tonight, donald trump's historic legal battle simultaneously unfolding in multiple courts. and the stunning decision, harvey weinstein's conviction overturned in new york. first, the supreme court takes on donald trump's claim of absolute immunity, hearing arguments over trump's efforts to avoid prosecution for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election. the justices citing the massive implications, drawing lines between political and personal actions. justice neil gorsuch declaring they are, quote, writing a rule for the ages.

how long before they issue their decision? will the case go to trial before the election, if at all? terry moran at the supreme court. the criminal trial of donald trump here in new york. the former publisher of "the national enquirer," david pecker, describing payments to made to playboy model karen mcdougal, who clayed to have a year-long relationship with trump. aaron katersky at the courthouse. the stunning decision involving disgraced movie mogul harvey weinstein. new york's appellate court overturning his rape conviction. the case that launched the me too movement, now likely headed for a retrial. disturbing images of the police crackdown on campus protests across the u.s. officers tasing a protester at emory university. new pro-palestinian demonstrations breaking out at more schools. usc now canceling its main graduation ceremony, as protesters face a deadline to

clear out at columbia. stephanie ramos standing by. authorities investigating the death of a man following a confrontation with police. body camera video showing him struggling with officers after a crash. an officer seen with his knee on the man's back as he screams, "i can't breathe." millions bracing for four days of severe storms from texas to iowa. tornado watches across several states at this hour. rob marciano timing it out. the harrowing landing at l.a.x. the 747 bouncing down the runway, attempting to land. the pilot forced to pull up for another try. and the nfl draft just a short time from now. hundreds of thousands of fans packing into detroit to see who will go number one. good evening, it's great to have you with us on this thursday night, i'm whit

johnson, in for david. we begin with a historic and head-spinning day of legal drama. donald trump and his alleged efforts to influence elections at the center of it all. at the supreme court, the former president's case testing the boundaries of presidential power. trump's lawyers arguing he has absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. lawyers for special counsel jack smith, who is prosecuting trump for those efforts, arguing that presidents are not above the law if they commit crimes. the justices acknowledging the case before them is not just about former president donald trump, but also about future presidents and the presidency itself. one critical question they're considering, whether a president can have immunity for an official act, but not his private conduct. abc's terry moran leads us off at the supreme court. >> reporter: at the heart of this case, donald trump's unprecedented claim. his lawyer telling the justices that presidents can never face

criminal prosecution for anything they do in office that can be linked to their official duties. absolute immunity. >> without presidential immunity from criminal prosecution, there can be no presidency as we know it. >> reporter: the sheer magnitude of that claim hung over the courtroom. several justices acknowledging the stakes. >> this case has huge implications for the presidency, for the future of the presidency, for the future of the country, in my view. >> whatever we decide is going to apply to all future presidents. >> reporter: trump argues that because of that absolute immunity claim, he cannot be prosecuted by special counsel jack smith for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. liberal justices were having none of it. justice sonia sotomayor pressing trump's lawyer on where his argument could lead. >> there are some things that are so fundamentally evil, that they have to be protected against. if the president decides that his rival is a corrupt person

and he orders the military, or orders someone to assassinate him, is that within his official acts for which he can get immunity? >> it would depend on the hypothetical. we could see that could well be an official act. >> it could and why? because he's doing it for personal reasons. >> reporter: justice elena kagan pointed to history. >> the framers did not put an immunity clause into the constitution. wasn't the whole point that the president was not a monarch, and the president was not supposed to be above the law? >> reporter: and justice ketanji brown jackson asked if there is no accountability, what would stop a president from "turning the oval office into the seat of criminal activity in this country." >> if the potential for criminal liability is taken off the table, wouldn't there be a significant risk that future presidents would be emboldened to commit crimes with abandon while they're in office? >> reporter: but conservative justices, while not embracing the full trump argument, made the case that presidents need some protection from criminal prosecution.

>> presidents have to make a lot of tough decisions about enforcing the law and they have to make decisions about questions that are unsettled. did i understand you to say, well, you know, if he makes a mistake, he makes a mistake, he's subject to the criminal laws just like anybody else? you don't think he's in a special -- a peculiarly precarious position? >> reporter: in the end, the court seemed to be searching for a middle ground -- a line between presidents' official acts, and their purely personal deeds, which could be grounds for prosecution. and they hinted they could send the whole case back down to the trial court for further proceedings. >> even if the court were inclined to recognize some immunity for a former president's official acts, it should remand for trial because the indictment alleges substantial private conduct -- >> yes. >> whit: terry moran joining us from the supreme court. and terry, the justices are expected to make a ruling by june, but they made it very clear they know exactly how high the stakes are. >> reporter: and you could feel that in the courtroom, whit.

