ABC World News Tonight with David Muir Full Broadcast - Sept. 23, 2025

Tonight, the chaos in court. The man on. trial accused of trying to assassinate. then candidate Donald Trump. Guilty on. all counts. He then tried to stab. himself in the neck in court, according. to authorities. And in New York City. tonight, the discovery in Queens, in. Westchester, in Greenwich, and in New. Jersey. Was there a plot in the works? What we've learned. First tonight, defendant Ryan Ruth guilty on all counts. of trying to kill then candidate Trump. while Trump was golfing at his club in. West Palm Beach. Moments after the. verdict, Ruth trying to stab himself.

with a pen. Armed marshals jumping in. Also tonight, President Trump at the UN. with scathing words, saying, "Your. countries are going to hell." Also, the. major turn tonight for the president on. Ukraine. President Trump now saying. Ukraine should win all of the land back. since the Russia invasion. And what the. president is now saying about Vladimir. Putin. Also tonight, the discovery in. New York City and in surrounding areas, multiple locations with world leaders. here in New York, the Secret Service and.

what it discovered at several sites, including a vacant apartment in Queens. Was another country planning to wipe out. communications in New York. Tonight, Jimmy Kimmel returning to late night TV. What influential podcaster Joe Rogan is. now saying amid this debate over free. speech. Kimmel's first post tonight on. social media and the two guests he will. welcome on his first show back. Tonight, severe storms as we come on the air. The. tornado watch right now. Millions on. alert for storms and damaging winds. Multiple states. Hurricane Gabrielle, a.

category 4 storm now where it's headed. And we're now tracking two new tropical. systems in the Atlantic. So, Ginger Z is. right here. Tonight, major medical. groups strongly pushing back against. President Trump and his message to. pregnant women in this country about. Tylenol and autism. And many doctors now. racing to help pregnant women who are. concerned over what to do if they have a. fever during pregnancy. Tonight, news. coming in, the death of former NFL star. Rudy Johnson at just 45. What his family.

is saying. Tonight, the remarkable. scene, the emergency landing right on. this street. Also, the major news in. Major League Baseball. Robots as. umpires. How will this work? At America. Strong tonight, the frightening moment. at the Bills game, the father and. daughter, the emergency, and the hero. tonight. What a story. from ABC News World Headquarters in New. York. This is World News Tonight with. David Mure.

>> Good evening and we begin tonight here. with the horrific scene in court. The. defendant on trial for the attempted. assassination of then candidate Donald. Trump trying to stab himself in the neck. with a pen just moments after he was. found guilty on all counts. Victor Aendo. leading us off from Florida tonight. Tonight, the explosive moment in court. after Ryan Ruth was found guilty on all. accounts of attempting to assassinate. Donald Trump on his Florida golf course. Ruth attempting to stab himself in the. neck with a pen shown in this courtroom. sketch. Officers then swarming him and.

dragging him out of the room. A jury of. seven women and five men deliberating. for just two hours. Ruth now facing up. to life in prison on five federal. charges. President Trump praising the. verdict, saying justice was served. >> I'm very appreciative of the justice. that was given and the way it was. handled by Pam Bondi and Todd Blanch. >> The fast-paced trial just a year after. the incident lasting just 12 days. Ruth. representing himself, deciding not to.

take the stand, calling only three. witnesses in his defense. In his closing. arguments, the 59-year-old spoke about. himself in the third person, telling the. jury the prime opportunity was there for. the defendant to shoot the president, and yet the trigger was never pulled, arguing, he is innocent. This human. being does not have the capability to. harm another human being. But the. prosecution said Ruth planned for weeks, making 17 trips to scope out Trump. International in West Palm Beach, pointing to this note they say was.

handwritten by Ruth. Dear world, this. was an assassination attempt on Donald. Trump, but I am so sorry I failed you. Last September, a Secret Service agent. spotting a rifle pointing out of the. bushes. One agent opening fire. Ruth. fleeing the scene. >> Shots fired. Shots fired. Shots fired. Individual in the bush with a gun. Authorities later tracking Ruth down and. arresting him on the side of the road. >> David, sources tell us that pen Ruth. used to stab himself is specially. designed to prevent injuries. He'll be.

sentenced in December. >> Victor Aendo leading us off here. Victor, thank you. Tonight in New York. City, world leaders are now here for the. UN General Assembly. More on what the. Secret Service discovered at multiple. sites, including a vacant apartment in. Queens. Was there some sort of plot in. the works? But first, President Trump. addressing the UN today. The president. saying to the leaders gathered there, "Your countries are going to hell." And. then right afterward, the major turn. tonight for President Trump on Ukraine. Now saying that Ukraine should win all. of the land back since the Russia. invasion. And what the president is now.

