ABC World News Tonight with David Muir Full Broadcast - August 23, 2025

Tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. The race to contain a wildfire that's tearing through California's wine country. Major concerns about air quality near a Louisiana factory that's been burning for more than a day. And news about a key figure in the immigration crackdown. Could he be deported to Africa?

In Northern California, the urgent battle to contain a fire that's burned thousands of acres in Napa Valley. Evacuation orders in effect as crews face a wall of smoke and flames. The West sweltering with more than 50 million under heat alerts. Triple digit temperatures in Southern California. On the East Coast, beaches reopening as Aaron heads further out to sea.

But the danger remains with swimmers rescued from dangerous rip currents. And the flash flooding risk in the southeast. Our weather team is timing it all out. Also tonight, the growing danger after the explosion and fire at a factory in Louisiana. Residents who live within a mile

are being told to stay away. Concerns about the air quality and the soot coming from that building. Why authorities are telling people, don't touch it. A new twist in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man mistakenly sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

He's free for now, but his lawyers say the Trump administration is threatening to deport him to Uganda if he doesn't accept a plea deal. Where his case stands right now. Chaos at a high school football game as gunshots are heard.

Players and fans seen running for safety. A passenger jet bound for Las Vegas forced to make an emergency landing after the crew reports a disruptive passenger. Tragedy on the set of the Netflix show Emily in Paris. An assistant director collapses and dies.

Price check.

Some of America's largest retailers say they're absorbing most of the costs of new tariffs, but for how long? When you could see higher prices. The sweet meeting at the lemonade stand that melted hearts. A young fan and one of her favorite players.

And what to watch for as we count down to the U.S. open.

In the news world headquarters in New York.

Good evening. Thank you for joining us on this Saturday. I'm Mary Bruce in for what Johnson we begin tonight with crews battling raging wildfires in California's wine country and more than 50 million people on alert for dangerous heat in the West this weekend. Those fast moving flames are triggering evacuation orders for Napa Valley residents. The so-called

picket fire scorching nearly 5,000 acres since it broke out on Thursday, the blaze only at 7% containment and then there's the extreme heat the sun baking Los Angeles thunderstorms are bringing some relief but lightning strikes have ignited several smaller fires, our weather team is standing by with the forecast, but first ABC's Jacqueline Lee

leads us off tonight. Tonight, evacuation orders in parts of California wine country are growing as millions in the West face blistering heat and dry conditions in the midst of California's wildfire season, more than 4500 acres of burning in Napa County. The picket fire only 7% contained as crews battle the flames around the

clock helicopters dropping water and flame retardant as a wall of smoke rises behind them residents in Napa County rushing to get out. It's definitely scary when there's fire down here. Luckily there wasn't too much wind. Fire officials say the extreme heat is posing a unique danger to cruise on the ground. What

challenges does this extreme heat pose on your firefighters? They're hiking

steep terrain, they're fighting fire. An

going to wear them down. California swelters under triple digit temperature and an extreme heat warni

County. You know, wet towe

water, you know, like eve

even as scattered thunders some relief to the heat, authorities say lightning strikes there have sparked several smaller fires. Ahead of this weekend, California Governor Gavin Newsom pre-deploying firefighting resources throughout Los Angeles given the conditions. Meanwhile, crews here on the ground say they are ready to jump in at any point. Mary. Okay, Jacqueline, thank you. Meanwhile, crews here on the ground say they are ready to jump in at any point. Mary? OK, Jacqueline, thank you.

Meanwhile, as Hurricane Aaron moves out to sea, beaches in New York and North Carolina are reopening. But big waves and dangerous rip currents remain, keeping lifeguards busy at New York's Rockaway Beach. Several swimmers there rescued. WABC's Anthony Carlo was there. Anthony?

