ABC News’ Linsey Davis speaks with former FBI Director James Comey on what worries him ahead of the 2024 election and his new book, "Westport," which explores corporate espionage.
Around 600 Egyptians have died during the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca amid scorching heat, a security source said, as authorities formed a crisis unit on Thursday to probe the deaths. The Egyptian fatalities are part of at least 1,000 deaths reported from this year’s hajj pilgrimage from different countries due to extreme heat as temperatures soared past 51 degrees Celsius (123.8 degrees Fahrenheit). Most of the deaths occurred among unregistered pilgrims who did not have permits giving them access to air-conditioned tents and bus transfers between holy sites provided to authorized worshippers.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating after a Southwest Airlines plane descended to a dangerously low altitude as it made its approach to the Oklahoma City Airport just after midnight Thursday, according to the FAA. An automated warning went off from the Minimum Safe Altitude Warning system at 12:05 a.m., prompting an air traffic controller to tell Southwest Airlines Flight 4069 that they had descended to a low altitude, nine miles from the runway at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, an FAA spokesperson said. The plane passed over Yukon High School, dangerously low at roughly 625 feet, and at one point had descended to roughly 525 feet, according to FlightRadar24.
Former President Donald Trump filed a motion Thursday to try to get the judge who oversaw his civil fraud trial in New York kicked off the case. The motion alleges that Judge Arthur Engoron violated the rules governing how judges are supposed to behave. Engoron in February ordered Trump to pay $464 million in disgorgement and pre-judgment interest after he found the former president and his adult sons liable for using "numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation" to inflate his net worth in order to get more favorable loan terms.
Former President Donald Trump is raising his debate expectations for President Joe Biden a week ahead of the two men facing off, and after spending months describing him as a weak, mentally unfit leader. Pointing to Biden's vice-presidential debate performance against former House Speaker Paul Ryan, who ran as the VP choice of Sen. Mitt Romney in his 2012 presidential campaign, Trump, in a rare moment, praised Biden.
The man accused of murdering a Maryland woman in 2023 is an undocumented immigrant who was arrested and expelled at least three times, according to an ICE official. Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez is accused of murdering Rachel Morin in August of 2023. Martinez-Hernandez, who is from El Salvador, entered the country on Jan. 19, 2023, near Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
A couple from North Carolina recently experienced a terrifying incident after their 2-year-old daughter nearly drowned in the pool at the back of their house. In a surveillance video released Tuesday by Gastonia Police Department on X, formally known as Twitter, Mila can be seen lifeless lying by the side of the pool while her dad and their family friend frantically tried to save her by performing CPR on the toddler over the Memorial weekend. The Gastonia Police Department wants all families, everywhere, to be cautious at pools, lakes, and beaches.
The U.S. Tennis Association has announced its full lineup of American talent set to hit the clay courts of Roland Garros at the 2024 Paris Olympics, led by superstar Coco Gauff. With just over one month before the Games get underway in France, Team USA tennis has locked in its final roster for singles and doubles, which includes six first-time Olympians. Gauff previously made the team in 2020 but missed out on the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games after testing positive for COVID-19 days before the start in July 2021.
Actor Donald Sutherland, who starred in films including "Klute," "M*A*SH*," "Ordinary People" and, more recently, played the evil President Snow in "The Hunger Games" franchise, has died at age 88. Sutherland's son, actor Kiefer Sutherland, posted the news to social media. "With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away," Sutherland wrote.
Amtrak service between Philadelphia and New Haven, Connecticut, resumed on Thursday evening after train service was suspended for over two hours as crews worked to restore power in the New York area, Amtrak said. "Significant delays are anticipated due to rail congestion and single-tracking," Amtrak said in a statement to passengers after service was restored. The outage included trains in and out of New York Penn Station, Amtrak said.
A family of taekwondo black belts in Texas rescued a woman who was allegedly being sexually assaulted. Han An, wife Hong An and their three children Hannah, Simon and Christian, all of whom have black belts in the Korean martial art, came to the aid Tuesday of a cell phone store employee who worked directly next to their dojo, Yong-In Tae Kwon Do in Katy, Texas, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. “When we already opened the door, the male was on top of the female already on the inside the employees’ room,” Hannah An told ABC News of the alleged attack.
