d by los angeles distribution and broadcasting, inc. tonight, breaking news. president trump, russia and the intelligence briefing that infuriated him. late today, multiple reports, u.s. intelligence officials warned house leaders in recent days that russia right now is trying to help president trump get re-elected. sources confirming to abc news it angered the president who believed democrats would use it against him. then, his acting director of national intelligence, joseph maguire, replaced. jon karl standing by live tonight. also tonight, president trump's long-time associate roger stone sentenced. what the judge said today, after the president publicly lashed out against federal prosecutors. what the judge decided. the inferno on the interstate. the wall of flames 500 feet wide. the driver on fire.

bystanders racing in to help. the deadly plane crash. the scorched field. and the other headline tonight, the plane making an emergency landing with no landing gear. authorities shutting down the runways. the coronavirus tonight. authorities now believe a woman with the virus potentially infected nearly 40 others. and in the u.s. tonight, four patients now at a highly secured bio-containment unit in spokane. the attacks on the debate stage who does it help the most? and what michael bloomberg is now saying about his performance. bracing for the winter storm tonight. snow, blinding rain and wind chills plummeting to single digits, from d.c. to philly, new york to boston. and rob marciano has the track. the highway patrol pilot blinded be a laser pointer. you will see the moment they track down the suspect. we have news tonight on the flu here in the u.s. tonight, how effective is the flu shot this year? good evening and it's great to have you with us here on a

very busy thursday night. and we begin tonight with that developing headline involving the president and russia, and a new intelligence report that says russia is right now reportedly trying to help the president get re-elected house slide eleaders were brief already. and abc news confirms that angered the president. we already reported here he removed his acting director of national intelligence. the president announcing in just the last 24 hours that joseph maguire would be replaced. and tonight, multiple reports now, that move came after the president learned maguire's staff had briefed leaders in congress. abc's chief white house correspondent jonathan karl leading us off. >> reporter: tonight, "the new york times" reports intelligence officials told the house intelligence committee, in a classified briefing, that, quote, russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get president trump re-elected. "the times" reports the briefing infuriated president trump, especially the presence in the briefing of adam schiff, the democrat who led the impeachment in the house.

>> these people have vicious. adam schiff is a vicious, horrible person. >> reporter: according to another report in "the washington post," the president called in then-acting director of national intelligence joseph maguire to the oval office for a, quote, dressing down last friday. abc news has confirmed the report. sources tell us the president believed democrats would use the information from the briefing against him. in the past, the president has praised the acting director of national intelligence. >> admiral maguire is a very talented man. >> reporter: but now, one week after that election security briefing, maguire is out. his replacement? ambassador to germany richard grennell, a staunch trump loyalist with no intelligence experience. >> jon karl with us tonight from the white house. and jon, we know the new acting director of national intelligence has been openly skeptical about russian meddling in the 2016 election and now we have these new headlines tonight. >> reporter: yes. back in 2016, grennell wrote an opinion piece for fox news that

called the intelligence community's findings on russian interference unproven. he also added that russian interference had been around for deca decades. but david, i'm told by two senior officials that grennell will not be on the job long that the president will nominate a director of national intelligence soon, possibly within days and it will not be grennell. >> all right, more to come on this. jon, thank you. meantime tonight, president trump's long-time associate roger stone sentenced today. he was convicted on seven counts. the president had said federal prosecutors had asked for too much prison time. well, today, the judge, before handing own her sentence, issued a blistering rebuke to stone, and then her sentence. here's abc's pierre thomas. >> reporter: roger stone, the so-called dirty trickster and long-time friend of the president, smiling as he walked into court today amid cheers and jeers. >> traitor! >> reporter: but the smile drained from his face as he got

a blistering dressing down from judge ailmy berman jackson. jackson making clear stone's conviction on seven felony counts, including lying to congress and witness tampering, warranted severe punishment. the judge saying bluntly stone "was not prosecuted, as some have claimed, for standing up for the president. he was prosecuted for covering up for the president." trump has been sounding off on the case for weeks. >> i think roger stone was treated very badly. >> reporter: federal prosecutors initially recommending that stone receive a seven to nine-year prison sentence, only to be overruled by attorney general william barr. did you talk to the president at all about your decision regarding the recommendations? >> never. >> reporter: but today, stone alone faced the wrath of a scolding judge. "the truth still exists. the truth still matters. roger stone's insistence that it doesn't, his belligerence, his pride in his own lies are a threat to our most fundamental institutions, to the foundations

of our democracy. if it goes unpunished, everyone loses." the judge sentenced him to three years and four months in prison. the big question tonight -- will stone get a presidential pardon? the answer? not yet. >> i'm following this very closely and i want to see it play out to its fullest, because roger has a very good chance of exoneration, in my opinion. >> all right, pierre thomas with us live tonight from the courthouse. and pierre, president trump clearly was not happy with how this case played out, but today, he signaled that any possible pardon for roger stone would not come immediately. >> reporter: david, stone has requested a new trial, alleging jury misconduct. it appears president trump is going to wait and see how that plays out before any decision on a pardon. david? >> all right, pierre thomas, witnessing the scene there in court today. pierre, thank you. we're going to turn to the terrifying images from an interstate today. two highways shut down in indianapolis. look at this. a tanker truck carrying jet fuel