Well, Mary, this is one last hurrah for many people before school starts they're trying to get out to the beach and soak up the sun and enjoy the water. But the problem is up and down the East Coast, we're still seeing big waves and dangerous rip currents lingering in many areas this boat was capsized by high surf at Maine's York Beach and that sailor had to be saved

by fire and rescue swimmers. Now Aaron is gone, but those dangerous ocean conditions persist, fueling a high risk of dangerous rip currents along much of the coastline through the weekend here on new york's Rockaway Beach. We witnessed lifeguards rescue multiple swimmers who were caught up in a rip current and swept away from shore.

Lifeguards had to extend the line into the water to help them pull those distressed swimmers out. And rescues just like that speak to the dangers lifeguards face as they reopen beaches and beachgoers come to try to capture one last summer weekend.

Mary? Those lifeguards bracing for a busy weekend. Anthony, thank you. So let's get right to meteorologist Danny backstrom from our New York station wabc and Danny you're tracking a new tropical storm in the Atlantic.

Yeah, Mary the Atlantic hurricane season peaks in just under 3 weeks and we now have our 6th named storm in the basin with tropical storm fair non just named by the National Hurricane Center. It's currently about 400 miles from Bermuda expected to stay east of the island. It's much smaller, much weaker than Aaron and poses no threat to the U. S.

While here in the U. S. Rounds of heavy rain and thunderstorms bring a flash flood threat to the southeast with flood watches in effect from Jacksonville, florida up to Hatteras, North Carolina through late tonight. The extreme heat is the weather story in the west with alerts from Arizona to Washington and record highs expected again Sunday for cities like Seattle and Portland. The hot, dry conditions continue to fuel fire danger

in the region, especially with the threat for lightning, as isolated thunderstorms develop again on Sunday from Southern Oregon to Arizona. Mary?

And we know you'll be tracking it all, Danny, thank you. Next tonight, a community under evacuation orders after an explosion at a plant in Louisiana. Drone video capturing the aftermath as the fire still burns, pumping plumes of smoke and black soot into the air. Tonight, the warning to residents. Here's ABC's Olivia Rubin with the new details coming in.

Tonight, more than 24 hours after a massive explosion and fire at a Louisiana factory, officials are warning residents to stay indoors. Officials say a series of explosions rocked Smitty's supply shop in Rosalind on Friday afternoon.

Residents concerned people walking

out leaving medications, clothes, personal items, everyone within a

mile radius ordered to leave, including an elementary school.

This order is based primarily on the risk of falling debris. items. Everyone within a to leave, including an el

order is based primarily debris as well as a preca to the ongoing and active

Critically, officials als to wash their hands and f

to the black soot now fil

generated by the fire is combustibles like plastic or burning trucks, as well as some hydrocarbon chemicals.

Officials say the EPA has now sent out special aircraft to conduct additional testing on that black soot. That data under review tonight

as investigators continue to search for the cause. Mary. Olivia, thank you. Tonight, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man mistakenly sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador back in March, is now facing deportation to Uganda unless

he agrees to a plea deal. That's according to court documents filed by his attorneys. It comes just one day after he was released from custody in Tennessee, finally reunited with his family in Maryland. More now from ABC's Washington managing editor, Catherine Falders.

Tonight, the lawyers for Kilmar Abrego-Garcia say the Trump administration is trying to force him to accept a plea deal by threatening to deport him to Uganda. His attorneys allege the government is trying to coerce him after Abrego-Garcia refused an offer

to be deported to Costa Rica in exchange for remaining in jail and pleading guilty to human smuggling charges. It comes just one day after a Brigo Garcia who was wrongfully deported in March was released from federal custody in Tennessee and reunited with his family in Maryland. He is facing human smuggling charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in

Tennessee. A Brigo Garcia seen driving an SUV with 9 other people inside the government has accused him of being part of the human smuggling operation that transports drugs weapons and thousands of undocumented migrants allegedly including MS 13 gang members and children

across the country. How many rolls have you got in here, four? He's hauling these people for money. You gotta call her, is what he's doing.

