thomas gore is scheduled to appear in court this morning for a rehearing. one of the charges he's facing involves destroying evidence. jummy olabanji is live outside u.s. district court with more on the story. >> thomas gore is also charged with making illegal campaign contributions. it is spelled out in the federal court documents that you see in my hand. these documents make it official that thomas gore is the first person charged in the federal investigation into mayor gray's 2010 mayoral campaign. thomas gore was charged monday with using campaign funds to make contributions to mayoral candidate sulaiman brown. he was also charged with destroying a spiral notebook with records of those payments to brown. brown, who fell out with the mayor after gray fired him from a city job said that during the campaign gray staffers paid him to heckle the adrian fenty during candidate debates. >> he promised me the job. >> thomas gore pay brown at least $535 in money orders. gore is a longtime friend of mayor gray and worked on several of his previous campaigns. mayor

thomas gore will appear at u.s. district court at 11:00 this morning, where he is expected to plead guilty. does face up to 20 years in prison for these charges. because is expected to plead guilty under the plea agreement with the federal government, it is expected that he will get a lesser conviction. reporting live outside u.s. district court, jummy olabanji abc 7 news. >> thank you. president obama's reelection campaign is feeling the point of a new voter poll. >> the question is whether romney can capitalize on the obama slide. tahman bradley joins us with more details from northwest. good morning. >> good morning. six months before the election, president obama looks vulnerable. a new abc news poll shows the president's job approval rating has fallen to 47%. on the economy, things are not much better. if only 16% of americans say their financial system has improved under the president while 30% say they are worse off. the prosperity shortfall echoes george h. w. bush in 1992 when he lost his reelection bid. no

thomas gore did plead guilty as you mentioned. the judge first went over all the charges and asked if he understood all of them. he said that he did. then the judge said i understand you want to plead guilty to all the charges, to which he answered, i do. the prosecution explain how they came about the charges and the fbi investigation that was going on. the prosecutor discussed in the spring of 2010 that thomas gore and other members of candidate a who we assume was vincent gray transferred money secretly into sulaiman brown's account. they think that other people's names or put on the money orders. they wanted brown to continue verbal attacks on then-mayor adrian fenty. all this is being presented in court. they are using a lot of aliases. say they don't want to expose anyone's identity so far because more charges could be coming. once again thomas gore has pleaded guilty to 4 charges. we will not learn his sentence for quite some time. the judge says they will still be going through some of this stuff. but he does understand wh

to say about mayor gray. >> nothing in the statement mentions any participation mayor gray. >> thomas gore could face time in prison for these charges, but a judge said that prosecutors could recommend a lighter sentence if gore continues to cooperate with federal authorities as they continue their investigation into the gray campaign. in the newsroom, fox 5 news. >>> president obama's reelection campaign can't find traction. he is losing by double digits when it comes to unemployment. tom fitzgerald reports, the recent approach doesn't seem to be working. >> when it comes to mitt romney, president obama is pulling few punches. >> his main calling card for why he should be president is his business experience. >> a new poll on what voters say are the most important issues shows the president's experience giving him a 7 point lead on mitt romney on controlling healthcare cost. the president is in a tie with romney who it comes to unloam employment. >> it's time we have a president that will stop the spending and borrowing inferno and i will. i'll get the job done. >> romney's claims seem to

thomas gore, gray's close friend and former campaign aide faces up to 20 years behind bars but he's likely to serve far less time because of his cooperation with investigators. gore will admit later today to paying off french mayoral candidate sulaimon brown and then destroying records that proved it. >> vincent gray's campaign specifically mayor vincent gray gave me cash and money orders to maintain my campaign for mayor, cover living expenses, and attack then mayor fenty during the 2010 mayoral race. >> if there were people engaged in wrongdoing, they need to be held accountable. >> it's deeply doubling. i know al gore who has done a lot on behalf of the city. he's always been a really good guy so the charges are shocking. >> reporter: that is tommy wells reacting to the charges and the impending plea deal. as you may remember, several gray staffers have been let go, released from their jobs here at the wilson building because of this controversy but certainly thomas gore represents the first person who's been officially charged and is likely to serve some jail time because of it. coming

was going on. >> nothing in the statement of defense mentions any participation by mayor gray. >> thomas gore could face time in prison for these charges, but a judge said that prosecutors could recommend a lighter sentence if gore continues to cooperate with federal authorities as they continue their investigation into the gray campaign. in the newsroom, fox 5 news. >> fox 5 political analyst is here with more on the fallout from today. a will the of new information today, including the fact that thomas said he wasn't the treasurer. who was? >> the treasurer, this has not gotten any attention and it should. a woman named betty brown, who is referred to today in a post article, but not by name, is just a neighbor of the mayor. a betty brown actually is the person of record who signed the checks and i was told by people very high in the campaign is that thomas gore instructed betty brown, who to write the checks to. she had no independent authority even though she was the treasurer. the more interesting thing, brian, is this is from the campaign reports of mayor gray's campaign. she received $

it comes one day after thomas gore pleaded guilty to obstructing evidence. >> all this activity took place while the mayor was at a shopping center convention in las vegas. he arrived this morning. when he arrived for his only public event of the day he seemed shaken. mayor break came to a previous schedule the event, but reporters were focused on one issue. charges against his campaign aides and what that means for his future. >> i will not talk about this today because it is a pending investigation. we will let it unfold as it well. i have already answered questions. >> and other great campaign realist howard brooks was charged with making a false statement. it involves the candidate who verbally abused during the debates. brown started telling reporters that howard brooks paid him to be on the attack. this comes one day after thomas gore, in another of his campaign aides, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for destroying a notebook of payments made to brown. mayor gray, it is a rough welcome home with a residence looking at his man howard brooks who is in trouble. >> he is c

