>> jon karl with us tonight, as well. thank you, jon. >>> and you heard former president bush there talking about racism and bigotry in this country. it came as there was a state of emergency in florida, as a white nationalist was about to take the stage. he was involved in the protests in charlottesville and he was about to talk in gainesville, florida, and you're about to see what happened next. here's abc's victor oquendo tonight. >> reporter: white nationalist richard spencer booed from the moment he walked on stage at the university of florida. the crowd standing and shouting "go home." these students right behind me here, chanting and booing the entire time. spencer, a key figure in charlottesville. >> we'll never back down. >> reporter: where we saw the haunting images and violent flashes. the florida governor declaring a state of emergency in preparation for spencer's speech today in gainesville. hundreds of protesters gathering outside the site of the speech. >> we need to show that the u.s., that gainesville that

. >> let's get to jon karl at the white house tonight. secretary tillerson given the task of calling our allies. what is he hearing? >> they're not happy with the president's actions but after those conversations, what's notable is that france, germany and the u.k. did not criticize the president and said they would work with the united states on curb iran's support for ter rival and its missile program. as for the iran president, he said the united states is completely alone on this but the iranens said they will stay in the agreement at least for now. >> jon karl, thank you. >>> we turn next to california's deadly and daef stevastated wil. dangerous conditions expected through sunday. winds up to 50 miles an hour. look at this tonight. smoke 75 miles away in san francisco. people wearing masks, schools closed. linzie janis amid new stories. one couple surviving in their neighbors' pool, the fire all around them. >> reporter: tonight firefighters keeping up the battle to save homes amid the deadliest week in california fire history. >> t

david. >> jon karl leading us off on a friday night. thank you. >>> to the weather this evening and two systems. a powerful nor'easter caming for the east coast this weekend and the other storm bringing snow across the midwest at this hour. eight inches in parts of minnesota and a deadly accident in duluth. let's get to rob marciano tracking it for us. hey, rob. >> reporter: hey, david, we're not done with the snowstorm yet. let's show you where it's coming down. still in minnesota and parts of wisconsin, the up of michigan as well. the southern storm, the tropical low in the western caribbean, the hurricanes alert putting out advisories. wind and rain and gets scooped up by the northern system for a nor'easter. to increase on sunday and then on monday look for big winds. look at the rain. over a half a foot of rain. 50 mile an hour wind gusts from philly to new york to boston during the day on monday that could bring down power lines. a strong storm coming. david. >> rob, we'll be watching this weekend. thank you. >>> next tonight insi

happy to have her chief white house correspondent jon karl in our house. >> thank you for having me back. >> tony reali in for "pop news." great to have you, tony and jon. we will begin with hurricane nate. of mexico. already it has left a path of destruction in nicaragua. you can see the damage that it's done, boats swept aground. some crashing into buildings. roads washed away by the powerful winds and iran. it slammed into beaches or beach cities like cancun overnight as it crosses the yucatan peninsula. >> this is where nate is headed now. states of emergency have been declared in louisiana, alabama and mississippi and some towns are facing curfews or mandatory evacuation orders. hurricane and tropical storm warnings in effect from new orleans to the florida panhandle with nate expected to make landfall in less than 24 hours. >> bracing for that. we have team coverage this morning but we begin with abc's senior meteorologist rob marciano who is tracking the storm for us from the studio this morning. rob, good morning. >> good morning, paula. category 1 potentially category 2 storm. d

jon karl live from the white house. jon, you asked something else, sarah sanders was asked whether president trump would consider pardoning paul manafort at some point. how did she answer? >> reporter: she was asked specifically whether or not the president would consider pardoning manafort or gates and her answer was interesting, david. she said, quote, i think we should let the process play through before we start looking in other words, the white house is not ruling out pardoning either manafort or gates. >> all right, stay tuned on that front. jon karl, thank you. >>> let's get right to our abc news legal analyst, dan abrams. the white house saying today, this is going to end soon, the investigation, so, the question for you, will it end soon, or is this just the first shoe to drop? >> i don't think there's any way to look at that plaea agreement with papadopoulos and think this is going to end soon. the reason why they made that deal, when you read through the agreement, it is clear they cut that deal so they could

