>> pierre thomas with us, as well, tonight. pierre, thank you. and of course, we should point out that james comey will reveal his own story in an abc news exclusive interview with george stephanopoulos. george, one-on-one with comey, this sunday night, 10:00 p.m./9:00 central, right here. >>> in the meantime, we turn next tonight to the investigation of president trump's personal attorney. and tonight, now a third secret payment to buy someone's silence now under the spotlight, after that fbi raid on lawyer michael cohen's home, office and hotel room. this latest case involving a former doorman at a trump building, who was paid by the parent company of "the national enquirer" to keep quiet about a salacious and unsubstantiated rumor about donald trump's sex life. again tonight, abc's kyra phillips. >> reporter: tonight, growing questions about hush money paid during donald trump's presidential campaign. abc news has reported on payments to a porn star and a former playboy playmate during the campaign to silence their claims of affairs with mr. t

david. >> abc's pierre thomas leading us off tonight. pierre, thank you. >>> and, of course, all of this comes as the president now weighs u.s. military action against syria, saying a decision is coming within 24 to 48 hours. of course, it comes after that suspected chemical attack, women and children among the victims. the images difficult to see, but seen around the world. the president calling syrian president assad an animal. and what he said when we asked if vladimir putin shares the blame. abc's chief white house correspondent jonathan karl tonight. >> reporter: president trump called the attack barbaric, and said he has little doubt who was behind it. >> it was an atrocious attack, it was horrible. this is about humanity, we're talking about humanity. and it can't be allowed to happen. >> reporter: the horrific images of what looks like a chemical weapons attack came in over the weekend. at least 40 civilians killed, survivors sprayed with water to wash away the chemicals. a little boy wiping his burning eyes. another child given

he says it was way too early to say anything, david. >> pierre thomas with us live tonight. pierre, thank you. >>> overseas tonight, and to syria, after that chemical attack. tonight, the state department now says that the u.s. has, quote, credible information and intelligence that russian and syrian regime officials are keeping international inspectors away, while they sanitize the site and remove incriminating evidence. nearly two weeks after the chemical attack, those inspectors have still not been able to reach douma. >>> next tonight, we are hearing from the two men back here at home, arrested at a philadelphia starbucks, after the manager called the police just minutes after they arrived in the store. for the first time, they describe to robin roberts their surprise at being told to leave and then put in handcuffs. and it comes tonight as the philadelphia police commissioner is now apologizing for what he said. he now says it actually made things worse. here's abc's linsey davis. >> reporter: for the first time, today, the two men whose arrest at this philadelphia star

let's get right to abc's chief justice correspondent pierre thomas following late developments from washington. pierre? >> reporter: david, it's an extremely dangerous situation. two officers critically shot. we also are being told that a civilian has been injured. and our station wfaa is reporting that this is an ongoing and very dangerous situation. david, as far as we know, the home depot was heavily crowded with people in that store. law enforcement officials are responding. we're being told that the atf is responding to the scene, as well. again, more details will be coming in, david, a very dangerous situation. two officers critically shot, civilian injured in an ongoing situation at a home depot in north dallas. >> all right, pierre thomas, you'll stay on this throughout the news cast. pierre, thank you. >>> and now, to the other developing story as we come on tonight, major new scrutiny for president trump's personal physician, who became his nominee for secretary of veterans affairs, ronny jackson, the current white house doctor. he was set to be questioned tomorrow. tonight, that's n

>> getting along. >> pierre thomas with the a.g. today. >>> as this was playing out, we learned tonight that president trump's new personal attorney on the russia investigation, rudy giuliani, has met with the special counsel robert mueller. giuliani met with mueller tuesday to reopen negotiations about a possible interview with the president. giuliani reportedly telling mueller the president is resistant to the idea, but hasn't ruled it out. giuliani pushed for clarity on when the investigation will end. >>> next, to other news tonight, the manhunt at this hour, after a sheriff's deputy was shot and killed in maine. authorities are looking for this man, seen in the moments after he allegedly killed the deputy and stole his car. he's on the run tonight. and here's abc's eva pilgrim now. >> reporter: tonight, an urgent nationwide manhunt for a suspected cop killer. >> there certainly is an ongoing public threat. he's considered armed and dangerous. >> reporter: authorities in norridgewock, maine, say that overnight, 29-year-old john

