Category: National

(NEW YORK) — In harrowing detail, an American tourist described the violence that he, his husband and two friends were caught in on Sunday in the vacation mecca of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, when armed criminals responded to the killing of a notorious cartel boss.

Yoni Pizer of Chicago told ABC News that he and his husband, who own a vacation condo in Puerto Vallarta, were driving their friends to a whale-watching expedition around 8:30 a.m. local time on Sunday when chaos suddenly erupted.

Pizer said they were just west of Puerto Vallarta, approaching an intersection, when they first noticed trouble and soon realized their lives were in jeopardy.

“We suddenly noticed a man running at us with a gun in his hand and one of my friends who was in the backseat shouted, ‘He’s got a gun! He’s got a gun!'” Pizer said.

He said the man was part of the group of armed assailants who were stopping cars and pulling the occupants out.

Pizer said the man banged on his car window and pointed the gun at his head. He said at first he thought it was just a carjacking, but later noticed other armed assailants stopping cars and pulling the occupants out.

He said the armed man ordered him and the others with him to get out of the car.

“At that point, he got into the car and drove it just a few yards into the intersection, and then threw an incendiary device in it, which exploded, and the car was quickly engulfed in flames,” Pizer said.

Widespread cartel-organized violence erupted following a Mexican Special Forces operation on Sunday that killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, who is also known as “El Mencho.”

Oseguera Cervantes was one of the most wanted criminals in both Mexico and the United States. He was one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into the U.S. Last year President Donald Trump designated the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

When Mexican forces moved in to arrest him on Sunday in another part of the state of Jalisco, “El Mencho’s security detail opened fire,” Mexico’s Secretary of National Defense Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said Monday. More than 30 cartel members were killed in the firefight, which also left 25 members of the Mexican National Guard dead, Mexican officials said.

Oseguera Cervantes initially got away, but government forces tracked him down in the town of Tapalpa, about 180 miles southeast of Puerto Vallarta, where he and his two bodyguards were gravely wounded in a gun battle, Mexican authorities said.

El Mencho and his bodyguards died during an evacuation flight to a medical facility, Trevilla Trejo said.

In response, cartel members fanned out across the country, setting fire to vehicles and buildings, authorities said.

Among the other cartel members killed was a “principal confidant” of El Mencho in Jalisco who was “coordinating road blockades, vehicle burnings, and attacks on military and government facilities,” Trevilla said.

“Their goal was clearly to block all main roads in Puerto Vallarta. And, clearly, it wasn’t to kill people, because they easily could have killed all of us,” Pizer said.

He said that after his car was taken and set on fire, he and his party ran for their lives as they heard gunshots and saw numerous vehicles being torched.

“Then a city bus came up and they went onto the bus and started shooting their guns to make sure people understood that they meant business,” Pizer said, adding that the assailants blocked a road with the bus and set it on fire.

Pizer said at one point during their escape, he was separated from his husband and one of their friends, who both ended up sheltering in a church orphanage for more than eight hours.

Pizer said that a good Samaritan stopped and gave him and his other guest a ride back into Puerto Vallarta.

“We ran to the beach and turned around and saw black columns of smoke throughout the city,” Pizer said.

The U.S. State Department is advising American tourists to continue sheltering in place until tensions subside.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said there is a “greater calm” in Mexico as government forces worked to quell the violence.

Pizer said he fears the attack will wreck Puerto Vallarta’s top industry — tourism — at least for the short term.

“This all makes me very, very sad,” Pizer said. “Puerto Vallarta is such a wonderful, special place. Obviously, that’s why so many people come here.”

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(NEW YORK) —   “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie announced on Tuesday a new $1 million reward for the recovery of her mom, Nancy Guthrie, who has been missing since Feb. 1.

The combined reward between the family and law enforcement now stands at $1.2 million.

Sources familiar with the family’s decision told ABC News the family was prepared to fund the reward from the start but waited until now because they were initially advised against it.

Separately, the Guthrie family is donating $500,000 to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children to shine a light on other missing persons cases.

Nancy Guthrie, 84, was abducted from her Tucson, Arizona, home by an unknown suspect in the early hours of Sunday, Feb. 1.