. >> criminal information document, thomas w. gore, gray's assistant campaign treasurer is charged with using candidate a's campaign funds to purchase money orders that were then donated to candidate b's campaign. using somebody else's name. sources say candidate a is gray and candidate b is sulaimon brown. there are three money orders, totaling $535. one felony charge accuses thomas gore of trying to obstruct the investigation by destroying the notebook containing records of the payments to brown. >>> now, we have been unable to contact thomas gore, his attorney had no comment and as you say, thomas gore is due in court tomorrow as part of a plea bargain agreement. we also haven't been able to reach mayor vincent gray. >> when he comes back, he'll face a lot of questions. is there a sense there are more plea deals to come? >> pretty sure of this. i mean, everybody is lawyered up and we have been talking to lawyers and to other sources. there are other plea deals in the works and it's a matter of time. this is the beginning. not even

>> thomas gore left the federal courthouse in d.c. a convicted felon, now facing at least 12 to 18 months in prison. this after the man with a master's degree in social work management helped divert money from the vincent gray campaign to sulaimon brown when gray was trying to unseat incumbent mayor, adrian fenty. >> mayor gray gave me cash and money orders to maintain my campaign for mayor, cover living expenses, and attack then mayor fenty. >> the gray administration hired, then fired sulaimon brown after fenty was defeated in 2010. since then, the new mayor denied brown's allegations. >> can't even imagine engaging in such reprehensible behavior. i know absolutely nothing about any one of my campaign who did that. >> today in federal court, thomas gore for mayor gray confessed he and a second campaign staffer were involved in a scheme to get money to sulaimon brown. sources identified howard brooks to 9news now as that second campaign staffer. here's what we now know. in 2010, thomas gore diverted more than $600 from the gray campa

yes, thomas gore is due to be here in federal court around 11:00 this morning. we believe that he is going to plead guilty because the court did schedule his appearance as a plea hearing. gore is charged with one felony count of obstruction of justice and three misdemeanors for making illegal campaign contributions. court documents were filed yesterday and they are charging gore with using money orders to make contributions in the name of another person. the court papers do not specifically name vincent gray or former mayoral candidate suleiman brown but the documents do allege that donations were transferred from candidate a to candidate b and that gore destroyed a record of those illegal payments. the charges do seem to support those allegations that suleiman brown made after he was fired from his job as an accountant in the gray ad m he says he was paid to bash former mayor adrian fenty during campaign debates and for a city council that has grown weary of scandals, some members are ready for the feds to finally wrap up the year-long investigation, whatever th

reporter: a hearing is expected to get under way around 11:00 this morning and it is expected that thomas gore will plead guilty to one felony charge of obstruction of justice and three other misdemeanor charges of wrongdoing. gore acted as the assistant treasurer to mayor vincent gray's campaign. court documents filed yesterday charged gore with using money orders to make contributions in the name of another person. the court papers do not specifically name vincent gray or former mayoral candidate suleiman brown but they do allege that the donation were transferred from candidate a to candidate b and that gore destroyed a record of that. that would be the obstruction of justice charges. brown saws he was paid to bash mayor fenty during campaign debates. some say the plea doesn't bode well after the recent city scandals. >> i am hopeful that the u.s. attorney is getting to the end of these investigations. certainly the people of the district of columbia deserve to know what happened and if there are laws broken, people have to be held accountable. >> reporter: mayor gray is in las vegas right

thomas gore is expected to appear in federal court tomorrow. jim? >>> marion barry remains hospitalized in vegas tonight. the former mayor and ward 8 council member tweeted these pictures out today. he suffered a blood clot in his leg while traveling yesterday. barry's in vegas for a convention with shopping center operators. he told our tom sherwood the clot is not affecting his physical feeling or mental ability but at this point he's not sure when he'll be discharged. >> scary moments for commuters after a school bus catches fire inside the third street tunnel in d.c. some drivers abandon their cars to get out of the way. darcy spencer is live from the -- with the dramatic scene. >> reporter: wendy, that's right. some folks were heading to work this morning. they were heading to appointments. they were running errands when traffic came to a sudden stop in the third street tunnel. some motorists tell me they heard an explosion. some folks say they saw the tunnel filling up with smoke. they ditched their cars and ran out. it was chaos in the third

meanwhile, thomas gore could face time in prison and the judge did mention prosecutors could recommend a reduction and sentence if gore was to assist situation, laura. >> what is the mayor saying of this? >> reporter: the mayor is still in las vegas on city business and should be back some time tomorrow morning. we called gray's attorney bob bennett, but he can not comment on the matter. >> all right, matt ackland, thank you for bringing us up to date. >> uh-huh. >>> seven illegal night clubs were shut down in prince georges county. state and local officials workd together to investigate the establishments. businesses indicted are puzzles event center and let's chat both in suitland. dulles swan event atrium in hyattsville, crossroads in bladensburg, plaza 23 and black amethyst and the state police believes it lost $700,000 in taxes from four of the businesses. >> and we're really especially excited about the indictments as we believe they signal our intolerance for any individual, be it private or businesses, who avoid paying taxes, especially at these critical times where the state o