abc's chief justice correspondent pierre thomas live with us tonight from washington. and pierre, what have you learned from your sources about the suspect? >> reporter: david, our sources say alec minassian is from the toronto area, and while they believe this was an intentional act, they're sorting out if this was terrorism. these kind of vehicle attacks have become the preferred method among terrorists around the world. more than 100 people have been killed, and more than 500 injured in these kinds of attacks since 2016. that's why you're seeing cities put more and more barriers up to try to protect pedestrians. david? >> just a horrific scene north of the border. pierre thomas, our thanks to you, as well. >>> meantime tonight, an arrest and a takedown after that killing spree at a tennessee waffle house. armed officers and a massive manhunt playing out today, going door-to-door, searching the wids. and then the tip leading them to the suspect. and tonight, we learned that they had taken weapons away from him before. abc's erielle reshef is on the scene in tennessee

pierre thomas. jon karl. chris christie. >>> and striking syria. >> these are not the actions of a man. they are the crimes of a monster instead. >> the u.s. joins an international response to the chemical weapons attack. trump tweets mission accomplished. how effective were the limited air strikes? the latest from martha raddatz. we'll break down the politics. smoke out the spin. the facts that matter, "this week." >>> good morning. thanks for joining us this sunday after another extraordinary week in the trump presidency. it was capped by friday night's strike on syria. the u.s. joined by france and england, retaliating for a chemical weapons attack by the assad regime. u.n. ambassador nikki haley reinforcing the president's message yesterday saying the u.s. is locked and loaded for a new strike if assad uses poisonous gas again. >>> on the investigative front. a strike deep into the president's inner circle. with the fbi raid on the home, office, and hotel room of trump's personal attorney michael cohen. t

abc's chief justice correspondent pierre thomas on what we're learning about her tonight. good evening, pierre. >> reporter: tom, good evening. you're exactly right. it's rare to hear women being involved in this type of shooting. the secret service just released a study that examined attacks from last year. all were carried out by males. incidents do happen. the san bernardino attack also in california involved a we mall shooter working in concert with her husband. but tonight, an intensive investigation is under way to look into her background. authorities including the fbi will be trying to identify family, friends and associates for every available detail. and the atf will soon trace that gun and that may produce additional leads. it's very early in this investigation, tom. >> pierre, thank you. >>> next, we are also tracking extreme weather at this hour, including tornado watches across eight states. from arkansas to ohio. large hail bouncing off the ground in yellow springs, ohio. you can see it right there. flood rains washing out this road in union county, indiana.

but pierre thomas leads us off on the comey showdown. >> reporter: the war of words escalating between the former fbi director and president trump. tonight, with the exclusive abc news interview hours away, the president tweeting, "slippery james comey, out of whack (he is not smart!), will go down as the worst fbi director by far." >> if you knew that letter would elect donald trump, you'd still send it? >> i would. >> reporter: comey providing new details about how torn he was about informing congress that he had reopened the hillary clinton e-mail investigation just 11 days before the 2016 election. >> hillary clinton's convinced that that letter defeated her. what do you say to her? >> i hope not. i don't know. i honestly don't know. i sure hope not. >> at some level, wasn't the decision to reveal influenced by your assumption that hillary clinton was going to win, and your concern that she wins, this comes out several weeks later, and then that is taken by her opponents as a sign that she's an illegitimate president. >> it must have been. i don't remember consciously thinking abou

of the can i discuss this further than i was young pierre thomas an advisor was an advisor to the former french president nicolas sarkozy and he joins us now and you're very welcome thanks for coming on thanks for your time what are your thoughts firstly on the western led air strikes on syria at the weekend that were effectively based on the evidence provided by the white helmets. where they seemed that you know we are not sure about the scene we just see today is that we are storm documents which are done to prove that these chemical attacks were made by storm activity still on the place and the problem is that the international community in the united states and france and agree with you know i.q. . and power. and the russian lord organize these chemical attacks without any proves or a problem now we don't know exactly what it was in your big doubt about it. do you think of way. and we should have waited two hours of proof if proof does come out for us a proof but if growing evidence suggests this video footage isn't authentic. is miss first stated t. think that britain france and ame

abc's chief jous tis correspondent pierre thomas live with us tonight from washington. what have you learned from your sources about the suspect? >> reporter: david, he's believed to be from the toronto area, and they believe this was an intentional act. they are sorting out if this is terrorism or not, but these kind of vehicle attacks have become the preferred method of terrorists around the world. more than 100 people have been killed and 500 injured in these kind of attacks since 2016. that's why, david, you're seeing cities put up more and more barriers to try to protect pedestrians. >> just a horrific scene. pierre, thank you. >>> meantime, tonight, an arrest an takedown after that killing spree at a tennessee waffle house a massive manhunt playing out today. the tip leading them to the suspect. and tonight, we learned that they had taken weapons away from him before. abc's arierielle reshef is on t scene in tennessee for us. >> reporter: tonight, one of the most sought after suspects in the country captured. a phone tip leading police to 29-year-old travis reinki