“Every hour and minute and second and every long night has been agony,” Savannah Guthrie said in her Tuesday morning Instagram post.

“We still believe in a miracle,” Savannah Guthrie said. “We also know she may be lost. She may be gone.”

Savannah Guthrie said in the video that her mom may be “dancing in heaven,” and “If this is what is to be, then we will accept it. But we need to know where she is.”

“Somebody knows,” Savannah Guthrie said. “And we are begging you to come forward now.”

Savannah Guthrie wrote in the caption that anyone with information can anonymously call the FBI or “reach out to me.”

The FBI has released photos and videos of the unknown armed suspect in front of Nancy Guthrie’s home, appearing to tamper with a security camera.

The FBI in Phoenix said in a statement on Tuesday, “If you have firsthand knowledge of Nancy’s whereabouts or any information about where she may be located, please contact the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).”

“To help keep the tip line available for actionable investigative law enforcement leads, please submit only serious and detailed fact-based information – no well-wishes or case theories,” the FBI added. “The tip line is not for personal messages to the Guthrie family.”

Anyone with information is urged to call 911, the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.

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(WASHINGTON) — Text messages appear to show Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales pursuing a relationship with his former staffer, Regina Santos-Aviles — more than a year before she died by suicide.

The messages were provided to ABC News by Santos-Aviles’ widower.

In a series of texts from May of 2024, Gonzales, a married father of six, repeatedly requests “sexy” photos from Santos-Aviles. The aide seems initially hesitant, writing, “you don’t really want a hot picture of me.”

Gonzales continues, saying, “I’m just such a visual person” and “Sorry.”

He also appears to ask Santos-Aviles about her sexual preferences. Santos-Aviles replies to the request by saying, “This is going too far boss,” but appears to engage in flirtation, saying, “how long have you thought I was this hot?”

A final text dates from June of 2024 in which Santos-Aviles’ husband, Adrian Aviles, texts Gonzales and several staffers from Regina’s phone, telling them that he is filing for divorce due to the discovery of her messages with Gonzales, texting the group thread: “[S]he’s been having an affair on [him] with your boss Tony Gonzales.” The recipients of those texts include several current staffers, though ABC News has redacted their names and contact information.

The Gonzales campaign has not responded to ABC News’ requests for comment regarding the newly obtained text messages.

Gonzales has denied allegations he engaged in an extramarital affair with a congressional aide who died by suicide last fall — calling on the Uvalde police department to release its report on her death despite objections from her family.

Santos-Aviles, 35, died on Sept. 14, 2025, after she doused herself with an accelerant and set herself ablaze at her home in Uvalde, Texas, Bexar County officials determined.

Adrian Aviles’ lawyer Bobby Barrera told ABC News that his client did not share the text messages with congressional investigators, who are prepared to send a report to the House Ethics Committee as soon as next week.

ABC News has confirmed that Gonzales has been under investigation by the Office of Congressional Conduct, which has already completed its probe. Due to its rules, the OCC may not transmit a report against a member of Congress 60 days prior to an election. Gonzales is in a primary contest on March 3, so the report is expected to be transmitted to the House Ethics Committee the following day. 

Last week, Gonzales told ABC News that “Ms. Santos-Aviles was a kind soul who devoted her life to making the community a better place.”

The controversy is now attracting the attention of Gonzales’ Republican colleagues. This afternoon, Colorado GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert called on Gonzales to resign. She was later joined by Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina. Texas Republican Brandon Gill and Florida Republican Anna Paulina Luna called on Gonzales to drop his bid for reelection.

When asked about their statements by reporters, House Speaker Mike Johnson said that he doesn’t think “it’s time to call for resignation” and that “you have to allow investigations to play out and all the facts to come out.” The Speaker currently has a one-vote majority.

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(NEW YORK) — A quick-moving storm is making its way into northern Minnesota and Wisconsin from Canada on Tuesday and is expected to hit the Great Lakes dumping between 3 to 6 inches in the region.

The brief storm is expected to move into the Northeast around midnight on Wednesday and reach Pittsburgh around 1 a.m. followed by Philadelphia and New York City by around 5 a.m.

