ABC World News Tonight with David Muir Full Broadcast - May 15, 2025

Tonight, there is breaking news as we come on reports of. multiple tornadoes touching down just moments ago. The image is coming in right now to confirm tornadoes. that terrifying scene in Wisconsin and in Minnesota, the system moving across several states, the. Midwest and the Northeast. There are severe weather alerts at this hour from Texas all. the way up to the north, the 60 million Americans on alert. Meteorologist Lee Goldberg standing by live, he has. the timing of this system as we head into the night, and the dangerous weather expected tomorrow.

Also tonight here, the dramatic moments today. at the Sean Diddy-Comes trial, the cross-examination. of his ex-girlfriend, the star witness in this case. Tonight, ABC News now learning about a new. and alarming outage for air traffic controllers. this time in the Denver area. Controllers unable to reach planes. and tonight an air traffic controller. in the northeast, breaking their silence, claiming they help prevent two passenger jets. from colliding the chilling case on folding police a. teenage daughter escaping her parents allegedly.

held captive for at least Seven years authorities a. captain of dog crate she escaped running to a neighbor. who told authorities I hadn't seen her in years. President Trump the first American president to. visit the United Arab Emirates in nearly 30 years. tonight with Trump is saying about Vladimir Putin not. showing up for talks on Ukraine. And back in Washington, the Republicans now sounding the. alarm about that $400 million jet being given to President. Trump who wants to use it as Air Force One. The Supreme Court tonight, the Justices hearing.

arguments over President Trump's executive order that would end. birthright citizenship and the judges who have so far blocked. this. What the Justices at the High Court signaled tonight. news coming in a two-year-old. has survived a fall from the balcony on the 15th floor. How the baby survived? The alarming scene on a golf course tonight. a 70 year old golfer hit by an SUV tearing across that course. The economy tonight in the prices you pay. and what Wal-Mart's CEO said today.

about prices soon going up and why. And we remember a famous actor tonight. He was in three James Bond movies. >> From ABC News, World Headquarters in New York, this. is World News Tonight with David New York. >> Good evening and we begin tonight with the heroing. scenes playing out in just the last hour or so. Several confirmed tornadoes touching down in a tornado watch. has just been issued for the city of Chicago tonight.

in the surrounding areas. In fact, multiple states under tornado and severe. weather alerts in the Midwest and millions. than bracing for storms from Texas all the way. up to the northeast. Just some of the images coming in tonight, just as we came. on, the dark clouds gathering over Minneapolis, you can. hear the tornado sirens right there right across the city. East of Minneapolis tonight, this twister tearing. across farmland near New Richmond, Wisconsin. Again, several reported tornadoes and tonight. the tornado watches and warnings, including. the storm is moving east Chicago with this new tornado watch and.

then the system affects the south. all the way up to the northeast. What could be a very dangerous 24. hours ahead, Lee Goldberg standing. by with the forecast and ABC's Alex Perez in Chicago with this. new tornado watch there leading us. off with the images coming in already. Tonight, millions in the Midwest on alert for powerful storms. Oh my god. East of Minneapolis this massive twister spotted. tearing up farmland near New Richmond, Wisconsin. Tornado sirens sounding in Minneapolis this afternoon.

are affiliate KSTP warning viewers of the danger. This is the core metro now under a tornado warning, the most populous county that we have in Minnesota. Stormchases from the station out on the roads. tracking the storms. if there's going to be a tornado in this area, be on the far. left, kind of by where that building is. 60 million on alert, the same system spawning this. land spout tornado near North Plant Nebraska overnight. And it's all headed east and parts of the east coast still.

reeling from floods that had cars floating. and flooded schools. And claim the life of a 12 year old boy. and David, there are tornado watches across the region, including right here in the Chicago area. through the evening. Chicago officials taking new chances delaying the start of. tonight's Beyoncé concert until it's safe. David. Yeah, everyone's going to take. these watches seriously. Alex, thank you leading us off here. Chief meteorologist Lee Goldberg at our New. York station here, W-A-V-C, tracking it all for us.

