brian ross digging deeper. >>> and new this half hour, a harrowing video captures a couple's terrifying drive to escape the wildfires in canada. >> the couple finding themselves smack in the middle of that intense blaze. >>> and american league wins the all-star game in extra innings. we have the highlights plus a picture perfect moment between an umpire and player. it's wednesday, july 12th. >>> from abc news, this is "world news now." >> an extra inning all-star game. >> did you catch it? >> that's what we were hoping. >> did you watch it? >> no. >> i didn't think so. >> i dvred it. i didn't want all the details. >> you didn't want the details? >> no, i didn't want the details of how the all-star game ends. so please, no spoilsies, okay? >> all right after you watch "game of thrones," you'll watch that? >> yes. >>> we begin this half hour with donald trump jr., though, defending his meeting with a russian lawyer after posting the e-mail chain detailing the arrangement. >> don jr. told fox news that he agreed to sit down with a russian attorney as a courtesy to an acquaintance when he

here's brian ross. >> reporter: the americans who boarded this amazon riverboat in south america wereold it was a brand-new vessel built to exceed safety standards, and for the hammers of lincoln, nebraska, it was their ultimate adventure. >> they had worked for years and lived pretty grfrugally. >> reporter: sometime after midnight, something went terribly wrong no tin the hamme cabin. in minutes, the entire hallway is filled with smoke. the rosenbergs said there were no fire flashing lights. >> you couldn't see five inches in front of your face. >> reporter: again and again, crew members go to the hammers' cabin but don't try to go inside. it would be 20 minutes and 47 seconds from the first sign of smoke until the crew will enter the cabin to rescue the hammers. it was too late. larry hammer died in the cabin from smoke inhalation, and the crew waited another six minutes to pull out kristy hammer to died en route to the hospital. >> getting on that boat cost them their lives. >> reporter: an investigation by the peruvian navy found the cause to be an overheated power strip provided

i said to my wife, brian ross' source is at the white house.hey're going to try to pin this on me. so i called brian ross, i said, i'll give you your interview. i decided in the three or four days between that call and the interview that no matter what he asked me, i was going to tell the truth. and i came to that conclusion for a number of reasons. first of all, torture is patently illegal. we have something in this country called the federal torture act of 1946 and it specifically prohibits exactly the techniques we were using against al qaeda prisoners. secondly, we're a nation of laws. at least we like to tell other countries that we are. and we're a shining beacon of human rights and respect for civil liberty and civil rights. well, let's prove it. if this guy's the bad guy that he said he was, let's put him on trial, we'll let him face a jury of his peers and argue his case in court. that wasn't the plan for abu zabada or any other prisoner. i did a little research on my own at the time, too, found in 146 11946 in the aftermath of the war

both have said they will cooperate. >> all right, brian ross tonight. brian, thank you. >>> we turn to new developments and audio this evening after the deadly police shooting of a bride-to-be in minneapolis. tonight, the officer reported to be mohamed noor, a somali-american with just two years on the force. there had been complaints filed against him before. we are now hearing radio calls from the squad car reporting a female screaming, and that one of the officers was performing cpr. abc's linsey davis in minneapolis again tonight. >> reporter: tonight, a plea from an anguished father in australia, a for an explanation about why his daughter was gunned down by a police officer. >> we only ask that the light of justice shine down on the circumstances of her death. >> reporter: there is now an independent investigation. >> we are trying to figure out what happened. we don't want know yet. >> reporter: it's still unclear why officer bodycameras weren't rolling during the incident, but we are now hearing the call from that patrol car after justine damond'

david. >> our chief investigative correspondent, brian ross. thank you. >>> we know the special counselor is investigating any collusion between the campaign and russia. what does this prove? i want to bring in dan abrams, and first, campaigns always try to get opposition research on their opponent, but bottom line for folks watching at home, why is this far different? >> this is from the russian government, and it's illegal for a foreign national or foreign government to be contributing directly or indirectly to our campaigns. donald trump jr. doesn't need to have received anything to make it criminal. he could have solicited, requested, asked for it, knowing it's coming from the russian government, but it has to be something of value. >> of value. you say that, but what does that mean? >> the federal election commission says, polling data could be something of data. it doesn't need to be monetary, but that would be the big legal question if it got to that point. >> you hear someone has dirt on your opponent. i would look ate, too p but what d

