♪ ♪ >> david: tonight, breaking news as we, on the air. the indictment of former president donald trump. tonight, multiple sources confirming the new year grand jury voting late today to indict donald trump, to criminally charge him in the hush money investigation, the payment made to stormy daniels before the 2016 election. they have claimed it was to keep daniels quiet about a sexual encounter she says she had with trump. reported communications already between the trump team and the secret service about how to bring him back to new york to face these charges, and the reaction, what he told a

reporter just minutes ago. team coverage, straight ahead. nine soldiers killed in kentucky. helicopters crashing into a residential area. the deadliest loss for our military in a single incident since 13 troops were killed in kabul in 2021. what we are learning about the moments before the crash and what witnesses say they saw and heard. in russia tonight, a u.s. journalist charged with espionage. the kremlin claiming he was caught "red-handed." "the wall street journal" reporter originally from new jersey facing decades behind bars if convicted. pleading not guilty in court. "the wall street journal" saying he is innocent. the white house sing the charges are ridiculous. the chilling 911 call released from inside that nashville school. a teacher in the closet in the art room with students, calling for help. you can hear the children in the background, how the teachers

protected their students. the threat tonight of dangerous tornadoes in the same region just hit. 70 million americans on alert in the southern states, just now trying to recover from the tornadoes just days ago. this all hits tomorrow. rob marciano tracking at all. urgent evacuations. a train carrying hazardous materials. what officials are now telling families tonight. and the incredible snow story. buried upside down and for how long? baseball's opening day. what we have not seen in decades in this country, and america strong tonight. two best friend, 81 years old. what they are doing. their message for you, right here tonight. ♪ ♪ from abc news world headquarters in new york, this is "world news tonight" with david mier. >> david: good evening. great to have you with us. we began with the breaking news.

former president donald trump has now been indicted by a grand jury here in manhattan. all of this in connection to hush money payments paid to stormy daniels in the weeks just before the 2016 election. the indictment is sealed. it could be several days before we know exactly what the charges are. the former president speaking with a reporter, saying they are trying to impact an election. what else he said in just a moment. this of course is unprecedented. donald trump is the first president, former or current to face criminal charges. his former attorney, michael cohen. donald trump is of course running for president again, and he vows to press on as he faces these criminal charges and several other investigations as well he had the special counsel investigating the classified documents at mar-a-lago. and the investigation to find the votes in the state joe biden

narrowly won. all eyes on this manhattan grand jury and there indictment of a former president. he has been informed tonight -- leading us off outside the courthouse right here in manhattan. >> tonight, a manhattan grand jury voting to indict donald trump, making him the first president in american history to be charged with a crime. the investigation which has been going on for years involves a $130,000 hush money payments to porn actress stormy daniels. a payment trump initially said he did not know anything about. but the former presidents one time fixer and lawyer, michael cohen, says he made the payment at trump's direction, to silence her before the election. they now acknowledge the payments but says trump was trying to protect his family, not his campaign. trump says that he did not have

an affair or do anything wrong. >> from the beginning, it's been one witch hunt and phony investigation after another. >> the former president stepped up his attacks, warning of death and destruction if he is indicted and urging his supporters to protest. the nypd is stepping up security around lower manhattan, putting down barricades, all in preparation for this very moment. david: eric who was on the air with me, back with us live from lower manhattan. the grand jury has handed up this indictment. we don't know the charges, but what is next? what can the american people expect to witness unfold in the coming days here? >> that indictment remain sealed, david, until trump appears here. the manhattan district attorney's office are going to have to work out a date. no date has been set yet. and i am just off the phone with

trump's lawyers who say they will fight what they call a political prosecution. the security is going to be increased all over in preparation for potential protest. i am told that every member of the nypd has been told to report in uniform at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. >> david: once the former president is brought to new york, still unclear what we will actually see of the president. >> whether there are cameras in open court will be up to the judge in real time. he's going to be processed, fingerprinted potentially. maybe even photographs, but whether we see much of him in a courtroom, we are not sure. if the president former president has his way, he may want all of this to unfold in public. >> david: leading us off tonight, former president donald trump will have to come to new york to face these charges. let's bring in jonathan karl live in washington.

