A man who sprayed vinegar at Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar at a town hall meeting in Minneapolis pleaded guilty to assault Thursday in federal court after reaching a deal with prosecutors.

Anthony Kazmierczak, 55, is awaiting sentencing.

Kazmierczak, dressed in bright orange jail clothing, gave only a fragmentary explanation Thursday of the Jan. 27 assault, which came as the city was already on edge after the fatal shootings of two people by federal agents during a White House crackdown that brought thousands of immigration officers to Minnesota.

After being asked what he remembered of the assault, he told U.S. District Judge Joan N. Ericksen: "It's fuzzy."

Kazmierczak, who was in the audience during Omar's January town hall, leaped up when the representative called for the ouster of then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. He sprayed liquid from a syringe as court documents say he shouted that Noem would not resign and that Omar was "splitting Minnesota apart."

Security officers tackled Kazmierczak, who told them the liquid was vinegar.

"I didn't want anybody to think she was in danger," he said Thursday.

Omar, who was not injured, continued with the town hall after the arrest.

Authorities later determined he'd sprayed her with a mixture of water and apple cider vinegar. He was charged with assaulting a U.S. officer.

Court documents say Kazmierczak, a critic of Omar who has made online posts supportive of President Donald Trump, told a close associate several years ago that "somebody should kill" her.

Omar, a refugee from Somalia, has long been a target of Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric. After she was elected seven years ago, Trump said she should "go back" to her home country. He has described her as "garbage" and said she should be investigated.

Trump has also accused Omar of staging the attack, telling ABC News, "She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her."

On Thursday, Kazmierczak told Erickson that he was being treated for Parkinson's disease, and that he'd been diagnosed with ADHD or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and a form of post-traumatic stress.

After his arrest, his then-attorney said that he did not have access to the medications he needed for Parkinson's and other serious conditions.

Minnesota court records show that Kazmierczak, who was convicted of felony auto theft in 1989, has been arrested multiple times for driving under the influence and has had numerous traffic citations. There are also indications he has had significant financial problems, including two bankruptcy filings.

In social media posts, Kazmierczak had criticized former President Joe Biden and referred to Democrats as "angry and liars." Trump wants the U.S. to be "stronger and more prosperous," he wrote.

Threats against members of Congress have increased in recent years, peaking in 2021 following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters before dipping slightly, only to climb again, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Capitol Police.

A federal judge has ruled in favor of artificial intelligence company Anthropic in temporarily blocking the Pentagon from labeling the company as a supply chain risk.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin on Thursday said she was also blocking enforcement of President Donald Trump's social media directive ordering all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic and its chatbot Claude.

Lin said the "broad punitive measures" taken against the AI company by the Trump administration and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared arbitrary, capricious and could "cripple Anthropic," particularly Hegseth's use of a rare military authority that's previously been directed at foreign adversaries.

"Nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the U.S. for expressing disagreement with the government," Lin wrote.

Lin's ruling followed a 90-minute hearing in San Francisco federal court on Tuesday at which Lin questioned why the Trump administration took the extraordinary step of punishing Anthropic after negotiations over a defense contract went sour over the company's attempt to prevent its AI technology from being deployed in fully autonomous weapons or surveillance of Americans.

Anthropic had asked Lin to issue an emergency order to remove a stigma that the company alleges was unjustifiably applied as part of an "unlawful campaign of retaliation" that provoked the San Francisco-based company to sue the Trump administration earlier this month. The Pentagon had argued that it should be able to use Claude in any way it deems lawful.

Lin said her ruling was not about that public policy debate but about the government's actions in response to it.

"If the concern is the integrity of the operational chain of command, the Department of War could just stop using Claude. Instead, these measures appear designed to punish Anthropic," Lin wrote.

Anthropic has also filed a separate and more narrow case that is still pending in the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. That case involves a different rule the Pentagon is using to try to declare Anthropic a supply chain risk.

Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina left the country after an elite military unit turned against the government in an apparent coup that followed weeks of youth-led protests, an opposition lawmaker in the Indian Ocean country said Monday.

The lawmaker’s comments came shortly before Rajoelina was due to appear on national television and radio to make a speech to the people of Madagascar. The president’s office said his speech was scheduled to be broadcast at 7 p.m. local time (1600 GMT), but was delayed after a group of soldiers attempted to take over the state broadcaster.

His office didn’t say if he was still in Madagascar amid reports he had fled on Sunday on a French military plane.

The anti-government protests, which were initially led by Gen-Z demonstrators, began on Sept. 25 but reached a turning point on Saturday when soldiers from the elite CAPSAT military unit accompanied protesters to a square in the capital, Antananarivo, and called for Rajoelina and several government ministers to step down.

The unit, which helped Rajoelina first come to power as transitional leader in a military-backed coup in 2009, said that it had taken charge of all the armed forces in Madagascar.

Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko, the leader of the opposition in parliament, said that Rajoelina “ran away” from the country after soldiers turned against him.

