- 7 months ago
Ginger Zee tracks the flash flooding emergency in the East with slow moving storms dumping two inches of rain per hour in parts of Maryland, as firefighters in Minnesota attempt to extinguish multiple out of control wildfires; Matt Gutman has the latest on a judge resentencing the Menendez brothers to 50 years to life, paving the way for possible release; in day two of Sean Combs' trial, Aaron Katersky reports on the emotional testimony from star witness Cassie Ventura who detailed a graphic and a times violent relationship with the rapper; Mary Bruce, who traveled with the president, has the latest on Trump revealing he'll lift U.S. sanctions against Syria after years of civil war during the first stop in his visit to the Middle East; and more on tonight’s broadcast of World News Tonight with David Muir.
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00:00Tonight, the breaking news as we come on. The emergency playing out right now in parts of the East and the Mid-Atlantic.
00:06A flash flood emergency unfolding as we come on the air. Cars floating away outside an elementary school.
00:13The children inside the school had to be rescued. Evacuations underway at this hour.
00:17Millions of Americans on alert right now as this storm moves up the East Coast into the Northeast tonight.
00:23Ginger Zee standing by with the forecast.
00:25Inside the hearing tonight, Lyle and Eric Menendez after more than 35 years behind bars.
00:30The brothers making their case to be re-sentenced.
00:33Also breaking tonight, the star witness taking the stand in the Sean Combs trial.
00:37His ex-girlfriend breaking down while testifying.
00:40She says Combs hiring others and what the girlfriend alleges she was expected to do.
00:45Aaron Gaturski was in the courtroom.
00:47Overseas tonight, President Trump getting the royal treatment in Saudi Arabia.
00:51Fighter jets escorting Air Force One.
00:53The crown prince rolling out the lavender carpet.
00:56The president praising Saudi investments in the U.S.
01:00Amid questions tonight about the Trump family working right now on business interests of their own.
01:05In the same countries the president is now visiting.
01:08Trump Tower.
01:09Jedi.
01:10And President Trump saying today, oh what I do for the crown prince.
01:15Mary Bruce traveling with the president.
01:16Tonight, Kim Kardashian's chilling testimony describing the night she was bound, gagged, and robbed at gunpoint by masked men.
01:24The images coming in here, firefighters still on the scene right now.
01:28The major fire burning, forcing evacuations, and the new concern now as we come on tonight.
01:33This evening, the late Pete Rose reinstated Major League Baseball's historic decision now and what this now means.
01:40And tonight, Robin Roberts is here.
01:42You'll meet her siblings.
01:44What they've now done to honor their mother.
01:46What she always said about the children.
01:48It might leave you singing too.
01:53From ABC News World Headquarters in New York, this is World News Tonight with David Muir.
02:01Good evening, and we begin tonight with breaking news.
02:03The evacuations at this hour.
02:04The emergency unfolding right now.
02:06A flash flood emergency in parts of the East and the Mid-Atlantic.
02:09Take a look.
02:10Heavy rain up to two inches an hour sending rushing water through Allegheny County.
02:14This is western Maryland right here.
02:16Video from an elementary school in western Port Maryland showing cars and a dumpster being lifted up by the rushing waters floating away.
02:23Children inside the school had to be rescued late today.
02:26Chief Meteorologist Ginger Zee with the forecast and the images coming in right now as this system now pushes up the East Coast and into the Northeast.
02:33Ginger leading us off.
02:34Tonight, a flash flood emergency rapidly unfolding in the Mid-Atlantic.
02:40Slow-moving storms dumping up to two inches of rain per hour in parts of Maryland.
02:45Southwest of Cumberland, this video from Western Port Elementary School shows cars, even a dumpster, bobbing in the water.
02:53Students inside had to be rescued.
02:54The same system flooding parts of Florida Monday, spawning this massive water spout on a lake near Orlando.
03:03Meanwhile, in Minnesota, hot shot crews from as far away as Montana, Utah and Tennessee coming in to help fight multiple major wildfires.
