tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. a short time ago, president trump firing fbi director james comey. inside the president's stunning decision. comey under fire for his handling of the hillary clinton e-mail investigation. his decision to go public, then reigniting the investigation 11 days before the election, only to then reveal it turned up nothing. and tonight, we ask what happens now in the current fbi investigation into russian meddling. >> also breaking tonight, the emergency declared at a nuclear site here in the u.s. a tunnel collapsing, thousands of workers told to shelter in place. >> the new and stunning case tonight. a brawl on a passenger jet from dallas, the flight attendant caught in the middle. our team standing by.

>> and the list of college students being charged grows. after that student fell down the stairs and later died. and tonight, after our exclusive with one of the students, what we've now learned. good evening and it's great to have you with us here on a tuesday night. we begin with that bombshell from the white house late today. fbi director jaymes comby fired late today. last week, he testified about the investigation into russian and the election. comey's relationship with the president has been closely watched. right here in their first meeting at the white house, the president in fact joking that you've become more famous than me. well, tonight that fbi director has now been fired and our chief white house correspondent jon karl with new reporting tonight. what led to this stunning decision.

>> reporter: hillary clinton's e-mails may have had an impact on the election. he upended the election 11 days before the vote. announcing his investigators were now pouring over new e-mails discovered on the laptop of anthony weiner married to hillary's close aide huma abedin. >> forwarding e-mails to him for i think to print out for her to deliver them to secretary of state. >> reporter: last week, comey testified that abedin forwarded, quote hundreds and thousands of e-mails some which contained classified information. the fbi acknowledging that his testimony was misleading. in a letter to congress, she only forwarded a small number of e-mails to weiner.

>> gave inaccurate testimony -- >> at this point, i haven't asked and i'm not fully aware of situation -- i'm aware of the inquiry that occurred. yet to follow on up on that. >> does the president still have full confidence in fbi director comey. >> i have no reason to believe. i haven't asked the president the last time we spoke about it. >> you're not sure to say again -- >> in light of what you're telling me i don't want to behalf of the president without speaking to him first. >> reporter: comey is out. in a statement the president said, quote, today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement. >> let's get live to jon karl at the white house there. the administration is making it clear one of the reasons comey has been fired was because of how he handled the clinton

e-mail investigation during the campaign. before then announcing no criminal charges. >> it with us the primary reason, david, and the case against comey is outlined in a stern letter a three-page letter from the deputy attorney general that especially takes issue with that press conference back in july of last year, saying i cannot defend the director's handling of the conclusion of the investigation and secretary clinton's e-mails and i don't understand his refusal to accept the new universal judgment that he was mistaken. very strong words against the fbi director explaining why the recommendation was made at that the president should fire him. >> jon, you covered this campaign closely. the irony is lost. the decision based on how hillary clinton's e-mails. she was donald trump's fierce opponent and now he's been fired because of mishandling that moment. >> yes, when he announced he

wasn't going to seek an indictment of hillary clinton he went on with his press conference to quote, hold a press conference to release derogatory information about the subject of investigation. >> okay, jon karl leading us off tonight. let's bring in abc senior justice correspondent pierre thomas. the big question now is the current fbi investigation into russian med ling and any possible collusion between trump campaign and russia. who runs this investigation? >> lot of unknowns. the investigation at least for now should continue. it's being overseen by the deputy attorney general. because jeff sessions had to recuse him. the agents in the field should continue to investigate. make no mistake the deputy attorney general will make the assessments as if there should be any prosecutions.

it would be aggressively pursued no matter where it leads. tonight, we heard no response from the fbi and they're clearly shocked. we expect an interim fbi director will be appointed. so far they haven't spoken what happened next. >> the ag has recused himself the current president donald trump firing the fbi director today, who's actually leading that active investigation into russia, this is real test not only for the fbi but for the department of justice -- >> right the career people at the fbi and the department of justice they'll have to take the lead and maintain this investigation. like i said, david the new deputy attorney general will be the person making the calls including there should be an special counsel to investigate this case. more pressure on him to make that call coming very soon. >> pierre thomas our thanks to you. cecilia vega covered the clinton

campaign. we all remember that moment in iowa the plane had landed, the clinton campaign onboard. they had bad wifi reported at the time they learned upon landing that the e-mail investigation had been reopened, 11 days before the election, comey then revealing nothing had been found in that investigation but said he had to make that public today. let's hear what hillary clinton said. >> i was on the way to winning until a combination of jim comey's letter on october 28th and russian wikileaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me but got scared off. >> she said that and it made news immediately. she was on the way to winning before james comey made that announcement. >> look, i just got off the phone with sources close to