Rajoelina’s office had said Sunday that “an attempt to seize power illegally and by force” was underway in the nation of 31 million off the east coast of Africa. He has not appeared in public since the revolt by soldiers and his current whereabouts are unknown.  A spokesperson for the president didn’t respond to phone calls and messages.

Following a report that France had flown Rajoelina and his family out of Madagascar on one of its military planes, French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux declined to comment.

Madagascar is a former French colony. Rajoelina reportedly has French citizenship, a source of discontent among Madagascans.

Madagascar’s former prime minister under Rajoelina and one of the president’s closest advisors had left the country and arrived in the nearby island of Mauritius in the predawn hours of Sunday, the Mauritian government said, adding it was “not satisfied” that the private plane had landed on its territory.

Rajoelina hasn’t identified who was behind the attempted coup, but the CAPSAT military unit appeared to be in a position of authority and on Sunday appointed a general as the new head of Madagascar’s armed forces, which was accepted by the defense minister.

A commander of CAPSAT, Col. Michael Randrianirina, said that his soldiers had exchanged gunfire with security forces who were attempting to quell weekend protests, and one of his soldiers was killed. But there was no major fighting on the streets, and soldiers riding on armored vehicles and waving Madagascar flags were cheered by people in Antananarivo.

Randrianirina said that the army had “responded to the people’s calls,” but denied there was a coup. Speaking at the country’s military headquarters on Sunday, he told reporters that it was up to the Madagascan people to decide what happens next, and if Rajoelina leaves power and a new election is held.

The U.S. Embassy in Madagascar advised American citizens to shelter in place because of a “highly volatile and unpredictable” situation. The African Union urged all parties, “both civilian and military, to exercise calm and restraint.”

Madagascar has been shaken by three weeks of the most significant unrest in years. The anti-government protests, which erupted over water and electricity outages, were led by a group calling itself “Gen Z Madagascar.” The United Nations says the demonstrations left at least 22 people dead and dozens injured. The government has disputed this number.

The protests snowballed into larger dissatisfaction with the government and the leadership of Rajoelina. The demonstrators have brought up a range of issues, including poverty and the cost of living, access to tertiary education, and alleged corruption and embezzlement of public funds by government officials, as well as their families and associates.

A Florida woman who was acquitted of murdering her husband, a prominent official at the University of Central Florida, was sentenced Friday to a year of probation for tampering with evidence.

A judge sentenced Danielle Redlick in state court in Orlando.

Last month, a jury acquitted Danielle Redlick of second-degree murder in the death of her husband, Michael Redlick. Danielle Redlick said she had killed her husband out out of self-defense during a fight inside their home in which he had tried to “smother her to death.”

Jurors found Danielle Redlick guilty of evidence tampering for cleaning up her husband’s blood after stabbing him. Detectives found a pile of bloody towels, a bloody mop, bloody footprints and the strong smell of bleach in the house. She spent three years in jail prior to the trial.

Michael Redlick was the director of external affairs and partnership relations for the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at the University of Central Florida. He had previously worked for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Cleveland Browns and Memphis Grizzlies.

Court records showed that the Redlicks had been going through a divorce before the case was dismissed from a lack of action by Danielle Redlick, who initiated the court proceeding.

In a divorce petition, Danielle Redlick said the marriage was “irretrievably broken” and she was asking for alimony because she said she was unable to support herself without assistance. She listed herself as an unemployed photographer and multimedia professional.

Absentee ballots must arrive by Election Day to be counted, the Michigan Court of Appeals said Friday, blocking a 14-day extension that had been ordered by a lower court and embraced by key Democratic officials in a battleground state. Any changes must rest with the Legislature, not the judiciary, the Republican-appointed appeals court judges said in a 3-0 opinion.

Absentee ballot extensions in Wisconsin and Indiana have also been overturned by higher courts. Michigan’s ability to handle a flood of ballots will be closely watched in a state that was narrowly won by President Donald Trump in 2016. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson last week said 2.7 million people had requested absentee ballots, a result of a change in law that makes them available to any voter.

Michigan law says absentee ballots must be turned in by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be valid. But Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens had ordered that any ballots postmarked by Nov. 2 could be counted if they arrived within two weeks after the Nov. 3 election.

Stephens said there was “unrefuted evidence” about mail delivery problems because of the coronavirus pandemic. She said more than 6,400 ballots arrived too late to be counted in the August primary. The appeals court, however, said the pandemic and any delivery woes “are not attributable to the state.”

“Although those factors may complicate plaintiffs’ voting process, they do not automatically amount to a loss of the right to vote absentee,” the court said, noting that hundreds of special boxes have been set up across Michigan.  The court also reversed another portion of Stephens’ decision, which would have allowed a non-family member to deliver a completed ballot in the final days before the election if a voter consented.

“The constitution is not suspended or transformed even in times of a pandemic, and judges do not somehow become authorized in a pandemic to rewrite statutes or to displace the decisions made by the policymaking branches of government,” Judge Mark Boonstra said in a separate, 10-page concurring opinion.

Benson and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, both Democrats, had declined to appeal Stephens’ rulings, leaving it to the Republican-controlled Legislature to intervene.