Hi, David. We've had multiple tornado reports. West and east of Minneapolis reports of. debris on the ground in that tornado watch will go until. around in that tornado watch will go until 10 o'clock for. parts of Minnesota and into Wisconsin. It's also severe thunderstorm watch parts of. Missouri into Arkansas. Now these storms move east over a. night. They'll be near Milwaukee in Chicago by about eight. o'clock and storms may wake you up and parts Louisville down. to natural by morning another area over central Pennsylvania. They'll be moving into the New York City area tomorrow. The severe threat from Texas to. southern New Jersey, but the highest severe risk a level four.

out of five from St. Louis to Evansville, Louisville. Strong destructive tornadoes. Maybe even some baseball size ha. evening, some of these s the store over the weekend. of the prosecution star X girlfriend Cassie Ventura. some of her claims. Aaron a warning again tonight.

is difficult. In hours of cross examination, lawyers for Sean Combs using. ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura's own words and an attempt to. portray her not as a victim of sex trafficking, but as a. willing, even eager participant in his swingers lifestyle. In Hush Tone's eight months pregnant and with her husband. in the room, Ventura reading aloud, intimate often. explicit text messages about the sex she desired. One juror appeared to shake her head, others.

leaned in to read along. "I'm always ready to freak off" one of her. messages said referencing the drug-fueled sessions. with male prostitutes that Ventura said became. an integral part of a relationship with combs. "Defense attorney's harping on her apparent enthusiasm to make. him happy you told him that you wanted to do freak-offs.". Ventura pushed back, "No, there's a lot more to that.". But the defense suggested Ventura became reluctant. only when she felt dirty and grimy as opposed. to sexual and spontaneous. As she said in one of her emails to Combs, I get nervous.

that I'm just becoming the girlfriend that you. get your fantasies off with and that's it. Ventura testified Combs coerced her into sex under threat. of violence and blackmail, but on cross examination she. said Combs was also violent because of jealousy and her. in fidelity telling the jury dating rapper Kid Cutty and. actor Michael B. Jordan prompted arguments that could. be a little scary. Ventura kept up her composure through hours. on the witness stand. David and those will continue tomorrow, though the judge wants. to make sure she's finished by the end of Friday because she.

could give birth at any moment. David Erickertersky back at the courthouse again tonight. this evening ABC News Learning of a new and. alarming air traffic control outage this time controllers. in the Denver area losing communications with. planes for some 90 seconds this happened on Monday. This has already happened multiple times at Newark. Airport and tonight an air traffic controller coming. forward saying he saw two passenger jets here in. the Northeast just seconds away from a mid air collision. Here's Geobin Edas tonight ABC News is learning.

about a new and alarming outage and an air traffic. control center near Denver that left controllers. unable to communicate with some planes for nearly 90. seconds. The FAA says two radio transmitters went. down just before 2 p.m. Monday at a facility that handles planes flying. above 18,000 feet in and around Colorado. Air traffic controllers quickly. moving pilots to a backup up radio channel. 305 75. Uh, but we've over 15.

There's one one. We have here really is radio failure that we. seen many times before. We're going to see it again until we change. things around, but it was a very orderly procedure. in terms of backing it up. This all comes after a series of tech issues at Newark's. the air port, a system wide back on April 28th. at a Philadelphia facility causing air traffic. controllers to lose radar and communications. with planes packed with passengers for up to 90. seconds. And tonight a controller. at that facility now coming forward.

recounting the moment on May 4th when he saw two. planes just seconds from colliding mid air. Jonathan Stewart telling the Wall Street. journal he was manually keeping keeping track in his notebook, worried that radar and radio communication might fail. again. When he saw the two. aircraft on a collision course, he instructed the. pilots to turn the planes away from each other. But the incident, leaving him badly shaken. Stuart says he took stress-related trauma. leave after the incident, adding, "I don't want. to be responsible for killing 400 people.".

Meanwhile, David, the FAA, has been meeting with the airlines. for the past two days to figure How many flights each. airline must cut at Newark? We've just been told that meeting will. go into a third day. David. All right, GOPATITES. with us tonight. GOPATES with us. Thank you. Now to the chilling case unfolding in Camden. County, New Jersey. Police say a teenage daughter escaping her parents. They say held captive for seven years. Authorities say she was kept in a dog crate. She escaped running to a neighbor who said they. hadn't seen her in years. Here's her Chief Justice course by the Pierre Thomas.

