>> cecilia vega at the white house. cecilia, thank you as always. >>> next tonight, john mccain's fighting spirit. tonight, that senator offering his first words since he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. abc's mary bruce on the hill. >> reporter: tonight, senator john mccain is battling brain cancer in classic mccain fashion, tweeting, "i greatly appreciate the outpouring of support -- unfortunately for my sparring partners in congress, i'll be back soon, so stand-by!" mccain is a giant of the senate, and an american hero. >> it's not like -- >> reporter: as a young navy commander, he spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in vietnam, enduring torture and cruel conditions. and as a politician, earning that label as a maverick. in 2008, picking sarah palin as his running mate and holding firm against president trump, and tonight he is now facing what could be his toughest battle yet. a brain tumor called glioblastoma. his doctors say the tumor has been removed but it's the most aggressive type, and experts say l

abc's senior white house correspondent, cecilia vega leading us off. >> reporter: it was one of the fastest, crudest flameouts in west wing history. communications director anthony scaramucci, known simply as the mooch, forced out after just 11 days on the jo new white house chief of staff, john kelly. pushing for his departure. scaramucci, a wealthy wall street financier, hand-picked by the president and his family, cast himself from the start as a personal friend of the commander in chief. >> i love the president! i obviously love the country. >> reporter: but from day one, there was bad blood between scaramucci and former chief of staff, reince priebus. >> we are a little bit like brothers, where we rough each other up once in a while, which is totally normal for brothers. >> reporter: it only got worse. >> some brothers are like cain and abel. other brothers can fight with each other and get along. i don't know if this is repairable or not. that will be up to the president. >> reporter: but then, scaramucci redefined what it means to go off message. the communications director calling u

he tweeted, calling this a great day at the white house, david. >> cecilia vega, great to have you. >>> we are following the state of emergency at this hour after tropical storm emily slammed into florida. tonight a depression. thousands without fire. blinding rain for drivers. high winds coming up short near sarasota, and carving a path across the state. the tiny island of ana maria taking a hit. abc's gio benitez is in ft. beach tonight. >> reporter: tonight, tropical storm emily drenching florida's gulf coast with up to 8 inches of rain. the system rapidly developing this morning. the governor now declaring a state of emergency in 31 counties, some 18,000 losing power. >> i urge you to keep alert, to look at weather and road conditions. >> reporter: a construction worker in st. petersburg shooting this video as emily moved ashore. >> emily has arrived. >> reporter: those powerful winds shutting down the sunshine skyway bridge. the coast guard rescuing two brothers clinging to a navigation light in tampa bay. their fishing boat striking the structure and sinking during the storm. in

if don junior wants to testify, he should. >> cecilia vega from paris tonight.hank you. >>> in the meantime, major developments of capitol hill tonight. the new republican plan to repeal and replace obamacare, but how would it affect seniors in the country? people with preexisting conditions, and medicaid, which covers millions of americans? abc's mary bruce tonight with how many republican senators who have already said no. >> reporter: at home -- [ chanting ] and on capitol hill. senate republicans have been getting an earful for weeks. and tonight, a new healthcare bill. but the same old problem, can it get the votes to pass? to appease conservatives, the new version would allow insurers to offer cheaper bare bones plans that don't cover essential health benefits. it could bring down costs for some. and it's enough to move at least one no vote to a yes. >> if this is the bill, are you on board? >> yes. >> reporter: but critics worry americans that need the most care, like people with pre-existing conditions could end up paying a lot more. under this bill, so

abc's cecilia vega traveling with the president in warsaw. >> reporter: president trump landed in poland tonight to a red carpet welcome. as all eyes look ahead to friday's meeting with russia's vladimir putin. the white house is now trying to downplay the face to face calling it just a normal bilateral meeting between four leaders at the g20 summit, but the kremlin calls it a full fledged sitdown. and has publicly outlined an agenda. as for whether this is their first meeting, president trump has told conflicting stories. >> he's a tough guy. i met him once. i have no relationship with putin. i don't think i've ever met him. i never met him. i don't think i've ever met him. >> reporter: one thing he has been consistent on, singing putin's praises. >> if he says great things about me, i'm going to say great things about him. he's been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader. >> reporter: 17 u.s. intelligence agencies agree russia interfered in the election. as for the president -- >> he believes that russia probably was involved, potentially some other countries as well c

