ABC World News Tonight with David Muir Full Broadcast - May 20, 2026

David Muir, ABC's World News Tonight, America's most -watched newscast.Now streaming same day with all the breaking news of the day on Disney+.Most -watched, most -trusted.Now on Disney +, every night.

Tonight, here are the breaking news involving the U .S.and Cuba.A major escalation, the Justice Department unsealing an indictment against former Cuban President Raul Castro, charging him with murder and the shoot -down of two civilian planes in 1996.Four people killed, including three Americans.Tonight, our Pierre Thomas asking the acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, how are you going to get Raul Castro to the U .

S.?And what's coming next now for Cuba?Also breaking tonight, the planes halted.Major sinkhole opening up on the runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport.Will Reeve is there.

And the fire disrupting Amtrak service New York City to Philadelphia.The big change coming from Memorial Day weather and right now the severe thunderstorm watches right here in the Northeast.Washington D .C.to Philadelphia to New York City.Also damaging winds possible tonight.

Lee Goldberg has the forecast.And the wildfire emergency in California at this hour.Multiple large fires and we're in the fire zone.Just in tonight, the images, the deadly hazmat emergency.Three people found dead.More than a dozen first responders overcome, rushed to the hospital tonight suing the Trump administration.

Police officers who defended the U .S.Capitol on January 6th now suing after After learning they will use taxpayer money, $1 .8 billion to potentially pay their attackers.Tonight, the horrific scene at the coffee shop, a violent confrontation, a 75 -year -old customer and the clerk.That customer collapsing and dying potentially from a heart attack.How did this happen?

There is news tonight coming in on the American doctor infected with Ebola.Tonight, tributes to trailblazing politician Barney Frank.News coming in after the horrificdeath of a woman who stepped out of her car and fell into a New York City manhole that was uncovered.What we've now learned about this tonight.The school board member who ignited outrage calling a female high school student hot during a public meeting, tonight now charged with assault.

In New York City, the alarming scene right near Wall Street, an exploding car engulfed in flames.Music legend Phil Collins making a rare public appearance.And news tonight coming in from Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

From ABC News World Headquarters in New York, this is World News Tonight with David Muir.

Good evening, we begin tonight here with the breaking news, a major escalation between the U .S.and Cuba after the U .S.took action in Venezuela, then Iran.Tonight, President Trump now saying, quote, We have Cuba on our mind.

Tonight, the Justice Department unsealing an indictment against former Cuban President Raul Castro, the brother of the late longtime President Fidel Castro, the two brothers ruling Cuba for decades.Raul Castro, now 94, tonight charged with murder.after the shoot down of two civilian planes out of Florida in 1996.Four people were killed, including three Americans on a humanitarian mission.Tonight, Pierre Thomas right here asking acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, how will you get the 94 year old Raul Castro to the U. S. What does this look like?And of course, what comes next for Cuba?

Pierre traveling with the acting attorney general to South Florida, where the indictment was announced this afternoon.So Pierre Thomas leads us off tonight from Miami.

Tonight, a motorcade winding through the streets of Miami.Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch on his way to make a major announcement about Cuba.Then before a cheering crowd of hundreds, Blanch unveiling murder and conspiracy charges against former Cuban President Raul Castro, brother of the late revolutionary Dick Cheney.Fidel Castro.

Today we are announcing an indictment charging Raul Castro and several others with conspiracy to kill U .S.nationals.Cuban MiGs shoot down.

Raul Castro was accused of orchestrating the 1996 shoot down of two civilian planes from the humanitarian organization Brothers to the Rescue, a group that searched international waters looking for Cuban refugees trying to flee their homeland.Four people, including three Americans, were on board those planes when Cuba shot them down.At the time, Raul Castro was Cuba's Minister of Defense.

I want to say that we also do not forget the families, the loved ones, and the friends who have carried grief and heartache for 30 years.

Raul Castro took the reins of the Cuban government after the death of his brother Fidel.Now 94 years old, he's been out of office for years, but remains a powerful figure.

What are the prospects that you could get Raul Castro to the United States to face justice?

And what steps are the U .S.

willing to take to get him back here?Well, we indict men outside of this country all the time.The reason why we indict somebody is because we want them here to face justice in front of a jury of their peers.So we expect that he will show up here by his own will or by another way.