Tonight, police say this was a house of horrors. for an 18-year-old daughter, allegedly held. captored by her mother and stepfather for seven years. Her parents accused of keeping her in a dog crate. "That's absurd. Why would you keep a child in a dog cage?". Police say the parents also pat locked the child in a bathroom, beat her repeatedly and chained her like a slave. She escaped and made her way to a neighbor who spoke. to our ABC station WPVR. "You definitely had scars on our wrists from, I.

think, the end-chained up.". That neighbor hadn't seen the victim in 11 years. Tonight the young woman's mother, Brenda Spencer. and her stepfather, Brandon Mosley, facing. kidnapping charges. Mosley also facing charges for allegedly sexually. abusing the young woman. To me, this is the most. affluent heinous crime anyone could commit. David, police say the nightmare began when the young lady. was removed from school and only the sixth grade.

Another 13 year old child was also living in the home. David. Dear Thomas Live. in Washington here. Thank you. Now to President Trump tonight, the first American president. to visit the United Arab Emirates in nearly 30 years. The news he made there, and what the president is also saying. tonight about Vladimir Putin not showing up for talks. on Ukraine as Republicans in Washington now sound. off on this gift of a $400 million jet that. the president wants to use as Air Force One. Mary Bruce traveling with the president. President Trump today welcomed with great fanfare.

to the United Arab Emirates. The third and final stop of a Middle East tour designed. to boost business ties with wealthy Arab states, where his own family has major financial interests. "It is so beautiful. I'm very proud of my friends.". Trump and the president of the UAE announcing a new artificial. intelligence partnership, including a planned data. center powered in part by American-made chips. "We are going to be your friend and we're going. to be your partner.".

Earlier, Trump visiting the largest U.S. military outpost in the Middle East, a key hub. in Qatar strategically located to help counter Iran. The president saying his administration is now close. to a nuclear deal with Iran. "Aranists sort of agreed to the terms.". Trump also touting efforts to end the war in Ukraine. After urging Ukrainian President Zelensky and. Russian President Putin to meet in Turkey tomorrow, Zelensky agreed, but Putin refused. Both countries instead sending representatives.

Trump now throwing cold water on any potential progress. "Nothing's gonna happen until Putin and I get together, okay?". Cutter, like all the countries Trump is visiting on this tour, has business ties with the Trump Organization, now run. by the President's sons. Eric Trump last month inking plans for an. exclusive Trump golf resort. Hanging over the president's trip to the Middle. East, his eagerness to accept a $400 million. luxury jet as a gift from the Cutterie Royal family. The plane would serve as Air Force One before.

it's transferred to Trump's presidential. library. But tonight, even some of. the president's close allies are raising objections. "Cutter supports Hamas. Okay, actually the Hamas leaders live a guitar. - I trust guitar like I, like I trust a rest stop bathroom. - Now this deal is still not done, but the president is facing increasing political pressure. back home, even some top members of his own party. are pushing back saying this deal needs to be closely.

scrutinized, raising security and legal concerns. David. - Mary Bruce reporting from. the Middle East all week, Mary, thank you. We turn now to an historic battle at the Supreme Court. tonight the justices hearing arguments over President Trump's. executive order that would end birthright citizenship and. the lower court judges who have so far blocked the order. Here's Rachel Scott. Birthright. That's a big one. Tonight, the Supreme Court grappling with one of President. Trump's most controversial moves. His day one executive order revoking the right.

to citizenship for every baby born in the. United States. Just absolutely ridiculous, but. you know, we'll see we think it we have very good. ground. Federal judges in three states have ruled. the ban on birthright citizenship violates the. Constitution's 14th Amendment, issuing nationwide. injunctions blocking it from going into effect. The administration today arguing those nationwide injunctions. are judicial overreach. We have the government racing from jurisdiction. to jurisdiction having to sort of clear the table. in order to implement a new policy. - Justice Samuel Lido sounding sympathetic.

