ATLANTA (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice is asking a judge to recuse herself in a fight over Georgia election records, arguing that she attended an event honoring Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who prosecuted President Donald Trump, raising questions about the judge's ability to be impartial.
A federal judge in 11th Judicial Circuit received a “private reprimand” after a court investigation found that the judge had sex in the courthouse with a high-ranking uniformed police officer within earshot of staff, attended a partisan event and then initially lied to deny the allegations.
The court's investigation did not publicly identify the judge or the court location within the 11th Circuit's jurisdiction, which includes Alabama, Florida and Georgia. The Justice Department is relying on media reports that identify U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross in Atlanta as the judge in question.
The Associated Press has not independently confirmed the judge’s identity. A person who answered the phone in Ross’ chambers Friday said the judge was unavailable and referred questions about the allegations to the court’s media office which said, “Judge Ross has no comment right now.” The media office did not immediately respond Saturday to a second email seeking comment about the Justice Department motion seeking Ross’ recusal.
Federal judges are appointed for life but can be subject to disciplinary action, including censure, public or private reprimands and temporary withholding of cases. They can only be removed through impeachment by Congress.
Ross was nominated in January 2014 by then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and she was confirmed by the Senate in November of that year. She had previously served as a state court judge in DeKalb County, which includes a small part of the city of Atlanta, since 2011. Prior to taking the bench, she had worked as a state and federal prosecutor, mostly in Atlanta, for more than a decade.
Ross is overseeing the election records case filed by the Justice Department against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
The Justice Department has sued multiple states seeking statewide voter lists. Raffensperger has said that Georgia law prohibits the release of voters' confidential personal information unless certain qualifications are met and that the federal government hadn't met those conditions. He has said that he sent the public part of the voter roll to the Justice Department in December.
Ross has scheduled a hearing in the case for Wednesday, though the Justice Department has asked to delay that hearing because of its request for the judge to recuse herself.
In the disciplinary case against the unnamed federal judge, the Judicial Council of the 11th Circuit chose in a February order to impose a private reprimand that kept the judge’s name secret. The Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial Conference of the United States on May 22 affirmed that order.
An investigation report attached to the order says the judge went to an event hosted by a district attorney's campaign. The judge acknowledged having gone to the event to visit with former colleagues in the district attorney's office at a private mixer but said it was held in the same place but was separated from the prosecutor's victory party. The investigative committee found that the mixer was part of the larger partisan event that was sponsored by the district attorney's campaign or donors and that the judge should not have attended the event.
Ross previously worked in the Fulton County district attorney's office and overlapped with Willis there before Willis was district attorney.
Willis began investigating Trump and others for possible interference in the 2020 election in Fulton County soon after becoming district attorney in January 2021. Among the things she looked at was a January 2021 phone call in which Trump urged Raffensperger to help “find” the votes needed to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's win in Georgia in the 2020 presidential election.
Willis in August 2023 obtained an indictment against Trump and 18 others, accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results. That case was ultimately dismissed in November after an appeals court found an “appearance of impropriety” created by a romantic relationship Willis had with the outside lawyer she had hired to lead the prosecution.
“A judge who attended a party celebrating the election of a Democrat best known for prosecuting a Republican President for alleged election interference cannot then preside over a case concerning that President's efforts to ensure election integrity,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in their filing Friday.
The Justice Department argued that any “objective reasonable observer” would see Ross' presence at Willis' election night party as an endorsement of her election and her actions in office.
“If Judge Ross is indeed the Subject Judge, that conduct gives rise to an appearance of bias, which requires Judge Ross to recuse herself from this election-related case,” the Justice Department filing says.
The Justice Department filing makes passing mention of the allegations of improper sexual activity with a police officer in the judge's chambers and the subsequent false statements the judge made to deny those allegations, but says “those are not the subject of this Motion.”
Separately, the Atlanta Police Department has said it has opened an investigation to determine whether the “high-ranking law enforcement officer” found to have had sex with a federal judge in the judge’s chambers is a member of their department.
FILE - The exterior of the U.S. Courthouse for the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stands in Atlanta, July 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)
FILE - Fulton County Senior ADA Eleanor Ross speaks during opening statements Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010 in Atlanta. (Vino Wong/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File)
The title match in soccer’s biggest club competition is underway: Paris Saint-Germain vs. Arsenal in the Champions League final in Budapest, Hungary.