attorney, thomas gore handled the day to day finances of the gray mayoral campaign. the first three charges are for making a contribution in the name of another person, three money orders totaling $535. the court documents say gore allegedly transferred the money from candidate a's campaign to candidate b or campaign b. the documents don't name the parties. >> i want my name cleared. >> reporter: former mayoral candidate sulaimon brown said from the beginning gray campaign aides slipped him cash and money orders in exchange for bashing former mayor adrian fenty in debates. brown took his case to the media when he was fired and had a restraining order against him. gore around that same time prosecutors say knowingly destroyed a spiral notebook containing a record of payments to candidate b. >> people don't usually enter into pleas under arrangement like this unless they're giving up information and usually it's information on somebody higher up than they are. >> reporter: mayor dre repeatedly denied any campaign mis-- gray repeatedly denied any campaign misbehavior. >

thomas gore and brocks worked together to pay the former mayoral candidate brown, prosecutors say they used funds from gray's campaign to pay off brown. yesterday, gore pleaded guilty to four charges, including obstruction of justice and howard brooks was charged with lying to the fbi about giving money to brown. >> i think there is an ongoing pending investigation and there is nothing that i can comment on this stage. it's obviously continuing to unfold. >> reporter: the mayor made that comment three or four times and when we canned him, he didn't want to go any further. we went to howard brocks' home to seek comment and no one came to the door and brookes is expected to go before a federal judge. >>> the roger clemens trial began today and gene moynihan testified about the former -- former piper's relationship with the strength coach and saying he once wrote to clemons and maintains complete confidence and respect for him. he testified he injected him with steroids. clemmens is accused of lying to congress. >>> and on to virginia, a ti81 do instructor is accused of inappropriate sexu

blues bruce johnson has been on this story since the beginning. >> reporter: tho thomas gore confessed he and a second campaign staffer were involved in a scheme to get money for sulaimon brown. sources identified howard brooks as that second campaign staffer. he diverted money from the campaign and gave that money to brooks who used it to purchase money orders that he delivered to sulaimon brown. >> vincent gray's campaign gave me cash and money orders to maintain my campaign for mayor, cover living expenses, and attack then mayor fenty during the 2010 mayoral race. >> i can't imagine. i know absolutely nothing about any one of my campaign who did that. >> he kept a record of payments until he learned of the fbi investigation he destroyed the notebook. in total, we're talking about five money orders. some bought here. a total of $660 that went to sulaimon brown, all misdemeanors. gore destroyed the notebook, got caught on tape admitting it, and lied to federal authorities. he is facing 12 to 18 months in prison. according to sources, howard brooks has his own deal. no word on when he'

federal charges have just been filed against thomas gore, he was the assistant treasurer in that campaign. our bruce johnson is following this closely. very big? >> reporter: this is big. so new we didn't even have time for a cryptic. we are talking four counts against thomas gore, the assistant treasurer to the 2010 campaign for mayor. in these documents, they don't name mayor gray, but my sources say we are talking mayor gray. candidate b, is brown who was a candidate for mayor back then. in these charges the assistant treasurer for the gray campaign is charged with using funds from the gray campaign to purchase money orders. count one talked about a $100 money order. count two talked about a $335 money order. count 3 talked about a $100 money order and they say this money was taken from the gray campaign, money orders were purchased and then the money was turned over to candidate b, and we are told that is brown. the most serious charge carries 20 years in prison, obstruction of justice and what prosecutors are charging in this charge is that the assistant treasurer had the intent to i

thomas gore was charged yesterday with making a pay off. he reached a plea deal with prosecutors. the charges against him represent the first criminal case to emerge from a yearlong probe into vincent gray's campaign. >> a commercial rocket headed to the international space station for the first time with food clothing, and batteries. >> and launch!. flexed it went off at 3:44 this morning from cape canaveral, florida. the company is based in california. the first private business alarms a -- to launch a vessel to the face station. >> more d.c. workers are headed to work but without burning gas. >> and linda bell has news from bloomberg headquarters. >> let's begin with stock-index futures. indicating a slightly higher open. the senate banking committee is holding a hearing with top financial regulators including mary shapiro to discuss dodd- frank rules. the hearing will focus on the massive trading loss at j.p. morgan chase. there's an investigation of google. they've been examining whether global favors its own services in search results. -- whether google favors its own. maybe

bruce johnson has been on this story right from the beginning. >> today in federal court, thomas gore for mayor gray confessed that he and a second campaign staffer were involved in a scheme to get money to sulaimon brown. sources identified howard brooks to 9news now as that second campaign staffer. gore admitted in court that he diverted money from the gray campaign and gave that money to brooks who used it to purchase money orders that he in turn delivered to sulaimon brown. >> vincent gray's campaign, specifically mayor vincent gray gave me cash to maintain my campaign for mayor, cover living expenses, and attack then mayor fenty during the 2010 mayoral race. >> i can't imagine engaging in such reprehensible behavior. i know absolutely nothing about any one of miscampaign who did that. >> he kept a record of the payments to sulaimon brown until he learned of the fbi investigation he destroyed the notebook. in total, we're talking about five money orders. some bought here at the safeway across from campaign headquarters. a total of $660. all misdemeanors, but then it kicked up to a