That raises questions about whether U .S.troops will travel to Cuba and try to take Castro by force, the same way American forces seized former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro back in January, dragging him from his bedroom and flying him to New York, where he is in jail facing trial.Tonight, rejoicing in Miami's Cuban community,Little Havana.ABC's Matt Rivers speaking to Lourdes Zayas -Pozan, who hasn't been back to Cuba since she fled some 67 years ago.

What does this indictment symbolize to you?

It's finally a step, a big step, for freedom in Cuba.

And do you think that you will see government change in Cuba in the near term?

Hopefully, yes.

Tonight, President Trump's signaling change is at hand.

I think this is a very big day, very important day.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Spanish with this message to the Cuban people, saying their government is the cause of their economic hardship.The real reason you don't have electricity, fuel, or food, he says, is because those who control your country have plundered billions of dollars.but nothing has been used to help the people.

Pierre Thomas, who was on the air with me this afternoon as this was all unfolding with us live tonight in Miami.Pierre, tonight the Cuban government now responding to this indictment.

Tonight, Cuba's government calling the indictment a farce based on lies to justify military aggression.Earlier this month in Havana, Cuba's foreign minister telling our Whit Johnson that if the U .S.attacks Cuba, it could lead to a bloodbath.

David.Pierre Thomas leading us off tonight.Pierre, thanks so much.Also breaking tonight with millions now traveling for the Memorial Day weekend, the major disruption at one of America's busiest airports here in New York City.Planes halted after a sinkhole opens up on the runway at LaGuardia Airport.And now the fire disrupting Amtrak service, New York City to Philadelphia.

Will Reeve from LaGuardia tonight.

Tonight, this sinkhole on the tarmac of New York's LaGuardia Airport triggering travel chaos at one of the nation's busiest travel hubs ahead of Memorial Day weekend.More than 200 flights canceled, hundreds more delayed, shutting down one of LaGuardia's two runways for hours.

What happened to the runway 422?There's a sinkhole.

Airport officials say they found the sinkhole at 11 a .m.during routine airfield inspection and immediately closed the runway for emergency repairs.The nation's largest city also suffering rail service disruptions.This fire at a Philadelphia scrapyard prompting Amtrak to suspend operations from there to New York for a time this afternoon.It comes ahead of what's projected to be record -breaking Memorial Day travel, with 45 million Americans expected to venture at least 50 miles for the holiday.

And David, the FAA says it expects to have that affected runway reopened first thing tomorrow morning, but compounding the sinkhole problem here at LaGuardia, thunderstorms rolling into the region, causing further delays and cancellations.

David.All right, we'll read tonight.Will.Thanks.You mentioned those storms.There's a big change coming for Memorial Day weather at this hour.

Severe thunderstorm watches in the northeast Washington D. C. Right up to Philadelphia, New York City, damaging winds possible in the coming hours and the images now coming in major flooding also in Atlanta.Multiple lanes closed.Look at that.I 75 tonight in the scene.Just horrific.Let's get to A. B. C. Senior meteorologist Lee Goldberg tracking it all for us.

Big changes here.

Lee.Certainly, David.In fact, New York City right now under a severe thunderstorm warning.We're minutes away here for some gusts that could go to 60 miles an hour and heavy downpours.Flash flood warning in Philly after one to two inches an hour rainfalls.We have severe thunderstorm watches that go from Connecticut back to Kentucky.

These storms will be rolling along the I -95 corridor this evening.Then it's a big cool down behind it.Nineties are turning into sixties and even fifties into the holiday weekend.And unfortunately, it stays quite rainy into the eastern half of the country as holiday travel kicks into the weekend.We could see a widespread three to six inches of rain from Texas all the way to New York this weekend.Flooding in the south and unseasonably cool here in the northeast.

Maybe we'll do better on July 4th.

David?Alright, let's hope so.Lee, thank you.Meantime, we're also following this wildfire emergency in Southern California tonight.New images coming in right now.Multiple large fires burning across the state.

at this hour.Tens of thousands of residents under evacuation orders.ABC's Melissa Don from the fire zone now.

Tonight, terrifying home surveillance video shows the race to escape the flames as the sandy fire bore down on a neighborhood northwest of Los Angeles.Winds howling, smoke and embers flying as families grab what they can.The headlights barely visible as they get in their cars and go.Randy Bile wasn't home, but got an alert from his doorbell camera.He called his wife and told her to get out.This video shows their home of 40 years in flames.