saying about Vladimir Putin. Rachel. Scott at the UN here in New York. >> Tonight, President Trump taking aim at. the United Nations, attacking the member. countries as their leaders sat and. watched. >> Your countries are going to hell. The. president frustrated from the start when. his teleprompter wasn't working. >> I can only say that whoever's operating. this teleprompter is in big trouble. >> Earlier when he arrived with the first.

lady, the escalator they were riding. abruptly stopped, forcing them to walk. up at the podium. >> These are the two things I got from the. United Nations. A bad escalator and a. bad teleprompter. Thank you very much. The president then. lashing out. >> It has such tremendous tremendous. potential, but it's not even coming close to living. up to that potential. For the most part, at least for now, all they seem to do is. write a really strongly worded letter.

and then never follow that letter up. It's empty words and empty words don't. solve war. >> The president, who we all know very. well, and he's a brave man. Later, President Trump turning to the war in. Ukraine, seeming to surprise Ukrainian. President Vladimir Zalinski by declaring. NATO countries should shoot down Russian. aircraft that enter their airspace. Russian aircraft have recently flown. over both Poland and Estonia. >> Mr. President, do you think that NATO. countries should shoot down Russian.

aircraft if they enter their airspace? >> Yes, I do. >> The president asked if the US would be. ready to back up NATO if that happens. depends on the circumstance, but you. know, we're very strong toward NATO. >> President Trump has gone back and forth. on the war for months. One day. supporting Ukraine and the next. embracing Vladimir Putin. Just 5 weeks. ago, rolling out the red carpet on. American soil, clapping as the Russian. leader approached, warmly shaking his. hand. But today, a break.

>> Unfortunately, that seemed relationship. didn't mean anything, unfortunately. And. then from the president, a major. reversal where just a few weeks ago he. implied Russia could keep some of the. Ukrainian land it had stolen. Tonight, President Trump posting, "I think. Ukraine with the support of the European. Union is in a position to fight and win. all of Ukraine back in its original. form. >> We let them get their land back.". >> Yep. >> So, we'll see how it all works out. >> And again, just weeks after meeting with. President Putin, President Trump now.

saying that their relationship did not. mean anything. Russia continuing to. attack Ukraine and now provoking NATO. The big question tonight, will the US. try to do anything to stop him? David. >> Rachel Scott live tonight at the UN here. in New York. Thank you. Tonight with. those world leaders here, the discovery. in New York and in the surrounding. areas, multiple locations. What the. Secret Service says it found at several. sites, including a vacant apartment in. Queens. Was another country planning to. try to wipe out communications here in. New York. Here's our chief justice. correspondent, Pier Thomas. Tonight.

>> Tonight, the Secret Service says it's. dismantled a covert operation that could. have been used to take out cell towers. throughout New York City and to conduct. surveillance on world leaders in New. York for the UN General Assembly. More. than 300 computer servers stacked on. shelves, desk, and floors along with. more than 100,000 cellular SIM cards set. up in vacant apartments in Queens, New. York, Westchester, Greenwich, Connecticut, and in New Jersey. locations encircling New York City.

>> These devices were concentrated within. 35 miles of the global meeting of the. United Nations General Assembly now. underway in New York City. >> A system so powerful authorities say it. could have been used to disrupt all cell. phone service for the entire city of New. York, including police, fire, and EMS. >> It essentially operates like hundreds of. thousands of cell phones in one place. doing things at massive scale. The. so-called SIM farm capable of sending 30. million text messages a minute. >> There could be really what we consider a.

denial of service taking over the. telephone lines. But this is a SIM farm. like one we have never seen before. >> Sources telling ABC News the operation. is connected to the Chinese government. Authorities found the SIM farm while. investigating anonymous threatening. calls earlier this year, targeting three. people, including one with direct access. to President Trump. >> David, there have been no arrests. Investigators have not found evidence. that the UN was the target, but David, they're taking no chances. >> Still is quite a discovery. Pierre,

thank you. Tonight, just hours from now, Jimmy Kimmel returning to late night TV. What influential podcaster Joe Rogan is. now saying amid this debate over free. speech in this country. Also Kimmel's. first post tonight and the two guests he. will welcome on his first show back. ABC's Trevor Alt now from Los Angeles. >> It's Jimmy Kimmel Live. Tonight, Jimmy. Kimmel will be back on the air after. Disney ABC paused the show indefinitely. following comments Kimmel made about the. ideology of the suspect in Charlie.