and today, thomas gore is in federal court. gore is expected to plead guilty to charges that he created fake checks with gray campaign funds, to pay minor candidate suleiman brown to attack then-mayor adrian fenty. and destroyed evidence to obstruct the ongoing federal investigation. that's a felony and he could face up to 20 years in prison. but gore is thought to be cooperating with authorities, and may be providing the first real insight into how vincent gray's 2010 campaign for mayor spent money off the books. now the big question, what does vincent gray know about all of this? so far, he's not talking. barbara? >> thank you, tom. >>> and we'll continue to follow developments from the courthouse throughout the day. and now to the tough morning on the roads. especially i-95 and the dale city area. northbound 95 was shut down just before 8:00 this morning while police investigated an accident involving several vehicles. one person was killed in that accident, it came just hours after two other serious accidents on southbound

thomas gore is due in federal court tomorrow. he is said to be cooperating with authorities and this is not some person on the side. this is at the center of vince gray's political life dating back to the council. >> i guess cooperating with authorities means he is probably going to have to make a deal. >> he is facing 20 years for destroying evidence so we'll see what he knows. >> okay. thanks, tom. >> thank you, tom. >>> rainy day out there. and, doug, i'm getting the impression we might as well get used to this right? >> you might as well. yeah. i saw you come in with your umbrella today. i would change umbrellas if i was you. i would still take your umbrella and keep it handy over the next couple days. we have clouds and sunshine now. some blue skies. but yes. get used to that rain. we are going to see it around. right now mostly cloudy skies. 75 degrees. winds out of the south about 3 miles per hour. current temperatures 67 in martinsburg. 72 in culpepper. a little warmer to the east though. 75 in easton and cambridge. tempe

thomas gore admits he and another person used money from gray's mayoral campaign donations to pay off the former candidate brown. the deal called for him to take attacks. did the candidate know about this at the time? matt ackland is live with more. matt? >> reporter: the mayor said that he had no part in paying brown or offering him a job in exchange for the attacks and gore said that he would take out the money orders and that another person would pass it to brown. no comment from gore. he is a campaign and long time worker for vincent gray and admitted in court to taking out a total of $660 in money orders and admitted to passing them on to someone referred to in court documents as person a. gore admitted that when brown went to the media about being paid to attack fenty, he shredded a notebook with payment records because he knew what he was doing was illegal. gore's attorney, fred cook, said he believes that others will be charged and said this about mayor gray today. >> nothing in the statement of offense mentioned any participation by mayor gray in anything. >> reporter: mayor

thomas gore's hearing is tomorrow morning in federal court. >>> medical marijuana coming to the district. tonight ward 4 residents came out to talk about the dispensary that will open on blair road, one of four dispensaries given clearance by d.c. ward 4 downwoman muriel bowser met with residents to make sure they were clear how it would work with the neighborhood. >> this is to different than alcohol really in some ways, you know. they regulate alcohol. anything that they're going to go from illegal to legal there's going to be a strong regulate process. >> there are strict rules about how a patient can get medical marijuana and use it. those rules are intended to cut down on potential problems. >>> a quiet funeral for a terrorist today, the only man convicted in the bombing of pan am flight 103 died a free man. abdelbaset al-megrahi was let out of jail in 2009. it doesn't end the anger over the murder of 270 people on the plane and on the ground. >> al-megrahi laid to rest in libya, the only person convicted for the pan am flight 103 bombing released for humanitarian reasons suffering

under way around 11:00 this morning and it is not written on paper yet but it is expected that thomas gore is going to make a plea bargain, going to plead guilty to one federal charge, one felony charge of obstruction of justice and three misdemeanor charges of wrongdoing. as you said, gore acted as the assistant treasurer to mayor vincent gray's campaign. court documents filed yesterday charge gore with using money orders to make contributions in the name of another person. the court papers do not specifically name vincent gray or normer mayoral candidate suleiman brown but documents allege donations were transferred from candidate a to candidate b and that gore destroyed a record of those illegal payments. the charges seem to support allegations that suleiman brown made after he was fired from his job as an accountant in the gray administration. he said he was paid by gray staffers for bash former mayor adrian fenty during campaign debates. now, mayor gray has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing but political analysts believe the charges against gore may be just the beginning. >> they get a

yesterday, the assistant campaign treasurer since thomas gore plead guilty to obstruction of justice. both are accused of using campaign money to attack another candidate mayor fenty. mayor gray spoke to reporters as he left the wilson building today. matt ackland has more. >> reporter: the mayor doesn't want to on didn't want to talk about this because it's a pending investigation. federal authorities say thomas gore and howard brooks worked together to pay former mayoral candidate brown to verbally attack then-mayor fenty. tonight, many still want ton if mayor gray had knowledge of this. vincent gray's campaign for mayor was a long time ago but questions about what went on behind the scenes won't go away. mayor gray refused to talk about two of his campaign workers charged this week. >> this is an ongoing pending investigation and there is nothing, really, i can comment on and this is obviously continuing to unfold. >> reporter: according to authorities, brown was not lying when he said members of gray's campaign paid him to stay in the race. brown has always said that the mayor kne