here's abc's chief investigative corporate, brian ross, tonight. >> reporter: the big question tonight is, what did the president know about the meeting here at trump tower and when did he know it. the white house says he only became aware of it a few days ago. but we now know the russian lawyer, natalia veselnitskaya, well connected to the kremlin, and a familiar figure in washington lobbying against russian sanctions. here she is at a congressional hearing last june. she flew in especially from moscow to meet with trump's inner circle on the 25th floor of trump tower, one floor below the office of donald trump sr. democrats in congress tonight are asking, how could he not know what was going on? especially since the meeting was set up by people working for a russian billionaire who was a former business partner of trump and also close to vladimir putin. tonight in moscow, the lawyer veselnitskaya, denied her purpose was to provide compromising information on hillary clinton. no, this is not true, she said. further claiming she didn't even know if donald trump was a candidate for pres

they'll lie and do anything to win. >> brian ross with us now. two quick questions. first, the lobbyist, what do we know about his past? >> he told the associated press, he did serve in a soviet military unit that did some counterintelligence work, but insists he was in tnot trained spy. >> and the president beefing up his legal counsel? >> his name is ty cobb, he will be setting up a war room in the white house to respond to the allegations about russia, at taxpayers' expense. >> brian ross, thank you. >>> we're on the scene of a slow motion disaster in a florida neighborhood. homes swallowed by the earth. family members barely escaping. what began as a small hole opening up. then this home tearing apart, falling right in. tonight, nearly a dozen families already forced from their homes. here's victor oquendo. >> reporter: tonight, that massive sinkhole outside tampa florida growing swallowing two houses and threatening more. the family in this house getting out minutes before the ground gave way. >> it was so emotional. i started crying and everything. we got the d

it's an exclusive abc news investigation, and abc's chief investigative correspondent brian ross startss off tonight. >> reporter: it's 6:21 on a monday evening at the san ysidro, california border crossing. and the man in the white sweatshirt is a smuggler. a 16-year-old high school student by the name of cruz velasquez, with drugs hid nen two bottles in his shoulder bag. >> cruz was recruited, we believe, as a mule. here, we'll give you $100 or $200 if you just take these bottles across the border. >> reporter: over the next one hour and 38 minutes this video obtained by abc news will show in gripping detail just how far u.s. border officers will go, encouraging or at least permitting this teenager to prove his innocence by drinking from a suspicious bottle, an encounter that will end up as a matter of life and death on the border. >> there is a clear history of agents and officers engaging in what i believe was serious misconduct. >> reporter: and our abc news investigation conducted with the non-profit investigative fund found that despite more than ten suspect deaths and hundreds o

brian ross decided to pass on doing this investigative story, so i did. >> reporter: who really ownsamous selfies, snapped by an indonesian monkey? mo do in federal court. the wildlife photographer whose camera captured this toothy grin is fighting a lawsuit by animal rights group, peta, on behalf of naroodle who picked up the camera and snapped the selfies. >> the definition of authorship turns on he who originates. it doesn't look at the he, she, who or what. >> reporter: it was later sold by slater and used as the cover for his book about wildlife personalities. peta says any proceeds from the book or sales of the image should be turned over to benefit the monkey. according to slater's lawyers, that's, well, bananas. >> it makes no sense to allow a monkey to enforce a copyright suit, but if you're going to do that, you would have to provide the monkey written notice. >> he wouldn't need notice, perhaps the other monkeys would? >> that's exactly right. >> reporter: the ninth circuit court considering the case which was dismissed by a lower court, saying, since he's not a human, he'

no punishment. >> brian ross with us tonight. brian will have much more coming up tonight, including how long the call for medical help. his "20/20" investigation is tonight. >>> in the meantime tonight from london this evening, little charlie gard has passed away. he died at hospice. his case attracting worldwide attention. tonight, pope francis leading the tributes, tweeting, i entrust little charlie to the father. >>> there's still much more ahead on this friday -- the escape from prison in this country. the young woman stabbed to death. the inmate breaking out, killin warden's own stepdaughter. >>> the charter bus up in flames. dozen of passengers scrambling to escape. >>> then, the accident on the hudson river late today. dozens injured. emergency crews are on the scene. lot more ahead. it's looking it's being in motion. in body, in spirit, in the now. boost® high protein it's intelligent nutrition with 15 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for when you need a little extra. boost® the number one high protein comp