it's clear that at the end of the day here, the justices, majority of them, want presidents to have some protection from prosecution, but not as much as trump wants, and that likely means a complicated opinion, more litigation in the lower courts, and an almost certain delay of any trial in this case until after the november election. whit? >> whit: terry, thank you. and as those arguments were getting under way, donald trump was in a manhattan courtroom facing charges surrounding a hush money payment made to hide an alleged affair from voters just before the 2016 election. the former publisher of "the national enquirer" david pecker testifying for a third day, and prosecutors finally asking about stormy daniels. abc's soon yorenior investigave correspondent aaron katersky is at the courthouse. >> reporter: tonight, the former publisher of "the national enquirer" testifying that even after trump became president, he still kept tabs on women who had been paid to keep quiet about their alleged affairs. >> david's been very nice. nice guy. >> reporter: pecker telling the

jury that at trump's direction, "the enquirer's" parent company bought the story of former "playboy" model karen mcdougal, who claimed she had a year-long sexual relationship with trump. pecker saying it could be "very embarrassing" to trump's campaign. he described a meeting at trump tower shortly after the election. trump saying, "i want to thank you for handling the mcdougal situation." then asking, "how's our girl?" pecker replying, "she's quiet. things are going fine." months later, trump invited pecker to the white house and asked again, "how's karen doing?" pecker recalled responding, "she's doing well. she's quiet." and he described a phone call where top white house officials hope hicks and sarah huckabee sanders encouraged him to keep paying mcdougal. >> mr. trump, do you still like pecker? >> reporter: and then there was stormy daniels, the porn star at the heart of this case. trump charged with falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment so voters wouldn't learn of their alleged affair. in the final weeks of the campaign, pecker said he told trump's fixer michael cohen daniels was shopping her story. he says cohen told him to buy it, but pecker refused, telling cohen, "i am not going to get

involved with a porn star. i am not a bank." ultimately, cohen himself paid daniels $130,000 to keep quiet. prosecutors say trump paid cohen back, falsely labeling it as legal expenses. trump has denied both affairs. his lawyers claim any effort to bury salacious stories was to protect trump's family. but pecker testifying that's not what he thought. "i thought it was for the campaign," he told the jury. "his family was never mentioned," only "the impact it would have upon the election." david, pecker showed trump no hostility, in fact, even though it has been five years since pecker said he last saw trump, he still considers him to be a friend. cross examination is just getting started, whit, so, david becker returns here to the witness stand tomorrow. whit? >> whit: aaron, thank you. next tonight, the stunning reversal in the sexual assault convict of harvey weinstein, the case that galvanized the me too movement. a new york appeals court throwing out his 2020 rape convection, saying he didn't get

a fair trial, because the judge made egregious errors. here's abc's eva pilgrim. >> reporter: it was the case that parked the me too movement. but tonight, a shocking reversal. harvey weinstein's rape conviction in new york overturned by the state's highest court. new york's court of appeals handing down the 4-3 decision, citing "egregious errors" by the judge overseeing the trial back in 2020, saying, "the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes." adding that testimony of uncharged crimes at the trial "was unnecessary" to establish weinstein's intent and "served only to establish defendant's propensity to commit the crimes charged." weinstein's legal team happily surprised. >> we knew that harvey weinstein did not get a fair trial. >> reporter: in february 2020, weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in new york for criminal sexual assault of one woman and third-degree rape of

another. tonight, he remains in a prison outside of albany. actress ashley judd was among the dozens of women to come forward with allegations against the studio boss. >> this is what it's like to be a woman in america, living with male entitlement to our bolds. >> reporter: the manhattan d.a. says he will retry this case. as for weinstein, it's unclear if he'll remain here in new york, or be transferred to a california prison, to serve a 16-year sentence for a conviction there. whit? >> whit: still major questions about what happens next. all right, eva, thank you. now, to those campus protests over the war in gaza, spreading to more colleges and universities tonight. even as authorities move to shut them down. violent confrontations and arrests at emory in atlanta. while at columbia, where the movement began, protesters face a deadline to take their tent encampment down. abc's stephanie ramos tracking it all, and a warning, some of the images are difficult to

watch. >> oh, my god! >> reporter: tonight, disturbing images of the crackdown on campus protests against the war in gaza. in atlanta, a state trooper repeatedly tasing a man at emory university as protesters clashed with police. >> i go to this school! i have a right to be here! >> reporter: the university saying it all started when outsiders trespassed onto campus and set up tents. >> i saw police knock students to the ground. >> reporter: across the country, more than 400 people detained on dozens of campuses, as pro-palestinian protesters call for schools to divest from companies that profit from ties to israel. after nearly 100 protesters were arrested in clashes with police at usc, tonight, the university canceling their main graduation ceremony. students at columbia university nearing a deadline to clear this encampment. this jewish student says he's been harassed by protesters, and

he just wants safety and order. >> if this is how it remains, okay, fine, i'm okay with that. >> reporter: other jewish students who joined these pro-palestinian protests insist their goal is peace. >> i know that if we see a free palestine within our lifetime, i am one step closer to the jewish safety that myself, all my peers are looking for. >> reporter: columbia had given protesters another 48 hours until tomorrow to clear the encampment. we know protesters are still in talks with university officials. one student telling us, it hasn't been an easy process, at one point, stepping away from the negotiating table, but tonight, they are back at it. whit? >> whit: stephanie ramos, thank you. now, to that one-two punch of severe weather across the heartland. at this hour, tornado watches for multiple states. more than 20 million on alert for severe storms. then, a second round striking this weekend from texas up to the great lakes. abc's rob marciano here, our senior meteorologist, tracking it all. and rob, a very active four-day stretch now. >> yeah, whit, you can call it a