exploding after overturning. this was on a ramp between i-465 and i-70, with 4,000 gallons of jet fuel onboard. witnesses say the driver got out, but was on fire. they pulled him away in flames. they worked to save him. and here's abc's alex perez tonight. >> oh! >> reporter: tonight, the massive explosion and fireball engulfing an indianapolis highway overpass. >> we will need state police to shut down i-70. both directions. >> reporter: a tanker truck carrying 4,000 gallons of jet fuel overturning on a ramp. splitting open. that jet fuel igniting. >> wdo have a tanker that is fully involved, that has lost its full fuel. >> reporter: the inferno, some 500 feet wide, spreading to both sides of this bridge. this traffic cam capturing the fire spreading down the imbankment. the truck driver making it out of the vehicle, but he was caught in the flames.

good samaritans and a state trooper jumping in to extinguish him and bring him to safety. >> this guy is alive based on their actions. >> reporter: that driver rushed to the hospital in critical condition. and david, authorities say they are very lucky no bystanders were injured. that bridge remains closed as engineers inspect it to make sure it is still safe. david? >> all right, alex, thank you. and next tonight, to the desperate battle to contain the coronavirus. and an alarming new headline tonight about how easily this virus can spread. authorities in south korea now identifying a woman who they believe has potentially infected nearly 40 others. shutting down a major city there. while back here in the u.s. tonight, four patients who have tested positive have now been flown to a highly secure bio-containment unit, this time in spokane, washington. here's abc's ian pannell tonight. >> reporter: tonight, this isolation unit in spokane, washington, used for the first time, to care for four patients with covid-19. the former passengers from the diamond princess taken by ambulance today from travis air

force base. >> we have a specialized team that trains and drills regularly to safely care for patients in situations just as these. >> reporter: it comes as we learn of the first two deaths from the cruise ship. a japanese couple in their 80s who were hospitalized days ago. passengers who tested negative for the virus now trickabling off the ship. but now a warning from the japanese doctor who slammed his government's handling of the quarantine. >> these people who disembarked should be monitored for an extra 14 days, possibly avoiding the contact with other people. >> reporter: but those passengers can't return to the u.s. for two weeks. when he left the ship, carl goldman thought he was healthy, but was hit with a high fever on the flight home. >> we can go for days feeling fine. it hits very, very, very fast. >> reporter: he's now being treated for the virus in this bio-containment unit in omaha. >> we could have been exposing so many people to the virus, not knowing we had it. >> reporter: over seven weeks,

covid-19 has spread to 29 countries and territories, killing more than 2,000 and infecting more than 75,000. mostly in china. tonight, 2.5 million residents in one korean city ordered to stay indoors after a woman, who authorities called a super spreader, infected dozens in her own church. so, concerns in seoul, but also concerns here in japan, where people have been advised, those passengers coming off the ship, to self-quarantine, amid some questions that those who are now leaving, perhaps passing through this airport, could still be carrying the virus. david? >> all right, ian pannell tonight. thank you. back here at home tonight, and to the race for 2020, and to the fallout today after last night's debate. mike bloomberg at a rally today on his performance, and he, in fact, asked the audience, how was your night last night? and elizabeth warren today saying, i'm tired of these billionaires. here's abc's mary bruce on the trail. >> reporter: michael bloomberg

today tried to laugh off his rocky debate debut. >> so, how was your night last night? >> reporter: senator elizabeth warren ready with this blistering attack. >> i'd like to talk about who we're running against. a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians, and no, i'm not talking about donald trump, i'm talking about mayor bloomberg. >> reporter: bloomberg forced to defend himself against allegations of sexism. >> in my company, lots and lots of women have big responsibilities, they get paid exactly the same as men. and in my -- in city hall, the person that's the top person, my deputy mayor, was a woman. 40% of our commissioners were women. >> and i hope you heard what his defense was. i've been nice to some women. that just doesn't cut it. >> reporter: the senator pressed bloomberg on claims that he tried to silence stories of alleged sexual harassment at his company.