the very small circle. >> cecilia vega with us from germany tonight. cecilia, thank you. >>> in the meantime, president trump is dealing with yet another threat tonight, and this one, a far greater one. north korea of course, testing that intercontinental ballistic missile. the distance proving that north korea can likely reach the u.s. so what will the u.s. do? tonight, the president in his own words, warning he is considering, quote, pretty severe things in response. here's abc's chief global affairs correspondent, martha raddatz. >> reporter: while north koreans today celebrated anew their country's breakthrough missile test with fireworks and dancing, president trump in poland had a stern warning saying the world must confront the growing threat from that nuclear armed nation. >> i don't like to talk about what i have planned but i have some pretty severe things we are thinking about. that doesn't mean we are going to do them. i don't draw redlines. >> reporter: redlines or not the president made clear north korea will not go unpunished. >> they are

vladimir putin by name, and specifically russian aggression right here in the region, david. >> cecilia vega with us from poland tonight. cecilia, thank you as always. >>> and next tonight to the american congressman generating global outrage tonight while visiting the site of one of history's greatest atrocities. the auschwitz nazi death camp, and what he recorded. the selfie videos he took inside. here's abc's linsey davis tonight. >> reporter: this is the video, shot on the grounds of auschwitz, that has congressman clay higgins under fire tonight. >> so they would squeeze 700 people in here. >> reporter: the louisiana republican recording himself inside a gas chamber, posting the five-minute video online. >> the guards would drop zyklon 5 cyanide gas from above through hatches. after about 20 minutes, everyone was dead. >> reporter: the congressman then stands in the crematorium. >> there were three sets of ovens like that. this is why homeland security must be squared away. why our military must be invincible. >> reporter: the response from the auschwitz memorial, blunt, "inside a forme

abc's senior white house correspondent, cecilia vega, with what she has learned tonight. >> reporter: tonight, abc news has learned jared kushner will be the first person in the president's inner circle to appear before senate investigators in their russia probe. the president's son-in-law and senior adviser has agreed to appear before the senate intelligence committee on monday as part of the investigation into russian election meddling. kushner likely to face tough questions about his meetings with russian officials during the transition, meetings he did not initially disclose on security clearance applications. not to mention that trump tower meeting with donald trump jr. two weeks after mr. trump became the republican nominee. in an e-mail, don junior was told the purpose of the meeting with the russian lawyer was to provide the trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate hillary. the information described as high level and sensitive, and part of russia and its government's support for mr. trump. and tonight the president is lashing out at hi

here's abc's cecilia vega. >> it's an honor to be with you. >> reporter: the president reaching out toand of the man accused of meddling in america's election. >> i'm delighted to be able to meet you personally, mr. president. >> reporter: in their first face to face it was president trump who made the first move with cameras capturing the smiling and the small talk, even a back pat. then it was down to business. >> we're going to have a talk now. and obviously, that will continue. but we look forward to a lot of very positive things happening for russia, for the united states. >> reporter: when the doors closed, the white house says president trump addressed the big controversy head on, out of the gate raising concerns about russia's meddling in the 2016 campaign. though just a day earlier he still refused to fully accept u.s. intelligence that russia was to blame. >> nobody really knows. >> reporter: secretary of state rex tillerson, who's known putin for years, was in that room. >> the president pressed president putin on more than one occasion involving russian involvement. preside

