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Nov. 13, 2025, 5:36 PM ESTBy Courtney Kube and Laura StricklerFORT HOOD, Texas — The commander of the Army medical center where a gynecologist who saw hundreds of service members and their spouses is accused of sexual misconduct said investigators continue to receive new allegations from patients.Col. Mark Jacques, the commander of Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood military base, said in an interview with NBC News that he sent a letter to more than 1,400 of the gynecologist’s patients to inform them of the probe and created a hotline for them to call to report complaints. As many as 85 patients have reached out to the Army Criminal Investigation Division, or CID, he said, although it’s not clear if all of them were victims of misconduct.Col. Mark Jacques, commander of Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, speaks with Courtney Kube.Mosheh Gains / NBC NewsAt least 30 women have been identified by Army investigators as having been photographed or videotaped by the gynecologist, according to a patient who was told of that number by investigators and two Army officials.“I’m devastated that these patients and their families have to endure this and have to go through this,” Jacques said.The gynecologist, Dr. Blaine McGraw, is named in a lawsuit filed on Monday by one of his former patients under the name Jane Doe to protect her identity, NBC News reported. The lawsuit accuses McGraw of recording intimate videos of a patient without her knowledge and alleges there are scores of other women who are victims of his misconduct. It also says Army leadership received complaints about sexual misconduct by McGraw dating back years and allowed him to continue practicing.Jacques said he was not aware of any such complaints or concerns since he took command of the medical center in June.Daniel Conway, an attorney for McGraw, said in a statement, “Dr. McGraw is fully cooperative with the investigation. We have reason to believe, however, that Army special agents are providing members of the public with inaccurate and exaggerated information. We can think of no other reason for inaccurate leaks than to influence the outcome of the case. We, nonetheless, remain cooperative.”Two women, whose names NBC News is withholding at their request, said they were both patients of McGraw’s and had not been interviewed by Army CID. One of them, who said she did not receive the letter from Jacques, said she fears her privacy may have been violated. “He might have pictures of me, and I don’t even know,” she said. The other woman said she received Jacques’ letter.NBC News has verified that McGraw was their doctor.Another one of McGraw’s patients, whom NBC News is calling “Erin” because she asked for anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case, said she received a call from Army criminal investigators on Oct. 28. Erin said she started seeing McGraw earlier this year for a high-risk pregnancy. She said Army investigators sent her a still image they had found on McGraw’s phone that they thought might be of her.Courtney Kube interviewing the Jane Doe who filed a lawsuit against the Army doctor.Mosheh Gains / NBC NewsShe said when she looked at the image, she recognized herself instantly. It was a snapshot of her during one of the most trying times of her life — she was in the intensive care unit at the Army hospital dealing with complications from her delivery, she said.“I was in the room by myself for that treatment, and he came in around 11 at night and was basically conversational — and he said, ‘I’ve got great news. We are sending you home early,’” the woman recounted. She said she was groggy from the medication she’d needed for the procedure when he asked how things were going. She told him breastfeeding was not going very well for her, at which point he asked to take a look, she said.What she didn’t know at the time, but realized as soon as she saw the image from Army investigators, was that McGraw had recorded his examination of her breasts, she said.During her interview with Army investigators, she said they told her that the images of patients on McGraw’s phone went back to February 2025.Jacques said he learned on Oct. 17 that a patient had made allegations. The gynecologist was immediately suspended and stripped of his access to any patient treatment areas and electronic medical records, and the Army opened a criminal investigation that same day, he said.“Everything we do in this organization, the reason people come to work every day, is to take care of patients, to take care of Army soldiers, their families and the community,” Jacques said. “Those allegations were not in line with that. They were opposed to the safe treatment of patients, how we take care of patients with respect. And as a result, the investigation is ongoing.”The letter Jacques sent to 1,400 patients, which was obtained by NBC News, includes a QR code to access a questionnaire from Army CID.“We are writing to inform you of an investigation involving a healthcare provider who has previously provided Gynecological and Obstetric care at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center,” the letter states. “While your name appears on the list of patients seen by this provider, there are currently no indications you were affected by the alleged misconduct currently under review.”The lawsuit filed on Monday said the plaintiff learned from Army investigators that McGraw had secretly recorded her during breast and pelvic examinations.The lawsuit also accuses McGraw of inappropriate touching, crude remarks and performing unnecessary medical procedures on multiple patients. It also alleges he would call his patients at home to discuss matters unrelated to medical care and dismiss female chaperones in examination rooms, raising questions about whether he had informed his patients they have a right to have a chaperone present during an appointment.“These allegations that were raised are not in line with me as a physician or with me as a soldier who lives by the Army values,” Jacques said. “This is not acceptable, and that’s why, as the commander, I take responsibility to ensure that, moving forward, we cover every area and every basis to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.”Courtney KubeCourtney Kube is a correspondent covering national security and the military for the NBC News Investigative Unit.Laura StricklerLaura Strickler is the senior investigative producer on the national security team where she produces television stories and writes for NBCNews.com.Mosheh Gains contributed.