Kirk's killing. In announcing Kimmel's. return, Disney says, "Last Wednesday, we. made the decision to suspend production. on the show to avoid further inflaming a. tense situation at an emotional moment. for our country. It is a decision we. made because we felt some of the. comments were illtimed and thus. insensitive. We have spent the last days. having thoughtful conversations with. Jimmy and after those conversations, we. reached the decision to return the show. on Tuesday. The temporary pause came. after President Trump's FCC chairman.

Brendan Carr pressured local ABC. stations to stop airing Kimmel's late. night show. We can do this the easy way. or the hard way. these companies can. find ways to change conduct and take. action frankly uh on Kimmel or you know. there's going to be additional work for. the FCC ahead. >> Disney ABC then suspended Kimmel's show. indefinitely to allow for discussions. with Kimmel and his team. What followed. was a very public debate over free. speech in this country. Critics.

suggesting the move was caving to. political pressure. Even some. Republicans and well-known conservatives. speaking out. Republican Senator Ted. Cruz comparing Brendan Carr's comments. to those of a mafia boss. He says, "We. can do this the easy way, but we can do. this the hard way.". >> Yeah. >> And and I got to say, that's right out. of Good Fellas. That's right out of a. mafioso coming into a bar going, "Nice. bar you have here. It'd be a shame if. something happened to it." And just. today, influential podcaster Joe Rogan.

saying the government should not be. involved in what a comedian can or. cannot say. >> I definitely don't think that the. government should be involved ever in. dictating what a comedian can or cannot. say in a monologue. That's crazy. >> Today, Kimmel's show posting an image of. Jimmy Kimmel and his longtime sidekick. Guo captioned, "We are back full of. love." The show is expected to welcome. actor Glenn Powell and musician Sarah. McGlaughlin as Kimmel's first guests. Tonight, two station groups that own.

some ABC stations, NextStar and. Sinclair, have indicated their local ABC. affiliates will not air Jimmy Kimmel, at. least for now. Nextar saying they want. assurance that all parties are committed. to fostering an environment of. respectful, constructive dialogue in the. markets we serve. Meanwhile, with Kimmel. returning, millions will be watching. And Kimmel well aware of the critics on. all sides amid this fierce debate over. free speech. David Disney says it suspended the show.

to avoid further inflaming a tense. situation and after what they called. multiple thoughtful conversations with. Kimmel determined he would return. tonight. David. >> All right, Trevor in Los Angeles. Trevor, thanks. Now to the severe storms. at this hour, the tornado watch. In. fact, right now as we're on the air, millions on alert for storms, damaging. winds in multiple states. Also tonight, Hurricane Gabrielle, a category 4 storm, now where it's headed, and we're now. tracking two new tropical systems in the. Atlantic as well. We are still in. hurricane season. So, let's get to chief.

meteorologist Ginger Z, who's tracking. the storms first for us. Hey, Ginger. >> Hey, David. We're seeing reports of. damage out of eastern Oklahoma already. Reports of a 61 mile per hour gust in. Stler, Oklahoma. So you can see the. tornado watch that goes into northwest. Arkansas right into the Ozarks there. It's going to be a tough drive on. Interstate 40. Dangerous for sure. And. severe thunderstorm watch that goes back. to Sherman along the Red River Valley. along the state line of Texas and. Oklahoma. Also that flood watch uh in. total a couple more inches could fall. with some of these storms. Now let's. talk about the rip current risk along.

the east coast. Gabrielle's been way far. away, but it got the ocean all riled up. So you still have high rip current risk. from the Jersey Shore down through. Rahobitth Beach into Florida, too. And. there are two other areas we're watching. with a 90% and 60% chance of developing. into a tropical depression. The next. name, David, is Umbberto. >> All right, we'll watch it closely right. here with you, Ginger. See you first. thing in the morning. Tonight, several. major medical groups are now strongly. pushing back against President Trump. after his new message to pregnant women. in this country about Tylenol and what. he says is a link to autism. Now, many.

doctors racing to help pregnant women. who are concerned over what to do if. they have a fever during pregnancy. Again tonight, Steo Sansami. >> The push back from the world's leading. doctors and medical groups is growing. tonight to nearly a dozen organizations, all rejecting the president's claims. that acetaminophen, the main ingredient. in Tylenol, is tied to any increase in. pregnant women delivering autistic. babies. >> We shouldn't do anything different than. we were doing regarding mothers taking. Tylenol during pregnancy. I think what.

what parents should do, I think what. physicians should do is ignore this. press conference. effective immediately. The. >> the press conference was what President. Trump and his health secretary RFK Jr. have been promising all year. Some. answers to the complex questions of what. causes autism. Their critics tonight say. that they're overly relying on one study. from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. showing a possible link between Tylenol. use and autism, which they say the. administration uses to wrongly blame a. very useful painkiller that women need.

to reduce fevers and protect their. pregnancies. Tylenol. is uh not good. All right, I'll say it. It's not good. >> Doctors across America are now trying to. calm the worry. This Boston obstitrician. is telling her pregnant patients that. Tylenol is safe to take when you need. it. >> My advice is really likely to be to. continue to think about taking the. lowest dose of acetaminophen that's. possible. That is solving the need.