abc's cecilia vega traveling with the president. ♪ >> reporter: a ceremonial welcome in paris today.ut the president's bastille day getaway overshad why his son met w woman who was was a r fbi nominee said if someone in a campaign got an e-ml autussia l e y received, the fbi, rather than acc in not meeting? >> my son young man. heook a meeting a russian lawyer. not a gov a russian lawyer. it was a short meeting. dpoint, most people would have taken meeting. it's called opposition research >> reporter: br e-mails, it was crystalior agreh quote, russian attorney, who he was told had in inform trp. >> nothing came of e g, and i think it's a meeting that most people in politics probably would have taken. >> reporter: in paris,p's newfound friendship with the french president on display, but it wasn't always that way. >> congratulations. great job. >> reporter: starting with that handshake tug of war during their first meeting. not tomention, the eness repeated paris bashin >> i have a used usto. the city of. paris. is no paris. ror t f s doing? press pounced. >> you have mentioned a frie

cecilia vega, traveling with the president. >> reporter: it was only supposed about last 35 minutes but president trump and vladimir putin had so much to say, their meeting went on and on, for a full two hours and 16 minutes. the cameras allowed in briefly to witness that high-stakes face to face. president trump reaching out to shake the hand of the man accused of meddling in america's election. there was smiling and small talk. before they got down to business, there was even a back pat. but even before president trump brought up russian meddling, he said this. >> president putin and i have been discussing various things and i think it's going very well. we've had some very, very good talks. we look forward to a lot of positive things happening for russia, for the united states. it's an honor to be with you. >> reporter: and vladimir putin returned the compliment, saying he was pleased to meet president trump, hoping their first meeting would have positive results. just 24 hours earlier, the president said election meddling could have been russia, it could have been others. but today,

we also know he will not be pleading the fifth. >> cecilia vega, thank you. >>> next to severe storms moving in tonight. 100 million americans at risk of severe weather as we start the weekend. the twisters near buffalo, one up to 105 miles an hour. parts of wisconsin already dealing with major flooding. here's ginger zee. >> reporter: the same areas where we saw the record flooding getting more rain and severe storms. from minnesota to south dakota, chicago involved in the severe thunderstorm watches. a tornado warning in iowa as we speak. and the low and associated fronts will sink to the southeast. if you have plans tomorrow, watch out for the potential of damaging wind and hail. and heat from raleigh, south carolina, will break this weekend. >> ginger, thanks. >>> and the hot, dry conditions fueling 57 wildfires in the west tonight. crews working around the clock at the massive fire burning near yosemite. 50% contained. some 58 homes and dozens of other structures have been destr destroyed. >>> and the earthquake hitting a popular tourist destination in greece. the 6.5 quake struc

abc's senior white house correspondent, cecilia vega, witnessing it herself, and she leads us off tonight. >> reporter: police and protesters taking over the streets of hamburg tonight. [ chanting ] a sea of marchers pushing up against police lines. the faceoff leading to violent clashes just as world leaders arrived in town. and this is what president trump will see when he arrives on the streets of hamburg, police in the streets, here in armored cars, protestors all over. some throws bottles at german police in riot gear. officers trying to disperse the crowds. tackling people to the ground, kicking others. finally turning water cannons on them. the streets covered in a cloud of tear gas. so far, police say at least 59 officers injured. the marchers protesting globalization and capitalism, many of them in black masks. but also in the crowd, images of america's leader. the g20 summit underway just about two miles from the clashes. president trump meeting with germany's angela merkel, the two leaders chatting and shaking hands. a warmer encounter than their first awkward meeting in the ov

we also know he will not be pleading the fifth. >> cecilia vega, thank you. >>> next to severe storms moving in tonight. 100 million americans at risk of severe weather as we start the weekend. three confirmed tornadoes in the northeast. the twisters near buffalo, one up to 105 miles an hour. flash flood watches across the midwest tonight. parts of wisconsin already dealing with major flooding. let's get to ginger zee tracking it all for us tonight. ginger? >> reporter: the same areas where we saw the record flooding getting more rain and severe storms. two pockets from minnesota to south dakota, chicago involved in the severe thunderstorm watches. a tornado warning in iowa as we speak. the flash flood watches there, too. and tomorrow the low and associated fronts will sink to the southeast. if you have outdoor plans from indianapolis to cincinnati, philly and new york, watch out for the potential of damaging wind and hail. finally, that heat advisories, stretch to north carolina and louisiana. the excessive heat warnings will break over the weekend. but still, saturday, 114 in spring