Snow will end for Philadelphia and New York City a few hours later at approximately 11 a.m. on Wednesday, while snow should end around 1 p.m. in Boston with a few lingering snow showers will last through the night over interior New England.

All three cities should expect no more than an inch of snow to accumulate, including Rhode Island as they continue to dig out of their 2.5 feet of snow from Monday.

Further inland, however, 1 to 3 inches of snow could be possible with higher elevations in the Northeast seeing up to 3 to 6 inches of snow.

Elsewhere, a storm currently in the Pacific Northwest will move across the country in the coming days and is expected to be shoved south by high pressure over the northern U.S. as it moves east.

This will lead to rain over the upper South on Thursday morning, with heavy rain possible for Kentucky and Tennessee and east through North Carolina.

On Thursday evening, that rain could be heavy over Tennessee as the storm moves north along the mid-Atlantic into Virginia, Delaware and Maryland.

By about 9 p.m. on Thursday, there is a chance this moisture is in line somewhere between Washington, D.C. and New York City with the potential of a wintry mix that could make roads slick.

If temperatures drop low enough, snow is also possible Thursday night for the region between Washington, D.C. to New York City. This could lead to a few inches of wet snow for the New York area, northern New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania by Friday morning.

The system is expected to move out of the area by midday on Friday and, by the afternoon, the weather could warm up a bit, with highs in the upper 30s.

Temperatures will reach the upper 30s and lower 40s this week in New York City and Boston as well, meaning some of the snow that has blanketed the region could begin to melt with some refreezing possible overnight.

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(MILAN) — FBI Director Kash Patel joined in on Team USA hockey’s locker room celebrations in Italy shortly after the team won the gold medal.

The team beat Canada 2-1 at the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina on Sunday, marking the first such victory for the U.S. since the so-called “Miracle on Ice” game in Lake Placid, New York, in 1980.

Patel, a hockey fan, was said to have had meetings in Italy prior to attending the game. Ben Williamson, an FBI spokesperson, said on social media that Patel’s trip had been previously scheduled. He added that “any other personal expenses would be reimbursed.”

Patel on Sunday evening posted on social media a statement, which he said was for “the very concerned media.”

“[Y]es, I love America and was extremely humbled when my friends, the newly minted Gold Medal winners on Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with the boys — Greatest country on earth and greatest sport on earth,” he said in the post.

A video obtained by ABC News showed Patel wearing a USA shirt in the locker room, where he’s seen singing along with members of the team. After he takes a swig, shakes his bottle and pounds the table, a member of the team places a gold medal around his neck.  

“Unity, Sacrifice, Attitude – what it takes to be the best in the world. These men live and breathe it,” Patel wrote on social media, where he posted photos of himself celebrating with the team in the locker room.

Patel added, ” Now Team USA are gold medal champions, legends standing on the shoulders of giants. Thank you for representing the greatest country on earth, in the greatest game ever created.”

He included several emojis — a fist bump, American flag and a hockey stick — then said, “congrats boys.”

Steven Cheung, the White House’s communications director, appeared on Monday to publicly defend Patel and the video, telling MS Now reporter Carol Leonnig on X, “don’t be mad because America won.”

Cheung was responding to Leonnig, who posted a video of Patel on social media and said the FBI had said it was “strictly a business trip.” Cheung said Patel was also meeting with security teams in Italy.

-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The federal judge who tossed then-special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case against President Donald Trump has permanently barred the release of Smith’s final report on his probe.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case in 2024 after deciding that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unlawful, then blocked the release of the Smith’s report on his investigation.

She ruled Monday that the report should be sealed for good, after Trump and his co-defendants in the case sought a court order barring the report’s release.

The public release of the report “would contravene the conclusions in the Court’s final Dismissal Order that Special Counsel Smith acted without lawful appointment or funding authority in this proceeding and that his actions taken in connection herewith are therefore invalid,” Cannon’s order said.

Cannon, a Trump appointee, also scolded Smith for preparing the report in the first place even though she had ruled his appointment was unlawful, calling it a “concerning breach of the spirit of the Dismissal Order.”