03:11North of Duluth, the Camp House fire burning more than 18 square miles.
03:15Zero containment, and we've lost about 40-plus structures, homes and cabins.
03:23Michaela Schliep, one of many, forced to flee and now wait.
03:27We put every nail in that house.
03:29We painted every wall.
03:31We did it from the ground up, and just to know it might be gone is so scary.
03:34Not far from there, chopper pilot Earl Waters shooting this video of his water drops over the Jenkins Creek fire.
03:41It broke out Monday, exploding to more than 10 square miles.
03:45Minnesota Governor Tim Walz calling up the National Guard to help.
03:49Country of real extremes tonight.
03:51Ginger, back to this flash flood emergency playing out as we're on tonight.
03:54The system still at work?
03:57Yes, two to five inches, David, has already fallen in parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia,
04:01or in the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia.
04:04And so that's why you see that flood warning kind of clustered there.
04:06But flood watches all the way down still to New Bern, North Carolina.
04:10This system is going to twist up the East Coast as we head through tonight.
04:14We kind of forecast it here for central New Jersey heaviest back to parts of Pennsylvania at 7 a.m. tomorrow.
04:19We time it out through the afternoon.
04:21New York City gets it, and then we will be drying out, much more scattered in nature on Thursday.
04:26Total opposite end of the spectrum is back in the Northern Plains.
04:29International Falls, Minnesota was 96 on Sunday.
04:32Their hottest May temperature on record.
04:34Combine that with relative humidity as low as 15 percent, gusts up to 50, big-time heat.
04:38And speaking of hottest May temps, you could do it tomorrow, David.
04:41Austin and San Antonio.
04:43Yeah, we're dealing with fire danger very early in the season.
04:46Ginger Z leading us off tonight.
04:47Ginger, thank you.
04:48We turn now to the Menendez brothers, and after more than 35 years behind bars,
04:51they're now making their case to be resentenced, to be freed.
04:54What played out at today's hearing?
04:56Matt Guppin was in court in Los Angeles.
04:58Tonight, a bombshell decision in the case of the Menendez brothers.
05:02The judge resentencing the brothers to 50 years to life for the shotgun murders of their parents 35 years ago.
05:09That move vacating their sentence of life without the possibility of parole and makes them eligible for parole,
05:14but it's a process that could take months or even years.
05:18He sentenced them to 50 to life, which means they're immediately eligible.
05:23All bets are still on.
05:24The resentencing has happened.
05:26The judge's ruling coming immediately after the brothers, connected by a video link from prison,
05:31read statements taking full responsibility for the murders, their lies after the murders,
05:37the pain they've caused their family, and calling the crimes an atrocious act for which they feel permanent shame.
05:44Menendez family members and even visitors weeping in court, dabbing their faces with tissues
05:49as the brothers read those statements.
05:51Earlier, the family making their case to the judge.
05:54Cousin Anna Maria Baral testifying, they are universally forgiven by our family.
05:59You have brought hope to this family that we didn't seek help.
06:04And so, David, there are now two pathways for a possible release for the brothers.
06:09The first is parole, for which they became eligible today.
06:12The second is clemency, and that rests with Governor Gavin Newsom.
06:16And the brothers have a hearing for that on June 13th.
06:19David, Matt Guttman, live in Los Angeles tonight.
06:22Matt, thank you.
06:22We turn next tonight to the explosive testimony in the Sean Combs trial.
06:26The star witness testifying his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, seen this morning on her way to court.
06:31Tonight here, her emotional testimony saying Sean Combs hired others for drug-fueled encounters
06:37and that she feared he would be violent if she refused.
06:40Prosecutors say this video from 2016 shows his ex-girlfriend trying to escape one of those encounters.
06:45Combs knocking her to the floor and kicking her.
06:48ABC's chief investigative correspondent, Aaron Kuturski, was in the courtroom today.
06:52And a warning tonight, some of the testimony is difficult.
06:54In a day of graphic and emotional testimony, the star witness, Cassie Ventura, telling the jury
07:01how her relationship with Sean Combs quickly became a blur of jealousy, violence, and degrading, unwanted sex.