hillary clinton and surprisingly perhaps they're not necessarily applauding this move the concern right now among people close to clinton is that perhaps this move is related to the fbi's investigation into russia, into president trump and not so much related to the past that long history you just mentioned between james comey and hillary clinton. it's a resounding sense of angry and right now and worry close to hillary clinton. they're online tweeting about this. former spokesman said i wonder if we'll get to bottom of russia. this is very much a concern inside clinton world with what's happening with that investigation into russia. quick check in with mary bruce, surprised as rest of the country with this announcement today. >> swift reaction coming in from both sides of the isle this evening. leading republicans like lindsey

graham said this is a sign a fresh start may serve the nation well. while democrats are already raising red flags. maybe questioning comey was fired because he could possibly get to the bottom of any possible russia connection. the senator chris van holdin said firing comey has the foul stench of stopping an ongoing investigation. this move simply underscores their call for a special prosecutor to lead the investigation. >> mary bruce, tonight, our thanks to our entire team on the breaking news. in the meantime we move on to the other major headline, the emergency at hanford nuclear site in washington state. hundreds of thousands of workers asked to shelter in place. abc's matt gutman on the notice that went out and what everybody there needs to know.

>> reporter: the alert came in at 8:26 am. >> respond to the purex tunnel for a possible collapse of the tunnel. >> reporter: workers at the site say they noticed a depression right over an array of storage sites. the ground sagging at the juncture of two tunnels holding highly radioactive rail cars, triggering fear of a radioactive release. >> dirt collapsed into the tunnel. nobody's involved, there's no people involved. it's just releasing contamination and high radiation out of the tunnel. so we're going to try to figure out the doses right now. >> reporter: some 3,000 workers under the shelter in place order were forbidden from eating and drinking anything in the small chance it might be con item nated. >> officials said the depression was the size of a large swimming pool -- the hanford nuclear site sits on the bank of the river.

the site is the largest nuclear site in the western hemisphere, half the size of the state of rhode island, with 9,000 employees. it produced most of the plutonium for the us military program, including the bombs dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki. it has been closed there for 30 years. it's going to take a significant federal work force and state oversight to clean up the enormous mess left by the weapons production process. >> this was a really troubling headline today. matt gutman live with us tonight. workers told to shelter in place you learned there was a tour group inside the site within this happened? >> reporter: that's right, david a public tour, now it was cancelled as soon as that cave-in was discovered. we're told no one was exposed. even at decommission sites like this, nuclear materials can be remain radio active for

thousands of years we turn next to a troubling new case a new brawl breaking out on a passenger plane, an altercation between passengers while on the tarmac, a flight attendant caught in the middle. and it comes after the chaos we saw overnight at the ft. lauderdale airport. so many american passengers asking, what's happening? here's abc's david kerley. >> reporter: another sign of civility disappearing from aviation. a flight attendant pleading for security and the captain. >> stop it! >> reporter: and then that same flight attendant slammed to the floor as the two men continued to fight at their end of their flight. three passengers were involved before being pulled apart. one arrest the sunday incident the day before this. terminal turned into a near-riot scene. police in ft. lauderdale called in when a crowd becomes angry

and agitated that spirit airlines is cancelling flights again. >> very tense, very angry, angry people. everybody had places to be. >> reporter: the travel nightmare continued this morning, dozen flights cancelled. among those arrested this 24-year-old. >> i was upset. >> reporter: spirit's week of cancellations labor trouble because pilots are refusing overtime flights. they ruled for the airline but individual pilots can still refuse extra flights. both these incidents a reminder of the unfriendly skies. southwest praised its flight attendants, spirit apologized to its passengers. david. >> david kerley in washington. shift in u.s. military strategy could be coming

involving thousands of american troops. recommending to president trump that he sends as many as 3,000 more troops to afghanistan and they expand their role in the fight against taliban. the war that began after 9/11 is already america's longest war. there's still much more ahead on "world news tonight" -- the list of students being charged. fraternity members accused of waiting is the hours before calling for help. what we have learned this evening. also news on that deadly amtrak crash in the northeast. the new headline involving the engine engineer. and so many of you reacting to this story last night, the empty cage surrounding eastwood. he was the last one left. we do have news about eastwood. don't go away. ased chemotherapy, including those with an abnormal alk