Abrego Garcia denies all allegations. His case became a flashpoint in Trump's aggressive immigration policies after Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador. At the time, the president and the White House

adamant he was a gang member.

Is an illegal alien MS-13 gang member, and foreign terrorist, this comes out of the State Department and very legitimate sources.

Facing a court order, the Trump administration brought him back to the US in June, only to detain him on those human smuggling charges.

And Catherine joins us now. So talk us through what comes next year. Abrego Garcia's attorneys say the government is now giving him until Monday morning to decide, plead guilty, serve his sentence in the US, and then be deported to Costa Rica or be sent straight to Uganda.

Catherine, in that case, what happens with the criminal trial against him?

So Mary, the Department of Justice says they still plan to put Abrego Garcia on trial, where he will be able to defend himself. But his attorneys say they have been given an ultimatum by Monday morning. A break. Garcia must decide whether to plead guilty to those charges and be deported to Costa Rica or face possible

deportation to Uganda. Mary and again that decision expected by Monday. Catherine Falders, who's been following every twist and turn of this case. Catherine, thank you. U. S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired the Pentagon's intelligence agency chief. Air Force Lieutenant General Jeffrey Cruz is the latest senior military officer to be forced out.

It comes just weeks after the agency contradicted the president's assessment that U.S. strikes had, quote, obliterated Iran's nuclear facilities. Two other senior military officials were also fired on Friday. Overseas now to Gaza. Israeli forces pressing forward with its military

operation in Gaza City just 24 hours after the world's leading authority on hunger declared that famine is now gripping that city. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu angrily dismissing it as a lie and we want to warn you some of these images are disturbing. Here's ABC's Lama Hassan.

Israel's new massive military offensive on Gaza City today intensifying. The Israeli Defense Forces launching several deadly airstrikes. The Hamas-run health ministry saying at least 61 people were killed in separate attacks over the last 24 hours alone, including these two children. Their mother tries to let go. There is no threat here to the Israeli military, this man says.

Everyone here is a civilian. You can see there are women and children. 308 others injured, some still trapped under the rubble. Rescue crews are unable to reach them. On the ground, the Israeli government is planning to occupy the Gaza Strip, crucial, they say, to defeat Hamas. With orders for more than one million people to evacuate Gaza City and head south, some already relocating dozens of times to find

shelter, others telling aid agencies they are simply too weak to walk. The punishing restrictions on food is taking its toll. People desperate travel for hours to find food. Often dangerous, all they can find is a sack of flour. On Friday, for the first time ever, a UN-backed group saying a famine is now gripping Gaza City. Mary, the Hamas-run health ministry says at least eight people, including two children,

have died because of starvation in the last 24 hours alone. One aid worker saying that it is the children who are paying the highest price of this conflict.

Mary.

Lama, thank you. Now, to the economy and signs that the Federal Reserve may soon cut interest rates. And after a week of earnings reports from some of the nation's largest retailers, some now openly admitting that they may have to pass on the costs of tariffs to consumers. Here's ABC's Jay O'Brien.

Tonight high anticipation from Wall Street to Main Street after federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell signaled as soon as next month, the U.S. Central Bank could cut interest rates for the first time in nearly a year impacting everything from car loans to credit cards Powell under a constant pressure campaign from President Trump to lower rates which the Fed has left unchanged since December to fight inflation.

We come too late for a reason you should have got him a year ago. He's too late.

Trump even calling for Powell to resign and making this rare presidential visit to review the fed's renovations and turn up the heat on the chairman about the building's price tag.

It looks like it's about 3.1 billion one up a little bit. So the 2.7 is now 3.1. And

I'm not aware of that. It just came out in his closely watched speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Powell seeming to acknowledge the president's prodding, saying only fed officials reviewing economic data like inflation and jobs numbers will make the final call. We will never deviate from that approach. Stocks surging yesterday after Powell's mere suggestion of a rate cut meantime, the Fed watching the impacts of Trump's

trade war closely to as major retailers start to feel the pinch, Wal-Mart CEO telling investors the world's largest retailer is seeing costs increase each week but has largely avoided raising prices so far and Home Depot saying it's already begun when it calls some modest price increases.