PSG is looking to win Europe’s elite competition for a second straight year while Arsenal is bidding to become European champion for the first time on its return to the final after a 20-year wait.
Both teams are coming off winning their own domestic leagues, in France and England, respectively.
Here's the Latest:
PSG goalkeeper Matvey Safonov needs attention from team medics after receiving a blow to the head.
Backup keeper Lucas Chevalier is warming up but Safonov remains on the field for now. Chevalier lost his starting spot in favor of Safonov earlier this season and, due to his limited playing time, was not selected for the French national team for the World Cup.
The teams are taking a break for drinks at the midway point of the first half.
Things are going just as Arsenal would like, still leading 1-0.
The Germany forward becomes only the third player – after Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United and Real Madrid) and Mario Mandzukic (Juventus and Bayern Munich) — to score in a Champions League final for two different teams, according to stats supplier Opta.
Arsenal is sitting deep and PSG has all the possession.
Expect that to be the case while Arsenal leads.
There’s even a bit of time-wasting from Arsenal on goal kicks -- to the annoyance of PSG fans.
Kai Havertz makes it 1-0 for the Gunners in the sixth minute.
Marquinhos’ attempted clearance rebounds off Arsenal winger Leandro Trossard and into the path of Havertz, who strides through on goal from near halfway. His shot from a narrow angle goes into the roof of the net.
The players emerge from their huddles and the Champions League is underway with Arsenal taking the kickoff.
An English fan was taken to hospital Saturday afternoon after suffering what police called a “life-threatening” injury in an electric scooter accident, but wasn’t willing to let the injury keep him from the final.
Budapest police said the man “left the hospital without permission because he was adamant about going to the match.”
They added that they are looking for the man and trying to contact his family “because he requires immediate medical attention.”
Only Real Madrid has successfully defended the Champions League title since the competition was rebranded in 1992.
Can PSG be the second team to do so?
The Madrid team of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale won the Champions League three times in a row (2016-18), under coach Zinedine Zidane.
Since then, no defending champion has reached the final until this PSG team, which beat Inter Milan 5-0 in Munich last year.
PSG and Arsenal have reached the title match adopting vastly different playing approaches.
PSG is the top-scoring team in the competition with 44 goals -- that’s an average of more than three per game.
Arsenal has the Champions League’s best defense, letting in just six goals in 14 games and keeping nine clean sheets, three more than any other team has registered.
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The man entrusted with being the referee for the biggest match in club soccer won’t even be going to next month's World Cup.
German ref Daniel Siebert was left off FIFA’s list of match officials for the World Cup – after going to the 2022 edition in Qatar – so handling the Champions League final is a consolation prize in a sense.
This will be the third straight round Siebert will have worked an Arsenal match.
Video review – or VAR, as it’s known in soccer circles — will be in operation for the final.
PSG: Matvey Safonov; Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos, Willian Pacho, Nuno Mendes; Vitinha, João Neves, Fabian Ruiz; Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué.
Arsenal: David Raya; Cristhian Mosquera, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Piero Hincapié; Declan Rice, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Martin Odegaard; Leandro Trossard, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka.
Zohran Mamdani is a big Arsenal fan and the New York Mayor was seen wearing club-branded clothing when he joined residents across the city for Eid al-Adha prayers this week.
In an article he has written for The Athletic ahead of the final, Mamdani said he started supporting Arsenal from the age of 9 after his uncle “introduced me to a team with a cannon on its shirt.”
He says supporting the team “increasingly became an exercise in nostalgia” until the recent uplift under Mikel Arteta.
“Over these past two years, no matter how chaotic life became, Arsenal remained the constant,” he writes.
Mamdani acknowledges PSG is “brilliant” and “frustratingly well-managed” by Luis Enrique, but has a message for Arsenal and its fans: “Enjoy this moment, because they don’t come around often.”
Fans are making their way to the stadium under a cloudy, threatening sky in Budapest, and they’ll have a role to play in the final.
Not least with the rival chants that you might get to hear in your TV broadcast.
PSG’s most notable song will see their passionate Ultras bellow “Tous ensemble on chantera” (All together we will sing).
Arsenal fans have their own chant that has grown in popularity over the last few seasons in manager Arteta’s 6 ½-year reign, with a chorus taken from “The Angel (North London Forever)” -- written by singer and Arsenal fan Louis Dunford in 2022.