cecilia vega, abc news, the white house. >>> developing news, a major turning point in the fight against isis. this morning, iraqi troops are celebrating the clearing of islamic state militants from some of the last strongholds in mosul. abc news reporter ian shows us what families are enduring. >> reporter: this morning, isis cornered as iraqi troops close in, taking back mosul after nine months of all-out war. just look at the devastation. went into the heart of the hold city. and front lines with iraqi special forces. civilians suffered the most here. this is a family caught in the cross fire. her husband is dead and this is what remain of the family home. this is the bedroom of the young girl, and this is the roof of the house that has come in. when the rocket struck. and fragments of the rocket around the house. she lost a hand in the fighting but is strong. planning to teach children. her sister was shot seven times. it is a miracle she's alive. you can see clearly where she has been shot a number of times. she needs eye surgery and no mother to pay for it. we look over there, you

senior white house correspondent cecilia vega has more. >> reporter: the white house facing questionsly or himself. his lawyers give a firm denial, but the new press secretary seems to leave the door open. >> he maintains pardon powers, but there are no planned announcements on that front. >> reporter: it comes as the white house turns up the heat on robert mueller, accusing him and his team of conflicts of interest telling the "new york times" he interviewed mueller for the job of fbi director just one day before he was appointed special counsel. >> you talk about conflicts, he was interviewing for the job. >> reporter: the president adding that there were many other conflicts that i haven't said, but i will at some point in some and he's warning mueller that investigating trump family finances not tied to russia would cross a red line. >> i think that is a violation. this is about russia. >> reporter: as for mueller's fate if he crosses that red line? >> i can't answer that question because i don't think it will happen. >> reporter: but mueller not backing down. abc learned he sent

senior white house correspondent cecilia vega has more. >> reporter: the white house facing questionspardoning his family or himself. his lawyers give a firm denial, but the new press secretary seems to leave the door open. >> he maintains pardon powers, like any president would, but there are no planned announcements on that front whatsoever. >> reporter: it comes as the white house turns up the heat on robert mueller, accusing him and his team of conflicts of interest telling the "new york times" he interviewed mueller for the job of fbi director just one day before he was appointed special counsel. >> you talk about conflicts, he was interviewing for the job. >> reporter: the president adding that there were many other conflicts that i haven't said, but i will at some point and he's warning mueller that investigating trump family finances not tied to russia would cross a red line. >> i think that is a violation. this is about russia. >> reporter: as for mueller's fate if he crosses that red line? >> i can't answer that question because i don't think it will happen. >> reporter: but

cecilia vega, abc news. >>> back here in california, a long beach man says he has a winning ticket, but commission won't pay up. the reason? his son bought the ticket and his son is not old enough to play. our sister attention in los angeles station in los angeles has the story. >> reporter: it's an american dream, striking it rich with a lottery ticket. but while most are able to cash in, a long beach man's winning lottery ticket is now coming up snake eyes. the ticket in question was a california scratcher bought at this mobil station on bell flower boulevard last october. but ward thomas, the man with the ticket, says the lottery commission is refusing to pay him the $5 million prize. >> why is that? >> reporter: here's the rub. according to a lawsuit, thomas says h sent his 16-year-old in son to cash in other tickets and use some of the winners to buy more scratchers. and so since the 16-year-old bought the ticket, it is null and void. >> if they took the money, they are obligated to pay as far as i'm concerned. if they didn't check their i.d., then they should have checked their i.

nothing at >> with that let me bring in cecilia vega. she's still in hamburg where she was with the president. cecilia, good morning. so we have that report in "the new york times." we've confirmed it. there was this meeting in trump tower with a russian lawyer. just the latest evidence that the president's previous denials are just not true. >> reporter: exactly, george. and the story broke as you said after the president was in the air on air force one landing back home in washington. essentially this is more of the slow drip of names of people in the president's inner circle who after the fact are finding out they had met with people with russian, people with ties to russia, despite what the president told me there right after he -- after the election. but, look, we've got to say there is absolutely no evidence at this point of collusion, but what we know is that don jr. is now among the list of names of people who met with russians. this is a russian lawyer who we know has known ties to the kremlin. it happened in trump tower about tw