here's abc's chief justice correspondent, pierre thomas. >> reporter: this is erik prince, the founder of the security company blackwater. he is also the brother of education secretary, betsy devos. sources allege he was also a liaison between the trump transition and the russian government, something he emphatically denies. here, prince is leaving a closed session with congressional investigators clearly annoyed. >> i've already wasted four hours of my life. >> reporter: but tonight, sources tell abc news the special counsel has obtained evidence that may conflict with prince's sworn testimony. at issue, a meeting prince attended at this exotic seychelles resort just two weeks before the inauguration. also there, a russian banker with ties to the kremlin. prince has said his meeting with the russian banker was unplanned, a chance encounter while on a business trip. >> i happened to be there, and i met a russian, some fund manager. i can't even remember his name. we didn't exchange cards. >> reporter: prince remembered the russian's name when speaking to those congressional investigato

abc's pierre thomas has the details. >> reporter: the former second in command at the fbi now facing a possible criminal investigation by the very agents he once led. abc news learning that the justice department's inspector general has referred the case of former deputy director andrew mccabe to the u.s. attorney's office in d.c. for possible criminal prosecution. mccabe first came to national attention after president trump fired his boss, james comey, and mccabe vowed to go forward with the russia probe. >> sir, we consider it to be a highly significant investigation. the fbi will continue to pursue this investigation vigorously. >> reporter: he was then fired himself just two days before retirement amid allegations he misled investigators looking into his role in authorizing a leak to the media about an investigation into the clinton foundation, a damning report by the justice department inspector general concluding he lacked candor when talking to investigators and when talking to comey himself. comey saying he could even potentially be a witness against mccabe, offering his for

our chief justice correspondent pierre thomas is tracking all of this for us there in d.c. good morning, pierre. >> reporter: robin, good morning. that's right. those controversial comey memos now in the hands of congress and president trump is weighing in. overnight, abc news obtaining the memos former fbi director james comey wrote after those controversial encounters with the president. the memos turned over by the justice department to congressional investigators last night largely match comey's congressional testimony and what he said in an exclusive interview with abc news. after his first encounter with president-elect trump on january 7th of last year, comey wrote he seemed preoccupied with salacious accusations from unverified intelligence. the subject, prostitutes. there were no prostitutes, there were never prostitutes, comey recalled trump saying. and comey telling george -- >> he interrupted. started talking about it. do i look like a guy who needs hookers? >> reporter: roughly after a month and another meeting with trump in the oval office comey wrote the pres

want to get the latest from pierre thomas. >> reporter: good morning. in a starkly aggressive move, the fbi conducted those raids taking cohen's electronic devices, phone and a host of documents including some related to that payment to porn star stormy daniels. the action taken against trump's personal attorney who he's known for more than a decade left the president frustrated. this morning he's tweeting, quote, attorney/client privilege is debt. also writing a total witch-hunt. the president is clearly fuming. >> i have this witch-hunt constantly going on for over 12 months now and it's a disgrace. it's frankly a real disgrace. it's an attack on our country in a true sense. >> why don't you just fire mueller. >> why don't i just fire mueller? i think it's a disgrace what is going on. we'll see what happens. >> reporter: he's been warned firing mueller could set off a constitutional crisis. he's clearly very angry and no one knows what he's going to do, george. >> it is back on the table. okay, pierre, thanks very much. amy. >>> now to facebook's ceo

thomas is the only female both women have learned to assert themselves in a male dominated professions and i think it's proof to them that i can do it as well just because i'm a girl i can't do it that was the prejudice i showed them that girls can also do their jobs. the numbers show that the percentage of women in so-called mayer professions is slowly rising across germany eight percent of anti specialist apprentices are female among those who train to become automotive myka tronic technicians the number has now risen to four percent in the electronics the proportion of women is still low at two percent it's no surprise that the vocational school in life sake has only one woman but five male teachers in electrical engineering she says things are changing slowly. there's a lot of them often for long as we speak of women in male professions there's not gender equality it is of course understandable there is only one woman in the group but then general i don't see to classical distinctions anymore. in these times of skilled worker shortage women in male professions are needed more than