evacuated the tunnel until it was safe for people to return to their cars. >>> coming up later today thomas goreled to plead guilty to wrongdoing in d.c. mayor vincent gray 2010 ewhrex campaign. gore was a campaign aide when gray then unseated the incumbent incumbent adrian fenty. delia goncalves is live with more on what gore did. >> reporter: good morning. gore essentially admitting to the allegations that have been swirling around the wilson building since the mayor first took office that his campaign paid off a candidate to attack then mayor adrian fenty just so gray could win that election. thomas gore, gray's close friend and aide will also plead guilty to a federal charge later today of obstructing justice when he destroyed records proving that money orpds were given to sulaimon brown. mayor gray always denied paying off brown but you could certainly say the charges represent the first major blow to his administration. >> our city is certainly under an ethical cloud. with the closing of the tommy mommas capital -- thomas chapter, the book is still being written. i do believe we're going t

attorney has said in yesterday's thomas gore case, in 2010, the voters were deceived by your campaign. >> well, i think you know there is an ongoing penning investigation so there is nothing really i can comment on this. it is obviously continuing to unfold will. >> reporter: you know mr. gore and mr. brooks, any personal feelings even though you can't comment on the race -- i mean, the investigation itself? >> well, i think not. i think i'll just stay with the, what i said before. there is obviously a continuing investigation. it has been for months and i've said pretty much the same thing. >> reporter: the mayor aggressively change the subject with reporters, even taking the microphone to do a mock interview himself. in an exclusive tv interview with nbc 4, the u.s. attorney was all business as he said, he will root out public corruption. >> you said the voters of the district in 2010 had been deceived. pretty strong statement. >> well, it was a strong statement. the conduct here was pretty egregious. we had secret payments, fraudulent filings. it is important that we have the elect

we'll let the investigation play out. >> today howard brooks like thomas gore yesterday is looking at serious prison time not because of their original actions of giving money to sulaimon brown but because of the cover-up and the information filed federal court today the document says brooks told fbi special agents he never gave candidate b or candidate b's campaign any cash, money orders or other types of payment. he lied. sulaimon brown in a statement today called on mayor fray to resign from office. he charge -- gray to resign from office. he charged he was given money orders, cash and a job in the administration in exchange for his work on behalf of great campaign. brown was eventually fired for alleged incompetence. mayor gray has steadfastly denied any knowledge of illegal payments and promises. you said you had nothing to do with it. do you stand by those statements? >> bruce, we're going to let this investigation play out. you all would like to talk about the shopping center convention we just came from, i'd love to talk about that. >> maybe we can talk about shopping centers

thomas w. gore walked out of federal court tuesday after pleading guilty to felony destruction of evidence and other charges. the first guilty plea in the gray campaign scan dell investigation. a longtime friend and campaign treasurer for the new candidate gray in 2010, gore admitted in court he used undisclosed gray campaign funds to finance $660 in blank hone orders to secretly reward a minor candidate who was attacking then mayor fenty. gore admitted to felony lie to go cover up the payments. gore declined to talk to reporters, but his lawyer was asked if gray himself was in any way involved. >> is there any indication that your client has given that mayor gray should have known what was happening? >> i don't have any comment about that. nothing in the statement of offense mentions anything participation by mayor gray in anything. >> i believe that the government will charge additional people. >> reporter: gore said in open court he is cooperating with the ongoing federal investigation. the feder

. >> criminal information document, thomas w. gore is charged with using candidate a's campaign funds to purchase money orders that were then donated to candidate b.'s campaign. using somebody else's name. sources say candidate a is gray and candidate b is sulaimon brown. there are three money orders totaling $535. one felony charge accuses thomas of trying to obstruct the investigation by destroying the notebook containing records of the payments to brown. >> it's deeply troubling. i know tom gore, and he's a standup guy that has done a lot on behalf of the city and on behalf of children. >> others were surprised by charges, a straight shooter, according to everybody we talked with today. >> we haven't been able to reach thomas gore by telephone. people are stunned by all of this. they say he's a good guy. they helped establish disadvantaged youth. he grew up in foster care. bruce johnson, 9news now. >> sources tell 9news now, other plea deals are in the works. >>> d.c. councilman and former mayor, marion barry is out of the hospital

