest in global efforts to prevent cyberattacks, gun violence and sex trafficking -- issues he says he wants to continue working on in the private sector after his retirement.

    Vance has also used an $800 million slush fund bankrolled by Wall Street settlements to provide police officers with smartphones, build neighborhood gyms, and help reduce a national backlog in the testing of rape kits, an effort that brought him national attention and praise from "Law & Order: SVU" star Mariska Hargitay.

    Vance assesses himself modestly, saying he took what was already "perhaps the greatest 20th century district attorney's office in the country" and made it one of the greatest of the 21st century.

    The next two weeks will show whether Vance is content with his legacy as it stands, or intends to take one more shot at rewriting his place in the history books.

    CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

    Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

    Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

    Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

    A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.

    The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.

    Advocates have identified the woman who died this week after being shot by police in Surrey, B.C., as a South American refugee who was raising a young daughter.

    Provincial police investigating the death of a cat that was allegedly set on fire in Orillia earlier this week released surveillance video of a person of interest in the case.

    Canada

    • Advocates have identified the woman who died this week after being shot by police in Surrey, B.C., as a South American refugee who was raising a young daughter.

    • Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

    • Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

    • Provincial police investigating the death of a cat that was allegedly set on fire in Orillia earlier this week released surveillance video of a person of interest in the case.

    • The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.

    • The Métis Nation of Saskatchewan has pulled out of a national body representing Métis, citing problems with an Ontario group and throwing the future of the Métis National Council into question.

    World

    Politics

    Health

    • A Nova Scotia woman has applied for a medically assisted death, saying after years of battling to receive out-of-country surgery for an illness that causes 'indescribable' pain, she struggles to maintain the will to live.

    Sci-Tech

    Entertainment

    • Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

    • It was the last show for longtime children's TV star Ron (Buck Shot) Barge Friday as hundreds of family, friends and fans attended a public memorial in Calgary.

    Business

    Lifestyle

    • When Bernard Morissette got a call from Loto-Quebec on Sept. 18 and was asked if he was sitting down, he had no idea what was coming his way.

    • An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

    Sports

    • The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have won five in a row. The Edmonton Elks have won five of their last six games. They are the two hottest teams in the West. When they meet Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium, something has to give.

    • Agreement in principle has been reached to build a new NHL arena at LeBreton Flats has been reached between the Ottawa Senators and the National Capital Commission (NCC), the two sides announced Friday.

    • F1 star Max Verstappen punished over bad word

      Formula One points leader Max Verstappen was ordered to 'accomplish some work of public interest' after uttering an inappropriate word Thursday at the news conference ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.

    Autos

    Local Spotlight

    Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

    An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

    They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

    A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

    Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

    The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

    The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

    It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

    A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

    • Advocates have identified the woman who died this week after being shot by police in Surrey, B.C., as a South American refugee who was raising a young daughter.

    • The debate over sexual orientation and gender identity education in schools is heating up. Protests both for and against SOGI in the curriculum took place across the country Friday.

    • A fire that destroyed a historic bridge in Kamloops, B.C., is now being investigated as arson, local Mounties say.

    • Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

    • The parents of a teenager who died after allegedly consuming the poisonous products of a Mississauga man are now suing him, as well as several doctors involved in her care.

    • One person was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries after a multi-vehicle collision in Milton, Ont. on Friday night.

    • The man charged with fatally stabbing lifelong Banff resident Ethan Enns-Goneau in 2022 has been convicted of second-degree murder.

    • Environment Canada issued a frost advisory for Calgary late Friday afternoon.

    • Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek is urging the Alberta government to preserve pieces of the massive Green Line transit project now being dissolved.

    • Agreement in principle has been reached to build a new NHL arena at LeBreton Flats has been reached between the Ottawa Senators and the National Capital Commission (NCC), the two sides announced Friday.

    • For years, the commute to Ottawa's west end was one of the biggest complaints for attending fans. But those who live in Kanata and in the immediate LeBreton area say the move would be a big change their respective neighbourhoods.

    • Ottawa police are investigating a shooting downtown Friday afternoon.

    • Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

    • When Bernard Morissette got a call from Loto-Quebec on Sept. 18 and was asked if he was sitting down, he had no idea what was coming his way.

    • A man who asserted his right to work in French has won his case before the Tribunal, invoking the new provisions of the province's French-language law (Bill 96) to that effect.

    • Two Edmonton Police Service officers have been criminally charged in connection with an assault.

    • There's a friendship in the Edmonton Oilers crease between Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard.

    • A woman is dead after a highway collision on Saddle Lake Cree Nation.

    • A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.

