>> pierre thomas with us tonight. pierre, thank you. >>> we move on from the russia investigation, and instead to vladimir putin, who is running for re-election in russia. the longest serving russian leader now since josef stalin. putin enlisting a controversial group of supporters. abc's dan harris found them. >> reporter: this is the face that vladimir putin projects to the world. a statesman at his annual news conference, openly praising the american president. "we see some serious achievements," he says. but to the russian people, putin, this country's longest serving leader since stalin, is embracing a very different image as he prepares to run for a new term in march. we're at a rally mounted by one of putin's highest profile and most controversial allies, an ultra-nationalist, anti-western, anti-gay and allegedly violent biker gang called the night wolves. >> americans? >> reporter: the leader of this gang, with several members, a man known as the surgeon, a former dental surgeon named aleksander zaldostanov. ho

>> pierre thomas with us again tonight. thank you, pierre. >>> back here at home and to senate candidate roy moore counting on a powerful ally, steve bannon. moore has faced tough criticism from some republicans, including mitt romney, who has said that he should bow out. overnight, bannon taking direct aim at romney and his sons, but did his line of fire open up a volumer inability for president trump? tom llamas. >> reporter: roy moore, a man accused of molesting teenage girls, promising alabama voters he'll stand side by side with president trump. >> we're going to see if the people of alabama will support the president. >> reporter: joining moore, who has deniedal accusations of sexual misconduct, the president's former chief strategist, stooefl bannon. >> if they can destroy roy moore, they can destroy you. >> reporter: bannon then unleashing on republicans who have called on moore to quit. >> let's talk about another beauty. willard mitt romney. >> reporter: romney tweeted that electing moore would be a stain on the na

here's abc's senior justice correspondent pierre thomas tonight. >> reporter: tonight, the fbi on the hot seat amid questions of fbi bias, after hundreds of text messages, some of them anti-trump, between an fbi agent and fbi attorney, have been made public. the messages were exchanged during the primaries between peter strzok and lisa page, shown here in a daily mail tv photo. long before the russia investigation was under way. donald trump often the target of the fbi employees' ire. but they take aim at others, too. still, they're drawing fire for some. in august 2015, page texts, "i just saw my first bernie sanders bumper sticker. made me want to key the car." agent strzok responds, "he's an idiot like trump. figure they'll cancel each other out." three months later, strzok writes, "at some point, the republican party needs to pull their head out of their expletive. shows no sign of occurring any time soon." the day after a republican primary debate, page writes this text -- "god, trump is a loathsome human." "he may win," agent struck responds. "america will get what the voting pu

let's get right to our senior justice correspondent pierre thomas tonight. he's live at the fbi. and pierre, tonight, you're learning that sources say the suspect wanted to inflict significant harm, but was unable to, because this device went off early? >> reporter: david, according to a law enforcement source, the bomb did not function as intended. there were names and other parts stuffed into the pipe and it had the ability to cause more injuries than it did. the pipe did not fully shatter. a six-inch piece was discovered fully intact. the source was blunt, saying, this could have been worse, david. >> all right, pierre thomas with us live. pierre, thank you. >>> there is other news we're and amid the national conversation about sexual misconduct, president trump's accusers are now demanding that congress act, arguing that the president should not be immune. the is the has denied the allegations, and tonight, how the white house is now responding. here's abc's senior white house correspondent cecilia vega. >> reporter: they say no one cared the first time. so today, three women

here's abc's senior justice correspondent pierre thomas tonight. >> reporter: tonight, the president's attorneys taking aim at the fbi agentsng on the russia probe, calling for a new, second special counsel to investigation them. a primary concern, special agent peter strzok, who robert mueller removed from his team over the summer after discovering strzok allegedly sent anti-trump text messages during the campaign. the president's lawyers saying "obvious conflicts of interest" in the justice department that "require the appointment of a special councel to investigate." the white house asked about it today. >> would he support the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into this? >> i haven't asked him tha directly, but i know he has great concern about taken place, and something that we certainly would like to see looked at. >> reporter: president trump has tweeted the fbi's reputation is in "tatters." but the fbi director defends the agency. >> the fbi that i see is decent people committed to the highest principles of integrity and professionalism and respect. >> reporter: democ