. >> thomas gore is accused of destroying documents officials needed for a criminal investigation. >> there have been reports rumors that vincent gray's mayoral campaign was investigated. someone associated with the campaign has been charged with crime. four counts against one of the campaign treasurers, thomas cole. fpr tje for the mayor come bad news. = = fprtje-- for the mayor bad news. >> he promised me the job and paid me. >> brown who fellow with the mayor after gray fired him from a city job said that staffers paid him with money orders to heckle then-mayor adrienne kennedy -- adrian fenty. >> i hate to say this but the government was corrupt since i was here. >> city government here needs to be professionalized. if it takes prosecution to do it, so be it. >> harry thomas was sentenced to 38 months in prison recently for theft of public funds. one of the closest campaign aides is charged with destroying evidence. thomas gore was not only one of the treasure is for the mayoral campaign but he was the treasurer for gray's previous council campaign. gore is scheduled to appear tom

led by his attorney, thomas gore left federal court today convicted a felon. he pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, destroying evidence and making $660 on illegal campaign contributions. according to court papers, they thought brown was doing a good job pestering the mayor so he provided campaign money to keep brown's campaign alive. after the election when brown started talking to the media gore said he shredded records of payments to brown. he was apparently caught in the lie when he met september 22 with a person who was another staffer presumably wired it. >> criticized his family, just had nothing to do with the campaign or the policies of the city. it was all about personally attacking somebody. >> this may be just the beginning. >> i believe the government will charge additional people. whether i represent them or not i do not know. >> so the big question is did this go on with mayor great's knowledge. if it did, is he in big trouble? it is scheduled -- he is scheduled to return to the city late tonight. >> thank you very much. police have made an

. >> reporter: sources believe just like thomas gore who pleaded guilty yesterday howard brooks is alsoprosecutors as they dig deeper into this campaign investigation, one mayor gray says won't keep him from doing his job. >> i'm focused on the city. i'm going to do the best job i possibly can. >> reporter: we did hear from sulaimon brown today. he sent us an e-mail and continues to ask for mayor gray to step down. also tomorrow howard brooks is expected to go before a federal judge. that's tomorrow afternoon. in the newsroom matt ackland, fox 5 news. >>> taking a closer look at the details, payoff accusations, lying to the fbi, this investigation just seems to get worse and worse for the mayor. earlier tonight i talked to fox 5 political analyst mark plotkin to get his take. >> the mayor has got to be very concerned. these are people who were very active in his campaign and sulaimon brown who everybody thought was a little off the wall and doubted his veracity has now been validated by the federal government saying that he was telling the truth and that two people who he implicated, th

. >> thomas gore is accused of destroying evidence in a criminal investigation.mpaign treasurer. he was accused of destroying a spiral notebook. some d.c. residents reacted to the new charges. >> more power to the fed. the city government needs to be professionalized. it takes prosecution to do it so be it. >> prosecutors alleged board paid brown more than $500. >> after eight years on the u.s. nuclear tory commission, his resignation will be effective upon confirmation of his successor. he reportedly had conflict with members and staffers and said his -- the time was right for him to grow. -- to go. >> facebook stock made an about- face on its second full day of trading. the stock plunged nearly 11%. the initial public offering debuted at $38 a share last friday. closings likely yippee. -- up. still ahead, a special commencement night for a town dealing with disaster. we will tell you about the presidential visit. >> a rainy day to start the week. doug will tell us when the weather will move out. >> the redskins were back on the field. a scary moment for mike sh

thomas gore admits he made illegal campaign contributions to a mayoral candidate. he admitted some -- he admitted to shredding documents that linked payments to brown. >> the senate homeland's security committee has scheduled a public hearing on the topic tomorrow morning. it happened a had a president obama's trip to colombia last month. the director of the agency is expected to testify. nine secret service agents lost their job. >> red light runners racking up quite a record in alexandria. three cameras keeping an eye on traffic at all times. so far this year thousands of tickets have gone out to drivers to run the red lights. kendice gibson is live. >> when the city of alexandria and install these cameras just about a year ago they were hoping it would stop cars from running through the intersections when there is a red light. so far that has not been the case. >> 6 seconds after the traffic light turns red. there you have a common problem on this road. drivers running lights despite two cameras a block apart. they went up in august and police are alarmed by the

no chenet from thomas gore. earlier, he admittedy to federal judge that he would take out money orders, give them to another unnamed campaign worker who would then give them to suleiman brown. a total of $660 worth. gore also admitted to charading a notebook with payment records. >>> the d.c. police and fire departments are trying to uncover a mystery this morning. it was discovered during a fire call at the fire department training academy. here's the deal. personnel documents for firefighters and police were found burning. are some photos. information included training and monthly records, social security numbers and home addresses. more records were found in a nearby abandoned car. it is still not clear how these papers got there or who burned them. leads are from d.c. police and fire department unions are demanding an investigation. >>> a flight from paris to north carolina diverted after an unusual claim by a passenger. >> this was scary. up next, we'll have the details on why the plane was escorted to anoth

. >> thomas gore pleaded guilty to charges connected to his role in the scheme to fum money to suleimanbrown. >>> finally positive news for facebook. after three dance in dump they finished at $32, up a dollar, or 3.5%. meantime investigators are investigating morgan stanley. the regulators want to know did morgan stanley share their less than rosy outlook with their clients but not the wider audience, folks like you and me? they increased the size of the offering, they increased the price of the offering. at the same time, apparently they were getting wind that the results of the company, the financial results, were a little weaker than anticipated. >>> also today, a group of shareholders filed suit against facebook and ceo mark zuckerberg. they say key financial information was not disclosed before those shares went public. a facebook spokesperson insists that the suit is without merit. >>> he was murdered. and no one signs up for that. >> that was the mother of former florida a & m drum major robert champion disputing claims that her son wanted to be hazed. new interviews with member