>> mr. mayor, are you willing to release all of those women from those nondisclosure agreements so we can hear their side of the story? >> we have a very few nondisclosure agreements -- >> how many is that? >> let me finish. >> how many is that? >> none of them accuse me of doing anything other than maybe they didn't like a joke i told. and let me just -- there's agreements between two parties that wanted to keep it quiet. i'm not going to get -- to end these agreements because they were made consensually and they have every right to expect that they will stay private. >> if they want to release it, they should be able to release themselves. say yes. >> reporter: bloomberg's record as mayor under attack from front-runner, senator bernie sanders. >> mr. bloomberg had policies in new york city of stop and frisk,

which went after african-american and latino people in an outrageous way. >> if i go back and look at my time in office, the one thing that i'm really worried about, embarrassed about, was how it turned out with stop and frisk. >> and it's not whether he apologized or not. the policy was abhorrent. and it was in fact a violation of every right people have. >> reporter: bloomberg and sanders are trying to make this a two-man race -- but mayor pete buttigieg with a warning to voters. >> let's put forward someone who's actually a democrat. look, we shouldn't have to choose between one candidate who wants to burn this party down and another candidate who wants to buy this party out. >> reporter: buttigieg slammed senator amy klobuchar for recently blanking on the name of the mexican president.

>> you're literally part of the committee that's overseeing these things. >> are you trying to say that i'm dumb? are you mocking me here, pete? >> i'm saying you shouldn't trivialize that knowledge. >> i said, i made an error. people sometimes forget names. >> can i just defend senator klobuchar for a minute? this is not right. i understand that she forgot a name. it happened -- it happens to everybody on this stage. >> reporter: bloomberg tried to make the case that a democratic socialist like sanders can't take on trump. >> i can't think of a way to make it easier for donald trump to get re-elected than listening to this conversation. this is ridiculous. we're not going to throw out capitalism. we tried that. other countries tried that. it was called communism and it just didn't work. >> not communism, mr. bloomberg. that's a cheap shot. >> reporter: today, bloomberg warned again that sanders can't win. he just said, quote, if we choose a candidate who appeals to a small base like senator sanders, it will be a fatal error. >> see, the small base is the

working families of this country which are the vast majority of the country. now, i think the small base that mr. bloomberg appeals to is the billionaire class. >> the debate continuing today. mary bruce with sanders there. she's live in nevada tonight. and mary, there's a chance, because there's so many candidates on the democratic side, that no candidate will actually win enough delegates to clinch the nomination outright. and last night they were asked that question, whether the person with the most delegates in the end should become the democratic nominee, or if they should fight this out at the con vejs, and their answers were very telling on this. >> reporter: david, bernie sanders was the only one on that stage to say that the candidate with the most delegates heading into the convention should be the nominee. all of his rivals said this process should be allowed to play out, so, today, i pressed sanders on how he plans to tackle this. and he told me, quote, the democratic party has got to be democratic. david? >> all right, mary bruce tonight. mary, thank you. now, to a different storm, this one moving in tonight in the mid-atlantic. snow, blinding rain and wind

chills plummeting by morning from d.c., up through new york and boston. in the single digits in some places. so, let's get right to meteorologist rob maurs yano. >> reporter: hi, david. the arctic cold is pouring into the east and meeting that storm in the mid-atlantic, where snow is flying from virginia beach to raleigh, north carolina. heavy rain from charleston, down to tallahassee. it does clear up, we'll see two to six inches of snow in eastern parts of north carolina. by tomorrow morning, it should be mostly done, but here comes the cold. going to feel like 6 degrees above zero in detroit. 15 below in burlington. 2 below in boston. and a balmy 12 degrees in d.c. that's a cold start to this weekend. david? >> rob, thank you. and there is still much more ahead on "world news tonight" this thursday. the deadly plane crash. the scorched field. the plane disintegrating during the crash. the other headline tonight, the plane making an emergency landing with no landing gear. also ahead, the highway patrol pilot blinded by a laser pointer. and you're going to see the

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david, the chp here and nearby travis air force base say choppers and military aircraft have been targeted within the past week. larsen is now facing felony charges and the fbi is investigates. david? >> all right, adrienne, thank you. when we come back here tonight, the deadly plane crash into a field in texas. and that emergency landing. the plane with no landing gear. i wouldn't be here if i thought reverse mortgages, took advantage of any american senior, or worse, that it was some way to take your home.

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father heard his son's heartbeat again. >> there it is. >> you hear it? that's your son. >> yeah. >> reporter: his father hears it. >> oh, my god. >> clear as day. >> it is. >> reporter: christy puts her hand on that father's shoulder and that dad says he could just imagine what his son is doing. >> he's probably out there running laps. >> reporter: his son, the runner, and christy, grateful for his heart. his father tonight telling us this. >> so peaceful and it was something that we all needed. >> reporter: and christy, too. >> hi, david. >> reporter: tonight, that donor is grateful not only for the heart, but for that family. >> so thankful and blessed to have them in our lives. it's like, at the end of a rainbow, you find a pot of gold? for me, that's how it is. >> beautiful story. two families brought together. i'm david muir. i hope to see you right bac

the ground water has shut down on an oakland high school. good afternoon. thank you for joining us. >> students and parents were alerted about the test go last night. this is happening at mcclymonds high school. people are scrambling to figure out what happens next. >> this is a stunning turn of events that could have larger implications. not only for the immediate future of the high school but also for the larger community. teachers and staff at west oakland's mcc be