pierre thomas with more. >> reporter: the alleged target, san francisco's fisherman's wharf on christmas day, when it could be packed with holiday revelers. the fbi says this tow truck driver was secretly planning a yuletide massacre using bombs and guns. everitt aaron jameson, accused of being an isis sympathizer. a man the fbi says celebrated the devastating vehicle attack in new york on halloween that left eight people dead. jameson allegedly telling an fbi informant, "i'm glad to know we muslims are finally hitting back." he is a former marine recruit and sharpshooter discharged for failing to disclose a history of asthma. investigators say he described himself to the informant as a muslim convert, adding, "this is what will make me more useful. i can blend in." and when the fbi searched his home they say they found firearms and a handwritten martyrdom note specifically mentioning president trump. >> pierre thomas joins us now from washington. pierre, does the fbi know how and when he allegedly became radicalized? >> tom, apparently radicalized online. the fbi claims he posted isis p

questions about that discussion on the basis of a claim of attorney/client privilege. >> all right, pierre thomas with us live tonight. he's on the hill. and pierre, as we just heard from congressman schiff there, reportedly don jr. saying he did talk to the president about this after the e-mails became public, but would not reveal more to the committee. the president's son, we know, facing questions for eight hours today. he's going to be facing more? >> reporter: that's right, david. it was a gruelling eight hours of questioning, and, david, we suspect that the special counsel may have additional questions for don jr. david? >> pierre, thank you. >>> next, to senate candidate roy moore, counting on a powerful ally, steve bannon. the president's former chief strategist. moore has faced tough criticism from some republicans, including mitt romney, who has said that he should bow out. overnight, bannon taking direct aim at romney and his sons now, but did his line of fire open up a vulnerability for president trump? tom llamas in alabama again tonight. >> reporter: with the election just days away

i want to bring in pierre thomas for more on this. pierre?rge, well, the situation is we have a hearing scheduled for 10:30 a.m. this morning, special counsel's office filed a special complaint against michael flynn, and it's about comments made to the fbi in regard to whether he had conversations about russian sanctions with the former russian ambassador. he was forced out of office in relation to whether he had those conversations. he said he did not discuss those sanctions. we now know that he did. the special counsel has filed a criminal complaint. flynn is expected in court at 10:00 a.m. where we expect him to plead guilty. >> we'll learn more at that time. these are conversation that is occurred in december 2016 when flynn was slated to be national security adviser for president trump when, indeed, he was inaugurated in january. this was during the transition at that time and these were at least two conversations in late december with the ambassador at a time president obama's administration was looking to level sanctions and punishment

abc 7 news senior justice correspondent pierre thomas has the latest. >> reporter: the alleged targetistmas day when it could be packed with holiday revellers. the fbi says this tow truck driver was secretly planning a yuletide massacre. everitt aaron jameson, accused of being an isis sympathizer, a man who the fbi says celebrated the new york attack on halloween that left 11 people dead. he told fbi informants, "i'm glad to know we muslims are finally hitting back." 's he's a former marine recruiter and sharpshooter. he described himself to the informant as a muslim convert, adding, "this is what will make me more useful. i can blend in." fbi agents searched his home and found fireworks and a handwritten martyrdom note specifically mentioned president trump. pierre thomas, abc news, washington. >>> president trump is in mar-a-lago this morning after signing a tax cut bill into law surrounded by cameras in the oval office. abc 7 news reporter david wright explains what the president is looking to do in the new year. >> so this is the bill right here. and we're very proud of it. >> rep

let's go to pierre thomas, and we're now learning the suspect has made statements indicating he supports isis. >> reporter: indeed. we're being told that the suspect is identified as a 27-year-old, and our sources say he has been here seven years, thought to be from bangladesh, andless made statements in support of isis. no terror group has claimed responsibility yet, and i emphasize this is early, and there is no information that he has support. this, police believe, was an isolated incident so far. the attorney general and homeland security secretary have been briefed on the situation, but this comes at a critical moment. it's the beginning of the holiday season. law enforcement was already concerned because of that attack we had in new york just over a month ago in which 12 people were injured and 8 killed. >> keep that in mind. pierre, thank you. > >> now let's bring in the season is already on high alert. with that being said, what the the port authority prepared for this? >> they are prepared as a very professional police department of its own, and the nypd practices with them on a

i want to go right to our senior justice correspondent pierre thomas for the latest. , we expect to see general flynn in court in the next hour or so, expected to plead guilty. this is a major development. >> reporter: yes, it is, george. the special counsel has filed a criminal information against former national security adviser michael flynn, charging, as you said, that he lied to the fbi about his contacts with the russian ambassador. a hearing has been scheduled at 10:30 at federal district court here in washington where we expect that flynn will plead guilty. special counsel bob mueller says that these alleged lies took place while flynn was in office just days after the trump administration was in place. the conversation with the russian ambassador involved requests that the u.s. impose sanctions against that country for meddling in the u.s. election. we understand he's been photographed, fingerprinted by the fbi, in essence booked, george. >> they concern conversations that mr. flynn was having with the russian ambassador during the transition when he was desig