thomas gore can't want to talk to reporters outside federal court. court, gore acknowledged that suleiman brown was paid to stay in the race to continue making negative comments about then mayor adrian fenty. >>> there was not much reaction to the charges at the wilson building. in less than a half hour this morning, councilmember mary cheh will be here in our studios to talk about the case. she has supported gray in the case and has said the charges may signal the prosecutors are chasing somebody more important than gore. more on that one to come. >>> d.c. police and fire department unions demanding an investigation into the discovery of this, burned documents found at the fire department training academy. the burning papers were personnel documents for firefighters and police in d.c. the information included training and medical records, social security numbers and home addresses. more records were found in a nearby abandoned car as well. >>> also in the morning's top stories, martin o'malley has signed several new bills into law. it includes a hig

thomas gore isn't just a campaign staffer. he's a long time friend of vincent gray. he has been with the mayor's campaign for council, for chairman, and for mayor. the first move of the prosecutors investigation and they are saying that gore used his position as assistant treasurer in the mayor's campaign to acquire illegal money orders and give those payments to sulaimon brown. he is also charged in a coverup and that's what will

just tuesday, the gray campaign treasurer thomas gore plead guilty to charges he helped funnel money to then minor candidate sulaimon brown for his attacks on mayor adrian fenty. on wednesday, prosecutors charged a second campaign operative, howard brooks, with false statements to the fbi about the scheme to finance sulaimon's attacks. brooks has been cooperating with authorities and reportedly wore an undercover wire for investigators last year. charges against him now indicate another major step in this investigation. mayor vin send gray, his campaign activities under investigation, turned aside all questions about the corruption cases including the u.s. attorney's statement that gray's campaign activities deceived voters. >> the u.s. attorney has said in yesterday's thomas gore case, in 2010 the voters of the district of columbia were deceived by your campaign. >> i think you know there's an ongoing pepping investigation. so there's nothing really i can come on this. it is continuing to unfold. >> you know mr. gordon, mr. brooks, any personal feelings even though you can be commen

thomas gore has indicated he'll plead guilty to charges of making illegal campaign donations and felony destruction of evidence. gore worked as an assistant treasurer on the 2010 mayoral campaign. the attorney's office has been investigating corruption charges for a year now. >>> an american being held in cuba is thanking the jewish community this morning for their support. alan gross is serving 15 years in prison for what cuba calls crimes against the state. according to the "baltimore sun," yesterday he was able to call the jewish community relations council in d.c. he expressed his gratitude for their efforts to bring home home. gross is trying to sets up internet access for cuba's jewish community and was arrested in december of 2009. several politicians and human rights activists have pleaded for his release. >>> drivers in hov lanes better make sure you're following the rules. police in virginia and maryland will be out in force cracking down on violators. in virginia, they will concentrate on the 95/395/66 and dulles toll road areas. officers will be out for the morning and eveni

thomas gore used funds from the mayor's campaign to make contributions to then mayoral candidate sulaimon brown. gore sls charged with destroying a ledger recording the alleged payoff. our bruce johnson is in federal court. he'll bring us more information when he gets it. >>> if you take piper lane or nokesville road in bristow, virginia, you may want to plan to take an alternate route because rain has washed out several roads in that area and water is about waste deep. police have set up cones and signs in order to warn drivers. crews are also bill business -- are also busy repairing several sinkholes because of the rain. let's get to howard with the full forecast. >>> hello. we are looking at the threat for shores and -- for showers and thunderstorms this afternoon and the next several. these are areas that got 4 and 5-inch rain totals last night. caused all sorts of problems with washed out roads and high water. we're watching that for another couple hours unless it gets extended again. it was originally supposed to expire at 10:15 this morning. pretty quiet. most of the rain up across

in court yesterday, thomas gore pleaded guilty to charges that he took funds from gray's 2010 campaign and gave them to then mayoral candidate sulaimon brown. he also confessed to lying to the f.b.i. about destroying a ledger that showed those payoffs. sentencing date has not been set. >>> three harness racing drivers are in the hospital after a terrible accident at rosecroft raceway last night. this was the scene at the track in oxon hill shortly after the accident. the crash involved the first place horse along with six others. lisa watts is the director of operations at rosecroft. she tells us what happened. >> the first horses went down and it caused a multitude of horses to be involved in the accident. some of the drivers that were behind the main part of the accident were able to go around but the ones running with itself first place horse went down as well. >> in harness racing, the driver sits on a cart behind the horse. authorities say that that makes it harder for the driver to see in front, and that makes the sport prone to crashes. >>> a judge has found richard kim guilty o