“Nevertheless, rather than seek a stay of the Order, or clarification, Special Counsel Smith and his team chose to circumvent it, for months, by taking the discovery generated in this case and compiling it in a final report for transmission to then-Attorney General Garland, to Congress, and then beyond,” Cannon wrote in her order.

“The Court need not countenance this brazen stratagem or effectively perpetuate the Special Counsel’s breach of this Court’s own order,” she wrote.

Trump pleaded not guilty in June 2023 to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House in 2021, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back. Trump asserted that he had every right to possess the documents.

Smith, testifying publicly before the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee last month, said his investigation “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity” — and that partisan politics did not play a role in his decision to charge Trump.

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(NEW YORK) — Nick Reiner is set to enter a plea to murder charges on Monday following his arrest late last year in the stabbing deaths of his parents, renowned director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Reiner.

The 32-year-old faces two counts of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of multiple murders.

He was set to enter a plea last month at a hearing in Los Angeles, before his defense attorney, Alan Jackson, withdrew from the case during the court appearance. Nick Reiner agreed to delay his arraignment and was assigned a public defender.

He remains in jail on no bail.

Jackson told reporters after court that he had to withdraw as Nick Reiner’s counsel due to “circumstances beyond our control, but more importantly, circumstances beyond Nick’s control.”

“Pursuant to the law in California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder,” he added. “We wish him the very best moving forward.”

A Reiner family spokesperson said at the time, “They have the utmost trust in the legal process and will not comment further on matters related to the legal proceedings.”

Nick Reiner made a brief first court appearance on Dec. 17, during which he waived the right to a speedy arraignment. 

Since then, sources told ABC News that law enforcement and defense attorneys had been working to piece together Nick Reiner’s psychiatric and substance abuse history.

He has a documented history of addiction and substance abuse treatment, and friends have told investigators that his mental health had been deteriorating prior to the fatal stabbings.

Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner were found stabbed to death in their Brentwood home on Dec. 14, 2025.

The night before, Nick Reiner — who had been living on his parents’ property — got into an argument with Rob Reiner at a holiday party and was seen acting strangely, sources told ABC News.

Nick Reiner was taken into custody in downtown Los Angeles hours after the bodies were discovered.

Rob and Michele Reiners’ other children, Jake and Romy Reiner, said in a statement following their parents’ deaths, “Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing.”

“The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience. They weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends,” they said.

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(NEW YORK) — The murder trial of Kouri Richins, a Utah mom accused of fatally poisoning her husband with fentanyl who self-published a children’s book on grieving following his death, is set to get underway with opening statements on Monday.

The 35-year-old realtor was charged with aggravated murder in connection with the 2022 death of her husband, Eric Richins, following a lengthy investigation. Prosecutors allege she spiked his cocktail with a lethal dose of fentanyl.

Her charges also include attempted aggravated murder, with prosecutors alleging she gave her husband a sandwich laced with fentanyl on Valentine’s Day two weeks before his death in an initial, failed attempt to kill him.

She has pleaded not guilty. The trial in Park City is scheduled to last up to five weeks.

“Kouri has waited nearly three years for this moment: the opportunity to have the facts of this case heard by a jury, free from the prosecution’s narrative that has dominated headlines since her arrest,” Kouri Richins’ attorneys — Wendy Lewis, Kathy Nester and Alex Ramos — said in a statement ahead of Monday’s opening statements. “Now the state must prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.”

“What the public has been told bears little resemblance to the truth,” the statement continued. “We welcome the courtroom, where evidence is bound by rules, not sensational coverage. Kouri is a mother who wants to go home to her children. We are confident this jury will make that possible.”

Prosecutors allege that Kouri Richins was in “financial distress” due to her realty company’s debts and believed she would have financially benefited from her husband’s death, according to the charging document. They also allege she was having an affair and purportedly told a witness months before her husband’s death that she “felt ‘stuck’ and ‘trapped’ in her marriage and it would be better if Eric Richins just died,” according to the charging document.