cecilia vega was asked about that yesterday morning. that was before don jr. admitted that he sought the meeting to get damaging information on hillary clinton. that was when don injury's statement was simply that this was a meeting about adoption. that changed in the previous hours when he changed his story story. >> are you saying there's evidence of collusion because everybody is trying to convert wishful thinking into hard evidence and haven't been able to do that. let me get back to what you asked me about this meeting. i don't think you had to go very far respectfully to find damaging information or negative information about hillary clinton. she was a gusher at all types of negative damaging information. your own polling showed that a majority of the country doesn't -- didn't trust her at the time. she had no honesty and integrity. i didn't have to look far starting the next month to find damaging information. we would should quote her. people admit now 1.2 billion on fire. she had no message that connected to america the way donald trump did. >> kellya

for "nightline" i'm cecilia vega in hamburg, germany. >>> and next -- jay-z releasing his daughter blue'sestyle rap as album. ♪ boom shaka laka this 5-year-old already has a name for her fan base. (bell rings) with my moderate to severe crohn's disease,... ...i kept looking for ways to manage my symptoms. i thought i was doing okay... then it hit me... ...managing was all i was doing. when i told my doctor,... ...i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease... linical studies,... the majority of people on humira... saw significant symptom relief... ...and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability... ...to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened;... ...as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where... ...certain fungal in

abc's senior white house correspondent cecilia vega starts us off tonight from hamburg, germany. >> reporter: president trump on his way home. the white house calling the trip a success. and today, even the president was still talking about that historic face-to-face. >> rex and i had a tremendous meeting yesterday with president putin. >> reporter: secretary of state rex tillerson was in the room, he says the two men connected quickly and had positive chemistry, and today vladimir putin returned the compliment. saying, trump on tv is very, very different from the trump in person. absolute big difference. after those handshakes, putin, today, agreeing the president repeatedly pressed him on the issue of russia election meddling, saying, quote, the president paid a lot of attention to this. the u.s. intelligence community is in agreement, putin ordered russian interference in the 2016 campaign with the goal of helping president trump win. but in that meeting, and again today, putin repeated his denials, and he said the president accepted them. saying, quote, it seemed to me that he took it in

after his first press conference as president-elect as trump moved through the crowd, abc's cecilia vega asked him point-blank. >> did you or anyone in your campaign have contact with russia leading up to or during the campaign? nothing at all? >> reporter: no, trump said. none at all. today white house secretary sarah huckabee sanders said the president only learned about don jr.'s meeting over the last couple of days. >> no one within the trump campaign colluded in order to influence the election. >> all right, so let's get to jon karl live at the white house tonight, and we're learning the senate intelligence committee investigating russian meddling will start interviewing former trump campaign officials this week? >> reporter: and donald trump jr. says he is more than willing to talk to the committee, tweeting today, happy to work with the committee to pass on what i know, and the top democrat on that committee, senator mark warner says that he absolutely wants to talk to him. donald trump jr. by the way, david, has now today, we have learned, hired a lawyer to deal with all issues r

here's cecilia vega. >> reporter: inside the oval office today -- a crush of international reporters in a scrum that nearly knocked a lamp off the table. president trump intervening. >> fellas, easy. wow, you guys are getting worse. >> reporter: the white house hoped a visit from south korea's new leader might shift the focus away from the president's latest tweet controversy. instead, once again, his own tweets created a distraction. fierce bipartisan backlash after he attacked cable host mika brzezinski, calling her "low iq crazy mika" and claiming she was, quote, "bleeding badly from a face lift" during a gathering at mar-a-lago. this morning she fired back. >> the president's tweets? whether they're personally aimed at me or aimed at me in some way, that doesn't bother me one bit. it does worry me about the country. he appears to have a fragile, impetuous, childlike ego that we've seen over and over again, especially with women. it's like he can't take it. >> reporter: the hosts also dropped a bombshell of their own. >> we got a call that, hey, the "national enquirer" is going to