A former top law enforcement official in Florida is accusing Gov. Ron DeSantis and his top aides of forcing him to retire after he refused to carry out orders he says were illegal or inappropriate, according to a lawsuit filed overnight. Shane Desguin, a career employee of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, rose to become the agency's chief of staff. "Despite his stellar work performance during his employment," the lawsuit says, Desguin "was subjected to disparate treatment, different terms and conditions of employment, and held to a different standard because he reported Defendants' malfeasance, gross misconduct and unlawful employment activities and was subject to retaliation thereafter."
A smaller number of the women voters who cast ballots for President Joe Biden in 2020 said they'd vote for him again in 2024 than the share of women voters who supported former President Donald Trump in 2020 who said they'd do so again this year, according to a new set of polls from KFF, a health care research nonprofit group. The polls were taken of women both nationally and in the battleground states of Arizona and Michigan. Of women voters who cast ballots for Biden in 2020, 83% said they would vote for him again in 2024 -- with 7% who said they'll vote for Trump and 10% who said they would vote for someone else or wouldn't vote.
The public war of words between Israel and the U.S. continued Thursday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responding pointedly to the White House after the Biden administration again denied his claim the U.S. is withholding weapons from Israel amid its fight in Gaza with Hamas. In a video he released earlier this week, Netanyahu claimed "the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions" Israel needed to fight Hamas.
Theresa Nist's family is getting bigger. The reality TV star, who appeared on the inaugural season of "The Golden Bachelor" in 2023, shared a sweet Instagram post on Thursday, announcing that her daughter Jen Woolston is expecting a baby, which will make Nist a grandmother of seven. "I no longer have to contain the supreme joy that I've been feeling ever since she told me about it more than a month ago," Nist wrote in the caption of her post, which featured photos she took of Woolston on the beach.
Tim McGraw is welcoming a fresh, new talent to his Standing Room Only Tour: his nephew Timothy Wayne, whom he calls "the real deal." The country music superstar announced the news in an Instagram post shared June 20 along with a video in which he and Wayne sing "Don't Close Your Eyes" by Keith Whitley. "He may be my nephew… but he's the real deal!!" McGraw wrote in the caption.
The Biden administration is issuing a total ban on the use of a Russian-backed cybersecurity software in the United States due to the Russian government's alleged influence operations over the software, the U.S. Commerce Department announced on Thursday. Kaspersky Lab's software has been a concern of U.S. government officials since at least 2017. Under Russian law, their government has total access to Kaspersky systems and therefore has access to the data of all of its customers, U.S. officials say.
Jenna Dewan is now a mother of three! The "Step Up" star, 43, announced the arrival of her third child, her second with fiance Steve Kazee, 48, via Instagram on Thursday. In a joint post, the couple shared photos of them in the hospital, directly after the baby girl's birth, with Dewan sweetly holding the newborn on her chest.
The Manhattan district attorney's office on Thursday moved to dismiss the charges against most of the pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at Columbia University and nearby City College, though prosecutors are moving forward with cases against a handful of protesters who allegedly assaulted police officers. Prosecutors said they're hamstrung by "extremely limited video or surveillance footage of what occurred inside Hamilton Hall" since most cameras were covered by the protesters.
With a week to go until the first presidential debate, President Joe Biden heads to Camp David on Thursday to prepare for his critical matchup with former President Donald Trump. The famous rustic retreat in the Maryland mountains has hosted many debate boot camps during election years, and Biden hopes to make the most of its secluded setting in the days before heading to the June 27 debate hosted by CNN in Atlanta. The campaign said Biden is preparing ways to hold Trump accountable on the debate stage for his track record and remarks he has made on topics from reproductive rights to the economy -- including his comment that he'll be a dictator on "day one."
Arielle deNeergaard and Christine West have been best friends for nearly two decades so when deNeergaard was planning her June wedding, she knew she wanted to have West by her side. "She was my maid of honor at my wedding, so me being the maid of honor for her and doing those duties was something that I really, really, really wanted to do," West told "Good Morning America." West gave birth to her and her husband Chandler West's first child on June 6, one day after her due date and two days before deNeergaard's June 8 wedding, and it didn't seem likely West could make it to her best friend's big day.