>> jon karl with us live tonight from the white house. and jon, aside from the headline involving the nuclear arsenal, there's major news out of the white house. the president's pick for homeland security? >> reporter: the white house has announced that the president will nominate kirstjen nielsen. she is somebody who knows kelly quite well. she served as his cheeief of stf over at the department of homeland security and is currently the principle deputy chief of staff here at the white house. david? >> jon karl, our thanks to you. >>> meanwhile, the president is in pennsylvania tonight, talking about his proposed tax plan. and making some new promises about how much middle class families would save under the plan. so, let's get right to cecilia vega, traveling with the president tonight. cecilia? >> reporter: hey, david. good evening to you. president trump says the typical american family will save $4,000, a pay raise he is calling this. he is claiming this will come from cuts to the corporate tax rate. but this is a tax reform plan, i'

. >> jon karl live from the white house tonight. and jon, something else the president said today, getting a lot of attention at this hour. he said that unlike some of his predecessors, he actually calls the families of fallen troops. here's what the president said. >> the traditional way, if you look at president obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls, a lot of them didn't make calls. i like to call when it's appropriate, when i think i'm able to do it. they have made the ultimate sacrifice, so, generally, i would say that i like to call. >> so, jon, tonight, three former president's teams are responding now? >> reporter: all three of the last three presidents have said that the president went too far in what he said today. an aide to president clinton said that president clinton did place calls to the fallen. a spokesperson for george w. bush said, "president bush wrote all the families of the fallen and called or met privately with hundreds, if not thousands." as for president obama, a spokesperson for him sai

jon karl, our thanks to you. two more important questions on this tonight, let's get right to our abc news legal analyst, dan abrams. the white house saying today that is going to end soon, the investigation, so, the question for you, will it end soon, or is this just the first shoe to drop? >> yeah, i don't think there's any way to look at that plea agreement with papadopoulos and conclude that this is going to end any time soon. the reason that they made that deal, when you read through the statement of fact, and you read through the agreement, it is clear they cut that deal so they could investigate others, so this could be part of a broader investigation. >> they even say in one of the indictments that there's going to be more questioning of people connecting to what they discovered in the indictment. and i want to ask you about robert mueller's strategy. there's been so much talk about this, whether or not he would go for the little fish first and try to get them to flip, or does he go for big names first? >

jon karl, you have one in college. perk your ears up.e first time they're solely responsible for their own well-being as well as their own laundry. joining us with some advice is abc news chief women's health correspondent, dr. jen ashton. >> good morning, my dear. >> it is so great to see you. our kids in college out on their own for the first time but if they're faced with a medical situation, how should we advise them to handle it? >> listen, it can be tricky. basically you have to learn and teach them to learn how to distinguish between something that's acute, something that's semi-urgent and something that's a true medical emergency and that can be hard and evolve over time. some will need to go to their health services and some will need to go to the er. some might need to come home depending on what it is, and and in general it's a pretty healthy population and age group but can see medical issues, infectious diseases like flu mono and mental health issues can pop up so can be a busy time not just academically but medically also.

want to bring in jon karl. jon, this may explain some of the tweet storms from president trump over the last few days. this is big. this was a man who was president trump's campaign manager back in 2016 and rick gates was an instrumental deputy in the campaign as well. >> reporter: this is a big deal. he was the chairman of the campaign, george, somebody instrumental in trump clinching the republican nomination, ran the republican convention for then nominee donald trump, candidate donald trump, rick gates is somebody who stayed on the trump campaign even after manafort was fired over the summer and also was with the trump transition team and the trump inauguration team so this cuts very close, although the charges themselves may be reeled to manafort's business dealings and not anything to do with the campaign. very close to the president. >> no question about that. remember, if we go back to the timing last year during the campaign manafort left the campaign just days after several of these business dealings w

want to bring in jon karl. the last few days. this is big. this was a man who was president trump's campaign manager back in 2016 and rick gates was an instrumental deputy in the campaign as well. >> reporter: this is a big deal. he was the chairman of the campaign, george, somebody instrumental in trump clinching the republican nomination, ran the republican convention for then nominee donald trump, candidate donald trump, rick gates is somebody who stayed on the trump campaign even after manafort was fired over the summer and also was with the trump transition team and the trump inauguration team so this cuts very close, although the charges themselves may be reeled to manafort's business dealings and not anything to do with the campaign. very close to the president. >> no question about that. remember, if we go back to the timing last year during the campaign manafort left the campaign just days after several of these business dealings were revealed including payments that he may have gotten from the ukraine