of course we have never seen anything like this before. donald trump facing federal investigations. involving the classified documents. he may face state charges in georgia for allegedly interfering in the election, pressuring authorities to find the votes after joe biden won that state narrowly, but speak to the history made here today, something this country has never witnessed. >> we are truly in uncharted territory. not just that this is the first president or former president to face criminal charges, but also somebody who is currently the leading candidate for the republican presidential nomination, so this criminal proceeding will be playing out against the backdrop of an active presidential campaign, and trump has made it perfectly clear that he would not be deterred from running if he were indicted. david, there are multiple other criminal investigations. the two federal investigations, one regarding january 6.

one regarding classified documents always charges that are potentially significantly more serious than what he is facing in manhattan. >> now the former president's reaction. talking with our reporter just a short time ago. correspondent here to cover the president for years for us. you talk to him just moments ago. >> he sounded relaxed on the phone. said to me this is an attack on our country. he called it political persecution. he is an active candidate. donald trump tells me they are trying to impact on election. >> david: no indication he will stop now. he has indicated that already. we have also learned that the trump team has been contacted with the secret service. >> preliminary conversations. for two reasons. security around mar-a-lago. and that process of getting the former president to new york.

>> david: john, thank you for that. i want to bring in our legal analyst tonight. kate shaw who is with us for all these cases. this one unprecedented. i was talking to you earlier. prosecutors potentially looking at state charges of falsifying records in relation to this hush money payment. if they try to connect us on the stay level to violating federal election laws, this would be untested. not easy prosecution. >> that's right, david. we are not sure what is in the indictment, but we are pretty sure that at the heart of this charges filing false business records with an attempt to defraud. that's a misdemeanor. but it can become a felony if it is done in furtherance of another crime, so the question becomes what might that other crime be? and if it is a campaign finance crime, that is pretty novel legal terrain. it is also possible that there is another crime in the estate tax crime that false records

charges going to be tied to you making it into a felony, so that would be less novel and untested for traditional criminal prosecution. >> david: with just moments left, we could see this in days, the charges? >> i think very likely, in days. >> david: thanks to the antihero time. we will pay attention to this as it develops. in the meantime, to the other news this thursday evening, the devastating crash of two army helicopters, killing all nine soldiers on board. and what we are learning from an eyewitness. >> two blackhawks down. the two helicopters from the 101st airborne division were on what was called a routine training mission. but routine military training is inherently dangerous, especially

at night. all of the pilots and crew on this mission, five soldiers in one helicopter, four in the other, who were wearing night vision goggles, which makes it more difficult to see, especially peripherally, as they crossed over the kentucky woods. a residential area just before 10:00 p.m. >> we heard a loud boom. all of a sudden, engines quit. both of them had crashed. >> the debris was spread over a wide area. the army cannot confirm whether the two collided, but that is likely what investigators will look at first. >> helicopters have big blades that are like knives, and when they cut into another helico helicopter, it almost always ends in tragedy. >> teams were immediately dispatched to inform the families, and an aircraft safety team has been sent to the crash site to investigate.

it is unlikely whether or had anything to do with this. it was 50 degrees. fair skies. clear visibility. >> david: just a horrific story. we turned out to russia tonight, arresting a "wall street journal" reporter and accusing them tonight of being a spy, saying they called him "red handed." he faces up to 20 years behind bars if convicted. the white house calling the charge "ridiculous. he is james. >> tonight for the first time since the cold war, an american journalist has been detained in russia. he has been accused of trying to obtain classified information for the u.s. government. seen being escorted after pleading not guilty. tonight, the white house because the allegation "ridiculous." >> the targeting of american citizens is unacceptable. we condemn the detention of mr

mr. gershkovich and the strongest terms. >> they arrested him and central russia on saturday. officials claim that he was caught "red-handed" collecting state secrets on the military industrial complex. this man says he was interviewed by gershkovich. he was looking into the founder of the mercenary group currently fighting in ukraine. "the wall street journal" says it vehemently denies the allegations and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter. we stand in solidarity with evan and his family. gershkovich, a new jersey native, has been working for the journal for more than a year. he has been a journalist in russia since 2017. u.s. officials say they have not yet been able to speak to evan. if convicted, he could spend 20 years in prison. he will next appear in court ma. >> david: james, thank you.