let's go to pierre thomas live at the fbi. flynn has been charged with the one count of lying to the fbi. robert mueller a seasoned prosecutor. is he trying to show as little hand as possible? >> reporter: david make no mistake, mueller approved this deal to get something. he is an aggressive, cagey prosecutor who is now targeting the trump campaign, the transition and potentially the white house inner circle. flynn now faces hours of fbi interrogations in the coming months, subject to lie detector tests along the way to prove he's telling the truth. mueller wants to know, did other trump campaign officials and white house advisers know about any illegal contacts with the russians? to impact the election. and david, those transition advisors mentioned in today's charges face the possibility of being called before a grand jury. and if they have already been interviewed, they better have told the truth. david? >>> pierre thank you. >>> we move on this friday evening to your money and taxes. president trump's tax plan at this hou

messages sent by the veteran fbi agent removed from mueller's team calling the president an idiot and pierre thomasn washington with details. good morning, pierre. >> reporter: these new text messages are embarrassing for the fbi showing senior officials trashing then candidate donald trump. and while it's unclear if their comments had any impact on the special counsel's russia probe, republicans will likely seize upon them as evidence of partisanship within the fbi. this morning, questions about the politics of two former members of special counsel bob mueller's team. abc news reviewed 375 text messages between fbi agent peter strzok and fbi attorney lisa pa unprofessional and candidate donald trump was often the target of their ire. god, trump is a loathsome human page texted march 4th, 2016 the day after the republican primary debate. strzok responded he may win. on the same day strzok texted would he be a worse president than senator cruz. page responded, trump, yes, i think so. >> i'm not sure. strzok, omg, he's an idiot. then page says he's awful. 12 days later page texted, i cannot believe d

pierre thomas is in washington and what are you learning, pierre?eral sources. they been alerted by nypd that this is ongoing. obviously there's great concern because mass transit has been something that law enforcement has long been concerned about. apparently based on gio's reporting that this is relatively contained but i can tell you this will send shock wave as cross washington because law enforcement as george said has already been on high alert looking for the potential of any kind of attack over the holiday season. >> serves 225,000 people every single day, 85 million people a year. port authority, major hub here in new york city for the entire region. the good news are hearing from police that they believe the situation is contained. we have the former police commissioner right now, ray kelly, on the phone as well. ray, as we've talked about so many times, so much concern about times square and the port authority. >> absolutely, transportation hubs are always, you have to be concerned about. as you said very volume of people go into the por

i want to bring in pierre thomas. the fbi picked up any information? >> george, it's not unusual when there's no clear cause for the fbi to assist the ntsb to try to find out what happened. because of what happened, the level of this event, the federal authorities will be curious to know what happened and they will offer support, george. >> no indication yet this was anything other than an accident. no indication there was terrorism related or deliberately inspired? >> that's correct, george. we'll continue to check with our sources throughout the morning. law enforcement officials will be available if needed. >> again, a major train derailment. train running from seattle to portland amtrak 501. you see that car dangling off the overpass into the highway, i5 highway. traffic backed up in both directions. we know there are casualties. emergency responders on the scene as well. we'll track this all day long on abc news. a full report tonight on word news with david muir. you can get news at any time by downloading the a

i want to go to our senior justice correspondent pierre thomas for more on that.ny other information coming in to federal officials? >> no one has claimed responsibility, george. i can tell you the attorney general, homeland security officials, top law enforcement in the country have been briefed awaiting additional information. there has been great concern with the upcoming holiday season. two officials i spoke to were just so thankful it appears to be contained with limited injuries, george. this has major implications for the upcoming holiday season. clearly someone was trying to hurt or kill as many people as they could. >> everyone will be on high alert. our former special agent for more on this what may have been the saving grace here, brad, it was a relatively crude weapon. >> this is going to be amateur hour, george. he probably learned online how to build the pipe bomb. the tricky part obviously is the timer. that obviously didn't work out well for him. and it's interesting he had it on his person. >> okay. that's what we have right now, an explosion at t