clearly the beginning of this conversation, david. >> all right, jon karl tonight on president trump d jon, we'll see you from puerto rico tomorrow here on the broadcast. >>> in the meantime, next year, this country on heightened alert after what happened overnight here, increasing security at some of the most popular tourist spots in the country. police in new york's times square making their presence known, and this new challenge, what happens when the shooter is actually on the 32nd floor or high up in a building, like what we saw transpire right here last night? here's abc's linzie janis on that front tonight. >> reporter: tonight, police in one of the nation's most popular tourist destinations on high alert. security vehicles lining new york city streets. officers armed with automatic assault reichelifles, patrollin multiple locations. the nypd says while there is no direct threat to the city, it's not taking any chances. >> certainly maintain our vigilance as we move into the fall, winter and the holiday season. >> reporter: extra officers deployed at potential targets like time

clearly the beginning of this conversation, david. >> all right, jon karl tonight on president trump d jon, we'll see you from puerto rico tomorrow here on the broadcast. >>> in the meantime, next here, this country on heightened alert after what happened overnight here, increasing security at some of the most popular tourist spots in the country. police in new york's times square making their presence known, and of course, this new challenge. what happens when the shooter is actually on the 32nd floor or high up in a building, like what we saw transpire right here last night? here's abc's linzie janis on that front tonight. >> reporter: tonight, police in one of the nation's most popular tourist destinations on high alert. security vehicles lining new york city streets. officers armed with automatic assault rifles, patrolling multiple locations. the nypd says although there is no direct threat to the city, it's not taking any chances. >> certainly maintain our vigilance as we move into the fall, winter and the holiday season. >> reporter: extra officers deployed at potential targets

jon karl has all the latest. good morning, jon. >> reporter: good morning, george. this is president trump's biggest move yet to dismantle obamacare. if congress does not intervene it is a step that will mean higher health insurance premiums for millions of lower income americans. in a decision announced overnight, president trump plans to stop making billions of dollars in subsidies that help lower income americans pay for their insurance. they help about 7 million people defray the cost of their health insurance policies. it's the latest mov president to do through executive action what he could not get congress to do, dismantle obamacare. >> the cost of the obamacare has been so outrageous it is absolutely destroying everything in its wake. >> reporter: in a statement overnight the white house said it determined the payments are unlawful. the congressional budget office has said that ending them will immediately increase the number of americans without any health insurance. the latest action by the president comes just hours after he signed an executive order des

chief white house correspondent jon karl starts us off. morning, jon. >> reporter: good morning, george. white house officials say it was entirely general kelly's idea to speak out on this and he is furious about how the controversy has unfolded. with his emotional appearance in the white house briefing room, chief of staff john kelly himself a gold star father sought to put an end to the controversy sparked by comments made by the president earlier this week. >> there's no perfect way to make that phone call. when i took this job and talked to president trump about how to do it, my first recommendation was he not do it because it's not the phone call that parents, family members are looking forward to. >> reporter: kelly's son robert was killed in afghanistan in 2010. >> he asked me about previous presidents and i said i can tell you that president obama, who was my commander in chief when i was on active duty did not call my family. that was not a criticism. that was just to simply say i don't believe president obama called. that's not a

he is escalating his war with the media as he pushes his tax plan and jon karl has all the latest. good morning, jon. >> reporter: good morning. the president has said his tax plan is a middle class miracle and now he is taking that message to those that he claims will benefit the most. in harrisburg, pennsylvania, wednesday, president trump told supporters he's happy with his life in the white house. >> i had a very good life, but you know what, i'm having a better life now and i'm helping a lot of people. >> reporter: the president says his tax plan will help the >> so many people have come up to and said, give it to the middle class. give it to people that need it. givet to people that want to spend it. >> reporter: he offered no new details on the plan which will cut taxes for most americans including what will likely be a big break for some of the wealthiest americans. >> and, remember, you'll do your tax on a single piece of paper. [ applause ] h&r block will not like donald trump very much. >> reporter: the president claimed his plan would mean a $4,000 windfall for the typic