Sarah Sandival in Houston is due to. deliver her child in the next several. weeks. She says she's choosing to trust. her doctor more than anyone else. >> If a doctor who has, you know, 30 year. 30 plus years of experience, delivered. countless babies, advises or says it's. okay, right? Like I'm going to listen to. my doctor. >> Even this administration's own FDA is. saying tonight that there's no proof. that Tylenol causes autism. And they're. telling that to doctors across America. At the same time, this same FDA is still.

planning on putting a warning on bottles. of Tylenol for pregnant women. David. Steosami tonight. Steve, thank you. When. we come back, the news of the death of a. well-known former NFL star. He was just. 45. What his family is saying tonight. and what he reportedly battled. Also. tonight, take a look at this. The. remarkable scene, the emergency landing, that plane coming down right in the. middle of this street. And then later. here, the moment at the Bills game, the. father and daughter, the emergency, and. the hero tonight. This is quite a story. You have to see it. And what they're.

hoping everyone will do in a moment. here. Next tonight here, tributes pouring in. after the death of NFL Pro Bowler Rudy. Johnson. His family saying he was. struggling with mental health issues. possibly caused by CTE and asking for. privacy. Tonight, a standout running. back at Auburn, drafted by the. Cincinnati Bengals in 2001, playing. seven seasons, his career rushing total. one of the highest in franchise history. They have not made his cause of death. public. Rudy Johnson was just 45. In Las. Vegas tonight, the plane landing right. in the street. Surveillance showing the.

small plane. It had just taken off, managing to avoid any cars, even. avoiding the light posts making that. landing. Two people on board. No one was. hurt. When we come back here tonight, the big change in Major League Baseball. robots as umpires. How will this work? And the woman who authorities say tried. to steal Elvis's Graceand and what's now. happened to her tonight. To the index of other news. The woman. who pleaded guilty to a charge of mail. fraud in an alleged scheme to. fraudulently claim ownership of Elvis. Presley's Graceand now sentenced to more.

than four years. Lisa Finley falsely. claimed Presley's daughter had borrowed. millions with Graceand as collateral. They say the suspect planned to extort. money. to Major League Baseball tonight. Robot umpires are coming. Automated. pitch callers will now allow teams to. challenge the calls of human umpires. The system has been tested in the. minors. Under the new rules, teams will. get two challenges per game. When we. come back here tonight, the emergency. moment at the Bills game, the father and. daughter, that emergency, and what then. played out. This is really something. And what they're hoping you'll do.

tonight. Finally tonight here. I'm from upstate. New York, so I'm not surprised by the. big hearts of Bills fans who helped a. father and daughter when they needed it. most. Tonight in Buffalo, New York, Bills Mafia cheering for an incredible. moment that played out off the field. right up in the stadium. It was last. Thursday's game, the Bills against the. Dolphins. Father and daughter Brian and. Candace Dodge were in the stands when. all of a sudden, right before the Bills. first touchdown, Brian collapsed and. needed immediate medical attention. His.

daughter began calling out for help and. the entire crowd around them shouting. for help, too. It got the attention of. nurse Danielle Johnson, who just. happened to be nearby. That nurse. instantly began CPR for up to 10 minutes. straight. She was able to revive and. stabilize that father who was then raced. to the ER. He survived. And it was, of. course, Buffalo Bill safety Demar. Hamlin, who suffered cardiac arrest on. the field in 2023, receiving CPR to save. his life. And so tonight, that player.

and the Bills now encouraging everyone. to learn CPR or refresh themselves. And. right here tonight, >> hi David. That father Brian still at the. hospital but recovering. And boy is he. grateful. >> Everybody should go out and CPR. You. never know when you're going to need it. And you never know who you're going to. save. >> Joining us too, his daughter Candace. with a message for that nurse and for. all of the fans who helped. Every time I. hug my dad, it's got 70,000 hugs right.

there with him. Thank you. >> And finally, here. >> Hi, David. >> Nurse Danielle with her own message. >> It just goes to show how important CPR. and first aid really is because you. never know when you're going to use it. >> Wow. Such an important message. And. Brian, you're looking great. Speedy. recovery we're all pulling for you. I'm. David Mure. Good night. >> David Mure, the most watched newscast in. America. And now ABC's World News Tonight has won.

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