It's not just pressure on chairman Powell Mary president Trump this week threatened to fire Lisa cook a Biden appointee to the fed's board which votes on whether to raise or lower interest rates after accusations from officials in Trump's own administration that Cook committed mortgage fraud. Cook says this dates back to paperwork

from before she joined the Fed that she will answer any legitimate questions, but she won't be quote, bullied to step down.

Mary. Jay O'Brien at the White House tonight. Jay, thank you. Next tonight, a bus carrying a junior high football team to a game crashed near Pittsburgh. At least 21 of the nearly 30 people on the bus were taken to the hospital. Police say the bus turned on its side during the

crash. This just one day after a deadly tour bus crash in upstate New York near Buffalo killed at least five people. And there is much more ahead on world news tonight. This Saturday, including why an Air Canada flight to Las Vegas made an emergency landing and the frightening scene under the Friday night lights when shots were fired near high school football game.

Next tonight, a chaotic situation at a high school football game in Mayfield, Kentucky, players and fans running for safety when gunshots were heard Friday

night. Wait, wait, wait. They said we got shots fired. People are running

like crazy because they say shots are fired. A frightening scene. Police say the shooting happened in a parking lot. An adult was hurt and airlifted to a hospital. No arrests were reported and the rest of the game was called off. An Air Canada jet bound for Las Vegas made an emergency landing in Chicago last night, the crew reporting a passenger disturbance on board. The airline did not provide any other information

other than to say the incident was resolved and that no arrest was made. The flight did eventually take off for Vegas just about three hours late. And when we come back, the sad news for fans of Emily in Paris, the emergency that shut down filming.

To the Index now, and tragedy on the Netflix series set of Emily in Paris. An assistant director, Diego Barella, collapsed and later died while filming in Venice on Thursday. Barella was 47 years old. The cause of death is pending.

Filming for the show's fifth season was suspended for two days and one of the world's most active volcanoes is erupting again. Hawaii's Kilauea volcano sent an arc of lava 100 feet into the air on Friday.

This is the 31st eruption there since December. One National Park Service volunteer says the heat can be felt. A mile away. The eruption though is contained within the summit crater and no homes are threatened. And still ahead

what's sweeter than a cup of lemonade at the US Open? Find out here next. Finally tonight for tennis fans the best two weeks of the year are about to begin and for one fan in particular a memory that will last a lifetime. ABC's Morgan Norwood has more from the U.S.

Open.

All eyes on the U.S. Open as the best tennis stars in the world are set to serve up major excitement for the fans from Sabah linka to golf to center and all cross center court will be the site of major showdowns before the heated competition

this courtside cool down warming many hearts tonight. I'm so, so, so excited because this is the best exciting. Well, this is the best day ever in like the year and also I'm going to see so many good players. Nine year old tennis enthusiast Emery Mahay's has been playing the game since she was four. The U. S. Open kid caster met one of her heroes while handing out lemonade Thursday.

This video capturing the moment winning hearts. How are you?

Nice to meet you. What's your name? Nice to meet you. Can you can I get one lemonade? Yes. Wow. This is exciting. I'm a big fan.

Thank you.

You're welcome. Do you like tennis?

Yes.

You play it?

Yeah.

Really?

Yeah.

Are you excited to watch some matches upcoming?

Yeah.

Who are you excited to see?

You.

Really?

Yeah. Okay.

Naomi Osaka.

Wow.

Savalinka. I just met. And she get a lemonade. Very nice to meet you very cute.

Thank you for the lemonade.

And we cannot wait for that and who else Emory needs for which Johnson, I'm Mary Bruce, thanks for watching have a great

evening. evening.

David Moore, the most watched newscast in America. great evening.