>> jon karl tonight. thanks, jon. >>> meantime, senator john mccain, in an interview marking 50 years since he was shot down over vietnam, taking what many believed was a swipe at president trump about deferments, one of them for a bone spur in the president's foot. here's abc's cecilia vega. >> reporter: coming from war hero senator john mccain, it sure sounded like a swipe at president trump, who got five deferments from serving in vietnam. >> we drafted the lowest income level of america, and the highest income level found a doctor that would say they had a bone spur. that is wrong. >> reporter: so, was mccain talking about the president? he was asked today on "the view." >> people thought you were talking about mr. trump. because he had a doctor's note that said he had bone spurs. >> i think more than once, yes. >> more than once. >> chronic bone spurs. >> do you consider him a draft dodger? >> i don't consider him so much a draft dodger, as i feel the system was so wrong that certain americans could e

let's bring in jon karl for more. jon, beginning with that phone call to the widow, the mother incisions on that call that the president was disrespectful? >> reporter: george, we still have not heard directly from the widow who received the call but the president, the white house pushing back very hard on the allegation that he was in any way disrespectful. here's what the president had to say when he was asked about it by abc's karen travers. >> didn't say what this congresswoman said. didn't say it at all. she knows it and now is not saying it. i did not say what she said and i'd like her to make the statement again because i did not say what she said. >> reporter: but, george, as you point out, the sergeant johnson's mother who was also in the car when the call was placeds backs up the congresswoman's account of what was said on the call. >> reporter: meantime, jon, bigger questions about the ambush in africa. senator mccain said the white house has not been forthcoming and real questions for why it took so long fo

our team in washington covering every angle of the story and our chief white house correspondent jon karls us off. good morning, jon. >> reporter: in a rare interview overnight john kelly acknowledged the special counsel investigation at the very least has been a big distraction for the president and that he wants it over soon. hours after news of the special keo counsel indictments broke he aemerged f no comment on the indictment of the man who ran his campaign or the guilty plea by a former adviser. his chief of staff, however, told laura ingraham on fox news most of the white house staff isn't concerned. >> i think the staff is very comfortable with simply serving the nation, the vast majority of the staff would have nothing to do with any of this kind of thing. >> reporter: but kelly also made it clear the white house wants mueller to finish his investigation quickly. >> it would seem that they're towards the end of the witness pile and i don't know how much longer it could possibly go on but we're in great hopes it wraps up. it is very distracting to the president as it would be to a

jon karl, let's begin with you. paul manafort was fired from his position, but he played a significant role on the campaign for five months, as did rick gates. >> reporter: absolutely. he was the person who ran with the president, and helped choose his vice presidential running mate. a significant step here. somebody so close to the president, but looking through the indictments of 30 plus pages, the one thing that the white house will seize on is there is no mention in here of obstruction of justice regarding the president. there is no mention here of anything regarding collusion between the trump campaign and russia. no mention whatsoever of the trump campaign or, in fact, of president trump. so this is a damning indictment of somebody who was very close to the president, very influential in getting him elected president, but it refers in the corners of this indictment, refers to things in manafort's own personal dealings and not with the campaign. >> let's go to dan abrams as well. this is from 2006 to 2017, the

. >> jonathan karl live at the white house tonight. and jon, the chief of staff was also asked about the executive order signed today by president trump that potentially clears the way for sweeping changes in health insurance, jon? >> reporter: potentially, david. what it does, it triggers a review of changes that would allow insurance companies to offer stripped down insurance policies. those would mean lower premiums for people that get those stripped down plans, but health care experts warn that such plans could offer no coverage for basic services like maternity care, prescription drugs and even ambulance services. david? >> so, certainly a lot of debate to come on this. jon karl, our thanks to you. >>> the president also tweeting today a warning aimed at puerto rico, that fema can't be there forever. so, what's to come for the nearly 3.5 million american citizens who live there? here's abc's senior white house correspondent cecilia vega on that. >> reporter: from president trump today, a dire warning that federal aid to puerto rico may di

. >> jon karl live in washington. jon, thank you. >>> and there is still much more ahead on this special edition of "world news tonight." the deadly shooting on an american campus. the university officer killed. the student allegedly opening fire inside the police station, and the urgent hunt that followed. >>> also ahead tonight, the airport bo the explosive device discovered near the terminal, and authorities tonight with what they say the suspect said. >>> and the nfl's new statement tonight. will there be a new rule now about players kneeling during the national anthem? the big change they want to see on the sidelines. much more news ahead. your body was made for better things than rheumatoid arthritis. before you and your rheumatologist move to another treatment, ask if xeljanz is right for you. xeljanz is a small pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz can reduce joint pain and swelling in as little as two weeks, and help stop further joint damage. xeljanz can