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This is the first European Cup final to be staged in Hungary and it comes at an interesting time for the Central European country, a few weeks after right-wing populist leader Viktor Orbán‘s heavy defeat in the elections.
Péter Magyar is the prime minister and is set to attend the match at the 67,000-seat Puskas Arena, a stadium that opened in 2019 and was built on the same site as the previous Ferenc Puskas Stadion — named after the Hungarian and Real Madrid great who won three European Cups as a player.
Orbán is a massive soccer fan and attempted to bring back the glory days of the 1950s, when Hungary had one of the world’s top teams.
To that end, the arena, located a few kilometers east of central Budapest, has become a well-known host for European games. The stadium staged the UEFA Super Cup in 2020, as well as a slew of Champions League group games and four European Championship matches in 2021. In 2023, it hosted the Europa League final won by Sevilla.
Pre-match entertainment is being provided by American rock band The Killers, who are best known for songs like “Mr. Brightside,” “Smile Like You Mean It” and “Somebody Told Me.”
It differs from the Super Bowl, where artists perform in a halftime show.
The Killers, who hail from Las Vegas, predicted an “epic match” when they were announced to be performing – though at the time, they didn’t know who the finalists would be.
In previous years, Linkin Park, Lenny Kravitz and Dua Lipa have been headliners in Champions League finals.
Some 48,000 fans are expected to fill PSG’s stadium in Paris, the Parc des Princes, to watch the match on giant screens.
PSG said Paris mayor Emmanuel Gregoire is among the officials expected to attend.
Former players, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Claude Makélélé and Ronaldinho, have been invited to Budapest for the final.
It’s the first time in 55 years that clubs from two different capital cities are competing in the final of Europe’s biggest club competition.
The last was Ajax (of Amsterdam) vs. Panathinaikos (of Athens) in 1971.
There were only two before that: Benfica (Lisbon) vs. Real Madrid in 1962 and Real Madrid vs. Partizan Belgrade in 1966.
This is also the first major European final featuring teams from France and England.
It’s the last match of the European club season – and World Cup coaches will be watching on with a mixture of intrigue and nervousness.
The World Cup begins in 12 days, and the squads of both PSG and Arsenal are bulging with players heading to the tournament being held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Any injuries sustained in the final could be devastating so close to the big kickoff.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says winning the Premier League has whetted the players’ appetite for more trophies.
Nothing comes bigger than the Champions League.
“The ambition is bigger,” Arteta said in his pre-match news conference. “We have one, and we want the second one ... there has to be a platform to reach bigger destinations.”
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard was the first player in the squad to get his hands on the Premier League trophy, and he liked it.
“When you get the taste of winning and lifting a trophy,” Odegaard says, “you know how nice it feels. And we want to do it again.”
Many of soccer’s superstar players will be taking the field at Puskas Arena – not least PSG forward Ousmane Dembélé, the most recent world player of the year.
Désiré Doué, the 20-year-old forward who lit up last year’s final with two goals in the record 5-0 win over Inter Milan, is still a shining light for PSG along with Georgia winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and three of Cristiano Ronaldo’s top teammates with Portugal – Vitinha, Nuno Mendes and Joao Neves.
Arsenal has England stars Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice in midfield and the striker who has just sent Sweden to the World Cup – Viktor Gyökeres.
Groups of fans got physical late Friday in Budapest’s frequented party area, leading police to launch an investigation over disorderly conduct.
Videos on social media showed several dozen people throwing punches and kicks, driving another group down Király street in the capital’s District 7.
One fan held a burning red flare before throwing it toward the other group, which was retreating down the street. Budapest police said in a statement that the violence erupted shortly after midnight, and that it was using surveillance footage to try to identify participants.
__ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Arsenal fans cheers before the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 30, 2026. AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Arsenal's Kai Havertz celebrates after scoring during the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 30, 2026. AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
PSG fans hold up their scarves before the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
The trophy is displayed on the pitch before the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest, Hungary, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr Josek)
Generel view of the Puskas Arena a day ahead of the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
PSG supporters react as they make their way to the stadium ahead of the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Rudolf Karancsi-Albert)
PSG supporters are accompanied by security ahead of the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Rudolf Karancsi-Albert)