- Latest News - November 13, 2025

FORT HOOD, Texas — The commander of the Army medical center where a gynecologist who saw hundreds of service members and their spouses is accused of sexual misconduct said investigators.

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Nov. 13, 2025, 5:00 PM ESTBy Rebecca KeeganOscar voters are getting some extra homework this awards season.An email obtained by NBC News shows how Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members must confirm that they have watched all the movies nominated in each category in order to be allowed to vote. The email, which has not previously been made public, provided guidance on what steps the more than 10,000 voting academy members need to take ahead of the final Oscar ballot deadline March 5. The academy has long required members who vote in certain preliminary rounds, such as those who determine the short list for international films, to confirm that they have watched a group of assigned movies. In April, it revised that policy to note that academy members must watch every Oscar-nominated film in order to vote. The email appears to be the first time the organization is offering detailed information on how the new rule will be enforced. To be eligible to vote, members must watch all five films in each Oscar category and all 10 in the best picture category, the academy said. “You do not need to save movie stubs, tickets or receipts,” the academy wrote in its Oct. 30 email to its voting members. “This is an honor system.”A screenshot from the email sent to academy members Oct. 30.Obtained by NBC NewsWith the new policy, films that members watch on the Academy Screening Room (ASR), a streaming service run by the academy, will be automatically verified. For films that members watch elsewhere, such as at film festivals, private for-your-consideration events or a local multiplex, they must manually mark it “watched” on the streaming service, member website or academy app. “Keep an eye out for eligibility notifications prior to finals voting,” the academy said in its email. “Members will be notified of the categories in which they still need to watch films to be eligible to vote.”While largely applauding the intent of the new policy, three academy members, who declined to speak on the record to maintain professional relationships within the organization, pointed out that it will be difficult to police. Members can start a movie on the streaming service, for instance, but that doesn’t mean they’re actually watching it.The academy declined to comment. Partly the new rule’s timing reflects an evolution in how Oscar voters watch the nominated films. In 2019, the academy made its best picture nominees available on Academy Screening Room, and now the organization has its own data about who is — and isn’t — watching the nominees there. Academy members will be shown when they are eligible to vote in categories and how many films they have left to watch.Obtained by NBC NewsThe idea behind the new rule is to curtail a phenomenon in which academy members who are fans of certain films vote for it in every category on the ballot, regardless of whether they have seen all the other films in those categories. For example, Neon’s “Anora” swept the award show this year, taking home wins in five categories including best picture, best director for Sean Baker and best actress for Mikey Madison. But it’s unclear whether the people who voted for “Anora” multiple times watched other, less buzzy contenders, such as Amazon MGM’s “Nickel Boys,” which was nominated in the best picture and adapted screenplay categories, or Sony Pictures Classics’ “I’m Still Here,” which won international feature and was nominated in best actress for Brazil’s Fernanda Torres.The academy also made several other changes around the Oscars, including the introduction of a new award for achievement in casting, which will be given out in 2026, and an award for achievement in stunt design, which will be handed out for the first time in 2028.The Oscar nominations will be announced Jan. 26, and the 98th annual Academy Awards will take place March 15. Conan O’Brien, who hosted 2025’s ceremony, will return to the Oscars stage next year.Rebecca KeeganRebecca Keegan is the senior Hollywood reporter for NBC News Digital, where she covers the entertainment industry.