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fraternity party. several frat members accused of waiting at least 12 hours to call for help. prosecutors saying the one student who spoke out to abc news has become a target himself. and there's word tonight about cameras inside that frat house. here's abc's gio benitez. >> reporter: today as more penn state fraternity brothers in the death of tim piazza. >> reporter: prosecutors in court today now accusing of one of brothers in intimidation. is taking aim at kordel davis after he told our robin roberts that he begged in his fellow >> reporter: but after his interview the prosecutor said it texted a message that nobody likes you anyway. 18 members of beta theta pi now facing charges, 8 facing charges of involuntary manslaughter and assault. and for the first time we hear

that futile call for help. >> we have a friend who's unconscious, he's hasn't moved, probably going to need an ambulance. >> reporter: one member calling 911 nearly 12 hours after piazza intoxicated following heavy drinking in an alleged hazing ritual, fell headfirst down a staircase. >> okay, how old is he? >> he is 19? 19 years old. >> and was he breathing? >> he is breathing. >> was there any alcohol or anything involved, do you know? >> yes there is. >> reporter: the d.a. telling us high-def cameras in nearly every room captured piazza's suffering in agonizing detail for hours. by morning, 40 minutes before the 911 call, his skin color turning gray, his body stiffening. david, the fraternity brothers tried to revive him but refused to call for help. the frat brothers will be in court again next week. when we come back tonight -- the important medical headline this evening about pain killers and your risk of a heart attack.

also the school bus that went up in flames, 66 school children on board. and jimmy kimmel's return to late night and his message to political critics after he suggested that every newborn should get the same health care. we'll be back in a moment. ...including this little girl. and what if this happened again? i was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me? so i asked my doctor. and he recommended eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. yes, eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. both made me turn around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness.

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and automatically deploying countermeasures. keeping the world of business connected and protected. that's the power of and. >> the "index" of other news, new developments in the investigation of a deadly amtrak crash in philadelphia. eight people were killed and about 200 injured when the train derailed two years ago. the train was going 106 miles an hour around that curve. federal prosecutors say no criminal charges will be filed against engineer brandon bostian saying they can't prove he acted with "conscious disregard." to the hero school bus driver after that fire in duncan, south carolina. the bus carrying 56-school children, going up in flames this morning. two students saw smoke coming from the bus and told the driver. the superintendent says she evacuated the entire bus in less than one minute. the cause of the fire under

investigation. >> the new health alert tonight. a new analysis finding commonly used painkillers may increase the risk of heart attack. researchers say people taking high doses of some medications -- including those containing ibuprofen face a greater risk in the first month of treatment. the researchers looking at popular over-the-counter brands including advil and aleve. the study published in "the bmj." jimmy kimmel is back. coming under political fire for the tearful comments on his show about his newborn son billy requiring heart surgery immediately after the birth. he said no family facing what his family faced should be denied health care. he returned to his show last night addressing those critics. >> i'd like to apologize that children in america should have health care. it was insensitive. it was offensive. >> his trademark humor. his little boy is recovering at home with the family. when we come back tonight --

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if you are taking viberzi, you should not take medicines that cause constipation. the most common side effects of viberzi include constipation, nausea, and abdominal pain. stay ahead of ibs-d with viberzi. final highly tonight, america strong. so many of you sent me tweets after last night's news. we had no choice tonight with these three words. welcome home eastwood. last night here we met the dogs desperate for a home and 1-year-old eastwood from michigan, abandoned. the stray lob was born with an issue with his leg and he was the last one left. but they didn't give up. posting pictures of eastwood on

facebook and immediately hundreds of requests and this morning coming around that corner, eastwood's new family. the van gundys all there, stan, daughter kelly -- eastwood wearing a detroit pistons bandanna. his new dad stan is head coach. the pistons tweeting out a welcome to eastwood, writing stan's best friend. all this attention, that head coach is no longer the famous member of that family. >> you see eastwood everywhere, if you google eastwood he comes up before client eastwood. he's about as famous as it gets. >> reporter: on their way home, a final wave and eastwood right there in the home. i hope to see you right back here tomorrow. until then, good night.

>> nothing will take way the pain and sorrow we experience every day, and we will continue to experience it the rest of our lives. >> the family heartbroken was somewhat relieved after a guilty verdict for the man accuse of the killing 15-year-old sierra mar. good afternoon, thank you for join us. i'm larry beil. >> i'm alma daetz. it took two days for the jury to come to their decision. they came to a guilty verdict even though the body has not been found. >> we have team coverage of today apartments verdict a. jeannine de la vega has reaction from morgan hill. david louie with a look at what happened inside the courtroom. david? >> reporter: larry and alma, nearly 400 supporters joined the lamar family here at the court to hear the verdict read in court. the jury of six women and six

men had deliberated, as you mentioned, a half day thursday, half day friday and all day yesterday, meaning they had no difficulty in deciding whether antolin garcia torres is guilty or not. the public gathered in the courtroom gasped as the clerk read the verdicts. guilty of the first degree murder of sierra lamar, then three more guilty verdicts for kidnapping of women in grocery store parking lots in morgan hill three years before sierra lamar disappeared. it was the outcome the parents said they wanted. they emerged from the courthouse willing to share their emotions after the 13-week trial. >> we're grateful to the jurors coming up with the right decision. and it gives us paegs as a family knowing that this is not going to happen to another child, and that they can't get away with something like this. >> justice is served here for us today. justice for sierra. so,