>> brian ross with with us now, and people will be saying, why are we hearing about yet another name that was inside that meeting? >> david, it really has been a slow drip, and it helps explain why this meeting has become such a focus of the special counsel, robert mueller. his team wants to talk with each of the eight people in the room, and tonight, we have also learned from senator dianne feinste feinstein, that mueller has given congress the okay to question don junior and former chairman paul manafort in front of the american people, and both will cooperate. >> thank you. >>> we turn to new developments and audio this evening after the police shooting of a bride to be in minneapolis. tonight, the officer reported to be mohamed noor, a somali american with just two years on the force. there had been complaints filed against him before. we are now hearing radio calls from the squad car reporting a female screaming, and that one of the officers were performing cpr. abc's linsey davis in minneapolis again tonight. >> reporter: tonight, a plea from an anguished father for an explanat

and i think brian ross to this huge serve anybody who's a huge disservice states. because again everything i said in an interview proved to be true and unfortunately the media needed to report on this story because most of the american public don't know what h.s.b.c. . have ever heard of me just b.c. where this morning laundering scandal i mean it's very under under reported and i think a lot of people don't care about the nuts not because the. not a pure apathy doesn't american public positions because they simply don't know but you're right though the media has shown extreme see and just lack of. reporting integrity. when they were guards in the story. the good news travels fast though not always accurately like today when many outlets reported that the f.d.a. is about to approve the first us gene therapy but despite many could have lies to the contrary this is actually not the first gene therapy that could be approved by the f.d.a. because it's not really gene therapy see gene therapy is replacing a bad gene with a good copy of a gene or introducing a new gene i

no punishment, not even a letter of reprimand, david. >> brian ross with us tonight. brian will have much more coming up tonight, including how long it took to call for medical help. his "20/20" investigation is tonight at 10:00 p.m. right here on "20/20." brian, i'll see you then. >>> in the meantime tonight, from london this evening, little charlie gard has passed away. he died at a hospice, one day after being transferred from the hospital. his case attracting worldwide attention. after his parents fought to bring him here, to the u.s., for experimental treatment for his rare genetic disorder. tonight, pope francis leading the tributes, tweeting, i entrust little charlie to the father. and pray for his parents and all those who loved him. >>> there's still much more ahead on "world news tonight" this friday -- the escape from prison in this country. the young woman stabbed to death. the inmate breaking out, accused of kidnapping and killing the warden's own stepdaughter. the s.w.a.t. team responding. we'll have more coming in now. >>> the charter bus up in flames.

joining us is the abc news chief investigative correspondent, brian ross.hat can viewers expect to see and learn from tonight's investigation? >> you will see in this video gripping details of what happens over the one hour and 38 minutes in the time from when this high school student from mexico crosses into the u.s. until he is taken away in an ambulance. the agents and courage or permit a suspicious substance that turns out to be highly concentrated methamphetamine. the cartels in mexico have been trying to smuggle them in using this new technique. he took a gamble that he could bluff his way through the predicament, but the agents violated u.s. customs policies. as best as we can tell, even after this young man died in terrible pain from a heart attack, there was no action taken against the officers. we found that they were still on the job with no punishment or even a written reprimand? >> what our official saying about everything that happened? >> we talked to the kind of man who used to run customs and border protection under the obama administration

here's brian ross with more. >> reporter: a new revelation about that meeting at trump tower. he was told she had dirt on hillary clinton direct from the russian government. the president's son says he's been transparent. >> as far as you're concerned this is all of it. >> this is everything. this is everything. >> reporter: but the ever changing story changes again. it had five people, then seven people. now an eighth person. the russian lawyer saying she didn't know trump was the nominee. a russian lobbyist accused of being a former soviet counter intelligence officer and now a russian-born businessman who gained notoriety but wasn't charged in an investigation of russian money laundering in the year 2000. at the time he called it a witch hunt. he is now an executive for the russian billionaire and friend of vladimir putin who helped set up that trump tower meeting. yet another person left out of don junior's supposed disclosure. >> did you ever meet with any other person from russia that you know? >> not in the context of a formalized meeting or anything like that. because