- Latest News - November 13, 2025

Oscar voters are getting some extra homework this awards season

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Nov. 13, 2025, 4:50 PM ESTBy Daniel ArkinThorbjørn Jagland, the former prime minister of Norway, needed insight into President Donald Trump’s thinking. Mohamed Waheed Hassan, the former president of the Maldives, wanted guidance on high-level government finances. Larry Summers, the former treasury secretary, sought advice on his relationship with a woman. Michael Wolff, the journalist and bestselling author, seemed to be looking for a medical referral — a “colonoscopy man,” to be precise.When some of the world’s most influential people required outside input, they went to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who cultivated an elite social circle that at one time included Trump, former President Bill Clinton and the British royal formerly known as Prince Andrew.The more than 20,000 pages of documents released by House lawmakers this week contain a voluminous record of Epstein’s email exchanges with boldface names in the overlapping worlds of government, finance and media. The emails, which were reviewed by NBC News reporters, illustrate Epstein’s vast social network and paint a portrait of him as a go-to for counsel on all manner of subjects, from big-picture political strategy in the Trump era to more trivial concerns.The messages are sure to add to the intrigue around Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. He has become a fixture of American politics owing to his ties to Trump, who has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and says he ended their friendship sometime in the 2000s. The documents are also likely to renew questions about why so many powerful people continued to associate with Epstein even after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to two prostitution charges in Florida state court.Epstein appears to have embraced his reputation as a font of wisdom. In the typo-strewn, sometimes jarringly informal emails, he presents himself to his interlocutors as an authority on Trump’s mindset and negotiating tactics. (NBC News is quoting from the messages verbatim, typos included.)“He understood trump after our conversations. it is not complex. he must be seen to get something its that simple,” Epstein said to Jagland, referring to conversations with Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s former ambassador to the United Nations.Jagland, Norway’s former prime minister, looked to Epstein as a valuable resource as he attempted to get acquainted with the first Trump administration.In an email in late February 2017, a month after Trump’s first inauguration, Jagland asked Epstein if he could pay him a visit in the French city of Strasbourg, the seat of the European Parliament. “I really need to understand more about Trump and what’s going on in the American society,” Jagland wrote.Jagland at the time was the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, an international organization focused on human rights and the rule of law on the continent. He could not be reached for comment on Thursday, and the Council of Europe did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.Four years earlier, Epstein got a message in his inbox from Hassan, the president of the Maldives. “Jeffrey,” the Maldivian leader wrote, “Need your advice.” Hassan relayed that his finance minister had informed him about an “anonymous funds manager who is willing to deposit 4 billion dollars” in the South Asian country’s coffers.Hassan seemed nervous about the generous offer. “I don’t feel I have enough information on this. I don’t know who is this funds manager,” he wrote in part. He was eager for Epstein’s take. “What do you think I should do. … Does this sound all ridiculous to you. I have a strange feeling about this whole thing.”Epstein’s reply was blunt: “this from a fraud web site, your mimister will get upset that you dont want to at least try, what do we have to lose , always the pitch.”Hassan did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.Yet not all the emails released by the House on Wednesday concern weighty matters of foreign and monetary policy. Epstein carried on lighthearted email correspondences with high-profile friends in the U.S., including Summers, a former president of Harvard University who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations.Epstein and Summers traded emails regularly; the House lawmakers’ cache includes messages sent in 2017, 2018 and 2019. In one email dated March 16, 2019, Summers — a professor at Harvard — describes a conversation he had with an unnamed woman.“I said what are you up to. She said ‘I’m busy’. I said awfully coy u are,” Summers wrote to Epstein. He said in closing: “Tone was not of good feeling. I dint want to be in a gift giving competition while being the friend without benefits.”Epstein replied with his perspective on Summers’ dynamic with the woman: “shes smart. making you pay for past errors. ignore the daddy im going to go out with the motorcycle guy, you reacted well.. annoyed shows caring., no whining showed strentgh.”Summers did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. He has been previously quoted as saying that he felt regret for “my past associations with Mr. Epstein.”The emails show that Wolff, a reporter and the author of four books about Trump, regularly offered advice of his own to Epstein.In an exchange dated Dec. 15, 2015, the night of a televised debate in the Republican presidential primary, Wolff gave Epstein a “heads up” — CNN was “planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you.” Epstein replied: “If we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?”Wolff’s counsel: “I think you should let him hang himself.”“If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt,” Wolff added.Trump was not asked about his relationship with Epstein during that debate, according to a CNN transcript. Wolff did not respond to multiple requests for comment this week.Epstein was on hand to answer Wolff’s questions, too. “Who is your colonoscopy man?” Wolff wrote to Epstein on May 30, 2017. Epstein replied with the doctor’s name and Wolff arrived at a realization. “His son was in my son’s class at Collegiate,” Wolff said, referring to an all-boys private school in Manhattan.In an appearance on a podcast Wednesday, The Daily Beast’s Joanna Coles asked Wolff whether he attempts to “suck up” to powerful people to make them believe he’s “on their side.” In response, Wolff said in part: “Am I acting? Am I playacting? Am I playing a role? The answer is yes. That’s what a journalist, a writer, in that situation does.”It remains unclear whether the people who came to Epstein with their questions and concerns necessarily acted on his advice. But some of the emails illustrate the gratitude they felt for his counsel.“Thank you,” Hassan, the former president of the Maldives, wrote in response to Epstein’s financial guidance. “You are my savior. I will do exactly what you said.”Daniel ArkinDaniel Arkin is a senior reporter at NBC News.Kate Reilly contributed.