07:08Ventura sobbing on the witness stand as she described marathon, drug-fueled sex performances with male prostitutes.
07:14I just remember my stomach falling, just the nervousness, she said.
07:17I think I was 22 at the time.
07:20Ventura was a young singer and model.
07:22Combs was pushing 40 and had signed her to a long-term deal with Bad Boy Records.
07:26Ventura said Combs proposed this sexual encounter that he called voyeurism,
07:30where he would watch her having sex with other men.
07:33She took drugs, she said Combs supplied beforehand.
07:35I couldn't imagine doing all of that without some sort of buffer or a way not to feel it.
07:40Sex with a stranger I didn't want to be having sex with.
07:43Soon, she said these so-called freak-offs happen weekly.
07:46Combs demanding them so often it stifled her music career and became her full-time job.
07:51They lasted two, three, sometimes four days.
07:55Pretty quickly over time, I knew it wasn't something I wanted to be doing, especially how frequently.
08:00But I was in love and wanting to make him happy.
08:03She claimed she felt pressured to participate.
08:05I didn't feel like I had much of a choice.
08:07And if she refused, she said Combs would be violent with me.
08:10Her voice softer when she described things too graphic for broadcast.
08:14She recalled encounters at nearly every one of Combs' homes and at hotels across the country and overseas.
08:21Many of the sessions photographed and filmed.
08:23Federal agents seizing phones and computers containing videos from the music moguls' estates.
08:28Ventura called them blackmail materials that Combs held over her head.
08:32During trial, prosecutors said this video shows Ventura trying to escape one of the encounters.
08:37Combs seen chasing her down a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016, knocking her to the floor and stomping on her.
08:44Ventura telling the jury he would bash my head, knock me over, drag me, kick me, stomp me in the head when I was down.
08:51When the prosecutor asked, how frequently was Sean physical with you during your relationship?
08:56Ventura responded, too frequently.
08:57His attorneys acknowledge, David, that Combs and his ex had a toxic, violent relationship.
09:03But they say that's not the same thing as sex trafficking or racketeering, which Combs denies.
09:08The defense called Cassie a capable, strong adult woman who made a free choice.
09:13And, David, she'll be right back here on the witness stand tomorrow.
09:16Aaron Guterski live here in New York tonight.
09:18Aaron, thank you.
09:19Next tonight, to President Trump in Saudi Arabia getting a royal welcome there.
09:22The crown prince rolling out the lavender carpet.
09:25The president praising Saudi investments in the U.S.
09:27but there are questions tonight about the Trump family working right now on business interests of their own
09:32in the same countries President Trump is now visiting.
09:35Mary Bruce traveling with the president.
09:37She's in Riyadh tonight.
09:39Tonight, Saudi Arabia with a lavish welcome for President Trump.
09:43Fighter jets escorting Air Force One into Riyadh.
09:46The Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman rolling out the lavender carpet.
09:50It's an honor to be here, my friend, and you've had a tremendous relationship over the years.
09:55Joining Trump, leaders of some of the world's most powerful companies from IBM to Google and Elon Musk.
10:02The president touting $600 billion in Saudi investments in the U.S.
10:06So exciting.
10:12So exciting.
10:14Mohammed, do you sleep at night?
10:16How do you sleep?
10:18Huh?
10:19Just thinking.
10:22Critics doubted that it was possible what you've done,
10:25but over the past eight years, Saudi Arabia has proved the critics totally wrong.
10:29Hanging over the trip, serious questions about Trump's own business interests.
10:34His sons, who now run the Trump Organization,
10:36have projects in the works in all three countries the president is visiting.
10:40Trump Tower Jeddah, coming soon.
10:45Today, Trump announcing that at the Saudi crown prince's request,
10:48he will lift U.S. sanctions on Syria,
10:51now that the Assad regime has crumbled and a new government is in place.
10:54I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria
10:59in order to give them a chance at greatness.
11:06The president then saying,
11:08Oh, what I do for the crown prince.