four-punch combination here. tornado watches already up. we've had at least one confirmed tornado in western kansas. and these are up until at least midnight. another batch of storms is going to fire across the red river tonight. that includes wichita falls, up through oklahoma. large hail and damaging winds in those storms. everything pushes east tomorrow with the bulls eye becoming more of an omaha to kansas city for the highest tornado threat. then we reset everything on saturday, and i think the i-35 corridor could become explosive, up through oklahoma city, wichita, kansas city, and then pushing to the east on sunday. st. louis and chicago. the highest threat will be saturday. either way, a very active four days and nights ahead. whit? >> whit: rob, thank you. now, to our earth week series. "the power of us." an abc news investigation into where plastic bags earmarked to be recycled could end up, that's if they are recycled at all. here's abc's chief national correspondent matt gutman. >> reporter: tonight, our 18-month investigation following the trail of plastic waste

american consumers think they're recycling. all we want to know is where you send the plastic bags that are earmarked for recycling. our team following 46 tracking devices we placed in plastic bag recycling bins at big box stores across the country. and we found three from walmart stores ended up thousands of miles away. one of them pinging from outside plastic facilities in indonesia, where we found what appears to be ill legal dumping. another landing at a facility in malaysia, which a 2023 malaysian government list said was operating without an import license. this woman lives on the front lines of the plastic pollution crisis. >> this is a human right infringement. why do you think that we are better than you to manage the waste you created? >> reporter: none of these facilities responded to our requests for a comment. and for over a year, walmart also declined to talk.

so we decided to attend a conference where their chief sustainability officer was speaking. hi, i'm matt gutman, abc news. how are you? walmart's kathleen mclaughlin. these are the pictures of the facilities that your plastic ended up in indonesia. that's in malaysia. >> let's get time to talk about this. i'd love to learn more about -- >> reporter: well, we have a room actually right here. if -- if you would come -- >> i have to go, i'm sorry. but i would love -- let's talk about it. >> reporter: well, we've been trying to for over a year now and we've been flatly rejected by your team. ultimately they declined the interview, but provided a statement, saying in part they are "continuously improving" their recycling program, drawing up new contracts with partners, requiring proof they're actually recycling. >> whit: our thanks to matt gutman for that. you can see more of matt's 18-month-long eye-opening reporting, "trash: the secret life of plastic exports," streaming now on hulu and abc news live. when we come back tonight, disturbing body camera video. authorities investigating the death of a man following a struggle with police. an officer with his knee on his back as he screams, "i can't

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tyson heard screaming, "i can't breathe." he appears motionless for more than five minutes before officers checked for a pulse. he died at the hospital about an hour later. two officers have been placed on administrative leave while an investigation is under way. when we come back, the aborted landing at l.a.x. the passenger jet bouncing on the runway.

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the nfl partnering with the special olympics, bringing young michigan athletes together with the top picks. quarterback caleb williams, expected to go first overall to the chicago bears. >> as a kid, i did dream of this. i set my goals, i went after it, i got it, i'm here, i'm ready for the moment. >> reporter: and we asked the likely second pick, jayden daniels, about the weight of this moment. if you do go second overall in the draft, what would that mean to you? >> i would say, that's where i was meant to be, that's where god placed me to be. i'm going to, you know, embrace it, you know, i'm blessed to be in this position. >> reporter: we're just moments away, and these hundreds of thousands of fans here in detroit are giddy with anticipation. millions more tuning in at home. 8:00 p.m. eastern, it's the first round of the nfl draft on abc. whit? >> whit: a big night ahead. will, thank you. we' we'll be watching. thank you so much for joining us tonight. i'm whit johnson in new york. have a great night.

firefighting foam still visible on the street where four members of one family, including children, died in a fiery wreck. good afternoon. i'm kristen sze and i'm dan ashley. >> thank you for joining us. a tragic scene that's going to ripple throughout the east bay and beyond. this deadly crash happened last night on foothill road, not far from stone ridge mall in pleasanton. it claimed four lives, including two children. >> abc7 news reporter zach fuentes joins us live from the scene. zach, what do we know about what happened? >> yeah, it's just heartbreaking. pleasanton pd are only releasing so much information right now as they continue to investigate. but

like you said, we know it was four members of one family. another driver reported this accident around 9 p.m. last night and police are still working to find out exactly what happened. but right now they are not sure if speed was a factor, if alcohol was involved or any other foul play was involved. the road was closed for hours. the family was traveling in an electric car that kept reigniting while investigators were working to clear the scene. the car even caught fire again on the tow truck. police have not confirmed the model of the car as the accident continues to be investigated. the focus now is the family of four and those who knew them. police say the children involved in the accident were elementary and middle school aged. the pleasanton unified school district said that the kids involved were students at their schools. we heard from a district spokesperson moments after he visited one of the school sites. >> it's somber. i think whenever anything like this happens and it impacts the entire family, it's tragic. i don't know how else to put it, the district said.