- Latest News - November 13, 2025

The more than 20,000 pages of documents released by House lawmakers this week contain a voluminous record of Jeffrey Epstein’s emails with boldfaced names.

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Nov. 13, 2025, 1:52 PM ESTBy Katherine DoyleWASHINGTON — A top housing official in President Donald Trump’s administration has referred California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell to the Justice Department for a potential federal criminal probe, based on allegations of mortgage and tax fraud related to a Washington, D.C., home, according to a person familiar with the referral. He is the fourth Democratic official to face mortgage fraud allegations in recent months. Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, alleged in a letter sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday that Swalwell may have made false or misleading statements in loan documents. The matter has also been referred to the agency’s acting inspector general, this person said.”As the most vocal critic of Donald Trump over the last decade and as the only person who still has a surviving lawsuit against him, the only thing I am surprised about is that it took him this long to come after me,” Swalwell said in a statement to NBC News.The referral, according to the source, alleges several million dollars worth of loans and refinancing based on Swalwell declaring his primary residence as Washington. It calls for an investigation into possible mortgage fraud, state and local tax fraud, and insurance fraud, as well as any related crimes. The Justice Department did not immediately return a request for comment. The move comes as Trump has publicly urged the prosecution of his political opponents.Pulte previously sent criminal referrals to the Justice Department for two other prominent Democratic critics of Trump, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., as well as Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook — who was nominated by then-President Joe Biden — on allegations of mortgage fraud. All three have denied wrongdoing.“Like James Comey and John Bolton, Adam Schiff and Lisa Cook, Letitia James and the dozens more to come — I refuse to live in fear in what was once the freest country in the world,” he added, referring to other Democrats and Trump critics who have been targeted by the administration. “Of course, I will not end my lawsuit against him. And I will not stop speaking out against the President and speaking up for Californians.”Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte has referred several of Trump’s Democratic critics to the Justice Department over alleged mortgage fraud.Mark Schiefelbein / APNBC News previously reported that Bondi appointed a “special attorney” to probe the allegations against Schiff and James. Swalwell and Trump have clashed repeatedly since Trump’s 2016 election, and he is among the president’s most outspoken critics in Congress.A former prosecutor, Swalwell was one of the earliest Democrats to call for investigation into allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and played a role in both of Trump’s impeachment proceedings. He has said that he “fully” expects to be prosecuted by the Trump administration, telling CNN in September that he is “ready for it.”Trump and his allies have countered Swalwell’s criticism with claims that he had ties to a suspected Chinese spy and has been compromised by a foreign intelligence agency. Swalwell denied those claims and a House Ethics Committee probe ended in 2023 with no findings of wrongdoing.The Wall Street Journal reported this week that multiple Fannie Mae watchdogs who were removed from their jobs had been investigating whether Pulte improperly obtained mortgage records of several other Democratic officials, including James, citing “people familiar with the matter.” The Federal Housing Finance Agency responded to the Journal report saying that anonymous sources in the article were “attempting to obstruct the criminal justice system by completely fabricating false and defamatory claims.”Pulte told Bloomberg News over the summer that he has used public records and documents in the probes and defended the efforts.“Is it mortgage fraud to say that you live in one area and not another area? Yes, it is mortgage fraud,” Pulte said. “We’re not going to be intimidated.”Speaking on CNBC, Pulte said, “It doesn’t matter whether you’re Fed governor Cook or Joe Blow on the street, if you commit mortgage fraud, we are going to report it.”Pulte has also drawn attention for promoting a 50-year mortgage concept, an idea that Trump defended in a Fox News interview Monday. The president said longer-term loans could “help a little bit” for Americans looking to buy homes. The idea has received some pushback, including on the right. The Federal Housing Finance Agency referred James to the Justice Department in April over a Virginia home she listed as her primary residence, and she was indicted by the Justice Department last month over a 2020 mortgage tied to another Virginia property. She previously successfully sued Trump and his company over what her office said were fraudulent misrepresentations of his wealth and financial statements, before an appeals court tossed the $500 million penalty. Trump has appealed the verdict and has maintained that James is biased against him.Schiff served as the lead impeachment manager in the House during Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2020. He remains under investigation in Maryland.Trump, who sought to remove Cook over the allegations of mortgage fraud, took the effort to the Supreme Court in September. The high court announced Wednesday that it will hear arguments in the case early next year. Bank documents viewed by NBC News also appeared to undercut the administration’s claims of mortgage fraud. Swalwell, in his statement to NBC News, also quoted author Mark Twain. “As Mark Twain said, ‘Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it,'” he said. “Mr. President, do better. Be Better.”Katherine DoyleKatherine Doyle is a White House reporter for NBC News.