the bomber and what may have inspired this attack, let's go to our senior justice correspondent, pierre thomas, in washington. good morning, pierre. >> reporter: robin, good morning. there is real concern about the potential for copycats and more lone wolf radicals as we approach the heart of the holiday season. the attempted attack was a nightmare scenario. a would-be suicide bomber on mass transit. a suspect with no criminal background and not on the government's terrorism radar. this morning, the fbi and the nypd desperate to find out how akayed ullah ended up here sprawled on the ground severely injured after trying to kill himself and everyone around him in a terror attack. authorities trying to answer how a 27-year-old who had been living a quiet life in the u.s. for roughly seven years after immigrating from bangladesh became an isis-inspired potential killer. authorities say the one-time limo driver had been secretly assembling the bomb in his apartment after learning how to put together one online. his neighbors apparently, completely unaware. but several describing his demeanor as co

abc's pierre thomas is in washington with the latest. ne and kendis, according to a law enforcement source, the bomb did not act as intended. there were nails and other things stufled in the pipe. it had the ability to cause more injuries than it did. the pipe did not fully shatter. a six-inch piece was discovered entirely in tact. the fbi right now has roughly 1,000 isis-related terror case under way in all 50 states. but the chilling question, are there other suspects out there like this young man with no criminal history and not on the government's terrorism radar? diane, kendis? >> some people fear looking at what may have happened before that incident. president trump used the attack to renew his call for immigration reform. the bombing suspect was here in the united states legally. bangladesh, by the way, his home country, is not on the travel ban list. but a statement from the u.s. president says the u.s. immigration system allows too many dangerous people have access to the united states. trump has voiced his support to end a poli

pierre thomas is in washington with the alert being sent out. erre, good morning. >> reporter: tom, good morning. overnight the department of homeland security, the fbi preparing to remind americans to be on alert. federal law enforcement officials working on a new video which should be released soon encouraging vigilance. a draft of a dhs/fbi script says in part, as you travel, shop and gather to celebrate the holiday season, we ask you to stay alert. you play a critical role in keeping our nation and our neighborhoods safe. even though there is no credible safe law enforcement officials are on guard and vehicle attempt and attempted bombing in new york city. one source telling us new york city would-be bomber was motivated to attack times square during the christmas season because of isis' call for holiday terror and just days ago they sent posters depicting the washington national cathedral on fire with a threat against new york as well saying, wait for us, we meet in christmas in new york soon. >> thank you. amy. >>> millions of americans are

. >> clayton, to pierre thomas. he's in washington, d.c. ierre, the department of justice had a very swift response last night. >> reporter: robin, good morning. that's right, the attorney general issued a blistering statement blaming san francisco which is what is known as a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants, in a statement jeff sessions wrote, quote, s criminal aliens led to the preventible and heartbreaking death of kate steinle. sessions said that the suspect would not have been on the streets of san francisco if the city had worked with immigration officials to remove him. law enforcement officials tell me that the justice department may pursue federal charges in the steinle case. >> the family is going to wait and see about that. in other news, concerning the russian investigation and you have new reporting, exclusive new reporting on what mueller and his team are up to. >> reporter: yes, abc news learned that the special counsel's office has incurred total expenses in excess of $5 million in the first months of the investigat

crippling ransomware attack that affected hundreds of thousands of computers around the world and pierre thomas is in washington with the latest. good morning, pierre. >> reporter: good morning r. the u.s. is blaming them which paralyzed hundreds of thousands of computers in companies and homes worldwide. in an op-ed release, thomas bossert write, the attack was widespread and cost billions. north korea is directly responsible. it's not the first im, george, you remember in 2014 the u.s. accused north korea of hacking sony pictures for an unflattering movie about their dictator. bossert is calling on the international community to impro improve cybersecurity and could see the u.s. look for more sanctions. it is likely to add to the ongoing tension. >> it certainly will. let's talk about earth more with cecilia vega and the editor in chief of "the daily beast." john avlon. let's pick up where pierre left off, the white house calling for new sanctions directly blaming north korea. quite a contrast from the way the president deals russian meddling. >> it's stark. the administration is being tough

the president attacking the fbi on twitter over the weekend, our senior justice correspondent pierre thomas more and joins us from washington. good morning, pierre. >> reporter: robin, good morning. flynn's guilty plea and pledge to cooperate with the special counsel is creating intense drama here in washington with many wondering what he's going to say and who if anyone he might implicate. the president this weekend took aim at the fbi calling its reputation in tatters setting the stage for potentially more confrontation as this case unfolds. >> lock him up. lock him up. >> reporter: the critical question, will the stunning guilty plea of former national security adviser and now-convicted felon michael flynn reach further into the white house? >> what we're going to see is the putting together of obstruction of justice. >> reporter: even some republicans say flynn's admitting to lying with contacts with russia in an agreement to cooperate with prosecutors means the story is far from over. >> flynn lied and they destroyed his life. i think it's a shame. >> reporter: but even the republicans