- The practical problem is that there are 680. district court judges and they are dedicated. and they are scholarly and I'm not impugning. their motives in any way, but you know, sometimes they're wrong. - But Justice Elena Kagan says the ban. on birthright citizenship is different. because all the courts seem to agree. the ban is unconstitutional. This case is very different from a lot of our nationwide. injunction cases in which many of us have expressed frustration.

at the way district courts are doing their business. - Under questioning from Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the lawyer for the Justice Department, concealing the administration has not fully determined. how the ban would work. - On the day after it goes into effect, it's just a very practical question, how is it gonna work? what do hospitals do with a new warn what do states. do with a new warn I don't think. they do anything different what the. executive order says in section two is. that federal officials do not accept.

documents that have the wrong designation. of citizenship from people who are subject. to the executive order they got to. know that the states can continue to the. federal officials will have to figure. that out is how and justice Sonya. Sotomayor noting the high court has. repeatedly reaffirmed the right to citizenship. for every child born in this country. So as far as I see it, this order violates four. Supreme Court presidents. The majority of the justices on the bench appear skeptical. of the president's executive order ending birthright.

citizenship, but conflicted on that central question. of whether federal judges could issue those. nationwide injunctions to block it, David. All right, Rachel Scott tonight. Rachel thinks as always to the economy and the prices you. pay tonight Walmart warning customers that President Trump's. moves on tariffs are forcing the company to raise some. of its prices. The CEO saying even though the president raised and then. reduced tariffs on China for now, the impact will. be felt regardless. We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible. But given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced.

levels announced this week, We aren't able to absorb all. the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins. We're positioned to manage the cost pressure from tariffs. as well or better than anyone. But even at the reduced levels, the higher tariffs. will result in higher prices. Prices at Walmart are expected to go up later this month. When we come back here tonight, the news coming in, we have. learned a two-year-old boy has survived a 15-story. fall from the balcony, how the toddler survived this. And then look at this tonight, the alarming scene. on a golf course, a 70 year old golfer,

hit by an SUV tearing across the course. We've learned more about his condition here. in just a moment. Tonight a frightening scene in Silver Spring, Maryland, a toddler has survived a 15 story fall. from an apartment building. First responders believe the two year old boy. fell from the balcony and survived by landing. on the bushes below. Authorities are now investigating the fall. the boy is expected to survive this. An alarming scene on the golf course in Chicago, police say a 70-year-old golfer was struck by an SUV.

racing across the Billy Caldwell Golf Course, an employee in a silver sedan chasing the SUV, stopping the driver, the suspect arrested by police. The victim remains an intensive care tonight. When we come back, remembering a famous actor. who was in many bond movies. To the index we learned today that actor Joe Don Baker. has died in the original walking tall. He also appeared in three James Bond movies. The remake of Cape Fear along with Fletch and. the natural is family tonight, calling him a beacon of kindness. and generosity.

Joe Don Baker was 89 when we come. back here tonight. The school year nearing and end and. the children tonight determined that. we celebrate the quiet heroes too. ABC World News tonight with David. and you're sponsored by Chui. - Finally tonight here, America's Strong, with the school year ending from the custodians. to the bus drivers, the school children who say, they got us here too. At Kennen's Elementary School in Spartanburg, South Carolina,

they are cheering for their beloved custodian, Mr. Punzel Fernandez. Mr. Fernandez started working at the school back in 1987. nearly 40 years ago. So for his 80th birthday, the students, the teachers, they all wanted to celebrate him, lining the. elementary school hallways and surprising him. Singing Happy birthday to Mr. Fernandez right here tonight. >> Hi David. >> That proud custodian. >> It touched me, it touched my heart. I love everyone.

They show me they love me too. >> And joining us too. >> Hey David. >> The school principal, Mrs. Elizabeth Phillips. >> He makes sure that we have what we need all of the time. He loves the children, he loves the staff, and we all love him. >> And from celebrating that custodian, celebrating a bus driver in Bradford, Tennessee, North of. Memphis. This video being shared viewed by millions six year. old Mally Courtney inviting her school bus driver to her. kindergarten graduation party. She loves that bus driver and Mally's and Holly.

capturing the moment. Hey, David. I know that she's just thrilled that she gets to be on the news. And I'm so thankful my video got to y'all, and that y'all are sharing it. Thank y'all so much. - Hey, David. - Tonight here, Mally and Mabla Livia. - I'm glad everybody got a chance to see. how impactful my daughter's bus driver is. - At my mother, we played games, and then we hanged out, and it was just my favorite thing. - And joining us too at Proud Bus Driver, Mr. Dot Allen.

I love what I do because we sit in the bathroom. for these kids every day. So I'm trying to do the best that I can do. The children determined to celebrate everyone. and we celebrate you too. Good night.