- Latest News - November 13, 2025

The Trump administration has referred Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., to the Justice Department for federal criminal prosecution, based on tax and mortgage fraud allegations.

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Nov. 13, 2025, 4:50 PM ESTBy Jonathan Dienst, Tom Winter and Dareh GregorianFederal investigators are searching for a “disgruntled” man they say showed up at acting New Jersey U.S. Attorney Alina Habba’s office building with a baseball bat, two sources familiar with the matter said.The unidentified man was carrying a bat when arrived outside the Peter Rodino Federal Building in Newark on Wednesday night, the two sources said. The man was not allowed entry.He returned later without the bat and was allowed in after going through a security screening, the sources said.A senior official familiar with the incident said an early review shows the man went upstairs to the U.S. attorney’s office and told the receptionist, who was behind secure glass, that he was there to speak to Habba.He was told he did not have an appointment and waited in the foyer area for a short time before he stormed out into the public hallway and tore down two pictures that were hanging, the official said.He then fled the building.The official said the man never got into the actual prosecutors’ offices, which are behind a locked buzzer door. Law enforcement is reviewing security camera footage to try to identify him, the official said.In a post on X, Habba said Thursday, “I will not be intimidated by radical lunatics for doing my job.”“Thankfully, Alina is ok,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a pair of posts on X.“We will find this person, and the individual will be brought to justice,” the post said, adding, “Any violence or threats of violence against any federal officer will not be tolerated. Period.”Trump nominated Habba, formerly his personal lawyer, in March to serve as acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey, a position with a 120-day limit. The president nominated her in July to serve in the role permanently after her term expired but a federal judge ruled in August that the appointment was unlawful. The judge paused his decision while the appeals process plays out, so she has remained in the role.Jonathan DienstJonathan Dienst is chief justice contributor for NBC News and chief investigative reporter for WNBC-TV in New York.Tom WinterTom Winter is NBC’s National Law Enforcement and Intelligence Correspondent. Dareh GregorianDareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.

- Latest News - November 13, 2025

Federal investigators are searching for a “disgruntled” man they say showed up at acting New Jersey U.S.

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