11:10Oh, what I do for the crown prince.
11:12Trump also extending an olive branch to Iran.
11:15I have never believed in having permanent enemies.
11:19Appearing to lay out a foreign policy approach
11:22based on whether you can make a deal, regardless of past history.
11:26From embracing the Saudi crown prince years after U.S. intelligence concluded,
11:30he orchestrated the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi
11:34to forging ties with Russia's Vladimir Putin.
11:37Far too many American presidents have been afflicted with the notion
11:41that it's our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders
11:44and use U.S. policy to dispense justice for their sins.
11:50Now tomorrow, the president heads to Qatar,
11:52where the royal family has offered to gift him a $400 million luxury jet
11:56to be used as Air Force One before being transferred to his presidential library.
12:01Tonight, Democrats and even some members of the president's own party
12:04are raising serious questions about conflicts of interest
12:07and whether such a gift would be safe or legal.
12:10David.
12:10Mary Bruce at Saudi Arabia for us.
12:12Mary, thank you.
12:13Now to the stunning reversal tonight from Major League Baseball.
12:15Reinstating the late Pete Rose after being kicked out for betting on games,
12:19including his own team, what he once told our Charlie Gibson
12:22and what this now means when it comes to the Hall of Fame.
12:25Here's Will Reeve.
12:27He was banned from the game for life, but tonight in an historic decision,
12:33Major League Baseball reinstating all-time hits leader Pete Rose.
12:37He has tried.
12:38Rose, who died last year, was barred from the sport in 1989
12:41after an investigation found that he had bet on games
12:45as the manager of the Cincinnati Reds.
12:47MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred saying,
12:50obviously a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat
12:53to the integrity of the game.
12:55The former Rookie of the Year MVP and three-time World Series champion
12:59denied the allegations for years before opening up to ABC's Charlie Gibson.
13:03Did you bet on baseball?
13:04Yes, I did.
13:08And that was my mistake, not coming clean a lot earlier.
13:13The scandal has kept him from being inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame.
13:17Today's move now makes him eligible for election.
13:19The Hall of Fame saying in a statement,
13:22the decision to remove deceased individuals from the permanently ineligible list
13:26will allow for the Hall of Fame candidacy of such individuals to now be considered.
13:30Fans of the Reds celebrating the news.
13:32He built the Reds. This is his ballpark.
13:35Now, David, this ruling doesn't just put Rose into the Hall of Fame.
13:38He would still need to get approval from a baseball committee,
13:41and the earliest he could enter the hall would be in 2028.
13:45David.
13:45Really major development tonight. Will Reeve will thank you.
13:48Tonight, the Trump administration has reversed the firing of more than 100 federal workers
13:51at an agency that had served West Virginia coal miners,
13:55helping to protect them from black lung disease.
13:57It comes after political pressure and a series of ABC News reports.
14:00Correspondent Jay O'Brien met with miners after the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
14:05was virtually wiped out.
14:08They take away the people that were watching over us, taking care of them.
14:12They're taking their jobs. We got nobody.
14:16That's it.
14:16Even after they got those initial layoff notices,
14:19those former federal workers fought to save the agency.
14:21And tonight, many of them tell us they've been called back to work
14:24to now help those coal miners again.
14:27To the economy tonight, inflation falling to a four-year low.
14:30Consumer prices rose 2.3 percent in April year over year.
14:33Still rising, but better than expected.
14:35Economists say the effects of the president's new tariffs still not fully factored in.
14:39When we come back tonight, the stunning testimony here.
14:42Kim Kardashian taking the stand, describing the night she was bound, gagged,
14:45and robbed at gunpoint by masked men.
14:48Also, the American college student on a senior class trip
14:50and the deadly fall from a balcony.
14:52And tonight, the images coming in here.
14:54This is here in the east.
14:55The massive fire forcing evacuations.
14:57Firefighters still on the scene.
14:59And there's a new concern at this hour.
15:00We'll have more on this in a moment.
15:03Tonight in Baltimore, a massive warehouse fire leading to evacuations
15:07and disrupting Amtrak and commuter train service.