She went inside.got our pet parrot, put it in the travel cage, put in the car and left because it was already on fire at that point.

The Sandy fire still out of control, 44 ,000 forced to evacuate and gusty wind sparked multiple new fires in Riverside County overnight.The bang fire that started in a river bottom known for homeless encampments sent multiple people to the hospital with smoke inhalation.The Verona fire lighting up the night sky.David, fire officials warn that fire activity just like this may be a precursor of what's to come throughout the rest of this year.David?

All right, Melissa, down in California.Melissa, thank you.Just in tonight, there are images.There's been a deadly hazmat emergency in New Mexico.Three people have been found dead.More than a dozen first responders who raced to the scene now overcome and rushed to the hospital.

So let's get right to ABC's Trevor Ault, who's following this for us.Trevor, what do we know?

Well, David, very alarming situation here unfolding east of Albuquerque.Emergency crews arrived at a home there and found four people unresponsive.Three of them are now dead.Then the first responders started falling ill.About two dozen people exposed to an unknown substance, many of them experiencing dizziness and nausea.They were all taken to the hospital for decontamination and now three of them have been admitted.

Right now there are hazmat teams there at the house as authorities are racing to try to figure out what's going on.unknown substance even is.

David, Trevor Roll tonight.Trevor, thank you.The police officers tonight who defended the U .S.Capitol on January 6th are now suing the Trump administration after learning the administration will use taxpayer money, $1 .8 billion, to potentially pay the officers' attackers.Here's Mary Bruce.

Tonight, two police officers who fought off the mob on January 6th, filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration, trying to block the $1 .8 billion fund made up of taxpayer money that could soon hand out payments to their attackers.One of those officers, Daniel Hodges, seen here crying out in agony as he's crushed in a doorframe.More than 150 officers were injured in the riot.And today's lawsuit calls the president's new fund a taxpayer -funded slush fund to finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name.Late today, I spoke with Officer Hodges.What message do you think it sends?

It sends that if you commit violence in Donald Trump's name, that you will be protected legally, you will be rewarded financially.And that is his way of keeping these people on retainer for the next time he wants to that influenced the court's history with mass violence.

Trump insists the fund is needed to help people he claims were mistreated by the Biden Justice Department.

People were destroyed.They went to jail.Their families were ruined.

But tonight on Capitol Hill, outrage among a growing number of Republicans.

I don't support it.

I think it's a, you can't do that.Rejecting the idea of taxpayer payouts to rioters.

It sends a signal, hey, go breach the Capitol, destroy the building, assault police officers, and you may even get compensated some day.That's absurd.

David, the officer is filing this lawsuit.today outraged, especially because so many of the January 6th rioters were tried and convicted by juries.And because this money is coming from American taxpayers.David.

Mary Bruce with us tonight.Mary, thank you.Overseas tonight, there's news coming in on the American doctor infected with Ebola, the husband and father of four, now receiving specialized treatment in Berlin, Germany.A colleague telling ABC News that Dr. Peter Stafford appears to be improving.He's now texting.He's being treated with monoclonal antibodies to help fight the deadly disease.

which is fueled by a variant that has no approved vaccine or treatment.The current outbreak sweeping through central Africa is suspected of killing at least 139 people so far.Tonight, back in the U .S., the horrific scene at a coffee shop in Indiana, a violent confrontation, a 75 -year -old customer and the 17 -year -old clerk, that customer collapsing and dying.Here's Aaron Katursky.

Tonight, an elderly woman's family is trying to figure out how an argument over the wrong coffee shop order ended in her death.

My mother was wronged in the worst way.I lost the matriarch of my family.I need to at least know.

how why police in Fort Wayne Indiana said 75 year old Anita Grayson entered Tim Horton's to complain about her drive -thru order and started arguing with the 17 year old behind the counter.You can see a co -worker then step between them before the customer appears to hit the younger worker first.That employee's manager then pushes the customer and the two tumble to the floor where police said Grayson ripped out a chunk of the employee's hair minutes after the fight.Grayson was seen on the floor and when police arrived they found her unresponsive.Her daughter said she had heart trouble and the family is upset over the whole thing and how it could even happen.

You should not enter a coffee shop for a coffee and a donut and come out unalive.That is diabolical.