abc's chief investigative correspondent brian ross has more. >> reporter: the two officers encourageeast permit the young man to drink it. >> cruz now points at the bottle and she's saying, okay, drink it. and she makes the gesture that we associate with to drink. now, watch the male agent. he says, drink another one. you see them exchanging glances and smiles. >> reporter: then it happens again. >> two more sips. >> reporter: a total of four swallows in all of the highly toxic solution. something the officers will later say under oath the teenager volunteered to do, with no prompting from them. and before they had any suspicions about what was in the bottles. despite what the video appears to show, the officials at customs and border protection apparently believed the claims of the two officers instead. >> officer perallon, was any discipline ever imposed upon you for the events that occurred on the 18th of november, 2013? >> no, sir. >> even as a result of the death of cruz velasquez acevedo, no discipline was ever imposed on you, was it? >> no. >> not even a reprimand? no? not eve

brian ross volunteering for this assignment. >>> from abc news, this is "world news now." ♪ good vibrations come on, come on ♪ such a sweet sensation >> it's almost as if we've already had the whiskey. >> no, but we haven't. sadly. we're still waiting on that one, but we going to start things off with president trump's son-in-law heading back to capitol hill today after taking questions from investigators for more than two hours. >> he detailed four meetings with russian officials. now kushner insists he did not collude with russia and has nothing to hide. >> and this morning, kushner will speak abc's jonathan karl has more. >> reporter: the president's son-in-law was all smiles as he arrived on capitol hill. >> did anybody with the campaign collude with russia? >> reporter: the behind the scenes ho scenes power player is now front and center in the russia investigation. he is the first trump family member and highest white house staff member to be questioned. he released a 11-page statement that he said fully accounted for his russia contacts during the campaign and the transition. his con

real news, brian ross is so happy he's not here. >>> getting to this, this half hour, we begin with word of a meeting between president trump and vladimir putin that's just come to light. >> the white house has confirmed that the two on one chat at the g-20 summit. and sources say it lasted for nearly an hour. we have the latest. good morning to you. >> good morning. a lot of moving parts. so let's try to keep up. a new report about a previously undisclosed meeting between presidents trump and putin has the white house pushing back and trump taking to twitter to defend himself. >> reporter: it was one of the most highly-anticipated moments of trump's presidency so far. his first face-to-face meeting with the man accused of interfering in an american election. a handshake, followed by a two-hour private meeting at the g-20 summit in germany earlier this month. but now a new report that trump and putin met again, on the sidelines of this official dinner, talking for an hour, and relying on putin's translator, has the white house pushing back against accusations they failed to disclose the

brian ross digging deeper. >>> and new this half hour, a harrowing video captures a couple's terrifying the couple finding themselves smack in the middle of that intense blaze. >>> and american league wins the all-star game in extra innings. we have the highlights plus a picture perfect moment between an umpire and player.

let's talk more with dan abrams and our chief investigative correspondent brian ross and, brian, lete begin with you. we know that donald trump had been trying for a long time to do business in russia and that donald trump jr. was his point person. >> that's right, george. donald jr. has pushed efforts on behalf of his father to expand the trump organization business foo russia and make a deal and build a trump tower in moscow and push the trump brand with trump vodka and trump owned miss universe pageant and traveled there in six types and told a russian audience that they see a lot of russian money pouring in. in addition to the meeting at trump tower with the russian $50,000 in october to fly to paris and appear at a seminar organized by an obscure pro-russian think tank. it's just one of a number of examples in which russian operatives sought to get close or penetrate the trump campaign and circles and offered what spies would call dangles. payments or possible opportunities. general michael flynn, carter page and, of course, long-standing ties to paul manafort. >> we do know the

here's brian ross tonight. >> reporter: as the president returned home tonight he was met by an afternoon rainstorm and new questions about whether his son don junior has told the full story of his meeting with the russian lawyer. >> my son is a wonderful young man. he took a meeting with a russian lawyer, not a government lawyer, but a russian lawyer. >> reporter: but don junior agreed to the meeting only after e-mails to him said he would be seeing a "russian government attorney" with dirt on hillary clinton. and tonight, a major new revelation. in addition to that lawyer coming to trump tower, another person, rinat akhmetshin, once accused of having been a soviet counterintelligence officer, was also in that meeting. he was born in russia and is now a washington lobbyist. don junior failed to mention him this week when he said he was being fully transparent. >> i'm more than happy to be transparent about it, and i'm more than happy to cooperate with everyone. >> so as far as you know, as far as this incident is concerned, this is all of it? >> this is everything. this is everything. >>