15:09The seven-alarm fire beginning to burn overnight.
15:12Firefighters are still on the scene.
15:13They say it's still burning.
15:14Dozens have been evacuated.
15:16Authorities are now concerned tonight the warehouse could collapse right onto the train tracks.
15:20Tonight, Kim Kardashian's chilling testimony about being bound, gagged, and held at gunpoint
15:24when masked men burst into a hotel room in Paris.
15:27Kardashian in Paris today facing the suspects in court.
15:31They're accused of stealing more than $6 million in jewelry during the heist in 2016.
15:35She told the court today she absolutely thought she was going to die.
15:38When we come back tonight, the American college student on a senior trip
15:41and the deadly fall from a balcony.
15:44And Robin Roberts is here tonight.
15:45You're going to meet her siblings right here and what they've done in honor of their mother.
15:49She'd be singing about this.
15:50To the Knicks of other news tonight, authorities say an American college student was killed
15:55after a deadly fall from a resort balcony on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
15:59The student from Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, police say he was on a senior
16:03class trip when it appears he accidentally fell with roommates nearby.
16:08Well, tonight it's official and it's a huge blow for the Boston Celtics.
16:11Star forward Jason Tatum is out of the playoffs.
16:13He ruptured his right Achilles tendon during last night's loss to the Knicks.
16:16The Knicks now lead the Celtics 3-1 in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
16:19That's a big loss.
16:21When we come back here tonight, Robin Roberts is here.
16:23You'll meet her siblings, what they've done tonight, a way to honor their mother
16:27and what she always said about children.
16:31Finally tonight here, America Strong.
16:33Our Robin Roberts right here with two of her siblings and the new children's book
16:37Honoring Their Mother.
16:39She'd be singing about this.
16:42Oh my goodness.
16:43A new children's book is out based on my dear mother's childhood and her love for music.
16:49We grew up with music in our household.
16:52You brought me through.
16:55Every time mom came home, whatever mood she was in, happy, sad, or whatever, she'd sit
17:01at that piano and she would just play and sing.
17:05Lucy Sings on Lucy Street tells a story of resilience and hope, an idea my siblings brought to life.
17:13Written by Lawrence Roberts and Sally Ann Roberts.
17:18Oh, look at mama.
17:21Look at her.
17:23Lawrence, who we call Butch, and Sally Ann, compiling stories our mother Lucy Marion shared
17:29about her life as a young girl in Akron, Ohio.
17:32Mom shared a story with me.
17:35They were having their meager meal in the basement and mom pipes up and says, I have a little song
17:42in my heart and I'm going to sing it.
17:44And her father says, not at this table, Lucy Marion, we don't sing at the table.
17:49So she dutifully ate her food as quickly as she could and then she asked to be excused and
17:56she ran up the basement stairs and she sang, this little light of mine, I'm going to let
18:04it shine.
18:05And it brightened everyone in the room and it changed her life.
18:10In the book, eight-year-old Lucy uses music as a way to uplift during tough times.
18:16Music's a universal language and that's the one thing that mom was able to do, is to bring
18:22that spirit out.
18:23The picture book, set in 1932 during the Great Depression, also shares realities our
18:29mother faced growing up.
18:32Mama's a young girl, she sees her neighbors and they innocently say to her, can you wash
18:37the color?
18:37Because they had not seen someone who looked like mama.
18:39And mama laughs it off and says, can you wash off the freckles?
18:44She also found a way to build bridges with people.
18:48Mama always believing in fostering children's strengths.
18:52I never heard her say, oh, that's not a bad idea.
18:54I don't think y'all do that.
18:55Never heard that.
18:56Always heard encouragement.
18:57Every child has a gift.
18:59Your gift may not be singing, but whatever your gift is, as mom said, discover your gift
19:05and share it.
19:07Share it.
19:09Lucy sings on Lucy Street.
19:12We love that family.
19:13Good night.
19:14Thank you for making World News Tonight with David Muir, America's most watched newscast.
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