back here in the u.s., we are hearing the 911 calls from inside that nashville school, including from a teacher huddling with students in the closet of the art room. >> tonight, new chilling 911 calls have revealed the desperation inside covenant school as gunshot sounded. >> you are is still hearing shots? >> it sounds like they stopped at the moment. >> the collar, a teaching assistant, with spring she is in the art room closet, trying to comfort and quiet the children with her. you can hear their little voi voices. one child asking... la blarihe backgrou. father sdyo grandcldren students at covenant school. his grandson in that art room hiding in the closet. >> the art teacher gathered them

up, and she had them go into the art supply room. and so that the classmates were in there with him. >> then his teacher called 911. >> david, the funeral for the pastor's daughter will be held at the covenant church. her classmates will be buried tomorrow. >> david: thank you. we are also of course watching these potentially dangerous storm systems tonight. from the canadian border all the way down to the gulf of mexico, the real threat of a long track tornadoes, and in the same southern states hit with those deadly tornadoes just days ago. you and i both traveled to the storm zone, and to think those families are facing this all over again. >> this is such a big area, so let's get right to it. a blizzard warning across upper parts of the midwest. that is where you are going to

see below. then down the mississippi towards memphis. potentially tornadoes there going across the tennessee valley. you get hit a couple times. and eventually into the northeast, come saturday morning, with rain and wind he here. >> david: we are going to turn out to the fire of a train derailment in minnesota. 22 cars derailing. some carrying ethanol catching fire. fortunately, no one was injured. officials were on the scene this morning, and they say there is no threat of toxic exposure or any more explosions. of course it comes with a number of trained derailments as of late. there is breaking news in this trial over the ski crash involving actress gwyneth paltrow. the verdict is just in from the jury tonight. we will have that. it can be tough. now, i'm staying ahead of it.

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>> david: today, the incredible rescue in washington state. on the run, catching a glimpse of his snowboard. he had been buried upside out for more than 5 minutes in the snow. look a at this. digging him out, saving his li life. fans packing the stadiums. all 30 teams playing their first games on the same day. the yankees beating the giants. the astros, they played tonight in houston. when we come back here, america strong. two best friends. around the world in 80 days, and

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>> david: and of these great grandmothers are doing it at 81 years old. in india, the bike ride. at the north poll, the sleigh ride. in egypt, the camel ride and the hot air balloon. rome, japan, the eastern islands. and right here tonight. in the australian outback. >> we are on our adventure of around the world in a.d. days at age 81 and still on the run. >> david: they will be back in texas with their families this weekend, but not until they are finished with one remarkable trip. >> get up out of that easy chair, get out of your comfort zone. make some plans. and live because age is only a number of. >> david: we love you. you inspire u >> from abc7, live breaking

news. >> they voted to indict the former president afternoon, the first time a former president has been criminally charged. >> no arrangement that has been set. >> officials will be on alert. >> we are looking at this case and potentially more investigations involving the special counsel in the investigation in georgia. larry: donald trump, the hush money payment to stormy daniels. julian: trump, issuing a lengthy statement in part saying this is political prosecution and election interference at the highest level in history. from the time i came down the golden escalator at the tower and even before i was sworn in as your president of the united states, the radical left democrats, the enemy of the hard-working men and women of the country have been engaged in a witch hunt to destroy the make america great again movement. larry: continuing with his

statement, never before in our nation's history has this been done, the democrats have cheated countless times over the decades including spying on my campaign, but weaponizing our justice system to punish a political opponent which happens to be the former president of the united states has never happened before. his legal team issued a more concise statement reading president trump has been ignited and he did not commit any crime, we will vigorously fight this political prosecution in court. julian: in a statement, his former lawyer, michael cohen, wrote i take solace that no one is above the law, not even a former president. today's indictment is not the end of the chapter but rather the beginning. now that the children's have been filed, it's better for the case to let the indictment speak for itself. cohen testified before the grand jury earlier this month, he was a crucial witness in the my had --