take a listen to this report from brian ross. >> reporter: the two officers encouraged or at least the permit young man to drink it. >> cruz now points at the bottle and she's saying, okay, drink it. she makes the gesture that we associate with "to drink." now watch the male agent. he says drink another one. you see them exchanging glances and smiles. >> reporter: then it happens again. >> two more sips. >> reporter: four drinks in all, within a half-hour, the drugs take effect. the teenager can barely stand. a massive overdose with symptoms like a heart attack. >>> tonight, because of that video and brian's reporting ux strong reaction and outrage. zoe lofgren saying this teenage boy did not deserve a death sentence. congressman adriano espaillat saying -- the incident shows they should be required to wear body cameras. this incident happened back in 2013. the officers involved in it haven't been fired or disciplined. >>> some weather now. the dangerous storms and flooding across the east. a state of emergency for parts of west virginia, and water rescues in western pennsylvania also

brian ross reports on the new revelations of who else was in that room. >> as the president returned questions about whether his son, don jr., has told the full story of his meet wg the russian lair. >> my son is a wonderful young man. he took a meeting with a russian lawyer. not a government lawyer, but a russian lawyer. >> but don jr. agreed to the meeting only after e-mails to him said he would be seeing a russian government attorney with dirt on hillary clinton. a major new revelation. in addition to that lawyer coming to trump tower, another person, once accused of having been soviet counterintelligence officer also in that meeting. he was born in russia and is now a russian lobbiest, don jr. failed to mention him this week. >> i'm more than happy to be transparent and happy to cooperate. >> so, as far as you know, this is everything. >> this is everything. >> but it wasn't. at first, the only participants don jr. mentioned were himself, trump's son-in-law, paul manafort, the russian lawyer and the public relations man for a russian billionaire who set the whole thing up. rob go

brian ross reports on the new revelations of who else was in that room. >> as the president return ed met by an afternoon rainstorm and new questions about whether his son, don jr., has told the full story of his meet wg the russian lair. >> my son is a wonderful young man. he took a meeting with a russian lawyer. not a government lawyer, but a russian lawyer. >> but don jr. agree d to the meeting only after e-mails to him said he would be seeing a russian government attorney with dirt on hillary clinton. a major new revelation. in addition to that lawyer coming to trump tower, another person, once accused of having been soviet counterintelligence officer was also in the meet egg. he was born in russia and is now a russian lobbiest, don jr. failed to mention him this week. >> i'm more than happy to be transparent and happy to cooperate. >> so, as far as you know, this is everything. >> this is everything. >> but it wasn't. at first, the only participants don jr. mentioned were himself, trump's son-in-law, paul manafort, the russian lawyer and the public relations man for a russian bil

. >>> we're going bring in our chief investigative correspondent, brian ross, with correspondent brianth newly obtained video that takes us inside an encounter between border agents and a mexican teen and when it was over the teen was dead. >> good morning, george. it is. this story about u.s. border officers engaging in outrageous conduct in dealing with a high school student trying to bring drugs into the country. all caught in gripping detail on a video obtained by abc news that the government did not want the public to see. ♪ >> reporter: 6:21 on a monday evening at the san ysidro border crossing and the man in the white sweatshirt is a smuggler, a 16-year-old high school student by the name of cruz velasquez with drugs hidden in two bottles in his shoulder bag. >> he was recruited, we believe, as a mule. here, we'll give you $100 or $200 if you just take these bottles across the border. >> reporter: but things go bad almost immediately. the young man appears nervous and these two customs and border protection officers start to examine the two bottles in his bag. >> so they know th

here's brian ross. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: this is the border crossing with mexico at san ysidro, californiast south of san diego. more than 75,000 people a day coming into the country at the busiest border crossing in america. among them, smugglers. it's 6:21, on a monday evening, and the man, in the white sweatshirt, is a smuggler. and tonight, he will be caught on tape trying to smuggle drugs into the country, methamphetamine, hidden in two plastic bottles in his shoulder bag. >> they are bringing drugs. >> reporter: the kind of activity that will later lead candidate donald trump to call for tougher border security. >> we have some bad hombres here and we're going to get them out. >> reporter: the target on this night is a high school student, 16-year-old cruz velazquez of tijuana, believed to be making his very first run as a smuggler. over the next 1 hour and 38 minutes, this video, now obtained by "20/20" 3 1/2 years after it happened, will show for the first time, in gripping detail, just how far u.s. border officers will go in an encounter that will end up as a matter of life and de