pierre thomas, washington. >> comey talked about that announcement where he talked about the investigation about hillary clinton. he said he should have said at the outset of that, that there would be no charges. some people call that seacresting. >> ryan always goes, this -- is -- "american idol." >> or you -- are -- not going home. you are staying in the competition. >> so we learned something. seacresting. thanks, comey. and he will reveal his story in his own words in an interview with george stephanopoulos this sunday night at 9:00 central. >>> there's new allegation involving hush money during the 2016 campaign. it centers on a doorman named dino sajudin. and his uncorroborated salacious story from before donald trump was president. and the new yorker first reported on the $30,000 made to sajudin as the primary heated up, the payment came from the parent company of the national inquirer. the story was never published. and the doorman confirms to abc news that he had an agreement about that story. >>> russia requested a security council meeting after russia's ambassador said his count

abc's chief justice correspondent pierre thomas joins us from washington. pierre, how worrisome is this? >> reporter: indeed, paula, good morning. today, u.s. law enforcement and homeland security officials are warning americans again are the victims of russian government hackers who are secretly exploiting something very close to home. new this morning, the government issuing an urgent alert warning state-sponsored russian hackers have secretly launched a campaign to infiltrate internet routers to commit espionage, steal business and design secrets and to potentially launch future attacks. the target, millions of american companies, small businesses, even your homes. those routers controlling the flow of internet traffic now apparently one of the primary gateways for the russian government to snoop on americans and potentially shut down services. >> these devices actually make ideal targets. this is a global threat. the simple way to think about it is that once you own the router, you own the traffic that's traversing the router. >> reporter: the new warni

let's go to our chief justice correspondent pierre thomas for more on that end of the story. good morning, pierre. >> reporter: robin, good morning. our sources are describing alek minassian as 25 from the toronto area. now, we're being told last night that he was completely suicidal. neighbors are describing him as a loner, not social at all. in addition to searching his home, canadian authorities are looking at his social media footprint, searching for any hint at motive, and u.s. intelligence is checking as well. but the issue law enforcement sources were talking about last night is how attack by vehicle is becoming the preferred method of assault. we don't know yet if this is terrorism but since 2016, more than 100 people have been killed, more than 500 people have been injured in these kind of attacks. over and over authorities are seeing these attacks popping up and, robin, i have to tell you with so many streets, so many sidewalks, police simply don't know what to do. >> i bet not. all right, pierre, thank you. >>> we'll get the latest now on former president george h.

our chief justice correspondent pierre thomas has the latest on all of this from washington. pierre, good morning to you. >> reporter: paula, good morning. "the post" is reporting that the president's attorneys have been told by the special counsel that he's under investigation but not yet a criminal target. which typically means investigators have concluded there is firm evidence that a suspect has committed a crime so the president now faces a complicated situation and must decide whether he will submit to an interview with special counsel bob mueller. he is still under investigation and that interview could possibly put mr. trump in jeopardy if the president's testimony does not line up with the facts of mr. mueller's probe. and remember, the special counsel has already gotten five guilty pleas in connection with false statements made to investigators so, paula, the president has a big decision to make. >> he certainly does. i know his aides are concerned that mueller is trying to bait him to do this interview but, pierre, we have our first sentencing in the mueller invest

abc's chief justice correspondent pierre thomas is in washington with this exclusive report. good morning, pierre. >> reporter: george, good morning. that's right. today we have new details about the special counsel obtaining documents from a new key witness in the russia investigation. sources telling abc news those documents appear to call into question the congressional testimony of a prominent trump supporter. erik prince, trump supporter and blackwater security founder leaving a closed session of the house intelligence committee frustrated. >> i've already wasted four hours of my life on that. >> reporter: but sources tell abc news that very testimony is now drawing increasing scrutiny from the special counsel. the brother of education secretary betsy devos was irritated by democrats raising questions about a meeting he had with a russian with close ties to vladimir putin. half a world away at the seychelles islands in the days just before trump's inauguration. >> they were asking me weird fishing expedition questions. >> reporter: he suggested to house investigators he

let's bring in cecilia vega, our correspondent, and our chief justice department correspondent pierre thomas as well and cecilia, as we said the white house has known this was coming and braced with a response. >> reporter: the president himself is responding. he just tweeted, george. take a look, james comey is a proven leaker and liar. he leaked classified information for which he should be prosecuted. the president calls him a weak and untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible director of the fbi. he says the handling of the hillary clinton case and the events surrounding it will go down as one of the worst botched jobs of history. quote, it was my great honor to fire james comey and it's not just the president. the rnc is firing back too. they've got a website calling him lying comey.com and even a war room set up, george. >> what other headlines that caught your eye that you expect to get a response from the white house. >> reporter: i expect to hear about this anecdote of chief of staff john kelly saying he intended to quit after comey was fired because he di