. >> reporter: thomas gore, assistant treasurer in the gray campaign, pleaded guilty in court yesterday to trying to obstruct the investigation by destroying a notebook where payment to brown were recorded. new information from sources say the payments to sulaimon brown amounted to nearly $1,800 in roughly 20 money orders. >> vincent gray's campaign specifically, mayor vincent gray, gave me cash and money orders to maintain my campaign for mayor, cover living expenses and attack then mayor fenty. >> reporter: sulaimon brown says he was also promised a job. he got a position in the administration, but then was fired for alleged in competence. in a statement today brown said mayor gray should resign from office. prosecutors meanwhile are giving both gore and brooks time to cooperate in the investigations. in other words, name names. bruce johnson, 9 news now. >>> coming our way tonight at 7:00 on 9news identity crisis. police are now warning people fake ids bought online could have some real life consequences. learn more in the latest 9 wants you to know report at 7:00. >>> still ahead in

in the last half hour, show spoke to us about the latest charges against thomas gore. >> and this is certainly an ominous event because it means that he is interring into a plea with an arrangement to provide information on others and that is meaning this is one shoe dropping and this is bad news, in essence. >> and karen gray houston will have more from the council member's introduce tonight at 10 and mayor gray is in las vegas today on district business. the spokesperson declined comment on this and referred us to the mayor's attorney, bob bennett. bob bennett couldn't comment because the investigation is still underway and mean mile -- meanwhile, thomas gear will be in court tomorrow. >> and. >>> traffic is reopened after an empty school bus caught fire this morning. the bus was towed out when it caught fire and the drivers scrambled to safety. >> and that is bad. >> i saw the police officer and did not see fire trucks. when i saw the flames and i made a judgement call. get out and get out of the tunnel and that is what is exploding, the bus, and no telling about the integrity of

brooks worked with thomas gore who had to pay sulaimon brown. gore pleaded guilty yesterday to four charges in the case. >>> an honor for a fallen maryland state trooper today. laura evans is everywhere at 11:00. >> new highway signs were unveiled today and put up along the beltway to honor trooper wesley brown who was shot to death in june of 2010 when he worked security at a forestville restaurant. he made a huge impact on the lives of those who knew him. he started a mentoring program called young men enlightening other men. >> key witnesses changing their stories about the night trayvon martin was killed. according to the orlando sentinel, a woman who said she saw two men running now says she only saw one person. another woman who saw the fight initially said she couldn't tell who was on top during the fight now believes it was george zimmerman. zimmerman claims he shot martin in self-defense. >>> the first ever free presidential elections in egypt today had women flocking to the polls. it's a much anticipated end to the rocky transitional p

thomas gore admitted in court that he illegally diverted gray campaign funds to minor candidate brown. the plan was to have brown stay in the race as long as possible and launch political attacks on incumbent mayor fenty during the 2010 campaign. >>> a judge has found richard kim guilty of selling alcohol to a minor. now, kim owns the town square market on mcarthur boulevard and northwest. 9 news now has been investigating that place since last december. we witnessed dozens of alcohol purchases made by teenagers who said they were as young as 14. kim will be sentenced next month. >>> in campaign 2012 news tonight, it's not much more than a formality, but gop presidential candidate mitt romney has a couple more wins under his belt. the presumptive republican nominee claimed victories in kentucky and arkansas tonight. the obama administration is attacking romney's record in the business world. he helped start a company that made.com knees pizza profitable but shut down others like missouri steel. the president's team calls romney's time at bane fair political gain. >> he's not running o

. >> thomas gore is facing felony and misdemeanour charges he is set to appear in federal court today for a plea hearing. that is where melanie is live with details on this case. good morning. >> reporter: good morning allison. thomas gore is charged with one count of obstruction of justice that is the felony charge and three misdemeanour charges of making illegal campaign contributions. it is believed he will plead guilty but we don't know for sure. the feds say gore used three money orders during vincente grey's campaign to make contributions in the name of another person. court papers do not specifically name vincente grey or suleman brown but the documents allege they were transferred from candidate a to b and gore destroyed a photobook containing a record of these illegal payments. it totaled just $535 but could support much bigger allegations, ones logged by suleman brown mayor grey was paying him off to do some dirty work, brown made accusations after he was fired from his job as an accountant in the grey administration. council members believe the charges against gore may not

. >> yesterday former campaign worker thomas gore pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme to funnel money to brown. >>> deeply disappointed and sorry, that's what the head of the secret service had to say to a panel of senators about the agency's colombian prostitution scandal. director mark sullivan testified about the incident before the senate homeland security committee today, that as reports now surface that some agents claim they're just scapegoats for the behavior the agency already knew about and condoned. one senator pointed out the agents involved it register the women under their real -- did register the women under their real names. >> that suggests to me that they weren't worried about being caught. >> i just think that between the alcohol and i don't know, the environment, these individuals did some really dumb things. >> nobody would argue with that last part. senators from both parties on the committee expressed support for director sullivan, but they're still not convinced they say this was just an isolated incident. >>> meantime the fallout continues from facebook'

today he pled guilty to lying to the fbi about payments he and another aide thomas gore made to sulaimon brown using gray campaign funds. brown was paid to keep up verbal attacks against then mayor adrian fenty. the prosecutors say gore would take out money orders, then brooks would put false names on them and hand them over to sulaimon brown. the money orders had a total value of over $2,000. >> the underlying charges go to the very heart of our electoral system. we need to have a fair and honest system of elections and obviously mr. brooks along with others violated thiazin of fairness when they engaged in this scheme. >> -- this sense of fairness when they engaged in this scheme. >> brooks said he was instructed to give the money to brown, but it's unclear who instructed him to do so. >>> more fallout from that lavish $800,000 las vegas conference held by the general services administration. the official at the center of the scandal left the agency. jeff neely played a big role in organizing the 2010 conference. you may also remember this video that showed employees mocking the agency