    • Mattea Roach among the Maritimers honoured with the King Charles III Coronation Medal Friday.

    • The Halifax Regional Detachment of the RCMP is asking the public for assistance locating a man wanted on a provincewide arrest warrant in relation to an assault in Lower Sackville.

    • The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.

    • A plane approaches the grass runway at Harv’s Air School south of Steinbach. Nothing is getting in the way of a clear, smooth landing, but owner Harv Penner worries, that could soon change.

    • The University of Manitoba's College of Dentistry is dealing with some unexpected consequences from the federal government's new Canadian Dental Care Plan

    • Five Regina schools were placed into lockdown or secure the building mode following a report of a weapons investigation at Miller High School on Friday.

    • A 21-year-old man from Codette, Sask. is facing numerous charges in connection to a fatal crash near Wapella, Sask. Wednesday night that claimed the life of a 22-year-old Alberta woman.

    • The City of Regina and provincial government have committed a combined $400,000 to Carmichael Outreach for an 80-person warming space set to open no later than Nov. 1.

    • Protests were held in front of Kitchener City Hall on Friday, both for and against LGBTQ2S+ inclusive education and queer rights in schools.

    • Levels of hydrogen sulfide gas are being monitored at Brantford Collegiate Institute after a leak in their geothermal system.

    • A new scam is being reported in communities across the country.

    • A garage fire in Saskatoon’s Willows neighbourhood on Friday narrowly missed igniting an attached home, according to the fire department.

    • The Métis Nation of Saskatchewan has pulled out of a national body representing Métis, citing problems with an Ontario group and throwing the future of the Métis National Council into question.

    • The second-degree murder trial of Thomas Hamp is being adjourned until December so an expert witness central to the trial can testify.

    • Emergency crews in northern Ontario found the bodies of four people inside a home where a fire broke out Thursday night.

    • Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

    • A Brampton driver, 27, was charged this week when northern Ontario police stopped the SUV he was driving on Highway 17 after a reported shooting and found more than $100,000 in cash.

    • A man is in hospital with life threatening injuries following a collision between a motorcycle and a vehicle on Friday afternoon.

    • NEW

      NEW

      Under intense cross-examination from Crown Attorney Jennifer Moser, the embattled former Mayor of Woodstock stuck to his story denying that he ever did anything inappropriate to his female accuser.

    • Two men from Barrie have been charged after a deadly shooting at a park in Keswick on Wednesday.

    • Provincial police investigating the death of a cat that was allegedly set on fire in Orillia earlier this week released surveillance video of a person of interest in the case.

    • A jury has found a Barrie man guilty of second-degree murder for the stabbing death of a man at a Banff bar two years ago.

    • The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is searching for the occupants of a vehicle caught on security cameras during a fatal police-involved shooting on Goyeau Street.

    • Windsor police say a 25-year-old mother has been charged with the drowning death of her 5-year-old child in the family’s backyard pool.

    • The federal government is investing $18.4 million dollars into the region.

    • New Democrat Leader David Eby has launched his British Columbia election campaign a day early, making the key battle ground of Surrey his first stop.

    • The Old Man Lake wildfire near Sooke is the only one currently burning on Vancouver Island. It’s a region of the province that this year saw a drastic drop in blazes in the backcountry.

    • Police in Victoria, B.C. issued a warning this week about lighters that look like pistols, saying they have received 20 reports of firearms in public spaces since July 1 that turned out to be gun-shaped torches.

    • A pair of runaway pigs are in the custody of an animal sanctuary in the Okanagan after evading police and volunteers for hours earlier this week.

    • The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.

    • Animal protection officers in British Columbia have rescued three pit bulls – including one that gave birth to 10 puppies – from a rat-infested home in Kelowna.

    • After a summer of preparation, the Lethbridge Hurricanes are ready to open the 2024-25 season.

    • As a new semester is underway, Lethbridge Polytechnic and the University of Lethbridge say the number of students on campus is on the rise.

    • A Lethbridge resident is facing charges after police seized drugs and weapons at a traffic stop for bicycle equipment violations.

    • A 26-year-old driver from Surrey, B.C., has been charged with three counts of criminal negligence causing death and bodily harm in a crash that killed two youths in northern Ontario last year.

    • Ontario Provincial Police say three suspects from southern Ontario have been charged and drugs worth $300,000 have been seized following a traffic stop Sept. 16.

    • A Brampton driver, 27, was charged this week when northern Ontario police stopped the SUV he was driving on Highway 17 after a reported shooting and found more than $100,000 in cash.

    N.L.

    Shopping Trends

    The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at CTV News. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us.

    Stay Connected
    Follow CTV News