Eric Richins, 39, was found dead in the couple’s bedroom in the early hours of March 4, 2022. An autopsy determined he died from fentanyl intoxication, and the level of fentanyl in his blood was approximately five times the lethal dosage, according to the charging document. The medical examiner determined the fentanyl was “illicit fentanyl,” not medical grade, according to the charging document.

Prosecutors allege that Kouri Richins purchased illicit fentanyl shortly before the Valentine’s Day incident and again before his death, at which point she allegedly asked for stronger drugs.

Weeks before her husband’s death, she is accused of fraudulently securing a life insurance policy for her husband with his forged signature, and then fraudulently claiming the benefits following his death, according to the charging document.

Kouri Richins has proclaimed her innocence, speaking out from jail in an audio recording released in May 2024.

“The world has yet to hear who I really am, what I’ve really done or didn’t do,” Kouri Richins insisted in the audio, provided to ABC News through a trusted confidant. “What I really didn’t do is murder my husband.”

Kouri Richins has remained in Summit County Jail since her arrest in May 2023.

A month prior to her arrest, the mom of three young sons appeared on a “Good Things Utah” segment on Salt Lake City ABC affiliate KTVX to promote her children’s book. In the segment, Kouri Richins said her husband of nine years died “unexpectedly” and that his death “completely took us all by shock.”

Kouri Richins also faces over two dozen charges in a separate case filed last year alleging she committed mortgage fraud in 2021. The charging document alleges she submitted falsified bank statements in support of mortgage loan applications for her realty business, committed money laundering and issued bad checks. 

The charges in the case also allege she murdered her husband for financial gain as she “stood on the precipice of total financial collapse.” According to the charging document, around the time of Eric Richins’ death, her realty company owed lenders nearly $5 million, and his estate was worth approximately $5 million.

She has not yet entered a plea to those charges.

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(NEW YORK) — The largest nurses strike in New York City history ended this weekend when the last holdouts in the 41-day labor action overwhelmingly voted to ratify a contract and agreed to return to work, officials said.

Around 4,200 members of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) employed by the private New York-Presbyterian system approved on Saturday a contract that includes more than a 12% increase in salaries over the life of the three-year deal.

The nurses and management of the New York-Presbyterian system also agreed to improve enforceable safe staffing standards, boost protection for nurses from workplace violence and, for the first time ever, provide safeguards for employees against artificial intelligence.

The union previously said the hospitals had threatened to cut health care benefits for frontline nurses and roll back safe staffing standards that were won by nurses after a three-day strike in January 2023.

The labor agreement was approved after about 10,500 NYSNA nurses employed by the private Montefiore, Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Morningside and West hospitals approved a similar contract last week. Some nurses in the system began returning to work on Saturday, officials said.

About 93% of the NYSNA nurses in the New York-Presbyterian system voted to ratify the contract, and about 7% rejected the deal, which was announced on Thursday, according to the union.

Nearly 15,000 nurses in total walked off their jobs on Jan. 12 after declaring a stalemate in negotiations with management for the private hospital systems, making it the largest nurses’ strike in New York City history.

“This is a proud moment for our union,” NYSNA President Nancy Hagans said in a statement. “We are so happy with the wins we achieved, and now the fight to enforce these contracts and hold our employers accountable begins.”

Hagans added, “NYSNA nurses showed what it means to advocate for patients, and this moment will go down in history as a win for our communities, in the fight for healthcare justice, and for the labor movement.”

In a statement Saturday evening, management of NewYork-Presbyterian confirmed the contract had been ratified by the last group of striking nurses.

“We are pleased to share that we have a new ratified contract with the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) and look forward to our nurses’ return to the hospital,” management of the New York-Presbyterian system said. “The new contract reflects our respect for our nurses and the critical role they play as part of our exceptional care teams.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul also expressed relief that the strike was finally over.

“Nurses are the backbone of our health care system. I am grateful that NYSNA has overwhelmingly ratified an agreement with New York Presbyterian recognizing the exceptionally difficult work our nurses do day in and out,” Hochul said in a statement.

The governor added, “Throughout this process, I have made clear that my top priority is protecting patients and providing continuity of care. With these agreements now ratified and nurses going back to work, I am confident we can continue to build on the progress made under this administration.”

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