So far David nobody has been charged and the mayor of Fort Wayne is asking the community to not draw conclusions.until all the facts have been released.

David Aaron Gutersky with us.Thank you, Aaron.Tonight, the tributes to trailblazing politician Barney Frank, one of the first openly gay lawmakers in Congress.He died while in hospice care, suffering from congestive heart failure, outspoken and influential.He led a sweeping overhaul of America's financial system following the Great Recession, a fierce champion of gay rights, civil rights and women's rights.Former President Obama tonight calling him one of a kind, saying his passion and wit were second to none.

Barney Frank was 86.When we come back on the broadcast tonight, there is news coming in after that horrific death of the woman who stepped out of her car and fell into that New York City manhole.What we've now learned about this tonight.Also ahead here, the school board member who ignited outrage after calling that female high school student hot during a public meeting.Tonight, what's now happened to that board member?You'll learn that in a moment here.

And in New York City, the alarming scene right near Wall Street, an exploding car engulfed in flames.And we'll have more on this in just a moment.Don't go away.Tonight there is news on the woman who died after stepping out of her car and then falling into that uncovered manhole here in New York City.The chief medical examiner now says the autopsy shows that she suffered scald burns with inhalational thermal injury because of the heat and blunt force trauma to the torso.Her death ruled an accident.

The city is now investigating.The Tennessee school board member who ignited outrage calling a student hot in a public meeting has now been charged with assault.

God, you're hot.

The video appears to show Keith Urban then putting his arm around her after the comment.Urban maintains he was complimenting her.When we come back tonight, news this evening from Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and a New York City that exploded car engulfed in flames right near Wall Street in a moment.To the index near Wall Street tonight, a car bursting into flames consumed by fire.It took firefighters about an hour to put this out.They still do not know what ignited that vehicle yet.

Tonight, after learning he'll be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame again, Phil Collins making a rare public appearance.Collins' wife Jill posting a new photo of Collins on crutches with another legend, Rod Stewart.at Buckingham Palace, there's the image.Tonight, Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers says this upcoming season will be his last.The 42 -year -old just signed a one -year deal to return to Pittsburgh.When we come back here tonight, the graduates and the recording, what they said to themselves years ago, now played back to them right here tonight.

ABC World News Tonight with David Muir, sponsored by Vivgard Hytrulo.

Finally tonight, the graduates growing up before our eyes.Tonight, the remarkable project from high school seniors in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Hey, Ken, and this is your sixth grade self.Remember me?I've got a few questions for you.

We've reported on them before, the students at Macaulay School and All Boys School 6 through 12, marking their graduation by interviewing themselves years earlier.

Hi, Nikinji.This is your sixth grade self.Remember me?I have a few questions for you.

In the sixth grade, recording messages asking their future selves questions.

What is the biggest life lesson you have learned this far?

Try your hardest, no matter what.You'll realize what happens when you don't try hard, so you better do it.You'll end up doing it.This year, following two students, two best friends for years, Matthew Gabbert and Cameron Gaddis.

Okay, I'm doing English homework.I'm doing math homework.

starting in sixth grade during the pandemic.

Due to the coronavirus, we are having to leave school first day of online classes.

If you need to study for something, let's go do that.

What I'm most excited about school reopening is that I get to see my friends.

The school then reopening.I hope I have a great year.Right through middle school, freshman year in high school, the football games.Let's go!laughs and the firsts.

Got my permit this June, driving to school for the first time.

I was actually at this very Chick -fil -A the first day of my sixth grade year.

Eating Chick -fil -A on the first day of school.Yeah.

It's going to be hard not to see a bunch of these guys again.Graduating.Graduating.Let's go.Yes.

And finally, getting their diploma.And right here tonight, Hey, David.Thanks for having us on, David.The new graduates, Matthew and Cameron.

It's crazy to see it all put together.

Just like a lot of emotions and a lot of happiness, for sure.

And joining us, too.Hey, David.The senior who put it all together, Dominic Victor.

It just puts into perspective how fast everything goes by, and you can only have so much time with the people around you.And so it really makes you appreciate your life more.

Wow, really incredible.Send us your messages after college.Good night.

David Muir, the most trusted anchor in America, the most watched anchor in America.Thank you for making World News Tonight with David Muir, the number one newscast in America.